Google Glass coming to devs in early 2013, won't have ads

Google’s Project Glass was one of the most exciting announcements of 2012, lifting our hopes high for a future of wearable computers that is not so distant, but in the last couple of months we’ve heard little about Glass.

Now, Babak Parviz, head of the Google Glass project, speaks up for Spectrum IEEE confirming that Google is hard at work perfect the hardware and software to get it ready for shipping to developers in early 2013, as it promised at Google I/O 2012.

“We constantly try out new ideas of how this platform can be used. There’s a lot of experimentation going on at all times in Google,” Parviz said. “We’re also trying to make the platform more robust. This includes making the hardware more robust and the software more robust, so we can ship it to developers early this year.”

Most interestingly, the Project Glass chief says Google does not plan to bring ads to the wearable display for the moment. Augmented Reality is also a bit out of focus, even though it certainly is a venue the company will explore in the future.

Parviz explained the Glass has a touch pad for easy user input, but Google is still working on voice commands and head gestures to really show off the possibilities of this new type of device. Right now, Google is also still working on making and receiving calls via Glass.

The big takeaway though is that it’s all still “in flux.” A “cloud-based API” is coming for devs to try their best on the new platform, and since it is coming in their hands soon, we can finally expect to hear more about this in early 2013.