Heads Up! 6 Wearable “Heads Up” Displays
Now that Google Glass is showing up in the wild, all sorts of comparable gadgets and innovations are coming out of the woodwork. Contrary to popular belief, the technology of the “heads up display” is not totally new, though it is going through some serious advancement as of late. Here are 6 pieces of wearable tech that tell you where you are, take photos from your point of view, and disguise themselves as sunglasses.
1. Pivothead Video Sunglasses ($299): First up, video sunglasses that don’t look totally lame! These actually manage to look like regular sunglasses, and allow you to create high definition hands free videos wherever you are. Each pair of sunglasses includes 4 focus setting options, a crisp 44.4 kHz microphone, 3 video resolution settings, and the ability to capture stills and time lapse photos as well as video. If you want to be able to share images the instant you take them, opt for Air Pivothead (an additional $99) and connect your glasses to a wireless router that speaks to your phone. Not the most streamlined option, but pretty close!
2. Instabeat Swim Goggles ($139): Think of these as swim goggles meets an activity tracker. Instabeat monitors your heart rate, calories, laps, and turns during your swim. It’s an attachment that fits on any pair of swimming goggles and projects a color on your lenses in real-time to let you know how close you are to your target zone.
3. Vuzix Smart Glasses (coming soon): Described as an intelligent, hands-free display for smartphones, these smart glasses let you communicate with your smartphone seamlessly. Aside from being able to communicate via text, email, and audio, these glasses include an integrated head tracker and GPS for positional awareness. You can take videos as well as stills, and connect to the cloud. Visually, they look similar to Google Glass.
4. Epson Moverio Wearable Display ($700): These definitely have the virtual reality aesthetic down pat. Also powered by Android, this display lets you privately view video, experience side-by-side 3D content, play games, and enjoy content on a “floating” see-through display projected into your environment. There’s a micoSDHC card slot, allowing you to enjoy books, music, photos, and more whether or not you’re online. You can stream videos from sites like YouTube and Vimeo, and all on a screen that is perceived as 80 inches wide. The price is pretty steep, but promises Glass-level connectivity.
5. Zeal Live Ski Goggles ($552): For skiers who like a little more info while on the slopes, these goggles are pretty awesome. The integrated heads-up display behind the lens includes built-in GPS tracking, seamless smartphone integration to display notifications, photochromic tint that automatically adjusts to match light conditions, and polarized lens coating to eliminate glare.
6. Google Glass (coming soon): And finally, Glass. Glass lets you speak to it to take photos, videos, look up information, receive directions, and more. You can even share what you see while it’s happening! If you live in the Bay Area, you’ve likely seen a few folks sporting Google Glass in the wild, maybe even on Brit Morin, the founder of this here site! Stay tuned for a full review on Brit’s experience with Glass in the next few weeks.
