If you have spotted anyone walking around who appears to be wearing an alien eyepiece, you may have spotted a beta tester trying out Google Glass, a new product from Google that provides a computer via a screen above the user's right eye.
But what about people who need prescription eye glasses?
Google Glass now has those people covered with a deal with VSP Global as reported in a January 29 article in The Wall Street Journal by Rolfe Winkler.
According to the Journal, VSP Global's eye doctor network has 30,000 member doctors in the U.S. with 60 million enrollees in VSP vision plans.
That's a lot of people who will be able to get prescription lenses for Google Glass when it rolls out to the general public later this year.
What's interesting about Google Glass is whether it will improve the safety of people who are addicted to checking their smartphones every few seconds. If you have noticed car drivers who are inattentive because they are looking down at their phones, you will understand how constantly checking for messages can be a safety issue.
Thus will checking your messages through one eye via Google Glass as you use the other eye to drive be safer than looking down at your smartphone?
And what about Google Glass as a fashion statement?
Google is addressing this by releasing new frames in order to offer more choice, which is important as other tech companies may be working to offer their own version of wearable computers.
Watching a demonstration of Google Glass may remind people of the new CBS television drama "Intelligence" starring Josh Holloway of "Lost" fame. Holloway's character Gabriel Vaughn is directly connected to the Internet via a chip in his head. Thus without the benefit of Google Glass or any exterior hardware, he is a human computer.
What's next in wearable computers? Tech people in labs throughout the world are undoubtedly sworn to secrecy. To find out we'll have to wait for the public announcements.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
