The Verge online magazine released a February 2018 news story about Vaunt, the new smart glasses being developed by Intel. A Google Glass product was released in 2013 to less-than-enthusiastic fanfare due to the odd design and a camera that some considered creepy. According to early reviews of Vaunt, the Intel smart glasses look and feel like normal eyeglasses.
These Smart Glasses Use Smart Technology
Vaunt glasses use retinal projection to put the display directly onto your eyeball. Early testers explain that when you’re looking directly ahead, there is no image to distract you, but by shifting your gaze down slightly, the display appears. The display needs to be fitted to each wearer’s eyes in order to work correctly.
According to the Verge article, “There is no camera to creep people out, no button to push, no gesture area to swipe, no glowing LCD screen, no weird arm floating in front of the lens, no speaker, and no microphone (for now).” Control of the display will be done by small and stealthy eye and head gestures, eliminating the need to press buttons on the glasses.
The technology consists of a low-powered laser, a processor, an accelerometer, a Bluetooth chip and a compass that sit on the inside of the stem of the Vaunt glasses. The laser is very low power and projects a red, monochrome image onto the wearer’s retina. Because the image is projected to the back of the retina, the image will always be in focus, regardless of whether the user is wearing prescription lenses.
Why Would We Wear Smart Glasses?
According to a Tech Crunch article about the new Intel glasses, the devices can send notifications from your phone, or the glasses might detect that you’re in the kitchen and send you a recipe. In one demo described by TechCrunch, it showed that you could see a person’s birthday and other pertinent personal info while you’re chatting with them on the phone.
Intel says that the glasses are more stealthy than a smartwatch, allowing you to check notifications while doing other activities. Without an on-board camera, users might be more inclined to wear the glasses while avoiding the “big brother” feeling of smart glasses that are viewing and possibly recording surroundings.
See the Glasses in Action
For more details on Intel’s new smart glasses, check out these articles:
- Intel made smart glasses that look normal
TheVerge.com - Intel wants smart glasses to be a thing
TechCrunch.com - Intel unveils smart glasses that you might want to wear
Engadget.com
