Vaunt smart glasses

Vaunt glasses. © Vjeran Pavic, The Verge.

Intel has released a prototype of their smart glasses that look just like a regular pair of glasses, which is good news if you don’t want to turn into a strange cyborg, as with the failed Google Glass. They’re connected via Bluetooth to a phone (Android or iPhone), weigh less than 50 grams, and don’t have a camera, microphones or buttons. At the moment, Vaunt Glasses have only one major role: to display notifications and offer contextual information. The batteries and all the electronics are housed in the glasses’ arms. Messages aren’t displayed on a screen, but rather projected by a low-powered laser beam (VCSEL—vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) right onto your retina. As a result of the technology that’s used, the display is monochrome: everything displays in red, at a resolution of close to 400x150 pixels. Since the image shines directly on your retina, it’s always in focus. The battery should last 18 hours. Intel will be making a development kit available in the next several months, for an undisclosed price.

⇨ The Verge, “Intel made smart glasses that look normal.”