Google Reveals Design for Virtual Reality Glasses -- Would You Wear Them?

Last week, we reported that Google's augmented-reality glasses were among the top five cool tech inventions to look forward to in 2012. Well, the prototype design for the high-tech spectacles has been released and it's much slimmer than we could have imagined.

Posted on the project's Google+ page, dubbed "Project Glass," the Google X team unveiled the design to share their ideas and get feedback from you. Here's what they say:

We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

Here's the project video:

In the promo video, Google shows how the glasses will put the virtual world before your very eyes, telling you that you have an appointment while you're pouring coffee, letting you know the temperature as you look out the window and showing you texts while you eat your breakfast sandwich.

Google isn't the only one putting itself out there in the augmented-reality optics world. The Israeli-based company Lumus has created personal display, which it calls "completely natural-looking, see through eyewear" that "provides a new dimension for the human visual experience." They're a bit clunkier compared to the design concept seen in Google's Project Glass.

Watch this Reuters video showcasing the technology:

The glasses use LOE (light-guide optical element) technology to allow the wearer to do things such as watch TV or read an email without others even knowing what they're doing. Another benefit the company touts is that the glasses provide "information flow" without impeding vision. And that's not all, Lumus calls the fact that its glasses allow for an unlimited screen size its "most innovative and coolest feature."

Have prescription lenses? Yep, you can still use this technology. Lumus says that it can be clipped onto prescription lenses or, alternatively, prescription lenses can be clipped onto it.

Ubergizmo reports that Lumus is currently working with smartphone and gaming companies to further this project.

[H/T Gizmodo]