Google Glass
Year First Appeared
2012
Creator
Babak Parviz, Steve Lee, Thad Starner, Isabelle Olsson
Google Glass is a discontinued brand of smart glasses developed by Google's X lab, offering a hands‑free wearable computer with a head‑up display controlled by voice and touch, originally aimed at consumers and later repurposed for enterprise use before being discontinued.
Importance in Internet Culture
Glass was the first high‑profile AR wearable and a cultural flash‑point for always‑on connectivity and recording; the privacy debates and the epithet “glasshole” it inspired shaped public norms and set the agenda for later smart‑glasses and mixed‑reality devices.
Interesting Fact
To secure the fingernail‑sized projector that made Glass possible, Google quietly bought a 6.3 % stake in Taiwanese display‑maker Himax Display in July 2013, funding expanded LCOS micro‑display production specifically for head‑mounted displays such as Google Glass.