{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1302623"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1302623/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW4316/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021MW4316/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021MW4316","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MW4315","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1302623","accessionNumber":"CD.57:1 to 3-2014","objectType":"Glass","titles":[{"title":"Glass","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"Glass is a head-mounted Internet-connected computer from Google that takes the form of a pair of glasses,  projecting text and images to a prism above the right eye. It can be controlled via voice and a touch pad on the  right arm, can transmit sound by bone conduction through vibrations via the skull to the inner ear and features a  camera to take pictures and video. Glass is an example of wearable technology and is a step towards  ubiquitous computing – the concept of computing being everywhere at all times, in a seamless integration of  technology into everyday life.\r\n\r\nGlass has similar applications to a smartphone, with the benefit of being hands-free. Worn as spectacles, users  give commands by speaking, saying “O.K., Glass…” to choose from a series of commands, ranging from taking  a picture to searching the Internet, using Google Maps and making phone calls. Apps developed by third parties  can be downloaded which give further functionality, including fitness trackers, games, music players,  messaging and blog feeds. \r\n\r\nGlass was developed in Google X, a research and development facility in Mountain View, California, for projects  which Google consider to not have an immediately apparent business model, but potential applications for the  future.  Google X is headed by Dr Astro Teller, founder in 1999 of BodyMedia, a medical and consumer  technology company specialising in wearable body monitoring systems. Teller joined Google in 2010 and  BodyMedia went on to be acquired in 2013 by wearable technology firm Jawbone. \r\n\nGoogle first unveiled Glass from their Google X labs in April 2012, via photos and a concept video on the  Google+ social network. Through a series of publicity stunts, including streaming live video from Glass worn  during a parachute jump, and relaying a Diane von Furstenberg catwalk show, the technology entered public  consciousness. It was sold to the public through Google’s Explorer programme, a limited release to those  interested in the early adoption of technology who also had the ability to pay a correspondingly high financial  price. Purchases were made through an application process that included a question about what the buyer  would use them for. Glass was available in the USA from 15 April 2013 and then the UK in May 2014. \r\n\r\nThe launch of Glass raised questions about privacy, with non-users being concerned that they would be  photographed or filmed by wearers, and safety issues were raised such as being distracted while driving. Their  high cost ($1500 in America and £1000 in the UK) limited their adoption, often being equated with being a  status symbol for those wearing them. These problems combined to cause resentment among some non- wearers and led to users being labelled with the slang term “glasshole”.  \r\n\r\nGoogle withdrew Glass from public sale on 19 January 2015, reporting that the technology would be moving out  of its Google X incubator labs into a separate division, under the guidance of Tony Fadell. Fadell is the chief  executive of Nest Labs, a company bought by Google in January 2014; he previously worked on Apple’s first  iPod music player in the early 2000s. Nest Labs created the Nest Learning Thermostat, which DAD has in its  collection as a product of the Internet of Things (CD.13-2014). Google is currently developing Glass for use  within the private sector, where experiments continue with its use in medical surgeries, manufacturing and by  utility workers, giving the ability to access data and record and transmit video hands-free.\r\n\r\nGlass as compliments a number of DAD acquisitions  reflecting wearable  technologies. Glass raises issues regarding privacy, digital etiquette and ethics of using wearable tech devices  in public and for these reasons it has been featured in the ‘Civic Objects’ display of DAD’s 2015 exhibition ‘All of  This Belongs to You’. </sup></sup></sub>\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Google Glass Frame, Black full rimed glasses, the right hand arm of the glasses does not extend as far as the right arm. The computer clips to the frame on the right arm. The computer is white with a glass cube which drops down below the metal frame to sit in front of the wearers eye. The computer then extends back past the end of the metal from to and gets larger where it sits just behind the wearers ear. ","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Google","id":"AUTH319033"},"association":{"text":"developed","id":"x28706"},"note":"Google X"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Titanium frame with glass","categories":[{"text":"Electrical appliances","id":"THES49024"},{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Digital Design","id":"THES273936"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DAD","id":"THES260586"},"images":["2021MW4316","2021MW4315"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"76","id":"THES49548"},"free":"","case":"CA4","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"76","id":"THES49548"},"free":"","case":"CA4","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES412784"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES412784"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES412784"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES412784"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"smart glasses","id":"THES398658"}],[{"text":"computers","id":"AAT24521"}],[{"text":"bags","id":"AAT194509"}],[{"text":"cables","id":"AAT50615"}],[{"text":"earpieces","id":"THES398659"}],[{"text":"nosepads","id":"THES398660"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"California","id":"x28779"},"association":{"text":"developed","id":"x48036"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2014","earliest":"2014-01-01","latest":"2014-12-31"},"association":{"text":"manufactured","id":"x29350"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Google, Inc.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Glasses Frame"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"13.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Glasses Frame"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Glasses Frame"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"21.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Computer"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Computer "},{"dimension":"Length","value":"24.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Bag"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Bag"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"126.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"USB Cable"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"10","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Earpiece"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"11","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Spare Nose Pieces"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Spare Nose Pieces"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Glass, Google, 2014","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"This object is found in the \"Data and Communication\" section of Design 1900-Now gallery, opened June 2021\r\nAn all-seeing eye\r\nGlass is a head-worn, internet-connected computer\r\nthat projects images and text onto a small prisim\r\nabove the right eye. Google withdrew the product\r\ntwo years after launch in 2013, after widespread\r\nunease about individual privacy and the dangers of\r\ndistraction. Controlled by a touchpad on the frame\r\nor by voice command, wearers could make calls, use\r\napps and take photos and videos.\r\n\r\nHead-worn computer\r\nGlass, 2013\r\nDesigned by and manufactured for Google, USA\r\nPlastic, titanium and electronic components\r\nGiven by Google, Inc.\r\nMuseum no. CD.57:1, 2-2014\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"[Gallery 76]\n\n<b>3. PERSONAL COMPUTER: ‘GOOGLE GLASS’\r\n2014</b>\r\nGoogle developed the ‘ubiquitous computer’ to grant users access to online information and personal data while interacting with the world. Promoted as a fashionable accessory for modern life, frames were available in four different shapes. The device nonetheless raised concerns about privacy in public spaces, as well as the effect on social interactions.\n\r\nUSA\r\nDesigned by Google, Inc.\r\nPlastics and titanium \r\nGiven by Google, Inc.\r\nMuseum no. CD.57-2014\r\n","date":{"text":"2015","earliest":"2015-01-01","latest":"2015-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["CD.57:1-2014","CD.57:2-2014","CD.57:3-2014","CD.57:4-2014","CD.57:5-2014","CD.57:6-2014"],"accessionNumberNum":"57","accessionNumberPrefix":"CD","accessionYear":2014,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-03","recordCreationDate":"2014-11-03","availableToBook":false}}