If at first you don’t succeed — try, try again. It’s an expression we’ve all heard, and one Amazon has taken to heart. Sure, smart glasses didn’t work the first time around for Google — RIP Google Glass — but that doesn’t mean nobody can make smart glasses work. Maybe all they needed was the Amazon touch.
And a bit of love from Amazon Alexa.
According to reports in the Financial Times, Amazon is gearing up for the release of its first wearable — and it is skipping the watch entirely. Instead, it is rolling out a pair of smart glasses that come with the Amazon Alexa voice-activated assistant built right in.
The device, according to early reports, will look almost exactly like a regular pair of low tech specs — and will leverage “bone-conduction” technology so that a user can hear Alexa without having to use earphones or loudspeakers. Yes, one will leverage the construction of bones in one’s own head to turn that into the speaker. Nothing creepy about that.
What the smart glasses likely will not have is either a screen or a camera — which sets them apart from the Google version of this product. What they do share with the Google Glass is founder Babak Parviz, who has been developing the smart glasses wearable for Amazon since he started for there in 2014.
In somewhat less flashy product news, the Financial Times is also reporting that Amazon is developing a home security camera that is entirely separate from its large and expanding Echo line of products.
“One or both” of these products may arrive this year, according to sources cited by the FT, alongside updated Echo products.
The regular Echo speaker has not seen much of an upgrade or update since 2014, and has been out of stock on Amazon for some time.
Is the successor on its way? We’ll keep you posted.
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