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Frame from Google Glass Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Google Glass

Orlando Bruno
Demos
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2018–2021, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Cited as an example of what Glass promised, for comparison with later AR glasses.

A short 2012 promotional-style video of Google Glass showing what the headset was meant to do. It shows features like map directions and overlays in the wearer's view.

3 citations · Demos · partly dated

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@marcodiego Aug 2021 Cites it
on HN thread ST Sees AR Glasses Replacing Smartphones
> What I would buy today is glasses that allowed an overlay. Give me a screen and an API and let me tether it to my phone and push pixels and I'd buy that immediately. An overlay was the google glass promise: [this video]
Glass promised overlays
@dougmwne Dec 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Google is building a new augmented reality device and operating system
Read more
I disagree. It was and is an AR product. Re-watch this early promo video: [this video] There are several clear AR features displayed. There's a location based notification about the subway service upon getting close to the entrance. There's overlaid compass based walking directions. There's GPS based location identification and check-in. AR is more than just computer vision driven overlays. Though that tech wasn't available to be put in a HMD at the time, these GPS driven features absolutely were AR features and the original Glass should rightfully be considered the first AR consumer product. Furthermore, the product still exists as the Enterprise Edition 2 and this current version supports computer vison and object identification applications, further strengthening its AR use cases.
Promo shows AR features like notifications and directions

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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