Google’s wearables push “Project Aura” could mean Google Glass is making a comeback
Poor, embattled Google Glass.
Google tried everything, even teaming up with couture designer Diane von Furstenburg, but despite its best efforts nothing seemed able to shake customers’ feeling that the headgear made you look, well, like a bit of an idiot.
A far cry from the massive hype surrounding its unveiling in 2012, a hefty price tag and ridiculed appearance dragged Google Glass further under the radar until it quietly went away earlier this year.
But it seems reports of its death may have been greatly exaggerated. Could Google Glass still make a comeback?
Read more: This is how people look at you when you wear Google Glass
Google is making a new push into wearable tech, reports Business Insider. Called “Project Aura”, it’ll focus on nursing Google Glass back to health.
The company stopped selling Google Glass in early 2015. Following declining market interest, Google announced it would – at least temporarily – pull the plug on the product “in its present form”.
Although Google Glass is reportedly the main focus of “Project Aura”, the new division will also be working on other wearables and other offbeat tech projects like the the virtual reality development Cardboard, which turns your smartphone into a virtual reality device, and gesture tech Soli, which lets you control gadgets by gesturing in the air.
Read more: Four projects Amazon's Lab 126 is secretly working on
Project Aura will remain under Google, rather than spinning off to become its own company under Alphabet, and according to Business Insider, it plans on pinching engineers from Amazon’s secret development lab Lab 126.