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"We're more than a quarter of the way through 2012, and as you may have noticed, we have failed to acquire silver jumpsuits or jetpacks. In fact, aside from that headset in your ear, smartphone in your pocket and tablet in your purse, everything is looking quite boringly un-futuristic.\nBut if Google has its way, we will start wearing some very science fiction-like glasses by year's end.\nThe search giant's research arm launched a Google+ page Wednesday for Project Glass, its augmented reality glasses project. The page revealed that Google researchers have started testing the glasses, with an Android-run heads-up display, that the New York Times suggested Google will start to sell this year for roughly the cost of a regular smartphone.\n[Update: a Google spokesperson has indicated to Mashable that the company selling the glasses this year would be \"extremely unlikely.\"]\nThe page also contains one of those \"here's what the future will look like\" videos, to explain the concept better than words can. Check it out:\n\nCleverly, the video's first-person point of view dodges one of the main problems with the glasses \u2014 that you may look kind of dumb wearing them. The pictures shared on the page all show largely glass-free frames with what appears to be a projector on one side.\nThink of a kind of monocular Geordi LaForge, and you're almost there.\n\nSEE ALSO: Google Heads-Up Display Glasses Are Coming by the End of 2012 [REPORT]But it's the look of the thing that appears to be what the researchers are interested in getting your feedback on. \"We\u2019re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,\" reads the post from Google X employees including Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastian Thrun. \"What would you like to see from Project Glass?\"\nThat's what we're curious about too. Let us know in the comments.\n\nBonus: The Long and Winding Road to Personal Heads Up Displays\n\n\nThe History of the Heads-Up Display\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWorld War II Origins\nThe HUD we know today evolved from the reflector sight on German planes in 1937.  They allowed targeting assistance to be added to a scope for pilots to more easily aim. Eventually it incorporated displaying information such as air speed velocity and attack angle that made it easier for pilots to hit targets.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Buccaneer\nThe Blackburn Buccaneer developed for the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force was the first plane with a built-in heads-up display. It was prototyped in 1958, but flew for the British from 1968 until 1994. It was a low-flying bomber that was used as late as the Gulf War.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStandardization for the Military\nAfter Britain noticed success in pilots who used a HUD, French test-pilot Gilbert Klopfstein developed the first standardized heads-up display for use in aircraft, so pilots would not have to refamiliarize themselves each time they entered a different plane. As is the case with many technologies, standardization is often the path to mainstream acceptance, as this moved HUD into wide military use. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCommercial Airlines\n\nWhile the earliest uses of HUDs on commercial aircraft were in the 1970s, it hadn\u2019t reached wider use until it was added to Boeing 737 in the 1990s. Now it\u2019s on several Airbus and CanadaAir planes as well. The HUDs help commercial pilots take off and land in inclement weather and also displays airspeed, altitude and flight path.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, lsannes\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHUDs in Cars\nThe first heads-up display was added to the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme in 1988. There were also some included on Toyotas in 1991. Currently, heads-up displays are offered by many different car manufacturers, and as third-party add-ons. While many simply display a speedometer and tachometer, newer models can also display navigation directions.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVirtual Retina Display\n\nVirtual Retina Displays shoot a beam of light directly on the retina to display an image in front of the wearer\u2019s eye. The technology has been in development since 1991 and has many applications, many for military and medical use. It will allow for the development of head-mounted displays, which serve as a HUD for the human eye. The technology has been proven safe by the FDA, has already had some practical applications. The Navy was developing a model for pilots that would help them see better in bright light, and allow for touch interaction. \nImage courtesy HIT Lab, Washington University.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nConsumer Technology\n\nHeads-up displays are appearing on more consumer technology, including ski goggles with a built in HUD, tools for runners, and, as mentioned before, more complicated automobile peripherals. MicroVision is the company with many of the contracts for consumer technology, and it is currently working with Pioneer to create a large heads-up display that can work with your smartphone to add in directions.\nImage of a 2005 concept of swim goggles that would display your time, from CNN.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMicroVision\nMicrovision\u2019s website boasts several different applications for heads-up displays, from military to gaming. The only products it has available commercially though are pocket projectors.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nConcepts\n\nGeneral Motors is working on a full windshield heads-up display that will work with elements of augmented reality to highlight roads and street signs, display GPS directions, and even display the building you\u2019re driving toward so drivers can easily find their destination.\nImage courtesy AutoEvolution.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Google Glasses\n\nGoogle\u2019s HUD glasses, which are still only rumored to be in production, would supposedly work with the Android OS and 3G to display different kinds of information to the wearer. If the the rumors are true, it\u2019s definitely a step closer to the science fiction angle of heads-up displays.\nImage courtesy Zebra Pares, Flickr.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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