Google Buys North

Google announced on Tuesday that they are buying North, a Canadian company that makes smart glasses. Of course, Google has mountains of money and likes to buy talent and good ideas.

Google have been tinkering with a product called Glass since 2013. Those have an optical head-mounted display where the user communicates with the Internet via voice commands. They still sell an enterprise version that is used in special business applications, like engineers who need to access a diagram while servicing a jet engine.

According to news reports about this deal, augmented reality (AR) glasses are seen as the next big thing in mobile devices. They are still a couple of years from being ready for mainstream use due to high costs, poor battery life and bulk.

Microsoft has a rival product called the HoloLens. Apple is said to be developing an AR headset, based on executive comments and patent filings. Snapchat continues to sell its camera-equipped Spectacles.

As a person who wears glasses already, I like this trend. I'm even more pleased that we can invest in this field by simply owning Google shares. Here is some more detail about North and a picture of the special specs. Google buys AR glasses company North to help build an ambient computing future.