Technology, Google Glass | featured news

In order to write emails or text messages with Google Glass, you dictate words. The device is pleasantly reliable at transcribing things you say ... unless you happen to have a foul mouth.

In February, Google ran a contest for Glass offering "winners" the opportunity to be "Glass Explorers," i.e. the guinea pigs who will test out Glass in the wild. Downside: Explorers have to pay $1,500 for the product and for the privilege of being called "Glassholes." Upside: They get to test out a brand new product before anyone else. One 26-year-old Explorer came up with an even better upside: he planned to auction off his pair of Glass on eBay to pay down his student loans.

Developers making apps for Google's smart glasses have been told they will not be able to display advertising - nor charge for their product... For developers, that controversy could begin with wondering how exactly they will be able to make money from the device.

Google's futuristic Glass headgear will be available before year's end. The device may well be the final step before human-machine interaction moves under our skin — but its wearers may trigger some undesired social reactions from friends and family members, and it may not go over too well at your local watering hole, either.

Google Glass, the tech giant's Internet-connected headset, isn't on the market yet. But that hasn't stopped one lawmaker from trying to keep the eyewear off the highways in his state.