Gadgetory

I'm Bridget Carey and I've been glassed this is your cnet update if you've been wondering what Google glass is all about and how it works well that's exactly what I'll help you understand in this special edition of cnet update I'm wearing an early model of the google glass it's basically a wearable screen that is controlled with voice activation and touch and it can do some cool things like take photos search on Google send text messages and give you directions as an explorer i had to pay fifteen hundred dollars to get one but it's not for consumers to purchase yet rather this is more like a massive test exploring how we interact with this type of device and developers in the meantime are cooking up some apps that work with it it might be another year until anyone can buy one the first thing people want to know is what does the screen look like this is just really a tiny floating screen if you hold your cell phone about an arm's length away from you that's about the size that appears to be I have nothing obstructing my vision I have to look up and to the right when I want to see the screen it's clear right now because it's in sleep mode I can wake it up one of two ways I can tilt my head up slightly or I can tap the side panel this is a touch panel that you use to navigate through by swiping and tapping once it's awake I can say ok glass and from here I have the option to speak a command or I can tap to select it with the touch pad you're really just swiping through different cards of information like whether message notifications or photos you've taken the most basic use is to use it as a hands-free camera if I don't want to walk around yelling ok glass take a picture ok glass take a picture well there's a handy shutter button that takes an instant snapshot of what's in front of me there's no time to say cheese and pose and see a preview it's just instantly taken as soon as I hit this button let me show you video ok glass record a video by default a video only is captured for 10 seconds unless I tapped to make it go longer and then it'll record until it runs out of battery or until I tell it to stop say hi to our producer mark there's no big red light telling you that I'm recording you just know it's because you can see the light of my screen people could be jerks and record you without you being totally aware but they could also record you secretly with a smartphone it's fun to joke that this makes us more like cyborgs but with smart phones in our pockets and in our hands all the time we already were assimilated and attached to a screen this time you just have to hold it in your hand but you also have to look odd wearing one we'll be bringing you continuing coverage of glasses we learn to live with this new device and explore the apps being created for it because that's where things will really get interesting be sure to visit cnet com for an in-depth first look at all the glass features from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey