One of the professors in my school, Steve Mann[1], is notorious for working on wearable computing devices for three decades now. There's a small group of niche hackers[2] who are into this kind of thing, but it's definitely not a new phenomenon.
I actually saw Thad in school walking around with his "glass". The Google version looks way better and a lot less geekier (and less creepier) than the thing he used to wear to say the least.
Thad's been walking about Georgia Tech and other places with a wearable computer since 1993. I remember how big his previous version was, but the current version isn't too bad:
I've been wanting to build myself an EyeTap for the longest time. It must be vindicating to Steve Mann to see this idea of wearable computing going "mainstream"
If Google used Mann's "diminished reality" idea, they could replace ads we see in everyday life (billboards and the like) with some ratio of information chosen by the user and ads from Google. Thus, using g-Glasses, one might see a net reduction in the amount of advertising one is subjected to. And Google could tell billboard companies to pay a toll if they ever want to get through the filter.
What about that HNers who lamented that a Google wearable will be plastered with ads, what if it reduced the overall number of ads you saw?
>"it's definitely not a new phenomenon"
Agreed 100%, but Google and Apple could push it into mainstream...and for most people, I'm guessing that it'd be their first encounter with AR / VR.
Mann is a Media Lab alum. The Media Lab did extensive work on wearable computing a decade ago [1]. Rich DeVaul [2] is another alum who worked extensively on wearable computing there, and is possibly involved in Project Glass.
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~thad/