Google was rightfully and properly shamed out of the business of getting people to wear facecomputers, but after Snapchat found success in the wearables arena with its hardware product Spectacles, Google might be ready to put its hat back in the ring — literally! — with a patented camera cap. The tech industry is all about learning from failure.
Hat tip to CNET for spotting the patent, which is here. Is this just me, or does it look like one of those flashlight-brimmed hats that lame dads wear at barbecues when they're working the grill and it's getting dark?
Business Insider took a critical tone regarding the rough look of the patent sketches, "The images in the patent don't paint Google's hat-camera as a very stylish device. It looks like a somewhat clunky camera attachment on the brim of a baseball cap." Burn. It's just a patent, so maybe the Google hat would be cool after all — like the awesome propeller hat, pictured above, that's given out to newly-minted Google employees, or Nooglers. But then again, the Google Glass debacle proved that looking cool has never been priority numero uno over there.
The patent, which was granted, is for "methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for wearable camera systems. While "in one aspect, a hat and a camera system for the hat can be used for an interactive session with a remote user...In another aspect, the hat and camera system for the hat can be used to interact with an emergency situation routing system."Got that? This hat is for emergency use only. Act accordingly.
