Google Glass: where technology is going.

• Author: Arnold, Tyler
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Telecom & Technology

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Using Google Glass gives you a real sense for where technology is going. It's becoming more ubiquitous and wearable, eventually merging into our bodies.

I'll never forget the first time I tried Google Glass. The highly anticipated piece of so called "wearable tech" has had the tech world abuzz since its debut in 2012. Now, after a successful PR campaign that included top celebrities and business leaders getting early copies of the device (and photographed wearing it), the rest of the world gets a peek.

While Glass isn't in stores or in mass production yet, Google has released more than one thousand copies of the device to key Google partners and early developers looking to build off of the Glass platform. Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on a pair during a trip to San Francisco at Google I/O (Google's massive annual conference).

If you're going to judge Google Glass for what it currently is, you're going to be disappointed. Glass isn't so much a piece of tech as it is the first step in a movement to come. At $1,500 a piece, it has a quarter (or less) of the features that come in any free smartphone with a two year contract. While Glass may be viewed as an "overpriced smartphone accessory," its use of state-of-the-art technology and flat out revolutionary design allows it to glide through the often turbulent and punishing tech community.

A New Experience

Putting Glass on for the first time required a bit of adjusting to align the screen to the upper right hand corner of my right eye. It's a somewhat underwhelming experience since the device is off by default when you first put it on. It wasn't until I touched the side of the device (the entire right hand side of the glasses is touch sensitive, like a giant touchpad) that the device turned on. Alternatively, you can also tilt your head at a 30 degree angle to wake up the screen.

Once the screen turns on, your eyes begin to adjust to an experience that you've likely never felt before. All of a sudden, you're being fed information in the right hand corner of your eye that doesn't go anywhere as you move your head around. Indeed, it takes a while to get used to just moving your eye up and to the right instead of moving your head along with it. While adjusting to this unnatural experience may take time, I felt I got a hang of the Google Glass experience fairly quickly.

When the screen flicks on, it starts displaying the time. You're required to speak the words "OK...