[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:01.56]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.14]The Internet company Google is testing
[00:08.59]its newest high-tech device, Google Glass.
[00:13.16]Most of the technologies for Google Glass
[00:16.15]are already available on smart phones.
[00:19.79]Google has taken those same technologies
[00:23.33]and added them to eyeglass frames.
[00:26.66]The company describes the glasses as wearable computers
[00:32.10]that would change the way people view others and the world.
[00:37.32]Chris Dale is the Senior Manager of Communications for Google Glass.
[00:43.46]"Google Glass is a tiny computer that sits in a lightweight frame,
[00:47.75]and rests neatly above your eye and it makes exploring
[00:51.15]and sharing the world around you a lot easier."
[00:52.91]The glasses have a tiny video screen and a camera
[00:57.66]that connect wirelessly to the Internet
[01:01.11]through WIFI, a smartphone, or a tablet computer.
[01:07.03]You can make and receive calls, send and receive texts,
[01:12.31]take pictures, record video or search the web.
[01:17.71]You control Google Glass using your voice,
[01:21.45]and a touchpad on the right arm of the frame.
[01:25.83]Professor Marcia Dawkins is among a select group of people
[01:31.31]who have been given a change to test out Google Glass.
[01:36.19]"I thought this is something I definitely need
[01:38.23]for my classroom and hopefully for my personal life too."
[01:41.23]The Professor's Google Glass looks like
[01:44.32]a bright orange glasses, without the actual glass.
[01:49.00]But there's a tiny rectangular glass at the top right-hand corner.
[01:54.43]Through that glass, she has been recording video while biking.
[01:59.51]She also has been able to talk to her sister in Thailand,
[02:05.19]and she plans to use the device to teach a public speaking class.
[02:11.02]But not everyone is excited about Google Glass.
[02:15.86]Some are concerned about possible risks to privacy.
[02:21.04]John Simpson is the director of the privacy project at Consumer Watchdog.
[02:27.61]"It is essentially going to allow people to come in
[02:31.64]and spy on you and record that, without you knowing what is going on."
[02:37.86]Google says that it has already addressed that concern.
[02:42.35]Mr Dale explained that in order to start the camera or record a video,
[02:50.02]the owner must say something out loud.
[02:54.09]"I activate the device, and say 'Okay, glass, take a picture.'
[02:57.77]Similarly, I have a little button on the top here that I can push
[03:01.70]that will again show an explicit gesture to everybody around me
[03:05.14]that a picture is being taken and a video is being recorded."
[03:08.53]But Filmmaker Chris Barrett showed just how easy
[03:13.06]it is to record people without them knowing it.
[03:16.65]His glass captured a man getting arrested after a fight.
[03:20.99]He shared the video on YouTube.
[03:24.59]Also some are concerned about the use of
[03:28.77]facial recognition technology on Google Glass.
[03:33.01]But Google says it will not approve the use of such applications.
[03:38.29]The Internet company says it is still testing its new device,
[03:43.76]it hopes to make Google Glass available to the public by early next year.
[03:50.04]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English. I
[03:55.77]'m June Simms.