Google has introduced a new feature to its Google Glass, which allows users to take a photo with a “wink of the eye”. Google said the feature was faster than the camera button or the voice action and works even when the display is off. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25426052
The update to Google Glass, dubbed version XE12, also adds a screen lock feature and the ability to upload and share videos on YouTube.
Technology firms have been keen to capture the wearable gadgets market, seen by many as a key growth area.
Google said the wink feature in its Glass could have various other uses in the future.
The launch of Google Glass was accompanied with concerns over its impact on privacy. The worries were triggered by its potential to gather images, video and other data about almost anything a user sees.
Some have argued that privacy will be “impossible” if Google Glass and similar products become widely used.
Analysts said the ability to take a photo by just winking an eye would make it very difficult for people being photographed to notice that someone had taken a picture of them.
“It is a remarkable progress of technology and the possibilities of innovation around it limitless,” Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
“However, it comes with new issues that we need to understand, not least the worries over security and privacy.
“There needs to be discussion about how, and in what environments, gadgets like these can be used openly,” he said.
Mr Menon added that as the technology behind these gadgets matures and companies push more for their mainstream adaption, regulations were likely to come into place “to govern their usage”.