Remember Google Glass? It just got its first update in 3 years. Seriously.
If you still have Google Glass lying around somewhere, it's time to dust it off and plug it in: Google just pushed out its first update to the device in two and a half years.
The update is honestly barely worthy of the noun—one of the two bullet points in the X23 release notes is the rote "bug fixes and performance improvements" that's part of any software update. But Google did include another change in the update: it enhanced the device's Bluetooth capabilities, allowing Glass to pair with external mice and keyboards.
Outside of Google developer conferences, Glass doesn't make many public appearances. As a former "Glass Explorer" (Google's formal name for those who bought the $1,500 Explorer Edition, which was discontinued in January 2015), I occasionally don the headset when I want to take hands-free pics of my kids, but for the most part it stays in its case. History has placed Glass somewhere between punch line and cautionary tale on the continuum of wearable technology, and Google owned up to its mistakes in its approach to Glass back in 2015.
It's not clear why Google decided to release an update to Glass now (the last update was in October 2014), but for the people still using the device, it's comforting to know Glass hasn't been completely forgotten.
Topics Google
Pete Pachal was Mashable’s Tech Editor and had been at the company from 2011 to 2019. He covered the technology industry, from self-driving cars to self-destructing smartphones.Pete has covered consumer technology in print and online for more than a decade. Originally from Edmonton, Canada, Pete first uploaded himself into technology journalism at Sound & Vision magazine in 1999. Pete also served as Technology Editor at Syfy, creating the channel's technology site, DVICE (now Blastr), out of some rusty HTML code and a decompiled coat hanger. He then moved on to PCMag, where he served as the site's News Director.Pete has been featured on Fox News, the Today Show, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC and CBC.Pete holds degrees in journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax and engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. His favorite Doctor Who monsters are the Cybermen.
