Google Glass eyewear isn't dead, Eric Schmidt confirms

Google Glass won't die, despite some claims to the contrary.Sarah Tew/CNET

From CNET

Google's Glass smart eyewear might no longer be available, but it will be making a triumphant return, the search giant's executive chairman Eric Schmidt says.

Google Glass is "a big and very fundamental platform for Google," Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday. Schmidt went on to say that the company's decision to stop selling the initial version of the controversial gadget gives Google the opportunity "to make it ready for users."

Schmidt's comments are meant to blunt some suggestions that the eyewear, which allowed users to do everything from snap photos with the blink of an eye to get location-based information whenever they asked, is dead. In January, Google announced that it would no longer sell the Google Glass Explorer Edition, and moved the product from its secretive research lab Google X, where it was developed, to Google proper. Google Glass is now under the supervision of Tony Fadell, the head of the Nest home thermostat project that Google acquired last year for $3.2 billion.

The Glass eyewear, which was unveiled in 2012, was first offered to so-called "Explorers" in April 2013 who could prove they'd do something interesting and appealing with the technology. Google then started selling the smartglasses to the public in May 2014 for $1,500.

With no warning in January, Google said that it would stop offering Glass and go back to the drawing board under Fadell's supervision. The company said that it learned several things from its "Explorer" run and it's now working on improvements that would appeal to customers. Fadell, Google said at the time, would provide "direction and support." A new version of Glass could arrive later in 2015.

Suggestions that Google might kill Glass have come from concerns that it wasn't ready for prime time. While the technology itself worked fine, concerns over privacy were significant, and many critics found the devices obnoxious and intrusive. While Google called wearers "Explorers," they received the not-so-nice nickname of "glassholes" from critics -- a name that stuck and cast a sour light on the technology.

Other fault-finders included the likes of the Motion Picture Association of America, which worried that wearers could illegally record movies. The technology was banned in some theaters.

Still, the future looks bright for wearables, which is likely why Schmidt is adamant about keeping Glass in the minds of consumers. According to research firm IDC, wearable shipments -- a category that also encompasses smartwatches and fitness trackers -- will reach 100 million units by 2018, a nearly sixfold increase compared to 2014.

Google's Eric Schmidt: Steve Jobs is my hero

Google's Eric Schmidt opened up about his friendship with Steve Jobs.Getty Images

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The rivalry between Apple and Google is not for the faint of heart.

In fact, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said last week that the competition between the two companies is more "brutal" than ever, as the firms battle over mobile supremacy with their operating systems -- Google's Android and Apple's iOS.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Schmidt have also taken jabs at each other's companies recently. Cook last month criticized companies like Google for their policies concerning users' data. On Thursday, Schmidt struck back, saying Google has "always been the leader in security and encryption." As for Cook? "Someone didn't brief him correctly on Google's policies," Schmidt told CNNMoney. "It's unfortunate for him."

But despite the fierce competition, when asked on Thursday night who his heroes are -- in the tech industry and outside it -- he had one answer: "For me, it's easy. Steve Jobs," he said in a quiet, contemplative voice.

"We could all aspire to be a small percentage of Steve," he said of Apple's late co-founder. Schmidt and former Google Senior Vice President of Products Jonathan Rosenberg were speaking to a full room of about 400 people at an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley here, promoting their new book, "How Google Works."

Schmidt and Jobs met in 1993, when Schmidt was working at Sun Microsystems and Jobs was at NeXT, the computer company he founded after being ousted from Apple. Schmidt -- then Google's CEO -- was invited to join Apple's board in 2006, after conversations he and Jobs had over potential conflicts of interest, according to Schmidt and Rosenberg's book. But after mobile became such a large part of both companies' businesses -- Jobs famously vowed he'd go "thermonuclear war" over Android -- Schmidt stepped down from Apple's board, in August 2009.It's not surprising that Schmidt would feel that way about Jobs -- their old friendship has been well documented -- but the comment is nevertheless interesting given where the two companies have gone over the last several years. Apple and Google have been perennial legal opponents over patent disputes concerning their mobile operating systems. And the rivalry has taken another turn as both firms wade into smartwatches and the market for wearable devices.

In the book, Schmidt and Rosenberg describe Jobs as the quintessential "smart creative" -- an expression for someone with a combination of technical depth and creative talent.

"Exceptional people are worth hanging out with," Schmidt said on Thursday. "Because there is a good chance they are going to change the world."

Liar! Liar!

Schmidt: Not even US gov't can get at Google user data

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, left and Google Ideas Director Jared Cohen, who were interviewed at South by Southwest Interactive on Friday.

(Credit: The New Digital Age)

Although he didn't get into specifics, Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt told a packed house in Austin on Friday that the company has completed its efforts to secure user data against unauthorized access.

On the first day of the annual South by Southwest Interactive conference, Schmidt told panel moderator Stephen Levy of Wired that the solution to governmental intrusions was, "to encrypt data more."

They were joined on stage by Jared Cohen, with whom Schmidt co-authored "The New Digital Age" last year. The book examined how technology and the Internet were changing society."We are pretty sure that now that the info inside of Google is safe from prying eyes, including those of the US government," Schmidt said, who clarified that his company was still subject to the Patriot Act and "secret" US courts.

Schmidt said that he saw government intrusions, including the revelation that the National Security Agency had accessed Google user data without Google's knowledge, were no different from similar incursions by other governments.

"We were attacked by the Chinese in 2010. We were attacked by the NSA in 2013," Schmidt said.

However, that didn't mean that Schmidt saw heroism in the actions of leakers. Schmidt said he was seriously "shocked, shocked that Julian Assange leaked the transcript" of a conversation Schmidt had with him.

The issue of who gets to decide what information is available to the public was a topic of discussion, both in their book and on stage today.

While Schmidt said that Google believes in a "free and open Internet for all people, not just Americans," he was skeptical of the motives of people who leak information.

Levy anonymously cited a Google executive who told him that the biggest adversary to privacy was the US government, which Schmidt did not contest. The coming improvements to encryption technology, Schmidt said, will keep the Internet safe and open even in countries like Iran that want to "Balkanize" and create their own Internet.

They also addressed the deep split in the San Francisco Bay Area, Google's home turf, between people who work for tech companies and those who don't.

Schmidt said that he was "very worried" about the problem, but that the solution was to embrace technology.

"But there's no way to hold back the technology. We can get through [the tension] with more education, openness, entrepreneurship, [and] capitalism," he said.