You too can broadcast your skydive via Google Glass, so long as your friend will wait on the ground and point an amplifying dish at you. Google had its stuntmen perform a second dive at the second keynote of Google I/O on Thursday and revealed a bit more of how they pulled off the livestream.
When Google's team leapt out of a blimp yesterday, the entire jump was broadcast via a Google+ Hangout using Google Glass. However, the signal from a Google Glass device, falling at terminal velocity, isn't strong enough to maintain a video stream. Google supplemented the devices by having men on the ground who were pointing dishes at the divers to ramp up the signal.
As the parachutes opened during Thursday's dive, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who was narrating from the ground, noted that one of the chutes released an apparent puff of smoke. This was to identify which of the two divers—both of whom donned Google Glass—the two dish-holders needed to point at to maintain the connection.
Google announced Wednesday that the Google Glass units would be available for preorder for developers in attendance, at $1,500 a pop. With a good feedback tailwind, the company hopes to bring the glasses to consumers by 2014.
Loading comments...
