Ambarella, Google cooperate on wearable cameras

 

 

Just in case Google's work on Glass, its wearable multimedia glasses project, doesn't have privacy advocates reacting with sufficient alarm, it's now come to light that the company is involved in another wearable computing device. This time, it's a camera aimed specifically at Google's Helpouts service, which launched last November.

In case you missed the news at the time, Google Helpouts allows users to find people knowledgeable on a wide variety of topics, and receive one-on-one assistance. Say, for example, that you want to learn to play the guitar, or bake a cake -- you simply find a Helpouts user who can assist, pay their fee (of which Google takes a cut), and then receive instruction on your topic of choice.

Of course, simply conversing wouldn't be adequate for many topics. The student needs to be able to see the instructor's examples, and the instructor must see the student's work -- or the problem they're trying to solve. That's where wearable cameras come in, and apparently semiconductor company Ambarella, which already has a low power, system-on-chip wearable camera design in its portfolio, is cooperating with Google on creating Helpouts-friendly cameras.

When (and whether) they will reach market, or for that matter whether Hangouts will catch on -- the service is currently available only on the web or on Android devices, but not on Apple's iOS -- only time will tell. But if wearable Hangouts cameras do catch on, there may be another group of devices giving privacy advocates cause for concern.

(via PMA Newsline)