What Google Glass got right — and really, really wrong

Google didn’t invent the concept of smart glasses, but it did help make them mainstream. In retrospect, 13 years after their launch, this is both a good and bad thing. Glass made a lot of people dream about new ways to use computers without staring down at screens all day. Glass also made a lot of people realize just how bad it might feel to have a world full of face computers. Which is more predictive: Glass, or Glassholes? And can you even have one without the other?

For this episode of Version History, we go back in time and tell the story of Google Glass. David Pierce, Victoria Song, and tech journalist David Imel trace the product’s beginnings in a moonshot lab in Mountain View, through their incredible cultural impact, the absolutely immediate backlash, and ultimately their surprisingly quick death. Well, not exactly death. Glass didn’t go away when you might think… and it’s already sort of back.

This is the first episode of season two of Version History. You might notice we’ve made a few changes, most of it based on your feedback. We have a new set of Version History Questions, more clear criteria for the Hall of Fame, and we’re featuring your stories and questions wherever we can. Thanks to everyone who has watched and listened and sent feedback already — let us know what you think of the changes!

If you want to subscribe to Version History, there are two ways to get every episode as soon as it drops:

And if you want to catch up on some of the most important moments in the history of Glass, here are some links to get you started: