Google Glass Can Now Add Closed Captioning to the World as It Happens

Google finally opened up its "Explorer" program earlier this year, making Glass available to anyone with $1,500 to spare, but chances are you've been seeing less of it than ever. In the year and a half since Glass' debut, smart-watches have stolen most of the wearable hype, while Google still doesn't seem to be much closer to a reasonably-priced consumer version of its banner wearable technology.

That said, Glass isn't dead yet either. Airlines, police departments, and other organizations are continuing to test Glass out for a variety of more specialized uses. And one group of researchers has now produced what could genuinely be considered a killer app for some users: captions for the world as it happens.

Called Captioning on Glass, the app, developed by Georgia Tech's Contextual Computing Group, provides real-time captions during in-person conversations.

To get around a key limitation of Glass—its built-in microphone—the team also developed a companion smartphone app that works in conjunction with the Glass app when the two are paired via Bluetooth. The idea is that you'll simply hand your phone to the person you're talking with for them to speak into, which the researchers say has the added side-effect of making people speak more clearly. They're also able to see what's being transcribed and correct mistakes as necessary.

The group that developed the app is a likely one. It's led by wearable computing pioneer Thad Starner, who now splits his time between Georgia Tech and Google, where he serves as a technical lead on Glass.

Not surprisingly, the group is also working on the next logical step after captioning: real-time translation. It will apparently rely on the same Glass/smartphone combo, which will let the person wearing Glass see what's effectively real-time subtitles, while their end of the conversation is displayed on the phone for the other person.

In a news release, Starner admits the system is "not ideal for strangers," but that they "designed the program to be used among friends, trusted acquaintances or while making purchases."

As you might expect, though, they're not the only ones working on such a system. A company founded by a group of Carnegie Mellon students is also busy working on a Glass translation system of its own. The Carnegie group has also produced a dramatic concept video showing how it could work (above).

While neither group is making any promises about when those apps will be available, Georgia Tech's Captioning app can now be downloaded for free.