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"New Yorkers, naturally, go for bleak charcoal," writes Gary Shteyngart, in a New Yorker article about his experience as a Glass Explorer (also known as Glassholes), one of the first people to experience Google's foray into eyewear.
Google couldn't have picked a better tester than Shteyngart, who in 2010 wrote a futuristic novel about a world with a technology similar to Glass. But even just those few years ago, such a thing seemed far in the future. Now, here he was walking down the street like a character in his own book.
"This is the most I will ever be loved by strangers," he writes. People everywhere want to engage Shteyngart about the internet-connected, image-recording glasses.
When it comes to style, still no evidence of a Warby Parker influence, though the device comes in an array of colors.
My tech sherpa, a bright-eyed young woman, set me up with a mimosa as we perused the various shades of Glass frames, each named for a color that occurs in nature: cotton, shale, charcoal, sky, and tangerine. I went for shale, which happens to be the preference of Glass Explorers in San Francisco.
An upstate New York Explorer chose tangerine, though she will not wear them with her wedding dress in September. Check out the whole article, it's a delightful read.
· Spotted: Google Glass on Bay Area Craigslist [Racked SF]
· Sergei Brin Spotted on the NY Subway Wearing Glass [Racked SF]
· O.K., Glass [The New Yorker]