Wearable augmented-reality glasses will be available next year

Whatever you do, just don�t call them �four-eyes.�

�Project Glass� is actually a rollout of augmented-reality glasses, the latest brain child from Google�s (NASDAQ:GOOG) special projects GoogleX division, a team led by Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastion Thrun.

But don�t get confused: these �glasses� aren�t your typical specs: they have a horizontal frame that rests on a user�s nose, with a wide strip along the sides that include a computer and clear display. Think: Geordi in Star Trek: Generations without the sun glass tinting.

The glasses have a wide variety of uses, as wearers can control music, get directions, take pictures, and essentially conduct business with them in virtually the same manner one can with cell phones, iPads, or most other hardware that contains a chip. Indeed, the glasses will use the Android software that runs Android tablets and cell phones.

According toThe New York Times, the glasses will contain a camera, and audio inputs and outputs. Information and images picked up by the camera will be streamed back to Google�s servers, and back again to the user in the form of reality information. For example, users may be able to obtain historical information and data as they view or visit those sites live.

Of course, to access the information streaming though the glasses device, one needs to glance up towards the display, making their use in, say, rush hour traffic, a little difficult.

And if you still think that people talking seemingly to themselves, but who are actually carrying on conversations through plugged-in but hidden cell phones, are annoying, consider someone who is walking around hiding from or dodging around computer generated images flashing in their own virtual rear-view mirror.

All of this is still a little bit in the future, as Google�s original time frame of a February release has been pushed back, and, according to Liz Gannes in allthingsd, ! will be delayed at least until next year.

The only remaining question may be the most important: can they make them look fashionable? Only time, and the those with fashion sense, will tell.

Marc Bastow-Assistant Editor, Investorplace