Google Glass Prototype Cameo on "Revenge"

Google Glass [1] just got an upgrade. And an even more advanced iteration – not this month’s hardware update that allows Glass to work with shades and prescription frames and includes a mono earbud -- that’s implanted into existing prescription glasses is already being featured in major prime-time television. The wearable tech appeared on “Resurgence,” Season 3, Episode 7 of Revenge on ABC [2], in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it way.

Given the show’s theme, it’s not surprising that the Revenge Glass wearer used the clear frames to steal cell phone passcodes, hack into other characters’ accounts, record conversations during a party and interfere in romantic relationships. But that’s not the most interesting part about this future-Glass cameo.

For starters, featuring these frames addresses a lack of Glass options for the optically challenged that have turned some potential consumers off. Showing off a more conventional image for the next generations of the device may also be a plea to an eyewear firm like Warby Parker [3] to get in on the design, an update to the approach taken by cutting to the first generation of Glass as “weird” looking in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black [4]. Finally, featuring an undetectable version of Glass subtly in prime-time television adds another controversial layer to the debate over privacy [5] that the device as we know it ignited, forcing current explorers and future users to starting thinking more concretely about software, surveillance, security and the blending of the physical and digital worlds.