The Military Is About To Get New Augmented Reality Spy Glasses

schwit1 writes in with this story about some interesting new eyewear purchased by the Defense Department. Getting secret information to specific people, like the location of the nearest nuclear power plant, in a way that doesn't draw attention from outside is a classic spy problem. Another one is giving agents the ability to match names to faces in the real world, at blackjack tables and fancy soirees and other places spies frequent. The Defense Department is buying some new spy specs to give spooks in the field an intelligence edge over everybody else. The glasses, called simply the X6, are from San Francisco-based Osterhout Design Group. They look like the lovechild of Google Glass and the Oculus Rift, providing more information to the wearer than the small window on Google's much-maligned headset but not obstructing vision like the Oculus Rift. (Admittedly, for spy glasses, they lack a certain subtlety.)

Spy glasses?

[chihowa]

Augmented reality glasses sound awesome, and these look much more interesting than Google Glass, but I'm not sure spies are the market here.

From the article: "Admittedly, for spy glasses, they lack a certain subtlety." A bit of an understatement, I'd say.

Re:normally id be all for this.

[SumDog]

1984 and Brave New World were never intended to be user manuals

Re:more toys...

[epyT-R]

Yeah nice false dilemma there. Just because some good comes of it at times does not mean we should just accept the status quo of rising taxes, rising inflation, and diminishing returns. On the flip side we have:

1. bio warfare
2. nuclear weapons
3. autonomous robot weapons
4. electronic surveillance
5. speeding fines that have nothing to do with safety
6. e-waste

Now shut up and go reread the bill of rights.

the location of the nearest nuclear power plant

[brian23059]

OR you could go to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's website (www.nrc.gov) and get the street address of every the nuclear power plants in the US, then look at them on Google Earth. If that doesn't do it, go to nukeworker.com and get driving directions from the nearest airport and the recommended hotels. Nuclear power plants are BIG. We don't rely on anonymity. We rely on walls, fences, and a LOT of people with guns.