Get your own Google Glass, just by knowing somebody who's got one

If you've been dying to get your hands on Google Glass, especially since your buddy won't shut up about his, you just might have a shot at one of your own. Google has announced (to those who already have Glass) a new invite a friend option into their Glass Explorer Program. Mind you, that's just for an invitation to buy the beta product, which still costs $1,500.

The catch is that it's an "invite a friend" not an "invite everyone you know on Facebook" program. Just one person will get that golden ticket from each Glass-wearing friend. And it just wouldn't be sporting if there weren't other caveats to boot. If you do get that invite, you'll also have to get your butt to either San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York so that Google can personally hand you your new toy. You also need to be at least 18 and a US resident.

If this all still sounds like you, get out there and start schmoozing it up with that friend of yours. A few drinks on your tab just might mean a chance to purchase a shiny new Google Glass in your future.

Google Glass battery add-on might triple its battery life

Owners of Google Glass like to talk about how amazing the mini display is, and how responsive the voice command is, even in noisy areas. But beyond these wearable computer innovations there remains the issue of practicality in terms of everyday usage. According to many Glass owners, the battery life of the device is limited, allowing for only short bursts of video recording before the device needs a full recharge. One inventor has come up with what could be the perfect solution to the device's power consumption issues.

Designed by inventor Kevin Alan Tussy, PWRGlass is an external battery pack being promoted as an add-on to Glass that would triple its battery life. And while he is only showing off a 3D rendering at this point, Tussy claims that the device will pack a 2,000mAh lithium batterie and have the ability to allow a user to charge both the add-on and Glass simultaneously via one USB cable.

Explaining the inspiration behind the product, Tussy said:

"There are so many great apps for Glass in the works, people are going to want to use it all the time. But you can't use it all the time because of battery life. I saw the need and solution as soon as the internal Glass battery died on me. I got to work and had the design for a battery-packed retainer strap in my patent attorney's hands that same night."

The inventor is also exploring another version of the device that would add more storage capacity to Glass (currently limited to only 12GB of internal storage). No price or launch date has been announced, so at this point we can only view this as a concept device, but if it becomes a reality it would almost certainly be popular among Glass users looking for a little more juice to power their life-streaming

Google Wants to Use Balloons to Cover the World in Wi-Fi

• If you go deep inside the desert or climb a mountain or find yourself in the South Pole or a remote farm or any place that can be considered 'the middle of no where', guess what? You have no internet. Well, Wired is reporting that Google wants to change all that by sending high-altitude balloons into the stratosphere to give the world Wi-Fi. Whoa.

• Because of course Google would dream something as impossible and radical as cloaking the world in balloons 60,000 feet above sea level so that the entire world can get on the Internet. It's something straight out of meetings about the future, something rooted in conversations between smart people who only ask each other "But why not?", something even Google itself admits is crazy by calling it Project Loon.

• What is Project Loon exactly? Only a plan to get hundreds and thousands of high-pressure balloons to circle the Earth and given internet to billions of people on Earth. It's part of Google's famed Google X Lab which is bringing the world Google Glass and self-driving cars. Wired reports:It is an audacious proposal, and today in Christchurch, Google is holding a press conference with New Zealand's Prime Minister to formally unveil it. Google will also stage Project Loon’s biggest trial yet: 50 testers in Christchurch within the 12-mile range of the balloons will see if they can get connected from the sky.

• How the heck will Google control the Internet giving balloons? Variable buoyancy, apparently. It means steering by tweaking altitude to find desirable wind currents. That sounds like guessing to me but Google insists it's controlled better than that. Google lets the balloons fly naturally but also will move them up or down to catch winds in the direction Google wants the balloons to travel in. The balloons will be carried by wind at altitudes twice as high as planes and "beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or faster."

• Read the whole report about the current testing of the Google Wi-Fi Balloons at Wired. Learn more about Project Loon at Google. And wonder what seemingly unsolvable problem Google wants to solve with the future with us down below. [Project Loon, Wired, Image Credit: Wired]