Google Now Selling Prototype Glasses

(Newser) – Google's new computerized glasses are now on sale—but only to developers attending Google's I/O conference this week. The San Francisco conference was treated to a stunning demonstration of the technology yesterday, when Google employees wearing the Internet-connected glasses skydived from a blimp above the conference building, using the devices to live-stream the jump, Ars Technica reports.

Developers who pay $1,500 for an "Explorer Edition" of the glasses will receive them early next year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin told the audience. "This is new technology and we really want you to shape it," he said. "We want to get it out into the hands of passionate people as soon as possible." A less expensive version of the glasses is expected to go on general sale in early 2014, AP reports. At the conference, Google also unveiled its $199 Nexus 7 tablet computer and the Nexus Q—a "social streaming device" designed as a rival to set-top boxes like the Apple TV.