How I Got Accepted To Google Glass

I am one of the 8,000 people to be accepted into the early Google Glass explorer program. Although, I am told those who applied to the earlier version of Google Glass Explorer program have not heard back from Google about when they will receive their Google Glass. But, those who completed the Google Glass Explorer contest from a month ago are now being told they will hear within a few weeks where and when they can pick up their Google Glass.

How did I get approved to receive Google Glass?

It started with reading the how to get one, which is now closed, but Google will open it up again in the future. The terms required you to be at least 18 years old and live in the U.S. You must also be able to travel to Google’s New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles office to pick up the Glass in person — Google will not mail them to you. Then, you needed to follow Project Glass on Google+ or Twitter and submit what you would do if you had Glass using the hashtag #ifihadglass.

So, I did that myself on February 20, 2013 via Google+. My proposal was to develop Jewish related software to use technology in an integrated way into Jewish life. I wrote to Google the following message followed by a photo demonstrating what I had in mind:

Jewish law is integrated into Jewish life. Google Glass can help in so many ways to observe the Jewish law. Utilizing Google Glass as an integrated tool for an observant Jew can help in so many ways. Here are some ideas:

Google then notified me this morning at 2:24AM EDT that I was accepted into the Google Glass Explorer program. They sent me a message on my original proposal that read:

Hi Barry, thanks for applying! We’d like to invite you to join our #glassexplorers program. We’ll be sending you a private message with more details in the coming weeks — keep an eye on our stream at Project Glass.

While I submitted a more technical idea on how, as a developer, I would build apps to use with Google Glass, many have submitted how they would use Google Glass as normal consumers (not developers), and they were approved, as well. So, you didn’t have to be a developer to be accepted.

So now, I await a “private message with more details in the coming weeks” from Project Glass over Google+ on next steps.

I expect Google to schedule a date and time for me to come into Google’s NYC office. At the Google office, I expect them to have a half-day session on what is Google Glass, how to use them and then have them fitted on the Google Glass Explorers and get them going on their way with Google Glass.

I hope to be able to share my experience with you all about getting my own pair of Google Glass and how I use it in my daily life. So stay tuned!

Related Stories:

• Google Glass Expands “Explorer” Program Allowing Preorders
• Meet Project Glass: Google’s Siri For Your Eyes
• Google Glass Gets Its First Developer Hackathon At Glass Foundry Event
• Google Accepting Pre-Orders For Google Glass Explorer Edition For $1,500