Google 'Project Aura'

Google 'Project Aura' hires Amazon engineers for rebirth of Glass.

Google has reportedly hired engineers for a second tilt at a Glass-like wearable, under the name 'Project Aura'.

According to reports from Business Insider and the Wall Street Journal, Google has specifically targeted consumer electronics experts from Amazon's Lab126 for the project, which will stay as a part of Google and not become a standalone wing of the new Alphabet holding company.

Headed-up by Nest CEO Tony Fadell, and run by Ivy Ross, the project will be an attempt to turn the experimental but ultimately failed Google Glass project into something with a genuine commercial future. Though it was launched with a spectacular presentation at Google's I/O in 2012, and saw huge amounts of media coverage, hype and debate, Glass never turned into more than an oddity, and was quietly shelved earlier this year.

Described as "Google Glass and Beyond" by several of the new hires, whose LinkedIn profiles were noticed by Business Insider, the project will also apparently look to introduce concepts first drawn up for Glass into other types of products.

Reports suggest the Aura group will collaborate directly with Google's other fringe projects, including the VR-lite Cardboard group and Soli, a next 'real world gestures' interface concept. The new hires appear to include Dmitry Svetlov, a software development manager, according to the Wall Street Journal.The hires also appear to be linked to job postings Google published in May, also revealed by Business Insider, which described the Google Glass division as "a world-class team focused on the cutting edge of hardware, software and industrial design. It is charged with pioneering, developing, building and launching smart eyewear and other related products in line with Google's ambitious and visionary objectives".
Meanwhile Amazon has said it will lay off dozens of its own engineers, after the failure of its Fire phone and dulling interest in its higher-end tablets.

As for the future of Glass itself, that remains to be seen -- but Google appears committed to future experiments in the area, even if a real-world product release remains distant.