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Lab126

Google Glass Project Aura
Wearable Technology

Google Glass Becomes Part Of New ‘Project Aura’ Initiative

Google Glass Project Aura

Google Glass has had a tough life. Besides having limited usability, public sentiment was never great towards the device, and became downright seething after people began wearing them in public. Google realized the uphill battle it was facing and pulled the consumer version from the market. Regrouping, it placed Nest CEO (and former Apple designer) Tony Fadell in charge of developing a new version of the device. But when Google reorganized into Alphabet and spun Nest into its own division, there was a large question regarding the current status of Google Glass and whether Fadell would still be involved.

Thanks to Business Insider, things are beginning to clear up regarding Google Glass. It seems that Glass has been transformed into a new wearable initiative titled ‘Project Aura.’ The new group consists of Glass team members and a number of designers and engineers recently let go from Amazon’s secretive Lab126 hardware development group (perhaps answering our own questions regarding the future of Amazon’s wearable device that the company alluded to last year). ‘Project Aura’ will continue to be housed under the Google umbrella, along with the  

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Amazon lab126 Wearable Restructuring Layoffs
Business

Amazon Shelves Products, And Maybe Wearable, Amid Layoffs

Amazon lab126 Wearable Restructuring Layoffs

Last year we covered news that Amazon was thinking of entering the wearables space. The future of that mysterious, unannounced product is now in question following layoffs and restructuring at Amazon’s Silicon Valley hardware development center, lab126. Despite the recent successes of Dash (the WiFi connected reorder button) and Echo (a connected speaker with virtual assistant), the complete failure of the Fire Phone hit the company hard. In Q3, 2014 Amazon took a $170 million charge on inventory and supplier commitments, disclosing that the company was sitting on $83 million of Fire Phone inventory. Largely in reaction to that massive failure, for the first time Amazon is laying off employees at lab126.

The layoff are part of a restructuring effort resulting in large number of projects being shelved. Some of the canceled projects have leaked to the press and include  

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Wearable Technology

Amazon Explores Entering Wearable Device Market

Amazon Lab126 WearableAmazon is increasing the headcount at its top secret hardware development facility, Lab126, by at least 27% as it explores releasing wearable and connected home devices. According to Reuters, Amazon disclosed the information in a little-known government document. The personnel increase at the Lab126 devision, where the Kindle e-reader and Fire tablet were developed, is planned to take place over the next 5 years. Despite the lukewarm reception to the Amazon Fire phone, which recently saw a $200 price drop, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, continues to believe that connected hardware is key to the company’s long term success. He believes such products are necessary to help provide customers seamless access to Amazon’s merchandise and services. With the Fire phone taking 4 years to develop, it is unlikely we will be seeing any Amazon wearables in the immediate future, but it provides an interesting roadmap of what Lab126 feels are important technologies to explore. As of the end of 2013, the division had almost 3,000 full-time employees.

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