Google seeks ‘explorers’ to buy $1,500 smart glasses

Google Inc. is ready to let more people try out its Glass project, but becoming an early adopter won’t come easy or cheap.

The Silicon Valley company began taking 50-word applications on social media from users who want to become “Glass Explorers” and try out Google Glass: eyeglasses with small screens attached to give them smartphone-like capabilities.

Users who apply using the Google+ and Twitter social networks must include the hashtag ” IfIHadGlass” and explain what they’d do with the nifty gadget. If 50 words aren’t enough, Google is also letting users include up to five pictures and a 15-second video.

Unfortunately for minors and people elsewhere on the globe, users must live in the U.S. and be at least 18 to enter.

Google plans on choosing only a small number of applicants, and those who are chosen will have to pay to be “explorers.”

Google said those selected will have to cough up $1,500, plus tax, for their Glass Explorer Editions. Additionally, they must pick up the device in person in either San Francisco, New York or Los Angeles so they can “attend a special pick-up experience.”

Google said Glass will come in a variety of colors: charcoal, tangerine, shale, cotton white and sky blue. With Glass, Google said, users can record video, translate speech, send messages, take part in Google+ Hangouts and get directions.