Get ready for Amazon Glass: Firm hires the man behind Google's controversial eyewear and its smart contact lens

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Babak Parviz announced his employment change on Google+
Worked on Glass and smart lens to measure diabetic's glucose levels
Believed to be working on similar projects at Amazon

By Mark Prigg

Published: 15:08 EST, 14 July 2014 | Updated: 16:20 EST, 14 July 2014

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Amazon has poached the man behind Google Glass and the firms smart contact lenses.

The firm is believed to be developing its own interactive eyewear.

He broke the news on his Google+ page, saying: 'Status: Super Excited', alongside an Amazon logo.

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Babak Parviz designed the optics in google glass and the firm';s smart contact lens - and is now moving to Amazon to work on a secret project

GOOGLE'S SMART LENS

Google's smart contact lens can measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material.

Prototypes generate a reading once per second.

Google is also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds.

Parviz worked in Google's secretive 'X' lab, where he worked on both glass and a smart contact lens to measure glucose levels in diabetics.

He previously worked as an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, and worked at Microsoft of a smart contact lens system.

He updated his Google+ profile late last night to reflect the move.

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'I founded and led a few efforts at Google (among them, Google Glass and Google Contact Lenses are public so far :) prior to moving to Amazon and work on a few other things now...'

He stopped working on the Glass team in December last year.

'After founding, building, and running the Google Glass team for nearly 40 months, I stepped down this year,' he said at the time.

'It was an amazing ride and it gave me the opportunity to work with some really wonderful people.

'Together, we made a radically new piece of technology real and possibly started a new platform in computing and communication!'

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Amazon Fire Phone. The handset has a 4.7-inch display with 720p HD resolution, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and six individual camera modules to make the 3D effect work.

The move comes after Amazon recently revealed its first smartphone, the Fire.

The Fire will use head-tracking technology to make images on the smartphone's display appear to be 3D with a feature called 'dynamic perspective'.

'There is always more to see by changing your perspective,' Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said at its introduction.

Dr. Babak Parviz has joined amazon in a high profile move that has sparked rumours the firm it developing a smart contact lens

'What if there were a thousand artists standing by to redraw the picture every time you moved your head?'

Apps using the new feature includes a Maps app that lets users see around buildings.

Users can also tilt the phone to 'look around' an on screen map.

A SHOPAHOLICS BEST FRIEND - AMAZON'S NEW FIREFLY APP

Amazon also announced that the Fire Phone will come with a new app called Firefly.

This uses the camera and visual recognition to identify objects ranging from books to CDs as well as listen to music before looking for it on Amazon.

The feature will also recognise phone numbers and web addresses, as well as TV shows.

Amazon claims it can recognise 100 million items in less than one second.

Once an item is recognised, it can automatically take users to the corresponding Amazon page so they can buy it.

The app is triggered by holding the same button that serves as a shortcut to the Fire Phone's camera.

The handset has a 4.7-inch display with 720p HD resolution, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and six individual camera modules to make the 3D effect work.

It will run a highly customized version of Google’s Android operating system similar to the one seen on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets, and come with special tangle-free headphones.

Apps available at launch include Netflix, HBO Go, Hulu Plus and ESPN.

It also boasts a Gorilla Glass 3 screen with a rubber frame, and aluminum buttons.

Users will also have unlimited photo storage via the Amazon Cloud, and syncing with the company's recently launched Fire TV set-top box so you can send media to your TV.