New Google Glass Accessory Triples Battery Life

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The media buzz for Google Glass has been immense, with opinions across the board on issues including privacy, features and price. However, it seems that everyone agrees battery life is a serious challenge.

Serial inventor Kevin Alan Tussy saw incredible potential for software and accessories shortly after powering up the device for the first time, including one that more than triples Google Glass' battery life.

Said Tussy, "Google Glass is an amazing leap forward and the development team deserves a tremendous amount of credit.  There are so many great apps for Glass in the works, people are going to want to use it all the time.  But you can't use it all the time because of battery life.  I saw the need and solution as soon as the internal Glass battery died on me.  I got to work and had the design for a battery-packed retainer strap in my patent attorney's hands that same night."

Vocal bloggers have taken Google to task on the issue. "Google Glass is the future—and the future has awful battery life," quipped BGR's Zach Epstein in an article from May 1, 2013.  

One Glass user, Robert Scoble noted, "One six-minute video I did took 20 percent of the battery." 

"Battery size is unknown, but battery life is known: it's poor," said Google Explorer Tim Stevens on April 30, 2013.

Google Glass debuted in limited distribution to Google Glass Explorers, including one on Tussy's product development team.

Tussy released 3D renderings of the Google Glass accessory to the hand-selected Glass Explorers (the first and only people that have Glass at the moment) PWRglass™ last week.  View them at www.PWRglass.com.

The response to PWRglass™ among Explorers was immediate and encouraging. Comments included, "I want...NEED this. I carry a spare battery in my back pocket and run a cable up my shirt for Glass when I'm going to be out for a while and don't use Glass as much as I would want to due to battery life." Another Glass Explorer wrote, "This is awesome, where do I order?" 

"It's clear that Glass users need this solution," said Tussy. "The design also allows you to charge the PWRglass™ strap and Glass simultaneously using one USB cable. We are using Lithium-Ion batteries that are roughly the size of the AAA batteries but they hold much more power.   We are also exploring adding a memory card inside PWRglass™ for extended filming at concerts and sporting events."

The patent pending accessory is still in development and no firm date for availability has been set. 

"We plan on taking pre-orders on our website www.PWRglass.com as soon as we have a ship date," said Tussy.  "We are also exploring creating similar battery-packed retainer straps for other augmented reality headsets like the Recon Jet."

While in college, Kevin Alan Tussy co-founded www.BlueHornet.com.  The online communications company provides services to companies including TGI Fridays, Hotels.com, and Microsoft. BlueHornet sold in 2004 to Digital River, a NASDAQ company, for more than $12 million.

In 2008, Tussy and his partner started www.SeedCapital.com. The consulting firm helps small business owners arrange funding for start-ups, and has helped fund more than $250 million in credit lines for thousands of clients.

Tussy currently holds three patents, with more than 20 patents pending.

Kevin's inventions can be found in the nation's most respected retail stores and have been featured on national television, including "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," "The View" and the Discovery Channel.

In 2010, Tussy was awarded the Retailers Choice Award at the National Hardware Show.  He owns more than 500 domain names and has numerous trademarks in a wide variety of product and business categories.  He plans to continue to bring exciting products and services to market, including others for Google Glass.

For more information, visit www.PWRglass.com.

SOURCE PWRglass