Gazing through their Google Glass lenses, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have their sights set on more distant horizons: hot air balloons that carry internet connections to the remotest parts of the world; cars that drive themselves; humanoid robots; and, more prosaically, internet-connected home appliances like fire alarms. Google's U-turn on its first major hardware venture has not dimmed its desire to achieve a breakthrough on other projects.
Google X, the secretive advance research group run by former military scientist Regina Dugan and originally housed within Motorola, will remain with Google. Here, according to Astro Teller, the lab's imaginatively titled Captain of Moonshots, the mission is to find "science-fiction-sounding solutions". Dugan's teams are developing digital tattoos that function as identity tags, contact lenses that monitor glucose levels, and software and sensors that will enable cars to drive themselves.
