Coming Soon: Amazon's First Wearable

Amazon has set to work on its first wearable device. With help from Google Glass founder Babak Parviz, whom Amazon hired in 2014, the company is developing smart glasses equipped with the Alexa voice assistant, reports the Financial Times. The glasses will reportedly look pretty normal, without a visible screen or camera draining the battery as with Google Glass. Amazon's glasses, however, will let users give Alexa a command from anywhere at any time, rather than when in range of Amazon's Echo devices, without having to open the smartphone app, reports Engadget. Users will hear from Alexa through bone-conduction technology, so there will be no need for speakers or earphones.

Like with other wearables, there could be privacy concerns if Alexa is always listening, but at this stage, it isn't clear if Alexa will be summoned by voice or touch, reports TechCrunch. FT calls the wearable an "unexpected and riskier move" than Amazon's other tech devices, but it's only one new product the company has in store. Amazon is also working on a home security camera that will connect to Echo devices. One or both new devices could be out by the end of the year, sources tell FT. Companies including Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook are working on more advanced "augmented reality" glasses, but these are expected to take longer to reach the market. (Google Glass is making a splash in factories.)