The first Jewish app for Google Glass has been created.
“JewGlass” tells you via interactive headgear when Shabbat is closing in and where your local synagogues are located. And when it detects that you have arrived at shul, it also informs you about the relevant prayers and parsha.
The free app can also provide information on kosher restaurants in your area, and translate or tell you how to pronounce Hebrew passages.
JewGlass is the brainchild of New York-based web technology firm RustyBrick, whose numerous Jewish-themed iPhone apps include a Siddur, Shofar sounds and an Alef Bet teaching tool.
RustyBrick’s CEO Barry Schwartz has called the product “revolutionary”, claiming that the app will “know what you want and provide Jewish reminders throughout the day”. Mr Schwartz, 33, said he wanted the software to “be useful for every Jew” and that, to this end, there are already plans to add new features to the app, such as help with reading the Torah and choosing between different kosher foods.
Israeli technology blogger Hillel Fuld commented that Mr Schwartz has shown “awesome initiative” in producing such a cutting edge product, adding that when Jews start using Google Glass in large numbers, “this’ll be huge”.
And it seems there may be much more to come from the app, with the RustyBrick website stating: “This is just the beginning, the practical applications are endless.”
Google Glass is set to be released in 2014. A batch of £975 prototype versions was sold earlier this year.
Rabbi Dov Greenberg, director of Chabad Stanford, set up a special “Google Glass tefillin stand” on Stanford university campus earlier this year.
