Google recently announced that it would stop selling one of its most infamous products--Glass. The often ridiculed smart glasses provided users with innovative technology, such as the ability to snap pictures by blinking or send emails using voice commands. For now, Google Glass may be regarded as a failure. However, Glass is arguably ahead of its time and may go down in history as a forebearer to some amazing personal technology.

One such successor to Google Glass might come from another large tech giant far from Silicon Valley. Microsoft just announced an even more powerful piece of headgear that promises to seamlessly blend digital and physical worlds together.Microsoft has been secretly working on its own augmented reality technology for years. While projects like RoomAlive have shown that the company is interested in experimenting with augmented reality, its newly announced HoloLens hints that the company is positioning itself to dominate the next great computing experience.

By incorporating holograms, Microsoft believes it can truly blend your digital life with your physical life in ways that haven’t yet been achieved. Demos just released by the software giant show a visor that allows users to touch, see, and manipulate images and data in the air without the need for keyboards, mice, or other hardware.

What’s interesting is that Microsoft seems to have learned from Google Glass’ mistakes. One of the biggest criticisms of Glass is that the technology made bystanders feel uncomfortable. People were always suspicious of what Glass users could be recording in public spaces. This problem was so bad that Google even had to outline proper social etiquette for Glass "Explorers," indicating just how troubling this technology was to society at large.For its HoloLens demos, Microsoft took a different approach, showing how the technology can be used in the home or the office. Users aren’t seen outside or in public. In fact, the headset itself is unapologetically large; it’s not trying to be a computer masquerading as a cool fashion accessory.

Unlike Google Glass, Microsoft’s HoloLens appears to be more conceptual at this point. It’s not clear on when it will be available or how much it will cost. But when it does get into the hands of consumers, Microsoft might be able to succeed where Google has failed.Take a look and the these incredible demos and get ready for "holograms" to be the next big buzzword in tech.

[themedy_media type="youtube" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILb5ExBzHqw"]As a kid, I remember watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and being amazed by all the technology that characters like Capt. Jean-Luc Picard got to use. One of the most memorable technologies was the holodeck, a simulated reality facility where users can interact with simulated objects and people without requiring any special equipment or headgear.Today, the concept of the holodeck is one step closer to reality, thanks to researchers at Microsoft. The software giant has been quietly developing an amazing technology that brings augmented reality to any room. The company's IllumiRoom research project was first unveiled last year at the Consumer Electronics Show. More recently, Microsoft showed the latest evolution of that research in a proof-of-concept demo called RoomAlive..In a proof-of-concept demo called RoomAlive, several Kinect sensors, projectors, and depth-cameras, are harnessed to extend games to the walls around any room, creating an interactive augmented reality experience.Users can interact with digital objects displayed around the room, with the ability to shoot, hit, or move them. The technology also tracks the position of the players as well as detecting the floor, walls, and other surfaces of the room. The ability to detect players and various surfaces/objectives, allows the technology to accurately and dynamically display digital content."In the future we will explore approaches and experiences that involve multiple users and multi-user viewpoint rendering," said the RoomAlive creators. "We will also explore new ways to increase immersion with spatialized sound. RoomAlive provides a glimpse of how a scalable multi-projector system can transform any room into an immersive augmented gaming experience. Many new and exciting possibilities remain to be explored."Microsoft is clearly hoping to extend its Xbox gaming environment in the future, but for now the RoomAlive technology isn’t ready for consumers. At the moment, RoomAlive’s combination of video projectors, cameras, and Kinect sensors are too costly. However, if the technology can be had at a lower price point, and when those components become more compact, mainstream gaming consoles may finally incorporate the physical environment into games, and bring the concept of the holodeck out of science fiction and into reality.