Google I/O Developer Conference: 11 New Apps For Google Glass

More Options For Glassware

The night before its annual Google I/O Developer Conference, Google put the spotlight on 11 popular apps that will be available on Google Glass. The apps are expanding the Glassware offerings for the one-of-a-kind product and follow the May release of travels apps for Google Glass.

As the app ecosystem of the hardware expands, its popularity grows as well. Google Glass is slated to be released to the open market later this year, and is currently available as a prototype version in the U.K. and in the U.S.

Duolingo

Be prepared to see Google Glass wearers trying to speak foreign languages.

Duolingo, the language-learning app, is hitting the MyGlass store. The app offers free foreign-language courses and text translation. Duolingo launched in 2011, has more than 25 million users, and was awarded iPhone App of the Year in 2013 by Apple.

The educational software offers Latin, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, courses for English speakers and English for people who speak a number of other languages.

The app already is available online and for iOS and Android.

Runtastic

A mobile app that combines fitness and social networking, Runtastic guides users through workouts and charts progress. Users can track distance, time, pace and calorie consumption. It is available in 18 languages.

Users also can set up training logs, which they can share online, get data analysis, and compare data with friends or other users. The app, which was created by developers in Austria in 2009, has had more than 60 million downloads and is compatible with iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and now Google Glass.

94Fifty Basketball

Another health- and fitness-related app coming to Google Glass.

94Fifty Basketball helps users better their basketball skills. Users use the app with the 94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball as the app measures muscle memory, learns strengths and weaknesses of the user, offers dribbling and shooting exercises while charting the number of dribbles and shots, and also adapts to a player's skill level. The app gives instant visual and audio feedback so a player can adjust mechanics.

The app was created by Infomotion Sports Technologies, which was founded in 2008.

The Guardian

Already on iOS and Android, the Guardian app is a news app to keep users up to date with the latest news headlines and live sports scores through the publications The Guardian and The Observer. The Guardian was founded in 1999 and was the most popular U.K. newspaper website in 2013 with 8.2 million unique visitors per month.

The app, which was created in 2009, offers full content to the Guardian's journalism offerings including articles, videos, comment sections and Web-exclusive content.

GuidiGo

Founded in 2011, GuidiGo is a New York-based Web publishing platform that delivers guided tours by acting as a digital tour guide. GuidiGo has partnered with a number of museums to offer virtual tours for Google Glass. The tourist app has put together a database of guided tours made by curators and local guides. Following an integrated map, users can see a new area at their own pace. Once the user has made it to the next destination on the map, information on that destination will appear in video, audio and imaging formats.

Zombies, Run

Zombies, Run is a video game launched in 2012 for fitness buffs and zombie lovers. Players in the game act as the character who is -- you guessed it -- outrunning zombies. The app records distance, pace, time, and calories burned of the players and gives different missions after each level is completed, making for a unique fitness app.

The app currently runs on iOS, Android and Windows Phone and was the top-grossing health and fitness Apple App Store in February 2012.

Look forward to some Google Glass users running around your neighborhood pretending zombies are after them.

Star Chart

The educational app with 12-million-plus users is coming to Google Glass. Widely considered one of the best astronomy apps, Start Chart will use the camera on Google Glass to look at the stars in the night sky, drawing connecting lines to create constellations. While showing constellations, it also shows the names of each one. The app can accurately depict approximately 120,000 stars.

Star Chart, created by Feel Great Publishing, also displays an accurate 3-D simulation of the universe even when it isn't a clear night sky, and even during the day.

Shazam

The popular app from Shazam Entertainment tells users the name of a song that's being played and whom it is by. Shazam uses a device's built-in microphone to gather a short sample of music being played and compares it to a database for a match.

It is currently supported by Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Nokia smartphones and Sony Ericsson phones. In 2012, the London-based company said it has more than 250 million users, and more than 2 million active users each week.

Goal.com

An app to keep tabs on the FIFA World Cup, Goal.com pushes notifications and alerts about games and goals to the user, and also alerts the user of articles of interest.

Goal.com is branded as the top soccer news website, and its app has more than 3 million downloads across iOS and Android platforms. It can be customized to give alerts on stories, games and scores regarding favorite teams. The app also offers video content so users don't miss a goal or highlights from their favorite teams.

Livestream

Livestream is an HD video app that allows users to view, record and broadcast video content using a device's camera. Created in 2007, the New York-based company's Glassware will allow users to stream to social networks and view messages from viewers. The app features live events in music, news, sports, education and more.

More than 75,000 new events are streamed each month and the app can be customized to send users push notifications of events or topics of interest to them.

musiXmatch

Get ready for Google Glass wearers singing along to every word of songs you can't hear. With musiXmatch, lyrics to songs appear on the display in sync with music being played by a device, similar to a karaoke machine.

The app is offered on Android, iOS and Windows Phone and brings users a searchable database of more than 7.5 million song lyrics in 38 different languages. The app, created in 2010 by Italian developers, raised more than $8.1 million in funding between 2010 and 2013. musiXmatch has 20 million-plus users across platforms and was dubbed the Best App of 2013 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.