Image courtesy of Google 
 
 
 
 Do you consider yourself farsighted, but also happen to be near-sighted? Google may finally have a Glass for you. 
 
 Will Oremus Will Oremus is Slate's senior technology writer. Email him at will.oremus@slate.com or follow him on Twitter. 
 
 The company this morning unveiled a new line of wearable face computers that do something the originals couldn't: correct your vision. Prescription Glass comes in four different styles—“thin,” “split,” “bold,” and "curve"—and an array of colors. Designed by the same in-house team that turned the first geeky prototypes into the somewhat-less-geeky Explorer edition, the new high-tech specs could almost pass for the latest Warby Parkers on first glance. 
 
 Advertisement 
 
 
 
 On second glance, of course, that chunky translucent prism is still there, hovering just in front of the wearer's right lens. For better or worse, Glass is still inescapably—and unapologetically—futuristic-looking. But you'll look a little less like Geordi La Forge and a little more like a standard-issue early-21st-century hipster in this incarnation, especially if you opt for the “bold” or “curve” versions. The frames will run $225, but some insurance plans will reimburse part of that cost. 
 
 The question now is whether integrating Glass—a singular noun that had always felt strange and science-fiction-y to pronounce—into a more familiar frame will persuade the public that it's more than a futuristic novelty item. Until recently Google has been at pains to present Glass as an experiment, a prototype, an exploratory project. The launch of a prescription Glass line feels like a big step toward mainstream consumerization, especially given the polished feel of the design. So far, though, the design of non-prescription Glass remains unchanged. 
 
 At a Glass Basecamp at Manhattan's Chelsea Market last week, I met with Google's lead designer for Glass, Isabelle Olsson, and tried on the new wares. Olsson met me sporting a pair of prescription Glass(-es?) on her own face, and while I noticed it immediately, the Glass itself seemed to melt into the background of the frames more quickly than I remember it doing on people wearing the non-prescription version. Or maybe I'm just getting more accustomed to seeing it. 
 
 
 
 Image courtesy of Google 
 
 
 
 The glasses themselves were surprisingly light on my face—not much heavier than my own, non-smart plastic frames. If they tilted in the direction of the Glass screen, it was hardly noticeable. The screen felt well-placed relative to the lenses, and on the whole I felt only slightly nerdier than I usually do. 
 
 
 
 I asked Olsson whether any of the criticism of the initial Glass design had influenced her thinking about how to design the prescription version. She said that while she takes customer feedback seriously, especially in the case of specific problems, she never felt a need to back off from the original design's futuristic minimalism. "It's not surprising" that there would be criticism along with praise, Olsson said. "It is something completely new. But it's also honest to the fact that it is completely new. It made a statement, and anytime you make a statement, it's polarizing. To me that's a good thing." 
 
 
 
 But, I pressed, some people say Glass makes its wearer look like some kind of cyborg. To me, that's not the worst thing in the world—after all, I write about futuristic technology for a living. But, given that Glass is intended to be a consumer device and not just a fashion item, didn't she feel any pressure to design for the least common denominator? Nope, Olsson said. "Half of what you have to do as a designer is trust your gut. If you're not comfortable doing that, then you probably shouldn't be a designer. You should be an engineer, or something else." 
 
 
 
 Image courtesy of Google 
 
 
 
 For the time being, those who want the device still have to fill out a form online and wait for Google to “invite” them to its Explorer beta-testing program (though the selection criteria are no longer particularly rigorous—if they ever were). And the cost is still an eye-popping $1,500, plus $225 for those who want the actual glasses frames. Later this year, though, the company plans to launch the product to the public at large. How low it’s able to get the price by that time will go some way toward determining whether Glass has a shot to be the next hot Christmas tech or remains largely a badge of early adoption and disposable income for the Silicon Valley set. 
 
 Asked how she expects people to react to the new designs, Olsson said, "I think people are going to be excited. Some people are going to be like, 'Duh, why didn't you do that in the first place?' But I think mostly it's really exciting for people who have been waiting for this for a long time." 
 
 ||||| Although these frames can be used if you have bad vision, they don't come that way. Google isn't about to get in the business of providing prescription lenses itself — it would rather leave that up to your optometrist. The company has partnered up with "preferred eye-care professionals" it has trained up on Glass so they can create your lenses — or you can just use your own doctor. Either way, it means an additional cost (and an additional wait), but it also makes more sense. VSP, a large healthcare provider, has said it would reimburse members for a portion of the cost of the frames and is leading up the program to train optometrists in how Glass should be fitted. 
 
 The frames will ship with basic, non-prescription lenses — and Olsson says that some people may just opt to use those rather than the headband the Glass kit ships with. That actually might make some sense: there's a balanced, less tech-centric ethos to the new frames that makes the whole setup feel a little bit less "in your face" (excuse the pun). To go along with the new frames, Google is also releasing two more sunglasses, which are a little less cyberpunk than the original. 
 
 How do they feel? Surprisingly good. I've worn glasses for nearly 20 years now and so I'm used to the feel of them, and these new frames didn't seem alien. That's in stark contrast to using Glass without the frames, which despite Google's best efforts always felt a little weird on my ears and nose. Then again, the battery pack was still enough to give me a "wonky ear" that stuck out a bit a la Stephen Colbert. That's the price you pay for living in the future. 
 
 Will these new frames make Glass more socially acceptable, or at least make it seem less oddly futuristic? That's hard to say — there's no getting around the fact that you have a camera strapped to your head, but at least it's attached to a piece of wearable technology that's been around for hundreds of years instead of a half-dozen months. To my eyes — both wearing them and looking at them — they look better. But make no mistake, this is still Google Glass, and you're still likely to get into some awkward conversations. 
 
 Olsson is pretty relaxed when the weirdness of Glass comes up — it's obviously the most common question she has to face when talking about the product. "It's interesting to see the parallels with headphones," she says. "The fact that people walk around with these huge headphones is kind of crazy, in a way. But now you don't think about it as technology, you think about it as something that delivers music to you." 
 
 Google Glass may never be invisible, but can it become normal? 
 
 Headphones (and glasses and watches and all manner of other "wearable" technology) crossed that chasm of weirdness, but Glass has a long way to go before it seems normal. Google's new prescription frames won't change that — but they will give more people a chance to try. ||||| Though Google Glass's main appeal lies in the camera and the smart circuitry located above the right eye, at the end of the day smartglasses are still glasses, and users would like to have options when it comes to frames and lenses. 
 
 Well, now they do. Google has announced the Titanium Collection for Google Glass, with four new extra-light titanium frames as well as two new styles of twist-on shades. 
 
 "014/01/21/sex-with-glass" is not a valid see-also reference 
 
 The new frame styles, which functions pretty much as your regular prescription frames, are named Split, Thin, Bold and Curve. Twist on shades are now available in a total of three varieties: Edge, Classic and Active. And even if you're not entirely satisfied with the choice, worry not: Google claims more styles will be coming. 
 
 The new styles will be available to Explorers (users who've participated in the Google Glass beta program) as a $225 upgrade option Tuesday afternoon. Qualified users who need prescription lenses and have vision insurance from VSP can get subsidized frames and lenses.
– The Verge sums it up thusly: "Google Glass just got a lot less geeky." That's due to today's announcement of the Titanium Collection for Google Glass, a fashion-forward collection of four extra-light titanium frames that will offer an option to those with bad vision—or those who don't want to use the standard headband Glass ships with. Mashable reports that the new frame styles (named Split, Thin, Bold, and Curve) are available to those in the Google Glass beta program for $225 (on top of the $1,499 they paid for Glass, of course). The frames are filled with basic, non-prescription lenses, but the Verge reports Google has teamed with "preferred eye-care professionals" with the know-how to create prescription lenses. (Healthcare provider VSP will even foot a portion of the frame's cost.) At Slate, Will Oremus writes that the frames introduce an interesting question: Will they "persuade the public that [Glass is] more than a futuristic novelty item"? Glass has, to date, been presented "as an experiment, a prototype, an exploratory project. The launch of a prescription Glass line feels like a big step toward mainstream consumerization, especially given the polished feel of the design."