Google Glass is a pretty cool device thanks to what it can do, but from an aesthetic point of view, those bulky specs aren’t quite so easy on the eye. But that could all be about to change, if there’s any truth to the latest reports.

Google and Luxottica, the mother company of hip eyewear brands Ray-Ban and Oakley, have announced they’ll be collaborating to design, develop and distribute a new breed of eyewear for Glass.

“Luxottica has built an impressive history over the last 50 years designing, manufacturing and distributing some of the most successful and well-known brands in eyewear today,” said Google Vice President and head of Google X Astro Teller.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with them as we look to push Glass and the broader industry forward into the emerging smart eyewear market.”

The partnership will match up high-tech developers with fashion designers and eyewear professionals in order to create innovative iconic wearable devices.  Google and Luxottica will also establish a team of experts devoted to working on the design, development, tooling and engineering of Glass products that bridges the gap between high-fashion, lifestyle, and innovative technology.

“We believe that a strategic partnership with a leading player like Google is the ideal platform for developing a new way forward in our industry and answering the evolving needs of consumers on a global scale. We believe it is high time to combine the unique expertise, deep knowledge and quality of our Group with the cutting edge technology expertise of Google and give birth to a new generation of revolutionary devices,” said Andrea Guerra, Chief Executive Officer of Luxottica Group.

Details about the first collection of eyewear have not been disclosed – all we do know is that Ray-Ban and Oakley will showcase the first Glass collection, and that they’ll combine high-end technology with avant-garde design offering the best in style, quality and performance.

It’s worth noting Luxottica also owns Vogue-Eyewear, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Alain Mikli, and Arnette, and if this partnership with Google is a success, we may see Glass collections span across these brands as well.

Earlier this year, Google introduced the Titanium Collection, a set of new frames that allow prescription glass wearers to enjoy using Glass too. Though this brought interesting options for Glass Explorers, the collection wasn’t really enough to entice more people to adopt Glass once it goes public.

As the line between fashion and technology starts to fade, Google’s partnership with Luxottica may help Glass go mainstream.  The question now is, will the Ray-Ban or Oakley branded Glass be more expensive than the $1,500 price tag it currently sports? We’ll just have to wait for the first collection to find that out.

Trouble in paradise

Though the news of Google’s partnership with Luxottica could lead to renewed interest in the device, a revelation made by two researchers could turn things sour for Glass yet again.

Mike Lady and Kim Paterson are graduate researchers from California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo who just created a spyware app that hi-jacks Glass and takes photos every 10 seconds when the Glass display is turned off, with these images promptly being uploaded to a remote server. The Explorer isn’t aware that this is happening and has no clue that everything he or she sees is being livestreamed to a stranger.

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc

The app, known as Malnotes, masquerades as a note-taking software, so Explorers can easily mistake it as a harmless piece of software. Users are tricked into accepting permissions that allows the software to take photos and access the Internet.

Google’s developer terms of service for Glass specifically ban apps that take photos while the device’s display is off, but the researchers discovered that there were no security measures in place that would prevent anyone from actually doing that.

“The scary thing for us is that while it’s a policy that you can’t turn off the display when you use the camera, there’s nothing that actually prevents you from doing it,” says Paterson.

“As someone who owns Glass and wants to install more apps, I’d feel a lot better if it were simply impossible to do that. Policies don’t really protect us.”

The MyGlass app store prevents apps such as Malnote from being downloaded by Explorers, but it can easily be sideloaded onto Glass.  Malnote was successfully uploaded to Google Play but did not make it to MyGlass, as one of their professors tweeted about their app, Google noticed, and the app was quickly pulled from Google Play.

This isn’t the first time someone showed how easy it would be to hack Glass. Last year, security firm Lookout explained how Glass can be hacked by simply looking at a malicious QR code. Glass is designed to automatically scans QR codes and perform actions required by the code. But this seemingly fun and interesting feature is also a major flaw.  QR codes can be seen anywhere, and if you wanted to piss off Explorers, you can put a malicious QR code on your shirt and go to places where Explorers are known to roam free. Lookout contacted Google first before publishing their findings.

Google will need to fortify its security measures for Glass before it goes on general sale to the public. If Glass can easily be hacked, users may be faced with even greater privacy and security issues than they’re facing today.