Google’s parent company Alphabet has acquired North, an eight-year-old, Amazon-backed developer of smart glasses progressing its “ambient computing” vision.  

Google was an early pioneer in the field of augmented reality and released its first version of smart glasses, Google Glass, back in 2012. High initial pricing and privacy concerns (the glasses contained a video camera) meant the device didn’t catch on with a wider consumer audience.  

Working behind the scenes, Google has continued to improve its smart glasses technology and said the North acquisition would help it realise its vision of “ambient computing,” where different connected devices work together. 

“We’re building towards a future where helpfulness is all around you, where all your devices just work together and technology fades into the background,” said Rick Osterloh, Google’s senior vice president in a statement. “North’s technical expertise will help as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts and ambient computing future.”