Snapchat changes its name and launches Spectacles, its first product – CNET in Spanish

Spectacles, the glasses to capture snaps first-person

Snap Inc.

Snapchat never ceases to amaze.

This week, the company Snapchat announced the name change to Snap, Inc., among other reasons, because it is now dedicated to something more than your app name. In Addition, Snap Inc. announced Spectacles, their first product that consists of a few lenses with cameras that record video in first person.

The name change to Snap, Inc., said Evan Spiegel, the executive chairman, the Wall Street Journal, reflects the interest of the company to launch more services and products focused on cameras, photography and video, beyond the application Snapchat.

The first result of the new name is Spectacles, the glasses have a design similar to glasses regular, but have two video cameras, one located on each side of the glasses. According to the Journal, the cameras are capable of recording video of ten seconds maximum duration. The video starts recording when you touch the hinges on the glasses.

“we Believe that re-inventing the camera represents our biggest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate,” says Snap Inc. in your Web page.

The glasses Spectacles are connected to a smart phone to share the snaps in the user’s profile. According to the Journal, the glasses have a cost of US$ 129.99, but the distribution is limited and will begin in the fall. On its Website, Snap Inc. he says that the glasses will arrive soon.

Spiegel, 26 years, confirmed to the Journal yes, used the glasses, Spectacle in the prototype stage during an event in 2015. Media took pictures of Spiegel using the glasses, even though at that time they were unaware of the nature of the product.

The new name for the company and the announcement of Spectacles confirms what I had been speculating. Since march, reports suggested that Snapchat –as it was called, the company back then– I was working on some virtual reality goggles or augmented. More recent evidence prior to the launch was when Snapchat saw a number identifier in the Bluetooth Group, something necessary when we release a product that uses the connectivity protocol.

The launch of Spectacles comes in a time in which the successful formula of Snap Inc. was threatened with Instagram Stories, a feature of Instagram to share photos and videos with a maximum duration of 24 hours — exactly the same as the way that Snapchat works.

Spectacles will attempt to entice more users to join Snapchat, though the growth and base of current users of Snapchat because it is impressive. The social network has 150 million daily users, says the Journal, , which generated more than a billion of snaps to the day and see ten times that number in the video.

although the glasses Spectacles seem to be the next step for the maturity of Snapchat and Snap Inc., there is also the issue of privacy. The chambers of Spectacles have lights that turn on when the user is recording and so the people in front of the user to know that that is happening.

however, there is the issue of privacy, which harassed the Google Glass of the Alphabet. Users may not be aware that they are being recorded. Spectacles will have to try that do not invade the privacy of people, something that Google Glass was not able to do and at the end of business as bars and cinemas banned the entry with these glasses.