Wearable computer gives eye to Internet

Lotus W. Lu wears eyeglasses containing a tiny computer. She spins a tiny crystalline component at the edge of the lens with her fingers. Behind the sleek futuristic silver frames, her eyes dance as data streams into her mind. Lu, of the California Association of Realtors, tested a Google Glasses prototype during the National Association of Real Estate Editors' 47th annual Real Estate Journalism Conference, taking place in downtown Atlanta this week. Top real estate journalists from around the country are participating in panel discussions and networking sessions and gathering information from industry professionals along with checking out Atlanta sites such as Atlantic Station and Serenbe. The Google Glasses prototype Lu was exploring contained an app from the real estate data company Trulia. The app, developed by Trulia engineer Jeff McConathy, provides information such as houses listed for sale. The data is viewed by the wearer of the glasses when he or she activates the small computer console. McConathy said the Google Glasses for which he designed the app was one of the very first of 2,000 prototypes of the device. Google, the iconic Internet search company, is developing the wearable computer, perhaps the next new technology for Internet use. At present, it contains one single lens with a tiny cube in the corner through which information flows. Along with the diversion into cyberspace's future, the conference, with the theme of "Designs of the New Urban Grid," is mainly focused on what's coming up with real land and its development. On Wednesday, an informed panel examined a topic with special relevance to Atlanta "The Workplace Debate: Downtown vs. Suburbs." Panelists John McColl of Cousins Properties, David Kitchens of Cooper Carry, Robert Bach of Newmarket Grubb Knight Frank and David Demarest of Jones Lang LaSalle reached a consensus that today's young "millennial" workers want to live in the inner city, with access to public transportation, restaurants, shopping and entertainment. While urban problems like crime and poverty encroach into suburbs, downtown areas are thriving. A flashlight was shown on Atlanta's age old traffic problem when McColl disclosed that Piedmont Road's congestion, especially at rush hour, resulted in poor retail results along Piedmont at Cousins' Terminus development. Cousins when developing Terminus had expected a strong retail sector along Piedmont, but traffic patterns thwarted those hopes. When asked to elaborate, McColl cited Piedmont's "six lanes of traffic." Joining in, Demerast said "that street is just not a pedestrian corridor." Piedmont Road is "designed for the car," Kitchens added. In a follow up after the panel, McColl said. "If we had of passed TSPLOST, we would have had a great street."