This article was published on September 9, 2013

Zapier helps you get the most of Google Glass by integrating with more than 200 Web services


Zapier helps you get the most of Google Glass by integrating with more than 200 Web services

If you’re one of the few lucky (and rich) people to be on-board with Google Glass, you may be happy with the handful of official apps available on the fledgling platform. But then again, you’d probably like more.

Though there is a slew of cool and quirky third-party apps available for Google Glass, most of the big-brand digital companies have yet to embrace Google’s connected specs because, well, not many people are using them. However, for those that are already walking the streets yelling instructions into thin air, the good folks at Zapier are looking to help.

Much like IFTTT, Zapier is a service designed to sync data between Web apps through pre-established triggers and actions. Why? So you can automate tasks between online services without having to wait for developers to roll-out integrations themselves. And last week, the company switched on its own integration with Google Glass.

How it could work

With a Zapier-connected Google Glass, you can receive notifications if you’re mentioned in Hipchat or Campfire, or even save photos directly to Dropbox and other services. So whenever a photo is shared with the ‘Zap’ on Glass, it can automatically be uploaded to a compatible cloud storage service. Heck, you can even post an update to Buffer with the ‘Post an Update’ voice command.

Here’s a demo video showing how to set it all up:

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The integration came about after Zapier co-founder Mike Knoop was invited into the Glass Explorer program a couple of months ago, and he has been wearing the device day-in, day-out since. He explains:

“…this has given me a unique perspective on how Glass works, what it is useful for right now, and what it could be useful for in the future.

Before today, there were a dozen first-party apps supported by Glass. Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Path, New York Times, and a few others.

Frustratingly, many of the first-party apps don’t take full advantage of Glass. For example, the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ apps allow you to post updates and photos to these services but there is no way to consume their content on the device. And with Gmail, you can only consume email or send from a single Gmail account.”

The Glass Explorer program was set up by Google for early adopters, including developers and consumers, to test the technology and gauge how it could be used. So if you’re one of them and want to tap Zapier, you can create a Zapier account now.

Zapier currently integrates with 238 Web services, from eBay through to Foursquare. The use cases from a Google Glass perspective are restricted only by those in Zapier’s trigger/action model, and by your own imagination.

Crucially though, this opens up Google Glass to non-developers, and should hopefully herald some interesting developments.

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