The future truly is here.  At CES, Recon Instruments announced the next generation of their goggles with built-in micro LCD display powered by Android.

The current Transcend model gives real‐time feedback to the wearer via a micro LCD display including speed, latitude/longitude, altitude, vertical distance travelled, total distance travelled, chrono/stopwatch mode, a run‐counter, temperature and time. It is also the only pair of goggles that boast GPS capabilities, USB charging and data transfer to the post‐processing software at Recon HQ. The Transcend ski goggles were launched in October 2010 in collaboration with high‐end optics partner Zeal Optics.

If that’s not enough for you skiers, the next generation will be modular and snap-fit into goggles from major brands such as Uvex, Alpina and Briko. It will have a wireless remote control that the wearer can use to navigate the interactive widescreen micro LCD.  It will have integrated maps, navigation and buddy tracking so you can see where you are on the mountain and where your friends are.

It will have Bluetooth smartphone and video integration: you’ll be able to listen to music transmitted from the phone, take calls, see text messages.  You can connect wirelessly to a helmet-mounted camera and see what the camera’s seeing via the screen in your goggle.

Dan Eisenhardt, CEO of Recon Instruments said, “We are proud to follow the successful launch of our first innovation, Transcend, with our next generation technology platform for the Recon‐Ready program. The market was crying out for navigational maps, buddy‐tracking, smartphone capabilities, and wireless video camera capabilities for hands‐free, safe, and fun use in alpine environments. Our answer is to revolutionize the way we use goggles and head‐mounted displays, and we are delighted to bring all these features, and more, to fruition.”

Utterly astounding.

(It would seem that Recon’s server has crashed under the load, so the picture above was borrowed from Engadget.)