(Image credit: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Google Glass as you know it is over. On Thursday, the Google Glass team announced on (where else?) Google+ that the product is going through a "transition" and won't be available after Jan. 19. They added that they are "continuing to build for the future."

The team said that its $1,500 first edition, the "Explorer," was an "open beta" version that was a test, NPR reports. Users were able to wear Google Glass and do everything from take photos to get directions. The product was rolled out with much fanfare in the tech community but the general public received little explanation of what it was capable of doing, and that's a problem, Forrester Research's JP Gownder told NPR. "You can't just throw some new radical technology out there without marketing and articulating a vision, or else people will make their own conclusions about it," he said. "That's led to the privacy situation they face today." The Google Glass team didn't say when version 2.0 would be available, or any future price points.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.