Google Glass is a new “virtual assistant” in the form of a headset with a built-in camera and battery. A recent FCC filing, according to TechRadar, says “Wi-Fi and Bluetooth would be used to send pictures to the screen, whilst bone-induction may be used for sound, vibrating your skull to communicate the sound into your inner ear.”

Glass displays information on a prism that can be seen by glancing upward toward the display. By simply commanding “Take a picture,” Glass will snap a photo of whatever you are looking at. It also has the capability to shooting video, streaming live video chat, providing navigation, translating and answering all kinds of questions.

There is no doubt this could enhance our lives in a variety of ways. The possibilities for apps would be limitless, and the hands-free aspect could allow us to better multitask while using the device. Glass could have the capability of getting to know you and your every need.

Convenient? Yes. Unsettling? Maybe just a bit. While radically new technology provides us with advanced capabilities, there is always the risk for setback.

Take Facebook, for example: While it allows us to stay in touch and reconnect with people, it encourages us to substitute face-to-face interaction for the online variety. Smartphones provide a world of information at our fingertips but take our attention off the world around us and direct it at a little screen.

Google’s new product is certainly revolutionary, but with its recording capabilities there is cause for privacy concerns. How will others respond knowing the tiny camera could be recording their every move? Perhaps more importantly, what happens when virtually everything we say and do can be recorded and traced by Google? The thought of people wearing Glass while driving is unnerving as well. Even though you have to glance upward to see the display, it is potentially very distracting.

With any new gadget, it’s important to look at these implications and weigh them against the advantages.

If our professors don’t allow us to be on cell phones in class, how will they respond to students wearing Glass? Or could this gadget actually benefit our learning experience? With video recording capabilities, students would have the capacity to inconspicuously record lectures, which raises questions of legality. While it is still in preliminary stages, these questions will be answered as more people start using the product.

These will be available in five different colors and will soon be compatible with prescription eye glasses. As of now, they aren’t exactly the most fashionable, but Google is partnering with eyeglass companies to design a more attractive model. While the presale developer model was priced at $1,500, the consumer model is rumored to cost around $750. Google has said it is aiming to release the product to the public by early 2014.