With all the hype and interest in wearables these past few months, you'd think more companies would be looking to compete with Google's Glass headset, but up until now that hasn't really been the case. Sony teased an alternative to Google's gear in the form of a SmartEyeglass prototype first shown off at CES 2014, which aims to be as versatile as Glass while bettering it in some respects as well. The rather awkward-looking SmartEyeglass is peppered with sensors — there's an accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass, ambient light sensor, and a 3-megapixel camera — and comes with a wire connecting it to an external battery pack equipped with an extra touch sensor and microphone.

Sony is releasing the software development kit for SmartEyeglass today and promises to have hardware kits available for developers to buy by the end of March. Other than the battery setup, the key difference between this heads-up display and Glass is that Sony uses a green monochrome display to overlay information atop the user's general view. SmartEyeglass will work in sync with compatible Android handsets to provide the wearer with notifications and other useful information like navigation directions. The Japanese company is now keen to recruit augmented reality devs who can start to provide SmartEyeglass with more and better functionality as it looks to progress beyond the concept stage.