[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 11, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1723]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GOOGLE GLASS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Holding) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share a story about Patrick 
Jackson.
  Patrick is a firefighter from North Carolina who is using new 
technologies and his programming skills in his mission to save lives. 
Patrick is using Google Glass, along with the Android and iPhone apps 
he has developed, to support firefighters on the job. The apps he has 
created encourage and increase communication between firefighters and 
emergency responders to accelerate the process of saving victims and 
putting out fires as quickly as possible.
  Although Google Glass is not yet on the market, except for Google's 
Explorer's program, it has generated a lot of buzz in the tech 
community. With Glass, people can send and view messages and emails, 
videos and pictures, and surf the net without using their hands. They 
can also ask the device for information or get directions without using 
their hands.
  Patrick's Glass app would help firefighters locate incidents and 
hydrants, and give them hands-free building layouts and the ability to 
record video from the first responders on the scene. Some departments 
that have expressed interest in this technology want to take it a step 
further, such as linking the app to a thermal imaging camera and oxygen 
masks to increase a firefighter's ability to see in smoke. Although it 
is still in its preliminary stage of development, technologies like 
Patrick's could potentially help firefighters and other emergency 
response teams do their jobs and save lives.
  Mr. Speaker, Patrick's idea is a perfect example of how technology 
betters our lives and can, ultimately, save lives. Innovation leads to 
job creation. We need to encourage more innovators like Patrick to keep 
America on top as the world's leader in innovation.

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