(Photo: Patently Apple)

In the race to bring a computer to your face, Google has a clear lead, with Google Glasses expected on shelves by 2013. But if Jobesian history has taught us anything, we assumed that when iGlasses (iEyes, if they want to make it easier to discuss) comes out in, oh, let's say 2014, it will be a sleeker, more socially-adjusted affair. So we were surprised to come across a patent sketch that depicts them as anything but.

The patent, unearthed by Patently Apple, is for a future heads-up display that, "focuses on delivering Retina Display like quality," but in a smaller format. The whole thing will be powered by a battery smaller than the one in an iPhone. The US Patent Office released the application today, entitled "Display Resolution Increase with Mechanical Actuation."

But before you go shaving your head, the blog warns that this isn't a design patent--the graphic merely depicts a "generic" heads-up display. No doubt Apple will find a way to make it look "magical," before it hits stores. They're like Disney that way.

*Precogs not included.

You know when people say " . . . not until they figure out how to put computer chips in our brains"? Well this is one step closer. We would smash our iPad 2 on the floor right now if we could get our money back and spend it on this instead.

Yesterday evening, the New York Times' Nick Bilton reported that Google is planning to put its heads-up display [HUD] glasses, which "stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time," to the public by the end of the year at somewhere between $250 and $600.

The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS.

9 to 5 Google's Seth Weintraub, who first broke the news about the glasses, reported earlier that they would look something a pair of Oakley Thumps, which is  . . . unfortunate, but the future apparently comes at the price of fashion.

The Times says the glasses will have a low-res built-in camera that "will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby." The glasses aren't meant to replace your regular specs, but rather should be donned as needed. Who are we kidding, though, when won't you need an Internet overlay on the world around you?

Earlier this month, 9 to 5 Google also reported that the device boasts a peculiar-sounding way of navigating the glasses:

“The navigation system currently used is a head tilting to scroll and click. We are told it is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.”

We can't wait for all the etiquette columns about cellphone use to move onto the relative politeness of head-tilting at the dinner table.