Twitter, Facebook, Ebay to develop Google Glass apps

Google has announced a range of apps in development for its Glass headset, including social networks Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr and ecommerce website Ebay.

Google Glass, an eyeglass frame with a small panel over the left eye, searches the web, records video, and can relay email messages to the user.

The addition of major social networks and the facility to buy products via Ebay significantly broadens the appeal of the product beyond a small core of Silicon Valley acolytes.

News alerts from the CNN television network, fashion features from women's magazine Elle and reminders from Evernote complete the first wave of apps.

Previously the New York Times newspaper and messaging service Path were the only known apps in development for Glass.

App developers have limited access to Glass users’ data and cannot include advertisements, the New York Times suggests.

The Times report claims Glass developers are told: "Keep it short and sweet for the small screen, make sure alerts are relevant, send timely information people need on the go and make tasks easier and more seamless than they are on other devices."

Some of eBay's existing mobile apps already let shoppers point smart phone cameras at products to check online prices and buy related items. The price-checking capabilities have sparked a new trend in retail known as show-rooming, the practice of looking at items in physical stores and then buying them online.