May 11 (Reuters) - The science-fiction is harder to see in Google's second try at glasses with a built-in computer. A decade after the debut of Google Glass, a nubby, sci-fi-looking pair of specs that filmed what wearers saw but raised concerns about privacy and received low marks for design, the Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) unit on Wednesday previewed a yet-unnamed pair of standard-looking glasses that display translations of conversations in real time and showed no hint of a camera. The new augmented-reality pair of glasses was just one of several longer-term products Google unveiled at its annual Google I/O developer conference aimed at bridging the real world and the company's digital universe of search, Maps and other services using the latest advances in artificial intelligence. "What we're working on is technology that enables us to break down language barriers, taking years of research in Google Translate and bringing that to glasses," said Eddie Chung, a director of product management at Google, calling the capability "subtitles for the world." Selling more hardware could help Google increase profit by keeping users in its network of technology, where it does not have to split ad sales with device makers such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O)and Samsung Electronics CO (005930.KS)that help distribute its services.

As the Perseverance rover drilled into a rock on Wednesday to collect a sample from Jezero Crater on Mars, Justin Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, felt both nervous and excited. He has the honor of serving as the "sample shepherd," leading the effort from millions of miles away, but the pressure's on. "These samples not only will allow us to understand the geology of the crater, but also minerals likely related to the history of water there," he said yesterday. But first, the rover had to actually capture a chunk of rock in a test tube-sized container. An initial attempt in early August had come up empty.

Microsoft's first foray into social chat bots didn't go so well given that propensity for racist diatribes. It's giving the concept another try, however, and this time it promises to be more successful. Twitter user Tom Hounsell has noticed the existence of Zo, a Microsoft chat bot currently being tested in the messaging app Kik. Effectively, Zo looks like an English-language version of Microsoft's existing Chinese bot, Xiaoce. After briefly gauging your personality, it'll participate in conversations like an overexcited teenager. The bot is far from perfect, but that's what's testing is for, isn't it?