PUBLISHED: . 10:32 EST, 28 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:48 EST, 1 March 2013 . Mobile phones are the fastest growing area of Google's business - yet co-founder Sergey Brin has said he thinks they are 'emasculating' users. The Google boss told a stunned audience at the TED conference in Long Beach he believed phone users were 'hunched up, looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of glass'. 'It’s kind of emasculating,' he said. 'Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?' Google co-founder Sergey Brin wearing his Google Glass computer. Today he said the experience of using a smartphone was 'emasculating' He claims the answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Google's much-publicised . Glass project, a £1,000 wearable computer set to go on sale this year. 'When we started Google 15 years ago,' Brin said, 'my vision was that information would come to you as you need it. Fears are brewing that the next . generation of wearable mobile devices, like Google's Project Glass, . could pose a serious cancer risk. The . futuristic Google gadget is practically useless unless it is connected . to the internet to deliver search results, provide turn-by-turn . directions, and upload images. To connect on its own, this would require them to be fitted with cellular radios, which emit radiation that studies have claimed could be carcinogenic. Prototypes of Glass do not have the ability to connect to mobile networks . themselves. The face-based computers can only . access the internet through a wireless Bluetooth connection to the . wearer's smart phone. That could be because the power draw . of cellular radios is so high that fitting one would require a heavy battery. But the jury is still out on claims that the frequencies they use may . be carcinogenic. Previous studies have found low-level . electromagnetic field exposure from mobiles and other transmitting . devices could cause harmful heating of tissue, male infertility and . cancer. 'You wouldn’t have to search query at all.' However, he claims the reality has proved to be very different. 'Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people? Is the future of connection just people walking around hunched up, looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of glass?' 'It’s kind of emasculating. Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?' Brin also revealed his own mobile phone addiction during the talk. 'I have a nervous tic,' he said. 'The cell phone is a nervous habit. If I smoked, I’d probably smoke instead, It’d look cooler. 'But I whip this out and look as if I have something important to do. 'It really opened my eyes to how much of my life I spent secluding myself away in email.' Brin's comments have also provoked anger online. 'We’re taking advice on cool from this guy? Seriously?' said John Gruber on the tech blog daringfireball.net. 'I can see the argument that dicking around with our phones in public is not cool, that we should pay more attention to our companions and surroundings, and less to our computer displays. 'Strapping a computer display to your face is not the answer.' Some also believe Brin simply used the wrong word. 'If only there were some kind of electronic search service that Sergey Brin could use to look up the meaning of 'emasculating',' said Duke University sociology professor Kieran Healy on twitter. Brin wears Google Glass glasses at an announcement for the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences - he is rarely pictured without them. Brin also  warned fans keen to get their hands on Glass not to trust eBay listing purporting to offer prototypes for the augmented reality spectacles. His comments came after a seller on the auction site put up what was claimed to be an early version of the gadget with a reserve of nearly $16,000. 'I would trust eBay, by the way, but not that particular post,' he said. Mr Brin also had good news for those keenly awaiting the launch of Glass, with a promise that it would be available to the public for less than $1,500 later this year. Google has revealed for the first time what wearers of its Glass computer will see. Here, a message is received and displayed on screen. Users can speak to reply . The new video reveals how Google glass could be used - including this video chat between a users holding a snake and a young child shocked by the animal . The hotly anticipated glasses allow wearers to see sat-nav directions, take pictures and reply to emails - but until last week Google had refused to show how they actually work. 'Want to see how Glass actually feels? It's surprisingly simple,' Google said. 'Say 'take a picture' to take a picture. 'Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live. Directions are right in front of you. The firm also said all of the footage was captured through Glass. Project Glass will come in five colours - black, gray, blue, red or white and have removable shades. The company is negotiating with Warby Parker, an e-commerce start-up company that sells trendy eyeglasses, to help it design more fashionable frames, according to the New York Times.
Billionaire Brin claimed that using phones was a 'nervous tic'
Accused users of 'standing around and rubbing a piece of glass'
Asked 'Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people?'
Google employees wearing the gadget in San Francisco have already been dubbed 'Glassholes'
PUBLISHED: . 10:32 EST, 28 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:48 EST, 1 March 2013 . Mobile phones are the fastest growing area of Google's business - yet co-founder Sergey Brin has said he thinks they are 'emasculating' users. The Google boss told a stunned audience at the TED conference in Long Beach he believed phone users were 'hunched up, looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of glass'. 'It’s kind of emasculating,' he said. 'Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?' Google co-founder Sergey Brin wearing his Google Glass computer. Today he said the experience of using a smartphone was 'emasculating' He claims the answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is Google's much-publicised . Glass project, a £1,000 wearable computer set to go on sale this year. 'When we started Google 15 years ago,' Brin said, 'my vision was that information would come to you as you need it. Fears are brewing that the next . generation of wearable mobile devices, like Google's Project Glass, . could pose a serious cancer risk. The . futuristic Google gadget is practically useless unless it is connected . to the internet to deliver search results, provide turn-by-turn . directions, and upload images. To connect on its own, this would require them to be fitted with cellular radios, which emit radiation that studies have claimed could be carcinogenic. Prototypes of Glass do not have the ability to connect to mobile networks . themselves. The face-based computers can only . access the internet through a wireless Bluetooth connection to the . wearer's smart phone. That could be because the power draw . of cellular radios is so high that fitting one would require a heavy battery. But the jury is still out on claims that the frequencies they use may . be carcinogenic. Previous studies have found low-level . electromagnetic field exposure from mobiles and other transmitting . devices could cause harmful heating of tissue, male infertility and . cancer. 'You wouldn’t have to search query at all.' However, he claims the reality has proved to be very different. 'Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people? Is the future of connection just people walking around hunched up, looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of glass?' 'It’s kind of emasculating. Is this what you’re meant to do with your body?' Brin also revealed his own mobile phone addiction during the talk. 'I have a nervous tic,' he said. 'The cell phone is a nervous habit. If I smoked, I’d probably smoke instead, It’d look cooler. 'But I whip this out and look as if I have something important to do. 'It really opened my eyes to how much of my life I spent secluding myself away in email.' Brin's comments have also provoked anger online. 'We’re taking advice on cool from this guy? Seriously?' said John Gruber on the tech blog daringfireball.net. 'I can see the argument that dicking around with our phones in public is not cool, that we should pay more attention to our companions and surroundings, and less to our computer displays. 'Strapping a computer display to your face is not the answer.' Some also believe Brin simply used the wrong word. 'If only there were some kind of electronic search service that Sergey Brin could use to look up the meaning of 'emasculating',' said Duke University sociology professor Kieran Healy on twitter. Brin wears Google Glass glasses at an announcement for the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences - he is rarely pictured without them. Brin also  warned fans keen to get their hands on Glass not to trust eBay listing purporting to offer prototypes for the augmented reality spectacles. His comments came after a seller on the auction site put up what was claimed to be an early version of the gadget with a reserve of nearly $16,000. 'I would trust eBay, by the way, but not that particular post,' he said. Mr Brin also had good news for those keenly awaiting the launch of Glass, with a promise that it would be available to the public for less than $1,500 later this year. Google has revealed for the first time what wearers of its Glass computer will see. Here, a message is received and displayed on screen. Users can speak to reply . The new video reveals how Google glass could be used - including this video chat between a users holding a snake and a young child shocked by the animal . The hotly anticipated glasses allow wearers to see sat-nav directions, take pictures and reply to emails - but until last week Google had refused to show how they actually work. 'Want to see how Glass actually feels? It's surprisingly simple,' Google said. 'Say 'take a picture' to take a picture. 'Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live. Directions are right in front of you. The firm also said all of the footage was captured through Glass. Project Glass will come in five colours - black, gray, blue, red or white and have removable shades. The company is negotiating with Warby Parker, an e-commerce start-up company that sells trendy eyeglasses, to help it design more fashionable frames, according to the New York Times.
featureless piece of glass'. 'It’s kind of Sergey Brin wearing his Google Glass computer. very different. 'Is this the way you’re meant to interact with other people? Is the future of looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of the talk. 'I have a nervous tic,' he said. 'The that dicking around with our phones in public is