The big hot tech news this week had something to do with a thing called Google Glass. At first the Betster thought that was Google Grass. You can search the Web just by lying on a lawn? Sweet. It turned out the Betster got that wrong, which is just as well, seeing as how in Homer if we tried to lie on a lawn all we’d get would be a cold back.
Google Glass is a set of eyeglasses with a camera and a teeny little screen that you wear. Like a smart phone, it connects to the Web. The Betster remembered reading about something like that in a William Gibson science fiction novel back in the 1990s.
The idea with Google Glass webshades is you wear them and if you see a hawk soaring over Mud Bay, you can talk to the glasses and say, “Look up hawks,” and on that little screen pops up 5,678 images of hawks.
That’s assuming the Web connection actually works. The late Sen. Ted Stevens called it “a series of tubes,” which seems about right. Sometimes like the Homer storm drain system, those tubes can get jammed to heck. That seemed to happen a lot this week. Then what are you going to do?
Well, it’s forward into the past, that’s what you do. We were doing a bit of sneaker netting this week at the Homer News — putting data on thumb drives and walking it from one computer to another. And if you need to look up a bird? Get out your bird guide, or better yet, ask one of Homer’s genius birders, who can tell you in a flash.
You don’t need webshades to find out fun stuff to do in this town, which is why you’ve got the Betster, because there’s lots going on, like these Best Bets:

BEST GET OUTSIDE: Right now the Betster is looking at sunshine and a warm day — and stuck inside at the word mines. Kids, you can get outside and play, though. Talk about getting children to spend more time outdoors at the Nature Rock Homer Winter Gathering at 3 p.m. today at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.

BEST BIG BIG READ BET: This is it. The big payoff to the Big Read when the guy whose book we’ve been reading all winter visits Homer at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mariner Theatre. Listen to Tim O’Brien talk about “The Things They Carried” and stick around for a book signing.

BEST ART CRUISE BET: Between work and the Big Read, check out some of the new art shows opening for First Friday. See the schedule, page 12.

BEST BIG CRUISE BET: Who needs pavement when you have a big fat bike? Check out ways to ride a bike — even on sand and snow — at the second annual Big Fat Bike Fest this weekend in Homer. The celebration starts with a bike movie, “Reveal the Path,” at 6 p.m. today at Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, and continues Friday and Saturday. See story, page 14.