Although Google has consistently made noises to suggest otherwise, it has been widely reported for much of the last year that the Google Glass project has been shelved - at the very least postponed.

Now it seems that is in part true, with reports today that the name itself is no more. Google might be working on a next generation pair of augmented reality specs, but it won't be calling them Google Glass.

Instead, it seems that the company has adopted the codename Project Aura for its next dabble in that field. It has been spotted hiring engineers and software developers for the initiative.

It is also thought that the Project Aura team could work on other wearable concepts too, and at least one of the new team comes from Amazon where he worked on Fire TV and the Amazon Echo. Maybe the Project Aura team will even expand beyond AR and wearables.

With the team and new initiative only just being formed - which will still work under the Google brand for now, not as part of another Alphabet offshoot - it is unlikely we'll see a successor to Google Glass anytime soon.

In that, it really does seem that the forward thinking but ultimately flawed technology concept has passed away.