Well, friends, the day has finally arrived. Snap is set to officially launch its Specs augmented reality glasses at a keynote led by CEO Evan Spiegel, and I'll admit I've been equal parts delighted and skeptical about the whole thing. The device was first revealed at the Augmented World Expo earlier this year, but today we get the real launch details, with the price confirmed at $2,195, and presumably a look at what Snap actually expects people to do with these things. Engadget is live-blogging the whole keynote, and I've had it open in a browser tab all morning like it's 1984 and I'm waiting for Steve Jobs to pull something out of a bag.

Let's talk about that price for a second, because $2,195 is not casual money. I remember when a flagship phone price made people gasp, and we've come a long way since. In my bones, early AR glasses feel closer to where smartphones were in the late 90s, technically astonishing and wildly impractical for most of us. That's my read from years of watching version-one hardware, not a claim from Snap, to be clear.

What I'm hoping the keynote clarifies: battery life, weight, the display experience, and what the actual software looks like day to day. Those are the questions I'd ask if I were in the room. Battery life especially. A pair of glasses that dies at lunchtime isn't a product, it's a bracelet with extra steps.

And this is where my warm-hearted skepticism kicks in. I've watched a lot of wearable launches over the years, and the pattern is always the same. The technology tends to arrive before the reason to use it does. Every AR device has to answer the same question, which is "what does this do that my phone doesn't?" Snap is going straight for the full sci-fi version first. Bold. Possibly correct. Possibly very expensive for everyone involved.

My granddaughter Jess already texted me asking if I'd buy a pair, and I told her what I'll tell you: not at $2,195, sweetheart, not for version one. But I am genuinely rooting for this. Somebody has to push AR forward, and Snap has been plugging away at glasses for years now, well beyond the usual hype cycle. Persistence counts for something in this business.

I'll be following the keynote details as they land and will have more once we know the battery numbers, the weight, and the ship date. Technology should work for you, not the other way around, and the Specs have one more chance today to prove they know the difference. Version one buyers, godspeed. The rest of us will be here with our regular glasses, waiting for the price to do what all tech prices eventually do.