<text>  It was seen as one Googles highest profile failures, and forced the firm stop selling itsprototype wearable computer in a pair of glasses. However, Google boss Eric Schmidt has confirmed that in fact the project is still going strong - and remains a big and very fundamental platform for Google. Schmidt told The Wall Street Journal that it has been put under the control of Tony Fadell to make it ready for users. Scroll down for video . Google boss Eric Schmidt has confirmed that in fact the project is still going strong - and remains a big and very fundamental platform for Google. Google dubbed the first set of several thousand Glass users . as Explorers. But, as the Explorers hit the streets, they drew . stares and jokes. Some people viewed the device, capable of . surreptitious video recording, as an obnoxious privacy . intrusion, deriding the once-proud Explorers as Glassholes. It looks super nerdy, said Shevetank Shah, a Washington, . DC-based consultant, whose Google Glass now gathers dust in a . drawer. Im a card carrying nerd, but this was one card too . many. Google stopped selling the first version of Glass and shut its Explorer program in January, moving the project out of its Google X research lab into a standalone unit. Ivy Ross remained head of the Glass team but Tony Fadell, head of Googles Nest connected home division, now oversees strategy for the project. Cources claim Fadell wants to redesign the headset from scratch and wont release it until its perfect. It is a big and very fundamental platform for Google, Schmidt told the WSJ. We ended the Explorer program and the press conflated this into us canceling the whole project, which isnt true. Google is about taking risks and theres nothing about adjusting Glass that suggests were ending it. He said Glass, like Googles self-driving car, is a long-term project. Thats like saying the self-driving car is a disappointment because its not driving me around now, he said. These things take time. Sources claim Glass new boss Tony Fadell pictured wants to redesign the Google headset from scratch and wont release it until its complete. One unnamed source told the New York Times that Mr Fadell is a product guy and hes not going to release something until its perfect The firm brought in Tony Fadell from Nest - a home automation company Google bought in 2014 - to lead the team, replacing previous boss Ivy Ross. Ms Ross still works on the project and runs day-to-day operations. In a statement in January, Mr Fadell said: Early Glass efforts have broken ground and allowed us to learn whats important to consumers and enterprises alike. Im excited to be working with Ivy to provide direction and support as she leads the team and we work together to integrate those learnings into future products. An unnamed source added Mr Fadell is a product guy and hes not going to release something until its perfect. The previous Google Glass headset was launched in a beta version under the firms Explorer programme. This programme gave software developers the chance to buy Glass for 1,500 990, and was launched in the US in 2013, and the UK last summer. Google announced it was killing off the current version of its Glass headset pictured last month. It didnt abandon the project entirely, though, and promised to develop smart glasses under a different guise . Google Glass headset was launched in a beta version under the firms Explorer programme. This programme gave developers the chance to buy Glass pictured for 1,500 990, and launched in the US in 2013 . The firm had already been thought to be developing a new version, with chips made by Intel, to go on sale later this year. Aside from saying it was committed to working on the future of the product, Google gave no timescale for the launch of an improved product. Its hard to believe Glass started as little more than a scuba mask attached to a laptop, the Glass team said in a post on Google last month. We kept on it, and when it started to come together, we began the Glass Explorer Program as a kind of open beta to hear what people had to say. Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk. Well, we still have some work to do, but now were ready to put on our big kid shoes and learn how to run. Google boss Sergey Brin pictured was spotted without the high-tech specs at a Silicon Valley red-carpet event last year. Since the headset was unveiled in 2013, the 41-year-old was rarely seen without them. This fuelled rumours that Google was looking to abandon the headset . 