Laptops for the Disabled?

visionWhiteout asks: "I've been looking around a while for a laptop that would suit my special needs. I have a rare eye disorder known as achromatopsia which makes it nearly impossible to see a laptop screen in bright condititions. The ideal solution is a headset with a small screen near the eye, but the ones that I've seen (mostly on ThinkGeek) are a bit bulky. I'm not sure how many people remember it, but there was an old IBM commercial featuring a small voice activated PC that used a device like this. I was wondering if that, or anything similar has become available that I may have missed. Any other commentary is greatly appreciated."

Comments

Several options

[Chris Canfield]

Sorry to hear about the condition. If I remember correctly, that IBM computer was a concept machine and not an actual production device

There are some reviews here. I've used the bulky but natural "virtual vision" goggles they mention, and yes, it's perfect for camcorders and mangles text. TekGear has some more modern displays, all of which look like your eyes are being attacked by a small piece of aluminum. They also carry the "best selling QUGA (?) monocule in the world" a one-eyed machine very close to what you describe except that the resolution is low and you look like a call center employee with the microphone stuck in your eye. There are also some in the Imac family, Bizrate has a list of several. Liteye puts out some sufficiently small displays of reasonable image integrity. Once again, still looks funky but in a funkytional sort of way. Plus, they are more of a parts supplier than a solutions provider. MicroOptical has several, with their tech briefly reviewed by about.com.

If you are looking to purchase one, the two buzzwords to use are head mounted display and wearable display. Hitachi even combined buzz and produced a wearable internet applicance, though only for the japanese and who knows if it was released.

I hope that gives you some ideas. I also hope some people post here who didn't just pick through google :).

Here are a few links.

[rickjohnson]

Here are a few links for wearable computing vendors that have displays you might want to look at. Xybernaut partnered with IBM to take over the wearable project if I remember correctly.

Xybernaut
MicroOptical