Walk-thru Fog Screen

fluor2 writes "Ever wanted a screen floating in air? Two scientists, Ismo Rakkolainen and Karri Palovuori, both from Tampere University of Technology, Finland have come up with an idea. It is called the Walk-thru Fog Screen. The fog screen, consisting of 'fog' that is blown down from top, and the protective laminar airflow creates a thin and crisp surface, pretty undisturbed by the air in the rest of the room, making it ideal for projector usage. People can walk right through this screen of fog. Their next idea is to use the fog as a touch-screen, making it even more accessible." For a screen one can walk through, the image quality is better than I'd have thought.

Comments

Uuh-oh

[Jason1729]

From the article: The fog screen enables many novel applications indoors. Interesting applications include walk-thru advertisements on shops or malls, or a walk-thru screen in world-class museums, corporate showrooms, trade fairs, theme parks, special events, spas, theatres, science centers, lobbies, etc. We can extend the technology to limited outdoor usage.

Does anyone else find it find it very disturbing that the first application they suggest is advertising?

Jason
ProfQuotes

Re:Uuh-oh

[Timesprout]

Why would it be disturbing that one of the most apparent uses for this technology is advertising ? Its not going to bring peace or solve world hunger. I'm sure the inventors will be looking to make a few dollars for their time and effort. The advertising industry will lap up, and pay top dollar for technology that allows them greater flexibility in advertising. Its probably the market the inventors have intended all along.

Ugh.

[CGP314]

Interesting applications include walk-thru advertisements on shops or malls

Great, just what the human race needs. Another way to display advertisements. I do my best to ignore them, but if I have to walk through an ad, it's going to be hard not to see it.

Re:Great for firearms training

[psavo]

This technology would be very useful for extremely realistic firearms training. Think FPS with real guns ...

Sure! This vapor+projector equipment must be way-way cheaper than cardboard used today..

Re:Open-standards video

[anno1a]

You don't really make any sense... You didn't choose divx because it required additional software, so you chose wmv? Wmv can ONLY be played in windows, and I think it requires a fairly new version at that. And now you're switching to Quicktime?? WMP can't play quicktime, everyone hates the quicktime player, and it's hardly supported anywhere! Now you've gone from a more or less open standard, to a rather closed standard which requires a special player. What was wrong with divx again? Or the open XviD for that matter...

RTFA

[chthonicdaemon]

This is a new prototype, unveiled in July 2003. A revisit instead of a new post.

Now go flame the guys posting dupes of a new Mozilla release.

Re:OMG

[PSaltyDS]

No mold or mildew involved because there doesn't have to be water vapor involved. The mist does not get things wet, according to the article. That means it is not water. More like the fake smoke used for special effects, probably.

Two posts in one article and I already used my sig, now what...?