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Sharp Announces 3D Laptop

wembley writes "The Associated Press is running a story about a forthcoming Sharp laptop with a 3D screen. I can't find any pictures, but it requires no glasses, so you don't have to walk around looking like Biff's sidekick in Back to the Future. It comes with WinXP, but it's only a matter of time before we're arguing here about what looks better in 3D, Gnome or KDE."

33 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. All laptops are in 3D.. by adeyadey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unless theyve been run over by a steamroller..

    --
    "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
    1. Re:All laptops are in 3D.. by adeyadey · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well its a bugger trying to get the phase/spin direction of all the protons and electrons lined up, but apparently it is possible..

      --
      "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
    2. Re:All laptops are in 3D.. by Spudley · · Score: 4, Funny

      Forget about laptops; I know someone who claimed he'd run over a bible with a steamroller....

      But I didn't believe him - it was obvious he was just stretching the truth.

      --
      (Spudley Strikes Again!)
  2. pornography by CGP314 · · Score: 5, Funny

    but it's only a matter of time before we're arguing here about what looks better in 3D, Gnome or KDE

    It's a sad day when you hear the words "3D display" and the first thing that comes to mind is desktops wars, not pornography.

    1. Re:pornography by 2Bits · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, I was thinking of pr0n too, then suddenly I remember one that I just watched 2 weeks ago where the guy, after "hacking" 3 girls at the same time, and turned to shoot at the camera... and I'm like.... NOOOO!!! I'm not going to imagine this scene in 3D!

  3. Details by BJH · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you can read Japanese, here's Sharp's explanation of how it works.

    If you can't, look at the pretty diagrams and the stupid faked 3D photo.

  4. No, please no. by RMH101 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you imagine how bad Powerpoint presentations are going to be with this sort of technology? It was bad enough when we gave them clip art...

    1. Re:No, please no. by simong_oz · · Score: 3, Funny

      clip art was nothing compared to watching every bullet point flying in from all sides of the screen or flashing on and off or dimming or dissolving or ... having to listen to the constant mouse clicking/pgdn because someone has just discovered the animation feature.

      --
      "Because it's there." - George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, March 18, 1923 (New York Times)
  5. I really liked those glasses.. by peculiarmethod · · Score: 4, Funny

    Those red slatted glasses (that came in a McDonalds happy meal) were just the thing I needed to further ostrisize myself from my schoolmates in Oklahoma, as if running something called a Pirate BBS and actually reading the BTTF books (which all sucked except part III) didn't do that well enough already. Now kids can be singled out from the next car on public transports for mugging, thanks to Billy and his newly co-produced 3D minesweeper.

    I for one welcome my 3D natalie portman.

    -pm

    --
    ** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
  6. Re:Ducking and Dodging by advocate_one · · Score: 4, Insightful

    not a chance of that... all apps will have to be specially written to take advantage of the screen... it's NOT a magic "use this and everything you've got's 3D" driver...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  7. A measure of geekness by min0r_threat · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...it's only a matter of time before we're arguing here about what looks better in 3D, Gnome or KDE."

    Oh what joy! Proof I'm not a geek! My first thought was 3D pr0n. Gnome and KDE were the last things on my mind when I read about this.

    --
    ~~~~~~~~~ "I must create my own system, or be enslav'd by another man's." William Blake, Jerusalem.
  8. Re:Only slightly 3D by Mwongozi · · Score: 3, Informative
    Okay, this isn't the same laptop I was thinking of. It actually works by sending a different image to the left and right of the screen. Mod parent down please. :P

    This can't be very good for the viewing angle though, can it? You'd have to be sitting right in front of it.

  9. Re:3D desktops suck. by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, this kind of 3D can be useful, since it gives you actual stereoscopic cues.

    Just keep the normal desktop look and functionality, but use this to really give different windows on screen different depth. Visualizing stacking order would be a very informative cue, helping people make better sense of their desktop.

    Another, related, use would be to make floating windows (such as panels and the like), really float in front. Done right, you would no longer feel that they take up screen estate (even though they still do), and be _less_ conspicuous when you aren't interested in them, and more conspicuous when you are.

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  10. OperatingSystem Question by jlemmerer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does the OS have to support this screen? I cant't imagine current operating systems of being able to handle this 3D effect native. Of course, they will supply windows drivers, but to really decide if gnome or kde look better you will propably need a linux driver. i just hope that they will release the architecture and drivers so that also the linux community can participate in the glorious 3D features. furthermore it would be of interest if (provided no drivers are present) the image looks blurry or if it just looks flat 2D.

    I mysql would appreciate a laptop featuring this "smoke screen" that was posted here in /. a few weeks ago, imagine, no display you have to flap open, a REALLY slim notebook and the geek factor to have a image to come out of virtually nothing..

    --
    ".Sig Stealer" was here
  11. I already have my KDE desktop in 3D by borgdows · · Score: 4, Informative

    I use 3D-Desktop.

    It's is an OpenGL program for switching virtual desktops in a seamless 3-dimensional manner on Linux. With this program your desktop looks futuristiiiic and you can impress your friends!

  12. 3D desktops are new by AlecC · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lots of people still think that there is nothing you can do on 2d Desktops that you cannot do on the command line. The 2D desktop is still settling in, 20 years or so after it ws first invented. I think a 3D desktop could well have a lot to offer.

    What you will need is an improvement on the mouse. One of the reasons that my real-world desktop is easier to use than my GUI desktop is that I can move my head to see how thinkgs are stacked. For example, I have a couple of MySQL manuals stacked; the upper is larger, so on a 2D desktop I couldn't see the lower. But a tiny move of my head shows me the spint of the lower. We will need to replicate that functionality before a 3D desktop really works.

    Actually, that functionality could be replicated on a 2D desktop - redraw a pseudo-3D desktop as move my viewpoint (Doom engin inside Windows?). So it is the mouse that needs improvement, not the screen.

    --
    Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
  13. Picture of Mebius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Found it here:
    http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/336/C2 020/

  14. Now I can start on my 3D clutterspace by heironymouscoward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have this secret design (oops, posted it to Slashdot, now it can't be patented anymore) for a new workspace design, which depends on a 3D display.

    Basically you throw down objects you're working on, into concentric piles. The most important stuff stays 'hot', near you, while stuff you use less often gets gradually pushed further and further back.

    To open a document or web site you just click it, and it becomes 'hot' again. There's a little text box I can type keywords in, to find matching documents.

    That's about it. Replaces the hierarchical file system with something much closer to the way I work (and AFAIK, many creative people work).

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
  15. Only an animated switch between desktops by Frans+Faase · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is really lame. It is only giving you an animation of switching between desktops, not a real 3D desktop. This has been done (much better) a long time ago by SGI, where they would have such an animation everytime you opened a folder. Makes your eyes dizzy after a while. These kind of animations don't add anything useful, just a gadget to show of to your friend. I bet that you could do the same in Windows.

  16. Pics here!!!! by geektux · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some pics can be found here.........

    http://www.sharp.co.jp/mebius/index.html

  17. Some links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    Just finished a writeup on this, so here are some links:

    my humble piece in norwegian

    some pictures down the page

    English explaination of the "parallax" technology

    Sharps own specification page

    It's only supprted by Windows XP sp1a, by the way.

    penhead

  18. About time too... by ContemporaryInsanity · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...those 2d laptops, put the bloody things down, you can't find 'em again. That extra dimensions gonna make all the difference.

  19. Why a laptop by L-s-L69 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why has this been implemented in a laptop? If its as good as it seems I'd much rather see it been used in tv's/flat screen moniters first and surely this would be a far larger market than laptop users alone? Maybe im missing the point but a huge, 3d widescreen tv sounds pretty good to me!

  20. Half horizontal resolution by rexguo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Be reminded that in 3D mode, the horizontal resolution is halved. That is, a 1024x768 display will show only 512x768 effectively in 3D mode. This is simply due to the implementation, where half of the pixels are sent to the left eye, and the other half sent to the right eye. The first to commercially offer autostereoscopic (the proper term for this) LCD is probably DTI, www.dti3d.com.

    --
    www.rexguo.com - Technologist + Designer
  21. Re:Only slightly 3D by RockBob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I imagine it would probably be more a textured surface that split the image up (much like those old 3D stickers that gave the impression of depth by showing the image at an angle relative to the angle you looked at it). It would be thinner but I don't know if that's actually how it works.

    This has been around in print for years now; I guess it was only a matter of time before some bright spark applied it to screens.

    I always thought that it would be particularly good for 3D Games.

    --
    I know, I know... I need to learn a little English.
  22. no they don't by RMH101 · · Score: 3, Informative

    the 3d information's all contained within the opengl layer, you just need to write appropriate video drivers.

  23. Great! Now all we need is a way to control it. by Gldm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So what's going to be the breakthrough control interface for 3D like the mouse was for 2D? And don't point at one of those "3D mice" with the little eraser pointer for scroll on them either. Maybe one of the gyroscopic mice but I think I'd get tired of having to hold the damn thing up in the air 8 hours a day. Maybe something like the SpaceOrb 360, but I couldn't get any decent precision with that when I had one.

    Maybe someone should dust off the old NES U-force and find a way to integrate it into the laptop.

    --

    Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!

  24. Impact on eyes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just curious as to what, if any, impact this would have on your eyes since each one would be seeing a separate image therefore working a bit harder to make sense of it.

    I'm remembering the strain of looking at stereoscopic images and this sounds a bit like that.

    Any ideas?

  25. Why this will NOT be popular by G4from128k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most of the various current incarnations of 3-D displays contain an ugly, hard-to-resolve flaw. The display rendering routines must make assumptions about the location of each eyeball. Thus, they only create a proper 3-D picture when the person's head is front, center, level, the proper distance from the screen, and of normal eye spacing. Deviations in the position of the eyes from this sweet spot cause distortions in which the two views are inconsistent with the 3-D scene at best, and infusible at worst.

    Worst of all are deviations in the angular orientation of the viewer's head WRT the screen. 3-D displays assume that the separation between the eyes is left-right. If the person tilts their head, the images do not fuse properly and cause eye strain or double vision. The only solution is a 4 or 5-axis head tracking system, although a head-mounted 3-D display does provide a first-order correction to the angular orientation problem (it causes other problems, though).

    A secondary problem is that only one viewer can ever be in the "sweet" spot of the 3-D system. To create a proper 3-D view for the second person, the system needs to create a second pair of images that are different from those seen by the first person. Add another pair of eye and the need a second pair of images.

    3-D has been around for a decades in 3-D movies, computer displays, and VR, but it has never caught on. Its not that it does not work well enough to interest some of the people some of the time, it just doesn't work well enough to interest most of the people, most of the time.

    On the other hand, I could be wrong -- I never thought Window's would be popular either.

    --
    Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
  26. Lots leading up to this by MobyDisk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There have been lots of articles leading up to this, and most of them are from Sony.

    My only question is "Why didn't they create a standalone LCD panel first?"

  27. I saw a demo recently by chrispl · · Score: 5, Informative

    I saw the Sharp 3D laptop on display at the 2003 IFA in Berlin. It works on the same principle, lenticular imaging, that has been used for years for 3D collectors cards and posters etc. The screen is covered with thin vertical stripes that redirect light coming off the screen, showing each eye a different image.
    The 3D effect is quite convincing however it has a few drawbacks. The biggest problem is you have to look at it from precice angles for the effect to work i.e. if you move your head from side to side you will see the screen go from real 3D to a blur, then inverted 3D, blur... This is especially troublesome if more than one person is trying to look at it at once. The second problem is that to show two images at once each image has only half the resolution of the entire display, making it look fuzzy compared to regular 2D displays.
    For some reason the demo they had running only cycled through still pictures of 3D rendered scenes, no video or UI shots which makes me suspicious that these problems are even worse in those applications. It is cool technology no doubt, but it still has some problems to work out.

    --
    What post? The one you're carrying inside your rusty innards!
  28. Ouch! by SharkJumper · · Score: 3, Funny

    The computer display produces 3D images by sending a slightly different image to the right eye and the left eye at once by bending them in different angles

    AAAH! MY EYES! IT'S BENDING MY EYES!!

  29. Re:All people see in 2D by ShinmaWa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No... most people see in 3D. This is a fact I'm keenly aware of since depth perception is something that I lack. I do have both eyes, but my brain is incapable of using them together to form depth-percepted image. The result is that my brain just filters out one of the inputs -- usually my left eye since my right eye is dominant -- otherwise I have double-vision.

    The end result is that I can't throw nor catch for the life of me. Doorknobs are often hard for me when I'm tired. Stairs are hazardous to my health. I have to count the steps lest I miss one and I ALWAYS use the handrail. I've almost fallen on stairs twice in the last week alone. Bionoculars, red-blue 3D glasses, and stereograms screw with my brain's filtering ability and causes double-vision, so I can't use them either (unless I close one eye).

    I can safely say that this condition is found only in a small minority of population -- or else you'd find piles of bodies crumbled up on the landing of staircases :)

    --
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