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Video Screen in Thin Air

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the help-me-obi-wan-kenobi dept.

Agent Provocateur writes "CNN has a story about inventions in advanced computer displays -- eliminating the screen altogether."Ever since the movie 'Star Wars' came out and there was a distress call from Princess Leia," -- generated in thin air by the robot R2D2 -- "people all over the world have been wanting one of these." While unlikely to replace the desktop computer monitor, so-called walk-through displays could eventually be put to use in product showrooms and museums."

3 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. on smoke and water by digitalhermit · · Score: 4, Informative

    Years ago I saw a ceremony for a hotel somewhere in Miami. One of the attractions was a fountain that created a virtual screen from mist. The projector then, um, projected the movie onto the mist. From the front and back it looked interesting but it wasn't 3D.

    I've also seen some stuff at Disneyworld that created miniature moving holograms. They were maybe 4-5 inches high but looked pretty detailed.

  2. only partly dupe by fireduck · · Score: 5, Informative

    the fog part of the story does seem to be a dupe, but there's the far more interesting part where the guy makes the image appear without fog/smoke/anything visible to bounce the light off of.

    his website is www.io2technology.com

  3. Similar, but not a dupe by cmcguffin · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are two distinct groups developing and commercializing similar technology.

    The previously-posted story was about a walk-thru screen developed at Tampere University of Technology, Finland, demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2003, which is being commercialized by FogScreen, Inc.

    In the current story, the technology was developed at MIT, demonstrated for the media, and is being commercialized by IO2 Technology".

    Both systems appear to use a particle wall or sheet, onto which video is projected. Neither is anywhere close to "holographic," so I'm afraid those late-night session "learning Vulcan" with Virtual T'Pol are still a few years off.