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Wearable LCD Display
fenimor writes "PhysOrg reports, that Mitsubishi is going to introduce next year a headset with a small liquid-crystal display screen which is positioned in front, slightly below eye level so as not to obstruct normal vision. Designed for users who need to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, this tiny wearable heads-up display is expected to cost only US $400."
I already wear glasses, will this work with me?
I never thought we'd get to the point where people had to attach televisions to themselves. I can already hear the bickering over usage rights while driving. I'm beginning to think that John Titor wasn't so wrong.
BLING BLING. Meet the architecture that's changing everything.
How do I use it with glasses? I'm an old man, and can't see anything closer than three feet away WITH glasses. How the heck am I going to read that tiny screen?
I plan to be the first person to cause a fender-bender from a chatroom.
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this is pretty neat. now i will be able to watch babylon 5 reruns and code at the same time. but then again, what kind of a device will this display hook up to?
Keep the faith, share the code
If they perfect these things, I'd use one as my normal monitor. I have no particular love of having a big ass thing on my desk (even an LCD). If it covers the same apparent field of view, I'd go for it.
Combined with a folding keyboard, this could help portable computers get a lot smaller too.
Odds are it draws a lot less power than a full size LCD panel; should help portable PC power consumption as well; I think the LCD is one of the major power hogs.
Does the back of the miniature display flash "NERD" for everyone else to see? You know, in case it wasn't obvious.
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the article suggests it only takes a tv signal. I'd like one of these for my flight simming. My desk just can't bear one more monitor.
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Looks like a Jem'hedar viewscreen kinda.
Tiger (maker of cheapo LCD games) put out the R-zone game machine in the '90s. One form of the R-Zone was a headset with a controller attached. A clear piece of plastic flipped out over the player's left eye.
The video is cute and futuristic but what's the resolution? If it's under 800x600 it's kind of useless. 1024x768 and I'd consider it, although I can't see it improving my sex life.
TFA and TFV didn't say much about the specs.
I wonder what the display output will be?
It's obviously powered by thought-wave absorbtion, so that's the good news. No batteries!
sigs, as if you care.
This should be a really neat way to get rid of power hungry displays. This device will draw some power, but hopefully, by virtue of its size, nowhere near the amount of a conventional laptop or PDA display. It should definitely open up some interesting possibilities. Imagine being able to shut off your laptop display, with this plugged into the VGA port, and drawing it's necessary power from a powered USB or Firewire port. Mmmmm ... Tasty ...
Bill Gates already got this. Remember the picture of him we see on slashdot?
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I'm wondering - is there any chance of projection into the retina in a device like this?
You get LCD alarm clocks that project images of the time onto the wall already, surely it's only a matter of time before VDU images are projected into the retina...
"users who need to perform multiple tasks simultaneously"
Or maybe people should simply unplug once in a while and enjoy some of the real world. All I can imagine is some idiot using this while he's driving and causing an accident...this is far worse than cell phones. Yeah sure there's a power advantage like someone mentioned above for laptops...we'd be better off spending money on designing new longer lasting batteries than this thing.
$400 for this thing when I can write up some hack for a gameboy and duct tape it to my face?
Is anyone else having images of the same idiot that eats a borrito while talking on his cellphone while looking at a map while driving using this behind the wheel?
Tell me when they've made contact lenses with built-in "wifi" and powertransmission, and they go completely transparent by thought control (semitransparent otherwise). The resolution needs to be at least 1280x1000 as well. "The world is your desktop background" :)
Preferrably they would take input by thought control but even if not I'd spend at least 3K$ per lens even if I had to take up a loan...
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No, LCD doesn't emit EMI radiation. But this makes me think of another question... Are there any long term effects from using it? Like eye strain, or headaches, or nausea?
Has anyone else noticed the impossibly fast evolution of multitasking ability?
People over 70 have trouble doing one thing at one time
People over 55 seem to have trouble walking and cheqing gum simultaniously
People over 30 think that they can drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time
College and high school students can take note on a laptop while carrying on 6 simultanious AIM conversations while paying enough attention to the teacher to know if they are growing supicious
What's next... babies with tenticles?
Doesn't need to. The utility belt with the palm, pager, digital camera, and a bandolier of batteries and flash cards is usually a dead giveaway.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
That may still seem expensive to slashdotters who know the ins and outs of finding cheap hardware on the Internet, but this is the automotive industry. When purchasing a new car, an extra $500 may get you a decent audio system that would cost $300 at Best Buy. So considering their normal markup, this isn't a bad price for an unnecessary upgrade.
Okay, I'm done. Now my big question is simple:
Anyone can buy a Gameboy Advance with a backlit LCD for about $79.
Anyone can buy a digital camera with built in 1.5" LCD for $120.
Anyone can buy a 15" LCD display for their PC for $300 on average.
So WHY is it that a monacle LCD using (technically) less technology costs 3-4 times that price? It's bloody stupid.
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It's called the SCOPO. This infringes our intellectual property. The charge will be $699 per headset.
Thanks,
Darl
I can't really tell from the webpage, but it seems the same as the MicroOptical HUD I have sitting on my desk. Its been around for a few years now, its certainly not brand new. Can anyone explain the ins and outs?
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What resolution can these things display? The linked article and video doesn't mention anything. MicroOptical already makes things like these. They have a number of different versions and can display at VGA (640x480) resolution. They have binocular versions, and there's even one in which the display is a reflective portion of a transparent eyeglass lens that looks like a bifocal. Why wait until next year for this one from Mitsubishi when MicroOptical already has a whole range of different kinds now?
Another advantage of an RSD is that it is a spinoff of a device to scan the retina, and adding one more beam-splitter and a photodiode on the laser side of the scanner lets the display do this, too.
That leads to two extra functions:
1) The retina print can be used for a "password". (Fewer worries about somebody who steals your wearable getting at your data or using your comm account to make 20-hour calls to 900 services in Malagua or spam the whole internet.)
2) The display can measure where you're looking - and use that (with suitable algorithms to keep the cursor from being obtrusive) as your pointing device. (Look-and-click means one less device in your hand, i.e. a chord keyboard with mouse button chords in its vocabulary. And it ought to be a bunch faster than mousing.)
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What it can be used for is to access material related to whatever physical task you are currently performing. If you're working on your car, you could access electronic reference materials. If you're walking around a strange town or city, you could pull up a map of the area, a list of restaurants, or a language reference if you're in another country. I don't think people would really be trying to use it to, say, write code while they're driving (hopefully!).
Todays 20yr old boys can barely control a desktop without it getting invested and complain bitterly when they got to press forward for to long in their shooter or bullets don't end up exactly where they are pointing.
Oh and as any cop can tell you, yes people think that they can drive and talk on a phone at the same time. They also can tell you how many people get killed each year while doing that.
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