Heliodisplay In Production

David writes "News of a 3D display that projects an interactive image into thin air, the Heliodisplay, is not exactly fresh. What is new however, is that this once far-fetched conceptual object is now real, working and being sold. For those of you who have forgotten, the Heliodisplay from company IO2Tech projects into the air (without a need for special screen) images fed to it from a variety of sources. In a way, it's a working version of R2D2s holographic projection system." A similar product, the Pocket Beamer was previously covered on Slashdot.

Comments

R2 the pimp

[bigwavejas]

"In a way, it's a working version of R2D2s holographic projection system.

The only difference is R2 didn't have a 22" Free-space multimedia display/projector protruding from his chest.

...but if it shot out from his groin, that'd damn sure impress C3PO.

Re:R2 the pimp

[einstienbc]

Anybody get a copy of the article or site?

Re:R2 the pimp

[suitepotato]

The only difference is R2 didn't have a 22" Free-space multimedia display/projector protruding from his chest.

...but if it shot out from his groin, that'd damn sure impress C3PO.

You're thinking of Gus from Tripping the Rift. C3PO is a dork. Gus is the flaming one.

Re:R2 the pimp

[ArsonSmith]

You mean like this? http://www.crazyfunnypictures.com/items/203.jpg

Re:R2 the pimp

[wiredlogic]

...but if it shot out from his groin, that'd damn sure impress C3PO.

If you've ever seen the old C3P0 baseball card then you know that he'd be nonplussed.

Re:R2 the pimp

[Shakes268]

Certainly not amused with the way this branch of the thread is going. More like immature, not funny mods.

Re:R2 the pimp

[starrsoft]

http://www.io2technology.com.nyud.net:8090/dojo/20 4/v.jsp?p=/salesinquiry

Re:R2 the pimp

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah man, i totally agree.

(_)_)|||||||||||D ~o ~o

Re:R2 the pimp

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry to spoil the joke (...not!), but only humanoid bipedal robots (such as C3PO) have groins. No thighs, no groins.

Practicality

[ackthpt]

Possible uses for this product include advertising, entertainment facilities, design prototyping, teleconferencing etc.

Having been about the radiology dept of the local hospital and having a few visits to the "turn your head and cough" clinic, thanks to a broken clavicle, I can think of a pretty good use. How about those ct-scans? Or is it really just 2D projected in 3D? Seems true 3D would appear muddy as you'd be seeing through translucent objects, unless they've come up with a way to make air opaque.

Obviously the applications for such a product are endless. Most importantly it may convince my wife to finally allow the purchase of the Brook Burke Swimsuit calendar for testing purposes!

Yesh! The most obvious! pr0n!

Dear Santa, I wanna Heliodisplay, a 3D camera, and Natalie Pr0tman for Christmas...

Re:Practicality

[FLAGGR]

Should've RTFA. It's a 2d image projected into the air, and since you don't have the flat surface as a screen to aid in your eyes depth perception, it appears 3D

Re:Practicality

[utopianfiat]

Theoretically, if it's going to be as cheap as the other threads state, couldn't you make geeks piss their pants by just layering multiple projectors to actually create the illusion of depth?

Re:Practicality

[bcattwoo]

Having been about the radiology dept of the local hospital and having a few visits to the "turn your head and cough" clinic, thanks to a broken clavicle, I can think of a pretty good use.

Hmmm.. If they are making you "turn your head and cough" for a broken clavicle, you may want to go to another clinic!

Re:Practicality

[WoodieR]

All I want for Christmas, is Santa's list of naughty little girls ... hehehehehe

Re:Practicality

[loonicks]

Radiologists would never settle for the poor image quality in these projectors for volumetric CT scans. I can see it happening within 10 years though (I work in the CT industry).

Re:Practicality

[zkn]

"it appears 3D"
You mean like QuakeIII does on my regular screen?

Re:Practicality

[Chuckstar]

My father is a radiologist. I've asked him this question before. With a few exceptions (colon fly-throughs, for instance) there is no value to a radiologist in having a 3d view. In fact, 3d would hinder their ability to see things because foreground objects would obscure background objects. Radiologists have no problem constructing 3d views in their heads using 2d films.

Re:Practicality

[jhoger]

Maude: "He's a good man. And thorough."

Re:Practicality

[Woy]

My limited knowledge of physics is such that i can't see any way to project an image in mid-air as seen in many sci-fi movies.

Is there any know way to actually do it? Is anyone working on such a technology? 3D in the air would be pretty cool, and its 2005 and all...

Re:Practicality

[itwerx]

colon fly-throughs

You bastard! I'm never going to get that image out of my head!

(Waitaminute, is that what happened to the goatse.cx guy?!?)

Re:Practicality

[FLAGGR]

Quake III doesn't appear 3D on your screen. In that same sense a jpg off your digital camera appears 3D. It's just a collection of 3D data transposed onto a 2D surface (and eventually to your moniter) There is no real depth perception in this. That's why people have made steroscopic mods for Quake, where you wear 3D glasses which give the illusion of depth. There was also a QuakeIII mod that would put the image for both your left and right eyes on the screen at once, i.e. side byside, its like rendering the game twice each with a slight perception change, then you cross your eyes (ouch) and the images overlap, tricking you into depth perception. The reason why this projector makes things appear 3D is because its not projecting onto a flat surface like a moniter.

Re:Practicality

[TeknoHog]

In fact, 3d would hinder their ability to see things because foreground objects would obscure background objects.

There is the fundamental problem that humans only have 2D retinas. We cannot see in true 3D. Physically, you can think about the light ray taking up one dimension, so in a world of N spatial dimensions you can only have N-1 dimensional vision.

Since most of us have two of the 2-dimensional retinas, we can imagine what the three-dimensional world is like. There's no need for true 3D projection because we wouldn't be able to see it anyway.

Re:Practicality

[esampson]

It's a 2d image projected into the air, and since you don't have the flat surface as a screen to aid in your eyes depth perception, it appears 3D

Except that it's not the flat surface of the screen that makes an image appear 2D, otherwise when you looked out the window of your house everything would appear flat.

We perceive depth because we have two eyes and when you look at something in 3D you get slightly different images in each eye. This is how 3D movies work.

Since both eyes will see the exact same image, although at different positions relative to the background, your brain will process it as a flat object hanging out in space, much like the things you would see in an old Viewmaster.

Re:Practicality

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the article. It is about projecting 3d objects in the air. These displays have were developed years ago.

Re:Practicality

[zkn]

"There is no real depth perception in this"
No, however there is a fake one, just like there is a fake depth perception with steroscopic glasses.
Now while the depth perception on a standard screen doesn't fool your eyes, it does fool your brain. At least enough for you to know that your opponent isn't above and to the right of you, but is on the platform in front of you.
Of cause it's all "fake"(like silicone) "a collection of 3D data transposed onto a 2D surface" but there is a 3D perception.

Re:Practicality

[theDunedan]

Seems true 3D would appear muddy as you'd be seeing through translucent objects, unless they've come up with a way to make air opaque. I can think of a few applications which I did not see not mentioned in the article.

In engineering it could be used as a quickie rapid prototype. You could not pick it up, but you could see it (and turn it around with your hand).

Another area (still engineering) would be visualization. Imagine taking your 3d model of the proposed bridge to the county commissioner meeting and displaying it on one of these things. (Maybe I am just easily impressed, but to me that is a big wow.)

Those are examples of showing the proposed "finished product" to the boss. But it could also have breakthrough applications in the drafting and engineering side. A draftsman could do all of his 3d design work using this as a screen.

The opacity problem you mention is not a problem if you tackle it from the software side. Let's say you have a 1 terabyte whole-body scan. The software would have the job of classifying tissues, so that if you only wanted to see bone, the software would render the bone tissue before generating the image for the projector to project. You want to add blood vessels to the view? Just tell the application to add the blood vessels. What, the view is too busy now to really get a good look? Use the software to zoon in and then clip the front of the image so that the radiologist can get a clear view of just the area of the suspected tumor.

In other words, there are ways to filter out things you don't want to see. View depths/clipping is one way. Turning off the display of different "materials" is another way.

Now that this thing is here (or on the verge of here, I hope) I think we are going to be seeing a lot of this thing (or things like it) in the next ten years or so. I remember the day in the early nineties when a laptop with a 12" b/w screen was impressive. Now even I can afford a 17" 96 dpi full color laptop. I am very hopeful about this new technology.

- the Dunester

Re:Practicality

[FLAGGR]

Things on your window aren't projected onto it, you see through your window. If you took a projector and projected something onto your window, if you squinted your eyes to look at the picture which wouldn't show up well (being a window and all) you would see you get the same effect as a computer moniter

Re:Practicality

[Feztaa]

The difference is that in a 2d image, each eye sees the same image, so it looks "flat". If you provide a slightly different image to each eye, your brain will naturally construct a 3d view of the object. So there is some benefit there, assuming the data you're trying to view benefits from a 3d representation.

Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[RobertB-DC]

I still have to cross my eyes to see it, though.

Service Temporarily Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/2.0.48 (Linux/SuSE) Server at www.io2technology.com Port 80

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[confuted]

Here's a Mirrordot Link

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[DrEldarion]

We need to get that edited to "WAS being sold until we got to it."

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[ShadeARG]

I wonder if there is a mod_slashdot around that will serve a 503 if it detects a few Slashdot referrers in a short period of time. That would be a smart way to save bandwidth. It would be nicer if it would automatically coral cache itself and then serve a redirect though.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Marxist Hacker 42]

And still no freakin' price list- who puts up a ecommerce site and fails to tell people how much the damn thing COSTS?

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[networkBoy]

That's not too bad an idea actually. . .

on the subject of the display,
Anybody have an estimated/actual price?
-nB

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

"Help me sys-ad-min, you're my only hope ..."

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Professional Slacker]

I think this is one of those, if you have to ask you can't afford it things.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[dgatwood]

I think the expression is "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

:-)

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[LordKazan]

If you have to ask you cannot afford it :D

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I'm asking because I suspect, that due to far fewer actual parts, it's cheaper than LCD based technology.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[ShadeARG]

digg.com has been taking down quite a few sites recently as well.. perhaps an adaptive mod_coralize would be better.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[utopianfiat]

me: "Oh hey, is it just a spiral or what?" ...
me: "Oh fuck you."

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Soybean47]

See, I suspect, that due to super coolness (that's the technical term), it's a crapload more expensive than LCD based technology. Think about what people would be willing to pay for something like this.

Yes, maybe they're really cheap to make, and you could sell 10 million of them for $50 each and make a bit of a profit... but I suspect you could also sell 50,000 of them for $10,000 each, and get the same amount of net income, with 0.5% of the expenses.

So, I'm thinking that regardless of manufacturing costs, I can't afford one of these things. And that makes me sad. :(

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[smooth wombat]

Not trying to jump all over you for making the statement, but I'm sick of that statement.

I don't care if I can't afford it, I want to know the price.

This is the same kind of nonsense that realtors use. They'll list a house, but not the price, in hopes that people will call them. If the house is too expensive for the caller then the realtor can try to find something else.

Sure, it's a good way to get more contacts but I don't care. I don't want to waste my time calling someone if I can't afford it in the first place. Just give me the information and let me make my own decision if I can afford it or not. Stop with all the cloak and dagger crap.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Marxist Hacker 42]

If that's the truth, then it will only be a year or two before China entirely ignores the patent and they'll be giving them away with Dell computers.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[rayde]

at least he didn't post AC, so the mods will hopefully make him pay his dues in karma

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Feynman]

Exactly.

Marketing 101: Cost-based pricing bad.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[NatasRevol]

Stop with all the cloak and dagger crap.

That's a realtor's version of job security.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[stienman]

The ideal cost of an object is the maximum each individual customer is willing to pay for it.

By not publicly setting a price one can "personalize" the price for each individual customer, maximizing profit while not turning away lower paying customers.

Of course this only works when you can adequately segment your market, and make sure customers don't collude with each other. Sometimes, for big ticket items, contracts even specify that one can't release pricing or performance information. Whether they are enforcable is another matter...

-Adam -Adam

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[VoidEngineer]

That's a real difficult question. Regarding costs, I can pretty much guarantee that this thing isn't being mass produced yet... it's just now coming out of the prototype stage, and probably has alot of quality control issues that the engineers are working to resolve. However, going by competing technologies in this field, you can safely assume from the get go that it's *at least* $40,000 (the cost of a Perspecta monitor). More likely, it's being sold on a contract by contract basis, meaning that each contract ranges, depending upon the bundled in service agreement, warranty, and software applications. My suspicion is that, at the low end, it's being licensed around $40,000 for a year of warranty and with a simple video player. At the high end, contracts are probably being developed around $250,000 for a 3 year warranty, on-site service support, and an integrated surgical navigation or air-traffic control application. That's generally the industry average for this kind of equipment. It's not at the scale of an MRI scanner or a VR-CAVE ($1M each), but it's definately a cut above your typical gamer's station ($5K - $10K). My guess is that the average price for one of these things is around $100,000.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Marxist Hacker 42]

The ideal cost of an object is the maximum each individual customer is willing to pay for it.

That was back before the Wal*Mart Effect took over. Now the ideal cost of an object is the maximum ALL individual customers are willing to pay for it- as long as the manufacturing costs are less than 60% of that. You can slide up to 80%, but unless the retailer can make a 20% profit they simply won't carry the item.

By not publicly setting a price one can "personalize" the price for each individual customer, maximizing profit while not turning away lower paying customers.

Which just insures that some third world nation will have a manufacturer that will poach your patent- and undersell you by thousands on the wholesale level.

Of course this only works when you can adequately segment your market, and make sure customers don't collude with each other. Sometimes, for big ticket items, contracts even specify that one can't release pricing or performance information. Whether they are enforcable is another matter...

If anybody ever tries to get me to sign such a contract, they will not only lose the sale- they'll find their pricing information all over the internet within 24 hours.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Anonymous Coward]

From http://sensoryimpact.com/2004/10/project-video-int o-air "Currently available in a 15 inch version for $18,600"

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Why would that be? It's not like this is a huge increase in resolution (it's only HDTV, barely). It's not like it's that big of a new thing- you could simulate the same thing with a lot more equipment with a flat panel monitor and a mirror.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[PhoenixPath]

Dude! My Manager just walked by you Insensitive Clod!

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Dorsai42]

Excusez moi, mais que fait-il vos moyens de sig?

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[VoidEngineer]

precision laser arrays? a coiling mechanism that condences water at a constant rate in a non-closed system? integrated motion sensors? this is a very slick piece of equipment, who's complexity is on par, at the very least, with an ultrasound machine or an xray machine. also, i imagine that this thing's resolution is more accurately measured in voxels, rather than pixels.

So, if it's 800x600 resolution, then it's actually 800x600x600 resolution; which makes it more like 600 times the resolution of an HDTV screen.

I agree that the concept of these displays has been around for some time. Actually implementing them has been much, much harder than initially anticipated. And each method has strengths and drawbacks. And none of them are implemented in the exact same way... Lenticular screens (ala the Synthagram), rotated projection screens (ala the Perspecta), active matrix shutter goggles (ala CrystalEyes + Barco)... for high-res "HDTV" quality stereoscopics, you're investing a tidy sum of change for the optics and control mechanisms.

The real reason that these things are still so costly is that no single solution has 1) been easy enough to use that home consumers could use it, 2) had high enough image quality, 3) had useable, 'real' depth, and 4) been reprogramable so that multiple video channels can be subscribed to. Since no solution has been able to meet all these requirements, the technology hasn't entered mass production. When it does, you can expect the prices to drop an order of magnitude as the laws of economic production and the markets take over. Until then, these are specialty items, reserved for scientific industries (healthcare, air traffic control, computer auotmated design, niche-advertising at amusement parks, etc).

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ditto on that one...

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Marxist Hacker 42]

precision laser arrays? a coiling mechanism that condences water at a constant rate in a non-closed system? integrated motion sensors? this is a very slick piece of equipment, who's complexity is on par, at the very least, with an ultrasound machine or an xray machine. also, i imagine that this thing's resolution is more accurately measured in voxels, rather than pixels.

Where did you get that last? This is a 2D display. Period. It does NOT accept 3D information. Precision laser arrays? Try three lasers (RGB) with mirrors on very fast stepper motors for positioning. Integrated motion sensing is no big deal at all- we've had that for a while on the light projecting keyboards. Though they might be using ultrasound instead- the company I worked for back in 1996 had an ultrasonic chip tray cheap enough for a casino to put in every blackjack table, that would read the stack of chips and give you the value of the tray.

I suspect that this is truly a first foray into the home consumer market- and as such, the price should drop quickly.

Re:Slashdot Effect in 3D!

[Mycroft_VIII]

I thought it was:
"if you have to ask then our salesman gets a chance o con you into buying someyhing" :)

Mycroft

slashdotted already!

[gbjbaanb]

a victim of /. and no posts about it! Got to be a first of some sort :)

Re:slashdotted already!

[Dwarfgoat]

What are you talking about? You just posted about it!

Re:slashdotted already!

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new here.

Maybe the first time that happened in the last ten minutes. Things get slashdotted before being posted on the main page all the time.

star wars

[Nova1313]

obligatory starwars quote "help me obi-wan your my only hope..." I love that projecting droid!

Re:star wars

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah that projecting droid was awesome. Although the hardest of the hardcore Star Wars nerds sometimes refer to the projecting droid as "R2D2"

slashdotted already?

[dAzED1]

how did the sales link get slashdotted after only 1 post? yeesh...

Re:slashdotted already?

[Nova1313]

readable by subscribers before hand.. If subscribers can take down a link (and I confirm it was overloaded while it was still from the mysterious future) then thats a weak web server...

The pocket beamer?

[lpangelrob]

Is that you, or are you just projecting yourself to be happy to see me?

Phfft

[Jhan]

Holographic, as in

Although the HelioDisplay uses lasers, the images are not holographic

It is, however, an hovering 2D image which is as cool now as the first time I saw it (1986)

Re:Phfft

[3-State Bit]

Holographic, as in

Although the HelioDisplay uses lasers, the images are not holographic.

It is, however, an hovering 2D image which is as cool now as the first time I saw it (1986)

Do you mean the image had no depth values? (Was a hovering plane?)

Here is the article text (with links):

Interactive 3D Display: Its Here!
Posted on 08.17.05 @ 7:05 am
  Story by Asim Waqar

Originally mentioned at Gizmodo as a prototype in 2003, IO2 Technology has just completed the production unit and provided the details behind the revolutionary HelioDisplay which produces interactive 3D dsiplays in thin air (via lasers) from common sources.

The HelioDisplay technology page lists some of its remarkable features:

Inputs from most regular sources: PC,TV, DVD, HDTV, Video game consoles
Projects a 22 to 42 (depending on model) diagonal image that floats above the device
It is interactive, like a virtual touch screen: a hand or finger can act as a mouse
Although the HelioDisplay uses lasers, the images are not holographic
Possible uses for this product include advertising, entertainment facilities, design prototyping, teleconferencing etc. Obviously the applications for such a product are endless. Most importantly it may convince my wife to finally allow the purchase of the Brook Burke Swimsuit calendar for testing purposes! This of course relies heavily on pricing (TBD) and other more, um, personal matters.

Apparently the product is ready for release; visit the product page here which looks like its being updated right now.

Visit the IO2TECHNOLOGY company homepage here.

Re:Phfft

[Tx]

It appears to be 2D. While the articles calls it 3D, the product page simply says "Free-space multimedia display/projector", I'd have thought they'd mention 3D capabilities if it had them. Also look at the inputs it accepts, you'd think it would say something about what kind of input was required for a 3D image, it just lists standard 2D video sources.

Re:Phfft

[Feynman]

(Was a hovering plane?)

I think the word you're looking for is "helicopter."

Re:Phfft

[wed128]

I think he means plane in the mathematical sense...

Re:Phfft

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd think a person with the username Feynman would know that, too, but maybe it's just me.

Re:Phfft

[clutchperformer]

Yeah. I saw something like in 1986 too. I seem to remember it was at a show at McCormick (sp) place in Chicago and then again at an indistry show in California. It appeared as a miniature person standing on a real keyboard. It's a sketchy memory even though spent 45 minutes gazing at it.

Damn that was quick.

[MrCopilot]

Karma, its not just for whoring anymore.

http://mirrordot.org/stories/0e4768d9cefb72835cc26 04c911d6919/index.html

Nifty Display though. Cost anyone?

Re:Damn that was quick.

[thegamerformelyknown]

If you actaully read TFA that you so kindly posted a mirror of (even though it was the link that HASN'T gone down yet), you'd see the price is TBD

Re:Damn that was quick.

[N1ghtFalcon]

The "being sold" link shows $503... Damn, so long my plans of getting a new LCD. :p

Re:Damn that was quick.

[MrCopilot]

Step 1.Post Mirror
Step 2.Read Article
Step 3.Respond to asinine comments.

Guess my work here is done.

Re:Damn that was quick.

[F'Nok]

I believe you forgot step 4. :P

Back to the Future!

[melonriel]

So how long before the 3D version of Jaws comes out and the advertisements for it attack you while you're walking down the street?

Re:Back to the Future!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ten years.

And the shark will still look fake. ;)

Re:Back to the Future!

[Anonymous Coward]

But at least it'll have a laser attached to its head.

Re:Back to the Future!

[adnausium]

(man at counter to by tickets to Jaws XIII at 1:15am) Hello McFly, anybody home? Hello?

Re:Back to the Future!

[Stormwatch]

It will still look fake.

What's this going to do?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not interested until I can have sex with it

Re:What's this going to do?

[El_Servas]

Remember the movie "The 6th day"?

One of the fellas had an holografic mate and he could seat in a special chair with electrodes or sensors to stimulate his brain, with the holografic chick "seated" above him...

Re:What's this going to do?

[borawjm]

my has gif porn evolved

Re:What's this going to do?

[Anonymous Coward]

So you aren't interested in anything then...

Re:What's this going to do?

[Aeiri]

Remember the movie "The 6th day"?

Okay, I know I've seen both, but for some reason I'm thinking that was actually Total Recall. Maybe it wasn't, and I'm getting my Ahnold movies mixed up...

The perfect (geek) UI!

[operagost]

A tiny holographic projection of Darth Vader: "What is thy bidding, my master?"

Or perhaps Padme instead ...

Re:The perfect (geek) UI!

[double-oh three]

With hot grits...

And now ...

[kkovach]

... their webserver has disintegrated into thin air.

- Kevin

Re:And now ...

[Anonymous Coward]

3D virtual laser slashdot effect.
uh no. Just slashdotted.
Poor bunnies :-)

I'll believe it when I see a price list

[Marxist Hacker 42]

As opposed to a web form that when filled out, leads to a 503 error because this was posted on both Slashdot and Technocrat within the same 5 hour period, leading to signs of stress in their webserver.

HD

[Anonymous Coward]

i am guessing high def is still down the road? Will this be able to project TV images, i.e. football games?

Re:HD

[SoCalChris]

football games

Now that would be cool. Imagine the entire field, shrunk, and projected in 3d to the middle of your living room. Sort of like a high def, non interactive foosball game.

Star Wars Science

[Ken Hall]

Couple months back, I read an article about various aspects of Star Wars Science, and how plausible each was thought to be. Curiously, thin-air holograms were at or near the top of the list as "probably impossible".

Re:Star Wars Science

[ran-o-matic]

This device is, sadly, not holographic. It projects a 2-D image onto a mist curtain.

Many uses

[Locke2005]

Possible uses for this product include advertising, entertainment facilities, design prototyping, teleconferencing etc. Strange, they seem to be avoiding mentioning the most obvious application... porn!

Re:Many uses

[utopianfiat]

Didn't quote look close enough, did you?
This of course relies heavily on pricing (TBD) and other more, um, personal matters.

Re:Many uses

[MooUK]

Porn fits into entertainment, no?

Gaaah!

[dal20402]

Now I'm having nightmare visions of holographic projections of bosses being used to scare everyone in the workplace.

'Course, I guess us geeks could create a holographic swarm of spiders in the boss's office too...

Re:Gaaah!

[LowneWulf]

Yeah, Mother Brain sitting in my cube would give me nightmares for weeks.

Oh wait. The WORK sort of boss!
(strangely, the difference is minor)

Okay, so...

[Halthar]

...just a couple more years until someone builds a laser that can see into the future, right? I'd prefer to know now, since it will give me more time to prepare for the rash of bad acting that breaks out about then.

I hope Six Flags...

[Blitzenn]

I hope places like Six Flags latch onto this stuff. (I did get to see it before the site went down). The projected image looks much more solid than I would have guessed it would be. That's good news. Maybe now Rollercoasters and such can have a whole new level of fear and excitement added to them. Imagine hurtling down that drop at 120mph, right toward what appears to be a solid wall, no coaster tracks veering off to one side to ease your mind. Or perhaps a person standing in front of your car as you careen toward it. Maybe (holographic) people flying out of the car ahead of you as you careen around a bend. Such cool and nasty fearful things we could do to scare the pants of people now.

Re:I hope Six Flags...

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine hurtling down that drop at 120mph, right toward what appears to be a solid wall

Too obvious.

More effective would be phantom rails at the bottom of a hill making a hard right and heading up with the real (camoflaged) rails making a hard left and continuing down.

Might get a scream or two out of that.

Re:I hope Six Flags...

[MemeRot]

Dude, that's sick.

I can't wait for it.

Re:I hope Six Flags...

[TreeHugger04]

You don't need illusions when you can experience the real thing in Disney World!

Re:I hope Six Flags...

[Mr Beano]

Actually, I believe they did try something like this at Disneyland. In the Indiana Jones ride, there's a section in the middle of the track with video of a rat-covered branch or beam projected onto smoke. It's not often effective, too much moving air for a believable image, but when we "drove" through it, it got a few gasps/shrieks. Can't wait until the tech's good enough to get a few screams/heart problems. :)

Full mirror

[winkydink]

here .

Google cache

[Anonymous Coward]

Google cached page Images

Re:Google cache

[Johann Public]

mod parent up, not the folks who are just posting mirrors of the ohgizmo summary!

The most important questions:

[ben0207]

"How much?", "Where?", and "When can you deliver?" I haven't even seen the site and I want one. Especially if I can plug an Xbox into it.

Re:The most important questions:

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhhh from TFA,
"Inputs from most regular sources: PC,TV, DVD, HDTV, Video game consoles"

methinks xbox would work with it ^_~

Slightly OT: Mirror mod

[utopianfiat]

There ought to be a (+1) Mirror provider point.
It's like community service for slashdot for people with low karma. :D

Message from Heliodisplay web server:

[Anonymous Coward]

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi!

Interesting but...

[tech-hawger]

...can I plug it into my (or soon to be mine) Xbox 360?

Re:Interesting but...

[apachetoolbox]

Actually yes.

Re:Interesting but...

[mottie]

from the article:

Inputs from most regular sources: PC,TV, DVD, HDTV, Video game consoles

Re:Interesting but...

[tech-hawger]

nice...can't wait to hook it up to my (future) PS3 also...this could be used to make some nice portable gaming experiences...

So how do they 'modify' the air?

[jakedata]

They do something to create a scattering effect for the lasers, but they say that they don't add anything to the air.

So, do they have a little compressor precipitating water which they then mist over the unit? Will it work in heavily air conditioned offices, or do you need to fill it's little water cup?

The technical description was devoid of useful info, but I bet an ultrasonic humidifier and a video projector could give you an R2D2 effect if you projected into free space.

Re:So how do they 'modify' the air?

[FromWithin]

Looking at the video, it looks like something similar to what you suggest. Some kind of smoke or something. It doesn't look as good as it sounds.

I also wonder how much noise it makes.

Re:So how do they 'modify' the air?

[Anonymous Coward]

The key is aspirating heroin. Although they can't guarantee that everyone in the room sees exactly the same thing.

Re:So how do they 'modify' the air?

[TigerTale]

The device heats the air to create a "mirage effect," then projects an image onto the plane of the mirage so that the reflected image can be seen from the user's angle of view.

Re:So how do they 'modify' the air?

[hjo3]

I didn't know that was possible... hot air is just kind of "wobbly" looking, right? I don't think I've ever seen it reflect light unless it was on the road and at least 100' away.

Sorry to be sceptical...

[Ancient_Hacker]

Sorry to be sceptical, but if it takes in 2D images from a video card, as it says in the very fine (as in thin small, dilute) article, it's 2D, not 3D.

And as far as anybody knows, you can't project an image "onto" thin air. There's likely a thin diffuse surface out there acting as a projection screen.

A looong way from 3D image projection.

Re:Sorry to be sceptical...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mods: That post only gets a 2? Have you read the article? This is the only post that points out that THIS THING IS NOT 3D!!!

It's a 2D image projected into the air. Yeah, that's cool, but it's a far cry from a real "3-dimensional-now-we-can-plan-our-attack-on-the-d eath-star" kind of display.

Jeez.

Re:Sorry to be sceptical...

[Anonymous Coward]

And as far as anybody knows, you can't project an image "onto" thin air.

That's why there's heavy investment into the development of thick air. You didn't think all those factories were causing increases in greenhouse gasses for nothing, did you?

Re:Sorry to be sceptical...

[Tx]

It even confirms that on the IO2 "technology" page:

The image is display into two-dimensional space (i.e.planar). Heliodisplay images appear 3D when viewed from more than a few feet away because there is no physical depth reference.

Re:Imagine

[hobbesx]

Just got a "massage" last night, aka...

Holy crap! Where's the'+1 Waaaaay Too Informative' mod?

What's really cool . . . .

[erikharrison]

I remember seeing the heliodisplay ~9 months ago, when it was still a prototype. They has some videos of the thing in action. It had, at the time, a few problems, the biggest being that the vents that blow the air which the image is projected on can cause ripples in the air flow that affect the image.

However, the cool feature the Heliodisplay has that I've not seen anyone mention is that it can register someone placing their hand in the image field, and move the objects around.

Aint no thing

[Anonymous Coward]

I can do the same thing (projecting images into the air). Just give me an $899 InFocus projector, a pack of Camels, a dark room, and a lighter.

What i really want to know is...

[sponge_absorbent]

How does this thing work?
Or is the secret so heavily guarded that only a select few actually know?

Re:What i really want to know is...

[zephc]

the device emits a streaming sheet of some particulate (water vapor for example) and then shoots a laser at it (or you could maybe just use a normal projector) such that most of the light hits the vapor particles, and shazam, instant hologram.

Difficulties include keeping the particle stream from being displaced while floating up (a wind current would interrupt and distort it) and not having real 3D at the moment - perhaps multiple sheets of rising particles would have to be layered, each representing a different 'slice' of the z-axis of the display.

Re:What i really want to know is...

[Bimo_Dude]

Here is the patent for their Method and system for free-space imaging display and interface

Interesting read.

Re:What i really want to know is...

[TigerTale]

The Heliodisplay emits no particulates. It heats the air, creating a mirage which is reflective when seen from a certain angle. The display image is projected, and subsequently reflected from, the mirage plane.

Re:What i really want to know is...

[Itanshi]

ha you inspired an interesting idea. Glade Wisp Air fresheners, make your monitor smell...
dang so much for avoiding porn jokes

Re:What i really want to know is...

[CyberVenom]

Actually, after reading the patent, it looks like they are drawing moisture from the air via cooling/dehumidifying, and are then atomizing it into a mist, and injecting it between two laminar airflows to stabalize the screen. I would imagine they use the hot exhaust from the cooling process as the laminar flow surrounding the screen, so as the flow breaks down and the hot dry air and cold, supersaturated air mix, the mist evaporates back into the air and you have essentially the same air you started with. The big upside to this is that the system doesn't increase the overall humidity in a room or require a resovoir to be refilled, but the downside is that this would not work well in a particularily dry environment.

Applications

[Savantissimo]

From Google cache of another page on the manufacturer's site:

Example Applications/ Industries:

        * Advertising and Promotion, e.g.: trade shows; in-store displays; museum, movie and casino displays; theme parks.
        * Collaborative Decision Making, e.g.: board meetings and presentations; command and control; architectural and engineering design; teleconferencing.
        * Simulation & Training, e.g.: virtual targets; pre-operative planning.
        * Consumer, e.g.: video games; home theatre.

Less Obvious Examples:

        * Transparent teleprompter.
        * Heads-up displays in new fields.
        * Build one into a door jamb and have a walk through image or virtual privacy screen.
        * An in-store end cap advertising display and demonstration through which the customer can reach and grab shown product.
        * Build the Heliodisplay into furniture, e.g. project from desk.

I need... information. Information. Information.

[TomorrowPlusX]

So, I can't get to the product pages, so I can't figure out what this thing is doing.

What is it projecting *against*? Lasers don't just stop in mid-air. Is there a sheet of glass we're not seeing? Is there a fog-screen? Does it do one of those tricks where you look into a parabolic missor and the reflections cause the image to appear in front?

I want to believe, but I don't have enough info to make a rational guess. I have to assume, though, that it's just smoke and mirrors. It always is.

Is it going to be good enough

[WormholeFiend]

to view pr0n with it?

Finally, a "screen" that doesn't need cleaning.

Re:Is it going to be good enough

[WillyMF1]

[Is it going to be good enough] to view pr0n with it?

Yes, but keep in mind that most of us would enjoy viewing pr0n even if it were drawn on an etch-a-sketch.

Re:Is it going to be good enough

[WillyMF1]

Finally, a "screen" that doesn't need cleaning.

I think it uses a sheet of blowing air. I wouldn't want that to end up like spitting into the wind.

Re:Is it going to be good enough

[way2trivial]

http://images.google.com/images?q=etch+a+sketch+po rn&hl=en

OT: sig

[utopianfiat]

I use Gentoo. It's easy to think "bleeding edge" means "you'd rather cut yourself than compile the motherfucking kernel again"

Re:OT: sig

[DaChesserCat]

I have my Gentoo machine set to update itself every three days at about 2 a.m. It has recompiled X at least twice, GLIBC three times, the kernel at least twice, at least one round on Firefox and, recently, OpenOffice. All told, the system averages about five-six hours compile time each week. All of this happens at some ungodly hour of the morning when I'm out cold.

If a tree falls in a forest, and no one hears, does it really make a noise? If a computer recompiles major components on a regular basis, but no one is trying to use it during that timeframe, is it really an annoyance?

Setting it up, on the other hand, can be SO DAMMED ANNOYING. It took me a week to finally get mplayer and ALSA to play nice (I'd never used ALSA before, so there was a learning curve). Luckily, you don't have to recompile the entire 2.6 kernel every time you want to add/remove another module (moved from 2.4 to 2.6 in the process; another learning curve). I'm currently getting some funky behavior with lbxproxy which I still haven't figured out (Debian, which I used to use, still used XFree86, while Gentoo is X.org; yet another learning curve).

Once it's set up, though, it ROCKS! With mplayer on Debian, the system wasn't able to render DivX videos full-screen without dropping frames. GMPlayer on Gentoo can handle it, without dropped frames, at about 70% CPU load. Enlightenment hustles along smoothly and beautifully, even at 1600x1200. There is definitely something to be said for optimized object code.

I'm not sure I'd want to put Gentoo on a server, but it has replaced Debian as my desktop distro of choice. Cron is your friend, even more so with Gentoo.

Down in flames...

[Anonymous Coward]

In a way, it's a working version of R2D2s holographic projection system. I'll bet R2D2 never got Slashdotted.

Re:Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL. Literally this time, I laughed out loud. I'm gonna try this "friend" list thing on you first, hobosex.

The air is "converted...

[fenodyree]

From the FAQ:

Will the heliodisplay affect the room in which it is operating in?

*No, the heliodisplay converts the air and does not introduce anything new into the air that does not already exist in the air.

So the question is...What does it "convert" the air to? Using a mist would add to the air, but it is not adding something that does not already exist...Definitely marketing speak.

Re:The air is "converted...

[arkanes]

They might be using a condensor to extract water from the air, then vaporizing that. That would make this statement just the barest, thinnest line from a lie - truly the work of the marketer.

Really not fresh

[Anonymous Coward]

The first instance I saw of something like this was at a public demonstration at the University of Saskatchewan (Regina Campus) some time before 1970. It was the first time I heard of a hologram let alone saw one.

The image (3d in the middle of the air) wasn't exactly bright. The grad students demonstrating it were gutting themselves that everyone who tried to take a picture of it used a flash.

on a watch please

[xshader]

put one on a watch capable of running X and i'll interested.

This is old news! Sega did it 15 years ago!

[dividedsky319]

Doesn't anyone remember the classic Time Traveler?!

;-)

Took me a minute to find the link...

[Ken Hall]

The relevant page from the article is here described in the heading as "improbable", but the article text says "impossible". Obviously the author doesn't read Slashdot.

Re:Took me a minute to find the link...

[antifret]

Yeah, I remember reading that article. I agreed with lightsabers, but I thought he was being shortsighted with R2-style video.

crosswinds...

[fenodyree]

Considering the FAQ states the "image may be susceptible to cross winds..." suggests just another smoke and lasers setup. With the added proof that the "top must be left uncovered for the device to work properly."

Clearly the system is projecting onto a mist of sorts...

Re:crosswinds...

[TomorrowPlusX]

Bummer. Then, what this *really* is, is is a crappy, transparent monitor.

Re:Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude. Everyone already thought of that shit you said as soon as they read the title of the submission. You must be new here.

This guy should be modded -1 redundant not offtopic.

Patent Application

[Anm]

Here is the related patent application:
    http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P TO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2F srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=1&s1='20040001182'.PGNR.&OS =DN/20040001182&RS=DN/20040001182

As I understand it, it condenses moisture in the surrounding air, and atomizes it into a tightly controlled 3D screen for lasers to project onto. Sounds like a next generation fog screen, plus interactivity.

Still wish I could see the video. And if they were this close to launch, and already patented, why wasn't it at SIGGraph?

Anm

Not 3D, 2D

[saddino]

In a way, it's a working version of R2D2s holographic projection system.

This is simply 2D projection onto a moving air stream, so "in a way" it's nothing like a hologrpahic projection system.

From their site: Although the HelioDisplay uses lasers, the images are not holographic

It is pretty nifty though.

Re:Not 3D, 2D

[Anm]

From the patent:
      The multiple projection source of this invention has the capacity to produce multi-imaging; were discrete images projected from various sources can each be viewed from different locations. This allows a separate image to be generated and viewed independently from the front and rear of the display, for use as example in video-gaming scenarios, where opposing players observe their separate "points of view" while still being able to observe their opponent through the image. In addition, the multisource projection redundancy mitigates occlusion from occurring, such as in the prior art, where a person standing between the projection source and the screen, blocks the image from being displayed.

This seems to imply a limited sense of 3D capability. But I can't say wether this technique made it from patent description to product.

Anm

Re:Not 3D, 2D

[Anonymous Coward]

This is simply 2D projection onto a moving air stream, so "in a way" it's nothing like a hologrpahic projection system.

what prevents them to render in parallel layers; similar to scan lines on CRT monitors, except every scan LINE is now a scan PLAIN. In fact, interlaced rendering will improve image qual...

...runs to USPTO.

Fixed error

[utopianfiat]

* Consumer, e.g.: Pr0n.

Fixed.

2D Projected Onto A Mist

[BRock97]

It actually works by shooting a mist into the air and projecting an image onto said mist. Some videos of the display in action are located here and here.

That said, I am glad that the technology from SeaQuest DSV has finally made it. Now, everyone can have a conversation with a creepy old guy or a deceased relative in the comfort of their own home!

Re:2D Projected Onto A Mist

[grassy_knoll]

It actually works by shooting a mist into the air and projecting an image onto said mist.

So the DoS attack against this is a ceiling fan?

Re:2D Projected Onto A Mist

[gr8_phk]

"It actually works by shooting a mist into the air"

So I need to upgrade my desk to something not made of wood? What about the drywall? That doesn't sound like something you'd want to leave on all the time unless it's winter or you live in the desert. Oh, that's why it's for advertising...

Re:2D Projected Onto A Mist

[tgibbs]

It actually works by shooting a mist into the air and projecting an image onto said mist.

Disneyland has been using this technology in shows for years.

Legitimacy

[Anonymous Coward]

So this is a hoax, right?

Approx. cost

[soccerace09]

According to http://www.overclockersclub.com/, the Heliodisplay will cost you a hefty $22,500, as right now all of the avaliable models are just prototypes.

A new meaning...

[Guspaz]

Gives a new meaning to the term "Smoke and mirrors".

Profit !

[Anonymous Coward]

"If that's the truth, then it will only be a year or two before China entirely ignores the patent and they'll be giving them away with Dell computers"

There's money to be made. Why give them away WITH computers? Give them away AS computers. Only 23% of the Dell buyers will ever notice that the actual Dell computer they bought was really a smoke projection that looked like a Dell computer.

Re:This is old news! Sega did it 15 years ago!

[plastek]

YES! I totally forgot the name of this machine. It was like 4 quarters to play in the early 90s which was unheard of. Thanks for reminding me of this awesome machine.

Stumped...

[jpellino]

How is it projecting an image onto "air"?

You have to hit something reflective to make an image visible, unless it's a virtual image, even then you'll likely see the "spoon bowl" needed to produce it.

Even the laser show at WDW needs a giant cloud of mist over the lagoon for the lasers to hit.

Re:This is old news! Sega did it 15 years ago!

[Feynman]

Do I? Many a quarter wasted...(or was it two by then?)...

For its time, I found Dragon's Lair much cooler, though. I think it was the first arcade game I ever saw that cost 50 cents (early '80s in CA).

reverse peristalsis

[Khashishi]

nuff said

Arcades

[Jodka]

I predict that the initial "killer app" for these things will be arcade gaming. I figure:

1. It is an insanely great, irresistable technology for gaming.
2. It is still too expensive for home gaming.
3. People who can not afford to buy their own will still pay to play one in an arcade.

Computers and game consoles replaced the pay-to-play arcade games which boomed in the 80's. That's because the price of computing fell so low that owning your own game machine became a better bargain than travelling to an arcade and paying a fee to use one. The same conditions which supported arcades in the past, awsome gaming hardware unafordable in the home market, may have returned here.

Re:Arcades

[Slightly Askew]

What is this "arcade" you speak of? Is that the dark, dirty, smelly place I walk by in the mall, with the 10 video games from 1999, the original pole position with busted gear shifter, and one mall employee playing DDR while on break from folding sweaters?

Seriously, the arcade is dead. Now you have either the scene mentioned above, or the huge, overpriced games, cover charge, nobody under age 17 allowed without parental supervision, social scene.

sigh

Re:Arcades

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, SEGA had a game called Time Traveler that used holographic technology. It used a parabolic mirror to display images in mid-air; unfortunately the games sucked.

Re:Arcades

[Trizor]

No, they have become re-invented as Internet Gaming Centers. You know those places with computers you can only dream of affording, gigabit ethernet and shotgunned T1 lines and site liscences for all the latest games.

Yes, thats the modern arcade, and thats the place with the money to buy one or two of the 42" models and charge hourly to play.

Re:Arcades

[Anonymous Coward]

The one thing they dont mention is, HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?

I would actually consider bying an interactive 22 inch, if it was less than a thousand dollars or so.

Slashdot..

[ph4te]

Your friendly neighbourhood DDoS service.

Hellodisplay?

[Seoulstriker]

When I first read the title of the article, I read "Hellodisplay", and I imagined a giant statue of goatse.cx man with a plaque under it: "In honor of Hello.jpg. May his sense of openness be with us all."

And then I read about the pocket beamer... * shudder *

Once again.. slashdot as antiserver weapon.

[plasmacutter]

The second link in this article is now completely gone.. the server is now denying permission (i presume to avoid actually having to COPE with the bandwidth issues)

HAHA.. i would totally abuse this power if i were allowed to post stories.

Talk about unspun reporting

[oskard]

Filed under: General and Unusual

So those two aren't mutually exclusive? Does that mean its generally unusual?

Hanna Barbera would be happy

[leshert]

Finally! We're only a few decades away from the projection technology used in the old Scooby Doo cartoons.

Never mind...

[jpellino]

I'd asked how it was going to make an image with nothing to reflect off of - and it doesn't.
It's a fog screen - a really neat one that concentrates condensate out of the ambient air, but a fog screen nontheless. No pot of water, no Disney lagoon.
According to the patent, it relies on cold air condensate blown up in a laminar layer.
Good thing - had it relied on blowing *hot* air, they'd have been denied due to prior art from SCO.

Yes I'm at my desk

[planckscale]

I plan on creating a holographic image of myself sitting in front of my PC, so when the boss looks in his spycam or walks by, I will be sitting there working diligently.

I've seen them in action...

[PeterChenoweth]

And they are neat. But only if the air is still. If there's enough air movement in a room that you can feel it, it will be enough to disrupt the mist and seriously distort/ruin whatever image you're trying to see. Maybe ok for a giant Coca-Cola sign, but not so good if you're trying to read numbers off of a spreadsheet.

Oh yeah, and they do leave a puddle of moisture on the floor beneath them as well. It is just a stream of mist falling to the ground.

Realtor's way

[QMO]

That's the Realtor(TM)'s way to increase their proportion of non-discerning customers.
You know, the kind that make a decision without getting the relevant, available facts first.
Some people's favorite kind of customer.

Price

[Anonymous Coward]

$18,600

http://gnr8.typepad.com/gnr8_news/2004/09/heliodis play.html

Forget R2

[LS]

Couldn't you use this projection technology to make a REAL (at least looking) light saber??

Re:Forget R2

[peetola]

Couldn't you use this projection technology to make a REAL (at least looking) light saber??

As long as you don't want to move the lightsaber, then yes.

Re:Forget R2

[Solder Fumes]

I'm reminded of that Venture Brothers episode, the yard-sale one....

Re:Arcades + alcohol

[MemeRot]

But places like Jillian's and Dave & Busters are always busy. They're giant arcades with a bar and restaurant inside for anyone without one nearby.

There's also arcades at all the summer vacation places: theme parks, boardwalks, etc.

will it run in OSX?

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, wellcome our holographic projector overlords, but please, do you know if this thingie will run in OSX? I love my Mac, and my iPod, too! Mac is so cool..
I hope i can see Natalie Portman stuff on that thing. Star Wars at last seen like it should!!
this won't run on BSD, nah, you know, BSD is dead, diddya'?
On windows of course we will eXPerience the BSOD in a new entire way, never 'Visto' before(tm). But don't forget to put on your TFH's before, if not, RIAA will cominagetcha!!
yours truly, slashborg.

Microsoft workign on this

[Anonymous Coward]

The evil empire has a group working on a 3D display for home entertainment. It looks like the old pub style video games where you look down into the display. Expect this to be anounced a a year or so.

Re:Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL. Literally this time, I laughed out loud. I'm gonna try this "friend" list thing on you first, hobosex.

hobosex? Now you made ME laugh out loud!

La reponse au sig

[RobertB-DC]

Excusez moi, mais que fait-il vos moyens de sig?

Je l'ai expliqué un peu dans le journal. Voici le citation complet:

Pour que tout soit consommé, pour que je me sente moins seul, il me restait à souhaiter qu'il y ait beaucoup de spectateurs le jour de mon exécution et qu'ils m'accueillent avec des cris de haine.

Rough translation: As it all came to an end, as I could feel I was no longer alone, there was nothing left but to hope for a horde of spectators for my execution day, and that they would welcome me with cries of hatred.

C'est Slashdot, n'est-ce pas?

By the way, I may not have accurately expressed Camus' existentialist prose very well, but I think it's better than Babelfish, which translated "pour que je me sente moins seul" as "so that I smell myself less only".

Prices

[the grace of R'hllor]

Well duh, if they put the price on the site, they can't mark it up 30% for European sales without seeming suspicious.

BTTF was mentioned - what about ROBOCOP 2

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch the very beginning of ROBOCOP 2 for more forshadowing of the heliodisplay in a game of battleship.

BROOKLYN

More information

[Eric Coleman]

from what I've read it does not require any extra water. From the website...

Operating the device will not change a room's environment, air quality or other conditions. Air comes into the device, is modified then ejected and illuminated to produce the image. Nothing is added to the air so there isn't any harmful gas or liquid emitted from the device. If a Heliodisplay were left running for a week in a hermetically sealed room, the only change to the room`s environment would be from the electricity used to run the device. Although the Heliodisplay uses lasers, the images are not holographic.

One thing I noticed from the images is that the color black is transparent which makes sense since there is no thing such as black as in #00000 light as in not UV. Such a limitation would make some things, such as doom 3, nearly impossible to play. Of course, you could always use the device in a totally black room, or at least with a black background.

google notice the first image, with the laptop image in the background, you'll notice how black is transparent.

Projection on glass?

[keepr]

I am currently looking for a way to project a movie onto glass for a retail store. Anyone got a good solution that flips / reverses the image to it looks correct from the outside? How does project on glass work do you tint the glass of put some type of special film on it?

Re:Projection on glass?

[TLSPRWR]

Most projectors should include a "mirror" option so that you can project from the rear of the screen, rather than in front. As for glass.. not sure. A quick search on Google didn't return any useful information.

Re:Projection on glass?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think there is this DILAD T40s screen by Kimoto Co. Ltd that does what you ask. I did some research. http://www.dilad.ca/ sells these transparent film. Price is actually affordable. $319 for 60" and $480 for 80"

Re:Projection on glass?

[keepr]

I just talked to them on the phone, Great staff very helpfull with all the bits that go together to make the whole solution work, Thanks for the info I was having trouble finding it myself.

Re:Projection on glass?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever seen star charts embedded into glass?

  They use plexiglass with either tiny holes drilled though or air bubbles created by heating up the surface with a wide angle laser. Since nethier of options would be practical for you (I doubt you'd have the laser or the patience to drill millions of holes to represent pixels), just take plexiglass and sand it slightly. Of course, the level of transparency is oppositely proportional to the clarity of the projected picture.

  If you use regular glass, then just get a white semi-transparent film. The problem is, the picture will be reflected off it as well.

  If a projector was sitting on the floor, half the projection would be on your window and half on the ceiling.

  I'd still go with a layer of evenly sanded plexiglass. Fast easy. Created a projection Distorts reflected light. Try it!

Re:Projection on glass? (Somewhat OT)

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're playing the video from a pc, mplayer -vf mirror filename will reverse it.

As for the projection on glass, I remember a /. article quite some time ago about a UK department store selling a very expensive unit that did this, but I probably couldn't find the link now. Likely financially infeasible in this case anyway.

Website's video reveals product limitations

[glengineer]

I saw the video (the military applications one) and it was immediately clear that this is still not ready for prime time. The top of the image, which was about 18 inches high, was flapping (it's the only word to describe the effect) as if the image was being projected onto a sheet of cloth in a high (vertical) wind. There was text there at the top that was completely unreadable. So, this technology, while way-kewl, is still just a toy.

BuyHelio

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're interested in buying a Heliodisplay, and meeting the
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You can see images, videos, and read more about the auction and
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