Slashdot Mirror
'EyeBud' for the iPod Video
JonathanGCohen writes "The SeattlePI is reporting that eMagin, a company that makes video display products for military and industrial uses, has a new headset accessory for the iPod that projects video on to a screen smaller than a quarter that is mounted in front of one eye. Its makers say this creates the illusion of watching a 105 inch screen from a distance of 12 feet." The only problem is that the expected retail value of the EyeBud is around $600, about $200 more than a 60 gigabyte iPod.
here
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
Devices such as this have been on the market for decades. Small ambient screen mounted in a set of glasses, just big enough that when you focus on the 'percieved' image, it appears more distant, and thus much larger.
As for the price, how can that be a factor, when the cost of filling a 60 gb iPod can run into the thousands of dollars..? [rhetorical, so don't bother...]
I liked that description, actually. I thought if you're going to claim it creates the "illusion" of having a huge TV, why not take it to the limit? "Its makers say this creates the illusion of watching a 46,200 inch screen from a distance of 1 mile!"
Who wouldn't want the illusion of a 46 thousand inch screen? Seriously I should go into marketing.
It is because of the optics that the image appears as if it was at 11 or 12 feet. It is about how your eyes focus. Think about it. If you wear glasses are your eyes focusing on the surface of the lens or the image? That would be pretty uncomfortable if your eyes were straining to focus on the glasses less than an inch away. No, your eyes are focusing on the image that appears as if it is some distance in front of you. Same with binoculars or any other lens. Each lens is designed with a particular focus. The one eMagin uses happens to be 12'.
I've used eMagin's z800 and if the eyebud uses the same lens, which it sounds like it does, then the screen does actually appear as if it is on a screen about 12' away.