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Companies To Invade Your Retinas As Soon As Next Year?

Engadget is one of many reporting that Brother and NEC both seem to have retina display technology in the works for release next year. Brother, at least, seems to have a fully functional prototype, while so far NEC is mostly talk. "Naturally, there are a few considerable limitations compared to more traditional displays, but the company's as yet unnamed goggles do promise to beam an 800 x 600 image directly into your retina that'll appear as a 10-centimeter wide image floating about one meter in front of them -- which is certainly no small feat, even if it may not be the most practical one. Slightly less specific, but also working on a retina display of its own is NEC, which apparently hopes to incorporate a microphone into their display and use it as a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone."

245 comments

  1. oblig by Vo1t · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome the retina-porn overlords

    1. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Year 2011: It's now commonplace for the average man to walk around with an erection. Average male IQ drops 40 points.

    2. Re:oblig by sofar · · Score: 1

      imagine the subtitles.....!

    3. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Meh, you know that as soon as the auto-translation headphones that beam directly into your eardrum come out, it'll be nothing but petty infighting between the retinal sub and eardrum dub sides, and everyone else will wonder what the hell they're arguing about, since we won't see or hear any of it...

    4. Re:oblig by Hognoxious · · Score: 1, Funny

      2012: study confirms, men are still smarter than women. Film at 11.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    5. Re:oblig by ZekoMal · · Score: 4, Insightful

      2013: study confirms, women are still not having sex with the self-righteous nerds.

    6. Re:oblig by buswolley · · Score: 1

      2014: Cancer Cancer Cancer.

      --

      A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

    7. Re:oblig by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Imagine the burn-in.

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
    8. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2014: Majority of women screw stereotype in fashion. This season it's definitely not touchy feely emo fag

    9. Re:oblig by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 0

      Parent is modded Insightful??? How about Humorless?

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    10. Re:oblig by baKanale · · Score: 1

      What? No film?

    11. Re:oblig by ZekoMal · · Score: 1

      Or funny, actually but uh...insightful works I guess. Of course, if you missed the funny then you just look at the glass from one side.

    12. Re:oblig by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      I saw it as "tit for tat" -ism. Somebody makes a negative comment about an identifiable group so somebody else just *has* to even the scales... that's not humor - quite the opposite really. YMMV.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    13. Re:oblig by ZekoMal · · Score: 1

      Ah, but if so then the comment you are praising prior to mine is guilty of the same thing: a negative comment was made about men, so the negative comment was made about the women, so I then added on to the list. It was merely broken by mods choosing mine to be insightful.

    14. Re:oblig by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      As I said YMMV. Since you are unwilling to accept that, it appears you are determined to both disagree *and* to have the last word - another aspect of "tit-for-tat" -ism imho. Be my guest.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    15. Re:oblig by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No thanks ... you can have my eyeballs when you pry them from my cold dead skull.

      Besides, can you imagine the product liability lawsuits from accidents? "He didn't see where he was going because he was looking at where he was going" will actually parse. That's just fucked up!

    16. Re:oblig by fractoid · · Score: 1

      2015: But still no aids, due to 2013.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    17. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2020: After 7 years of no sex, nerds perfect the world's first sexbots and begin to sell them world-wide. Men forget women exist, enjoy porn-star sex several times a day. Women stuck with their cats and each other.

      In other news, the birth rate has dropped precipitiously. When asked about the situation, President-elect Stirling said "I don't have any either; relax." and retired to the Lincoln Bedroom with 1st Lady Catherine 45X_2 for some electronic rumpy-bumpy.

    18. Re:oblig by Genda · · Score: 1

      2030: The episode "I dated a robot" of Futurama is made required viewing for teenagers... "You've got metal fever boy, METAL FEVER!!!"

    19. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2014: wooooosh!

    20. Re:oblig by paragon1 · · Score: 1

      And that's different from 2009...how?

    21. Re:oblig by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      2016: moderation on slashdot still makes no sense.

      2017: they're still arguing about it.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    22. Re:oblig by ewenix · · Score: 1

      You know....If it lasts for more than four hours you're supposed to go to the hospital.

    23. Re:oblig by Thuktun · · Score: 1

      Glass ceilings shatter and women rule the world. Men cannot be reached for comment.

    24. Re:oblig by Labcoat+Samurai · · Score: 1

      meh, I thought the comment was amusing. Smile-worthy at least. I guess one man's "tit for tat" is another man's "good-natured banter". YMMV indeed. Also, I don't suppose the irony of writing a whole post just to accuse him of needing the last word is lost on you.

    25. Re:oblig by Labcoat+Samurai · · Score: 1

      2018: After years of only releasing one study per year, scientists decide to get off their collective asses and do some real work.

    26. Re:oblig by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 1

      Yes... it was *such* a "good-natured" comment. A "whole post"? Could I have written a partial post? And irony? Not really. I had made a comment and left it at a reasonably neutral "ymmv" however she (it was a "her" not a "him") was unwilling to leave it at that so I simply noted that such was also a characteristic of "tit-for-tat" -ism and invited her to go ahead and have the final say. Now if I had insisted that she not continue commenting, i.e. that I get the last word, then that would have been ironic (and other things). In any case I've spent enough time on this so respond if you like but having now explained myself my participation is over.

      --
      The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
    27. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2013: study confirms, women are still not having sex with the self-righteous nerds.

      Damn, I will still be a virgin...... :(

    28. Re:oblig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good, I'm not interested in sex.

  2. A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone.

    Wouldn't it make more sense to display subtitles as someone talks to you?

    1. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wouldn't it make more sense to display subtitles as someone talks to you?

      Indeed it would. And even better, it could then make that scene from Austin Powers an every-day reality. I love technology!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    2. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Wouldn't it make more sense to display subtitles as someone talks to you?

      I can't speak for others, but I've had enough foot-in-mouth moments that maybe seeing what I currently am saying might help on occasion.

      And a 2 second lead time would be even better.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone.

      Wouldn't it make more sense to display subtitles as someone talks to you?

      That depends. It could have a heuristics system to ensure that the next word coming out of your mouth doesn't get you in trouble:

      Wife: How do these pants make my butt look?
      Husband: It makes your butt look extremely HALT, FULL STOP. EXCEPTION ERROR. ALTERNATE VALUE very small, dear.

      Boss: So, Peter, what do you think about my proposal for extended work hours with no overtime?
      Peter: I think you are a fu-HALT, FULL STOP. EXCEPTION ERROR. ALTERNATE VALUE -n person and a brilliant leader!

      Son: Hey dad, what's an erection?
      Dad: Well, you see, it's when a man HALT, FULL STOP. EXCEPTION ERROR. ALTERNATE VALUE asks your mother.

      Oh the applications.

    4. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by maxume · · Score: 1

      You seem to have purchased the sad-sack model.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    5. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Most likely outcome: It would make more sense for a company to display subtitled advertisements that it believes are relevant to your conversation.

    6. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by zmollusc · · Score: 1

      No spluh, that is the model with by far the biggest market!

      --
      They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
    7. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by sourICE · · Score: 1

      Son: Hey dad, what's an erection? Dad: Well, you see, it's when a man HALT, FULL STOP. EXCEPTION ERROR. ALTERNATE VALUE asks your mother.

      I would hope the father would have more experience with what an erection is than his wife. I suppose the mother could be a doctor, nurse, whore or porn star.

    8. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      She's a construction worker.

    9. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Peter: I think you are a fu-HALT, FULL STOP. EXCEPTION ERROR. ALTERNATE VALUE -n person and a brilliant leader!

      You call that getting out of trouble? Do you really not see the long-term effects of this behavior?? I call that "trouble". And you fully deserve being treated that way, for acting like this.
      Protip: If you don't learn to say "NO", you'll end up as a slave. But hey, it's nothing bad for me. In fact it strengthens me if I can exploit you. So please, keep on doing it!

      Son: Hey dad, what's an erection?

      And what's your problem with that one? Tell him, for god's sake. We're not in the dark ages anymore!

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    10. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Firehed · · Score: 1

      And finally, dyslexics everywhere finally come to appreciate Goggle's^W Google's branding.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    11. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by AlamedaStone · · Score: 1

      No spluh, that is the model with by far the biggest market!

      Quiet, you cheap french harlot!

      --
      "All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
    12. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      You seem to have purchased the sad-sack model.

      After getting his foot run over by a Jeep / telling General Halftrack off, Sack is rushed to the infirmary to get Digital Retinal Enhancement so he can see the accident coming. Unfortunately it is more like reliving the accident than preventing anything. His section eight is cancelled a week later when the shrink is found to be an impostor.

    13. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by N1AK · · Score: 1

      But hey, it's nothing bad for me.

      What is bad for you is the fact you critised someones behaviour based on the extremely flawed assumption that him using stereotypical examples with blatant humour means he acts this way himself. Protip: There is a reason why the expression "Assumption is the mother of all fuckups" is still around.

    14. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by dintech · · Score: 1

      Also, if you're listening to someone in a foreign language that needs translation for you, it stands to reason that you might also need to tele-prompted what to say next. How to input your intentions so the computer can decide what that would be is your homework for this evening.

    15. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't that be awesome for deaf people?

    16. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Walzmyn · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it be easier just to stick the little fish in your ear?
      then you wouldn't have to read anything.

    17. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by BooRolla · · Score: 1

      I like how error messages of the future are still stuck in 1980 lingo.

    18. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You owe me a new Keyboard!

    19. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by kalirion · · Score: 1

      Sure, but then you'd have a fish in your ear.

    20. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone.

      Wouldn't it make more sense to display subtitles as someone talks to you?

      Only in Soviet Russia.

    21. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by zmollusc · · Score: 1

      French? :-(

      --
      They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
    22. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Wife: How do these pants make my butt look?

      Husband: They're pants? I thought it was a dust cover for a hummer.
                        When I took them off the line it took four marines to fold them. etc etc

      (more stolen Simpsons material)

    23. Re:A Little Bit Backwards? by MorbidNTT · · Score: 0

      What about blind people? How exactly

  3. Invasion is such a strong word... by RobertB-DC · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think "Liberation" would be a better word. The companies will enter the eyeball (in small numbers), and will be cheered by all the cells... at first. But then they'll get caught up in the bitter rivalries, with renegade Rods lobbing bombs at the Cones, who will in turn blame the support cells in the Sclera for fomenting dissent.

    This can only end badly.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  4. Obligatory joke by dgatwood · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do not look into goggles with remaining eye.

    Seriously, though, does anybody else find the idea of projecting directly on the eye a little disturbing?

    --

    Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    1. Re:Obligatory joke by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The writers of Star Trek: TNG certainly did. On a related note, there could be Hypnotic applications to such technology.

    2. Re:Obligatory joke by sunderland56 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not just projecting onto the retina - projecting directly onto the retina with lasers.

      Many people shy away from laser eye surgery - I can imagine this device will be a bit difficult to market. Imagine the "phosphor burn" effect on your retina.... not pretty. My bet is that this won't appear in the lawsuit-happy USA any day soon.

    3. Re:Obligatory joke by MrMista_B · · Score: 1

      No.

      How do you think you see?

      That's right, light on the retina.

      What's this?

      That's right, light on the retina - no different.

    4. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Definitely not. I've been dreaming of something like this since I was a child.
      And I'm *so* waiting for neural implants as well.

    5. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Imagine a Beowulf cluster of Goatse images laser-engraved into your retina and this time the goggles really do something ?

    6. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It is very different. This system uses a scanning system to disperse the light energy over the retinal display area. If the scanning system fails for any reason and the laser stays focused on one "pixel" for an extended period of time, all the energy will be focused in one spot. Result: instant scitoma.

    7. Re:Obligatory joke by noundi · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It is very different. This system uses a scanning system to disperse the light energy over the retinal display area. If the scanning system fails for any reason and the laser stays focused on one "pixel" for an extended period of time, all the energy will be focused in one spot. Result: instant scitoma.

      Phew! Good thing I have eyelids. Never leave home without 'em!

      --
      I am the lawn!
    8. Re:Obligatory joke by snspdaarf · · Score: 1

      Seriously, though, does anybody else find the idea of projecting directly on the eye a little disturbing?

      Having been hit in the eye with a laser at a light show (flight path was supposed to terminate below where I was, but something went wrong), and lucky to escape without long term injury, I do.

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    9. Re:Obligatory joke by ThatMegathronDude · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You won't know anything's wrong until its far too late.

    10. Re:Obligatory joke by R2.0 · · Score: 1

      "Seriously, though, does anybody else find the idea of projecting directly on the eye a little disturbing?"

      Very. I have had gas-permeable contacts for almost 30 years, and have no problem poking around my eyeball to bind those little bastards if they slip out of place. But I absolutely freak out if anything else comes near my eyes. They'd need to give me general anesthesia to perform Lasik - I don't think I'd react well to a laser projector that close.

      And no, it's not rational. BFD - I'm still not doing it.

      --
      "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
    11. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are many applications to this... http://www.microvision.com/wearable_displays/index.html

    12. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      then windows mobile for retina displays crashes, the beam stops moving and burns a small hole in your retina before you can close your eye.

    13. Re:Obligatory joke by chihowa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously, though, does anybody else find the idea of projecting directly on the eye a little disturbing?

      Having been hit in the eye with a laser at a light show (flight path was supposed to terminate below where I was, but something went wrong), and lucky to escape without long term injury, I do.

      Having had half my head seared off by an industrial metal-cutting laser, I agree with you. The microwatt lasers that these systems use must be identical to the ones that they use in laser light shows.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    14. Re:Obligatory joke by owlstead · · Score: 1

      Then again, if you've got more than 5 defect pixels, you can return the screen. Ugh, can't believe I just typed that.

    15. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares about the lasers? TFA failed to even mention the most interesting enabling technology - How did they manage to miniaturize the sharks, and what is the chance of getting a bitten cornea?

      - T

    16. Re:Obligatory joke by deathguppie · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's already too late... Muhahahahaha!

      --
      once more into the breach
    17. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obviously, they didn't hit you where you kept anything important.

    18. Re:Obligatory joke by fractoid · · Score: 1

      It is very different. This system uses a scanning system to disperse the light energy over the retinal display area. If the scanning system fails for any reason and the laser stays focused on one "pixel" for an extended period of time, all the energy will be focused in one spot. Result: instant scitoma.

      Very interesting point! In fact, to take it further, the brightness of the laser spot increases linearly with the number of pixels. Are there any nasty chemical reactions or anything that could be caused by very brief, very bright flashes? Bear in mind that a 1080p image (which would cover about 1/3 of your fovea with one pixel per cone cell) would have a laser spot 2 MILLION times brighter than the overall image.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    19. Re:Obligatory joke by Tekfactory · · Score: 1

      Well if the makers of this device were into biometrics they would know that most people find sticking lights into their retinas very invasive.

      Its better than passwords, or fingerprints, but retinal scanning hasn't caught on because people don't like it.

    20. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Having had LASIK surgery, I can attest the opposite.
      Now, put the two situations together, see a difference? the intensity.
      Of course a light show is going to have a large amount of energy behind it.
      It's not designed to ever come in contact with the eye directly.

    21. Re:Obligatory joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not true... the definition of the different classes of lasers is based on whether or not BLINKING will save you.

    22. Re:Obligatory joke by CODiNE · · Score: 1

      Not to be insensitive but ummm... have you posted pics anywhere? The story of how it happened and the effects would be very valuable for people who work with these. I used to be in a shop that had one of these and we'd say "Whoah imagine if that ever touched skin" but never saw a way it could happen unintentionally. But hey I totally understand if it's not something you want all over the net.

      --
      Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
    23. Re:Obligatory joke by snspdaarf · · Score: 1

      Don' t be an ass. I know they are different levels of power. And, I don't care. I am not shining a laser of ANY strength directly into my eye on purpose.

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    24. Re:Obligatory joke by laughing_badger · · Score: 1

      They will just ensure that the word laser doesn't appear anywhere. These will be 'display goggles with photon-stream (TM) technology'. See the change of NMR into MRI.

      --
      Help children born unable to swallow - www.tofs.org.uk
    25. Re:Obligatory joke by kalirion · · Score: 1

      That's not true... the definition of the different classes of lasers is based on whether or not BLINKING will save you.

      How do you know you need to blink? IIRC there are no pain receptors inside the retina (which is why looking at a partial eclipse is so dangerous.)

    26. Re:Obligatory joke by bugnuts · · Score: 1

      I think we all are aware of the nastiness lasers can cause to eyes, but blaming your accident on the technology instead of the idiots that calibrated a high power laser show is misplaced.

      If you once cut yourself walking past a "miscalibrated" knife hanging off the edge of a counter, are you going to get rid of all knives in your house and avoid using a knife of any strength?

      Accidents happen all the time, that aren't always the technology's fault. Your accident was caused by human error not laser error. The guy that didn't calibrate it right might as well have dropped a hammer on you, then you could blame hammers and never go into construction.

    27. Re:Obligatory joke by snspdaarf · · Score: 1

      What? I am not blaming technology. I am not even blaming the people running the light show. It was an accident. Something went wrong, and the laser hit me instead of the termination point. It did not turn me into a Luddite, or a laserphobe, or anything else. It did make me more aware of protecting my eyes.

      All I said was that I found the idea of lasers projecting images directly on my retina disturbing. I find the idea of lens implants disturbing too, but that was not the topic at hand. I think there is a risk of losing eye function with this gizmo, but I am not advocating against it. If you want one, by all means, get one. I don't give a shit.

      I am not impressed by straw man arguments either, but you seem to like them, so rave on Macduff.

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    28. Re:Obligatory joke by dgatwood · · Score: 1

      I think the point is that a scanning laser is a terrible solution at any power. Scanning electron beams in computer monitors don't do any harm until you get one that doesn't provide enough safety against malicious signals and you lock the beam in one place and burn a hole through the screen or even start a fire. Imagine if that were your eye. There are plenty of ways to project light on the retina that don't involve collimated scanning beams....

      In short, any failure would be human error, but the human error would be choosing the wrong technology for the job. If LCDs don't work by themselves, add microlenses on the front of the panels or even a fluid lens for focusing more precisely. As soon as you depend on a scanning beam and persistence of vision, you're already on a path that no sane person should go down.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  5. Khlarr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am really looking forward to being blinded when these start malfunctioning.

  6. Finally I could run for political office by speedlaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I always remember faces, but names are tough. Here I could finally know everyone's name (combined with some facial recognition software).

    1. Re:Finally I could run for political office by Z1NG · · Score: 1

      Yeah and the goofy goggle will probably get you as many votes as knowing names. Look, when you win I'll give you a ride to the inauguration in my spaceship.

    2. Re:Finally I could run for political office by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always remember asses, but names are tough. Here I could finally know everyone's name (combined with some ass recognition software).

       
      Fixed it.
       
      I don't know, it just felt right.

    3. Re:Finally I could run for political office by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Sure, as long as they don't grow a beard or smile. So as long as you're not interested in men and/or funny, you should be good to go.

    4. Re:Finally I could run for political office by funkatron · · Score: 1

      You dont need technology fo that! Just do what everyone else in politics does; use the name Liberal for everyone you cant remember.

      --
      "Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
  7. "Fun" Mods by StaticEngine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Replace that low power LED with a super-high-power multi-Watt LED!

    Hilarity ensues!

    (As does screaming, and permanant blindness.)

    1. Re:"Fun" Mods by Yvan256 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Help! The goggles, they do too much!

    2. Re:"Fun" Mods by Genda · · Score: 1

      This device serves double duty... while it's smoking your retina, friends and family can enjoy the image being projected on the back of your head!

  8. I'm no biologist... by FlyingSquidStudios · · Score: 1

    But aren't all images we see the result of light beaming into our retinas?

    1. Re:I'm no biologist... by noundi · · Score: 1

      But aren't all images we see the result of light beaming into our retinas?

      That... is... kind... of the point...

      --
      I am the lawn!
    2. Re:I'm no biologist... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the lens focuses all light that is reflected or emitted by an object in the direction of the pupil and creates an image on the retina. Beaming an image onto the retina means that there is no real equivalent to the image. You are not looking at an area: the laser emitter is a point light source.

    3. Re:I'm no biologist... by CityZen · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A CRT also has "no real equivalent to the image." It's just a scanned electron beam that lights up an area of phosphor for a small fraction of a second. Any image you see is just the result of light from multiple directions (the area of the image) entering your eyes within a small window of time.

      Also, no practical HMDs use just a point light source scanned over the retina, since this results in a "eye box" that's much too small. The eye box is the volume of space that your pupil must be in in order to see the image. In order to be practical, a scanned point light source needs to pass through a beam spreader of some sort in order to enlarge the eye box. It's difficult to make an HMD with both a large eye box and a large FOV. (It's actually difficult to make an HMD with a big FOV period.)

      As far as safety goes, there are typically several levels of fail-safes built into laser-scanned displays, including a "dead man's switch" which cuts power to the lasers if the scanner stops scanning. Hopefully, no manufacturer is stupid enough to depend upon software alone to control the laser power.

    4. Re:I'm no biologist... by fractoid · · Score: 1

      You misunderstood the point about the laser being an emitter. A CRT has a scanning electron beam but there's still a 'real' image for the eye to project, comprised of glowing phosphors. This approach uses your retina directly for the screen, the pattern of laser light doesn't form an image anywhere outside your eye.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    5. Re:I'm no biologist... by CityZen · · Score: 1

      No, I took your point perfectly well.

      If you take a picture of a CRT with a fast shutter setting, you'll see that there's never more than a few scan lines lit up at any one time. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRidfW_l4vs

      The "persistence of vision" effect allows ANY light source, whether a laser beam or a flashlight, to generate an image when it is scanned out appropriately. For one neat example, check out: http://www.ladyada.net/make/spokepov/

    6. Re:I'm no biologist... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're still missing the point, literally. The laser light which creates the image on the retina all comes from the same point. There is no image outside of your eye, not even integrated over time. A CRT produces a real image on the screen. Whether it does that one point at a time or all at once is irrelevant. The lens projects the light from that real image onto your retina. The laser on the other hand shines directly onto the retina (through the lens of course), without creating a "real" image somewhere else.

    7. Re:I'm no biologist... by fractoid · · Score: 1

      OK, I think we have crossed definitions here. The picture from the CRT is 'virtual' because it's built up over time by a bright dot moving around, using your definition? If so I see what you're saying, and I'm not disputing it.

      I was using the term 'real' in the sense used in optics. So the CRT image is 'real' because the retina-lens-screen system has the screen at one focus point and the retina at the other. The laser doesn't have a 'real' image because there's nothing at the second focus point.

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    8. Re:I'm no biologist... by CityZen · · Score: 1

      Ah, but I beg to differ again. It's true that we're arguing about the definition of "image", but you aren't quite correct either. Let me explain by way of example.

      Let's start off with an array of 10x10 light bulbs laid out in a surface. This forms a "real image" in that it's a light-emitting surface, and it just happens to be that you can see it from anywhere (as long as you're in front of it) since the bulbs emit light diffusely in all (forward) directions.

      Now, let's add a couple of layers of black construction paper in front of the bulbs, with pinholes placed in them such that the only rays of light that escape focus down to a point somewhere in front of the bulbs.

      The light bulb grid still forms a real image, but you can only see it if you happen to place your pupil right at the point where the rays are "aimed" at (by way of the pinholes).

      So now take away the light bulbs and replace them with very low power lasers (ones that are safe to look into). Aim all the lasers at the same point as before. Again, this will give you a 10x10 real image of dots, so long as you place your pupil at the right point.

      So now take away the 100 lasers, and replace them with one laser, plus a big converging lens where the original surface was. Add a scanner such that the single beam can scan over the where the original 100 lasers originated from, and adjust the laser/scanner position such that the lens focuses the beam on the same point as before.

      As far as you can tell, from the original surface, it's still the same "image" as with the light bulbs or the 100 lasers.

      This is a "real" image in the optical sense, in that if you were to place a screen there, you'd see the same 10x10 grid of dots that you'd see if you placed your eye at the focus point. (That's what a "real" image is in the optical sense. A virtual image is one that cannot be formed by placing a screen at the focal plane.)

      Like I suggested with the CRT example, it's not the same kind of "image" as a painting, which happens to continually reflect light in all directions over all its surface at the same time. It's scanned, so that there is only one point emitting at a time (like the CRT), and it's non-diffuse, such that there's only 1 focused ray coming off from each part of the lens surface. So it is an extremely cut down image that you can only see if your eye is in the right place (and you consider persistence of vision), but it's an image nonetheless.

  9. Send This Retina Display Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To Microsoft

    or

    Cancel

    I can't see the screen cuz the lasers BURNED my retinas.

    Yours In Novosibirsk,
    Kilgore Tour

    1. Re:Send This Retina Display Error by GameMaster · · Score: 1

      It's not a bug, it's a feature. Some people pay lots of money for laser eye surgery...

      --

      Rules of Conduct:
      #1 - The DM is always right.
      #2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
  10. Too little too late by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It might have been interesting ten years ago but computer monitor resolutions have improved so much you're talking about an extremely low res picture on an expensive monitor. The only purpose I could see are handheld devices and most aren't designed for external monitors. Add it to an iPhone or a similar device and it might be a way to watch a movie on an airplane otherwise I just don't see the point.

    1. Re:Too little too late by pwfffff · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm sorry to be the first to inform you, but you have been judged as having an imagination which is unfit to be used in conjunction with this website. Please remove this URL from your favorites and hand in your geek card on the way out.

      Thank you.

    2. Re:Too little too late by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      "iPhone or a similar device"

      What's that word - ah, um, *thinks* ah, yes, "phone"!

  11. Prototype in article doesn't seem very practical by rhdv · · Score: 2, Informative
    I mean the thing is right in front of one of your eyes. This means the other eye is free to look at the environment. This leaves the brain the arduous task to merge the two images into something useful.

    Also the retina isn't that big. You are practically forced to look just right into the display to see something at all.

    I'm working at a device to make pictures of the retina and it's pretty hard to make good images of the retina. These guys projects something on it that must be sharp enough to be useful. Kudos if they pull it off, but I'm skeptical. Show me the goods. This is just marketing blabla.

  12. First Person Shooters by robvangelder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This will be awesome for 3d games (first person shooters).
    One image per eye, producing a 3d scene.

    I imagine generation 1 will look weird with all the images being in focus, even though the Z distance varies.
    With a little more work, generation 2 could detect what you are trying to focus on - like those eye test machines do - and produce a more realistic scene - blurry in the background, sharp foreground.

    It would be cool to hit a key and have the scene zoom on what you're looking at.

    1. Re:First Person Shooters by caseih · · Score: 3, Informative

      Having sensors detect eye movement and focus is essential for making 3d goggles. Your brain is constantly moving your eyes in order to get depth information. That and head movement. Regular goggles are very tiring to use because when your eyes move around, the scene does not. This is very confusing for your brain and causes my eyes to really hurt after a while.

    2. Re:First Person Shooters by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 1

      like those eye test machines do

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorefractor

    3. Re:First Person Shooters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe your eyes hurt, but at least your neighbor doesn't know you're violating the restraining order!

    4. Re:First Person Shooters by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      > Regular goggles are very tiring to use because when your eyes move around,
      > the scene does not. This is very confusing for your brain and causes my eyes
      > to really hurt after a while.

      Then those goggles are poorly designed. They should contain accelerometers and gyros to detect head movement. If the googles fill most of the visual field with image detecting eye movement is unnecessary (it could be used to only show high resolution to the fovea, though).

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    5. Re:First Person Shooters by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Umm.. no. I actually own a head mounted display with head tracking.. the simple fact is, scanning across a display that is half an inch in front of your eyes is worthless. In fact, the only way to get immersion from it is to block all the light coming from outside the displays and wait until your eyes into "tunnel vision".

      But that's all that is on the market.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    6. Re:First Person Shooters by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      There wont be a generation 2. No-one is buying the generation 1 glasses.. so there's no money to develop the generation 2 glasses. Until someone who is sufficiently passionate about this stuff develops it on their own dime and then has enough business smarts to actually get the product to market, we're never going to have the "virtual light" displays. Maybe some funding channel will open up one day and we'll get government development of this technology, but NASA and the military seem to still be blown away by regular head tracking head mounted displays and CAVE systems, so it won't be for decades if ever.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    7. Re:First Person Shooters by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      > I actually own a head mounted display with head tracking.. the simple fact
      > is, scanning across a display that is half an inch in front of your eyes is
      > worthless.

      With proper optics the display would be projected at infinity and mostly fill your field of vision.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    8. Re:First Person Shooters by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Would these "proper optics" cost thousands of dollars and only be available to military customers perhaps? And have you actually experienced it yourself?

      Let's talk about stuff that is actually available..

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    9. Re:First Person Shooters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The infinity focus part is pretty trivial. Just put a lens the focal length away from the display surface. When looking through the lens the display surface appears at infinity. If the display is half an inch from your eyes then a lens with a half an inch focal length should do the trick.

    10. Re:First Person Shooters by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Sure, but you're still going to see a rectangle of display. If this magical lasers on the retina stuff can do better than that I'll be impressed.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    11. Re:First Person Shooters by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      Considering they won't be released until next year, I don't see how anyone COULD buy generation 1 glasses.

      Or are we not talking about the glasses in the article anymore?

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
  13. Invasion? by CannonballHead · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How is this "invasion" if you need to willingly put on a special pair of goggles that enable it?

    It's sort of like calling someone accepting a gift at Christmas robbery or theft..

    1. Re:Invasion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it is being used in an advertising rather than literal sense? "Invading stores!" "Invading your TV!"

    2. Re:Invasion? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      What if my gift is minus one TV, minus one computer, minus one hot girl (optionally rented), and minus twenty thousand dollar? ^^

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  14. Imagine this by abbynormal+brain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Imagine a world with many "blank" surfaces ... dull? Not without your wireless network retina vision (WNRV) - projected advertisement on "billboard surfaces" just around the (metaphorical) corner!

    --
    L'esperienza de questa dolce vita (The experience of this sweet life) - Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
    1. Re:Imagine this by McGiraf · · Score: 2, Funny

      Google Goggles.

    2. Re:Imagine this by Seedy2 · · Score: 1

      cf. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End

      --
      Nothing to say here... move along
    3. Re:Imagine this by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Depends on what you pay me, to display ads on by blank spaces!

      And oh, don't try it on public surfaces. The city's ad space rental prices will kill you! ^^

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    4. Re:Imagine this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More recently, Warren Ellis' graphic novel, Doktor Sleepless has a lot of speculation on the uses of this kind of tech.

        DON'T USE PIRATE LENSES! PIRATING KILLS THE IM INDUSTRY!

      http://warren-ellis.livejournal.com/92053.html

    5. Re:Imagine this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like, "They Live" in reverse?

  15. I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by KraftDinner · · Score: 1

    WOOHOOO Universal Translator, one step closer!

    1. Re:I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by spun · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised no one has said this: My hovercraft is full of eels.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    2. Re:I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by snspdaarf · · Score: 1

      Are you kidding? People have been saying that for forty years!

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    3. Re:I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by spun · · Score: 1

      Yes, very good. Gold star material, you are. People quote Monty Python. Proven fact, been going on for decades.

      However, I was referring to this article. But you still get a gold star, because everyone is a winner! Yay!

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    4. Re:I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone but you, shitstick.

    5. Re:I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by Eightbitgnosis · · Score: 1

      Let's get on this so we get our 2 free tech advances!

    6. Re:I'm surprised no one has said this yet but.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone but your shitstick.

      TFTFY.

      , and r is not even close!

  16. How big again? by overshoot · · Score: 1
    10 cm square at one meter?

    No matter how good the focus is, 800x600 is wasted at that small a visual angle.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:How big again? by John.Banister · · Score: 1

      Maybe if you squint.... A 3x4 card at arm's length does seem kind of limiting. I suppose it'll be nice for kids to appear to look at you while they're texting.

    2. Re:How big again? by tsotha · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that was my first thought. The thing had better correct for my aging eyes, or it'll look like a ten centimeter box of nothing hanging in the air. I can do that with an old flashbulb.

      On the other hand, it might be just about right for an aiming reticle. Always wanted a skull gun.

    3. Re:How big again? by dugrrr · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but a small box hanging out that far would cause a tracking problem. For instance, if you get flashbulb or sunspot burn in on the retina, when you 'try to acquire' this fixed image it will keep moving like it's your eyeball's private wild-goose chase.

  17. Or you could buy something now by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap310.html

    Available right now for under $250. Also one of the only head mounted augmented reality systems that is commercially available today.

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Or you could buy something now by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      This is entirely different (though not entirely new).

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    2. Re:Or you could buy something now by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 1

      So with these goggles, two high resolution webcams, and a netbook, I could have an expensive "vision replacement system" which would work less well than nothing at all.

      As Spock would say, "Fascinating."

      --
      Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
    3. Re:Or you could buy something now by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Ya, augmented reality continues to suck, but if no-one bought the Altair we never would have gotten the machine you have on your desktop today.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    4. Re:Or you could buy something now by Zerth · · Score: 1

      Except the bit where the resolution is only 428x240.

      Even their $400 model is only 640x480.(That's the AR version, the one you linked is for watching Ipod video)

    5. Re:Or you could buy something now by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Yup.. and it's the best head mounted display you can buy for under $2000. If no-one buys these things, they'll never get any better.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  18. Ads by Looce · · Score: 1

    Who knows what ads they want to burn into our retinas.

    I just hope it won't be an unignorable HeadOn ad, because that is liable to give me unignorable... headaches.

    Now if only I had unignorable audio too, so I could know where I apply the HeadOn...

  19. 10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2? by MartinSchou · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Engadget article says "10-centimeter wide image" where as the Register article that Engadget uses at its source says a 10cm^2 object.

    That's quite a difference. If the image displayed is also in 4:3, that makes the Engadget image 7.5 times larger (10x7.5 cms).

    1. Re:10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2? by jcoy42 · · Score: 1

      Were you thinking "10-centimeter wide image" was referring to a 1-dimensional image?

      --
      Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
    2. Re:10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2? by MartinSchou · · Score: 1

      I'm thinking that possibly someone didn't know the difference between (10 cm^2) and (10 cm)^2 ... I've seen that a LOT of times, where someone talks about two miles squared and actually mean two square miles.

      Thus it is very possible that Engadget meant 10x10 cm (hense my title). Obviously they didn't mean 10 cm x 1 cm. And either way, we have two sources giving very different reported sizes - hence my question.

    3. Re:10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2? by Jay+L · · Score: 3, Funny

      Either way, if I'm trying to read a 10cm-wide display that appears to be a meter in front of me, I'm going to lean forward to read it. Of course, that's futile with a retinal display... I predict a lot of hunched-over early adopters!

    4. Re:10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      (10cm)^2 !

    5. Re:10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2? by MartinSchou · · Score: 1

      I actually did a minor experiment, assuming they
      meant 10x10 cms.

      It's not something you will be reading a novel
      off of, but compared to my 17" wide screen
      1440x900 pixel screen, you could read quite a lot
      of text off of it. But you can get almost 50 cha-
      racters wide and 20 high just judging by the
      standard Slashdot textarea.

      And in case you're wondering, I'm trying to emu-
      late what that looks like in this post. It's sur-
      prisingly much.

      And it's easily readable at that distance. Keep
      in mind that at 800x600 on a 100cm^2 area, you
      have 200 pixels per inch wide and 150 high.
      That's a very high quality for any kind of dis-
      play.

  20. They can beam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but they can pay me for the use of my Hardware - same as they do for billboards

  21. Hardware Request, Please by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Given the size of the Prototype shown in TFA, how much heart burn would it be to make the hardware 1600x1200? Basically use 4 units combined into one?

    1. Re:Hardware Request, Please by Shados · · Score: 1

      i think in this case the purpose of it is to take -part- of your field of vision to -add- something to it, not to replace it so you can play WoW without a monitor.

    2. Re:Hardware Request, Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because 800x600 retina porn is not as good as 1600x1200 retina porn.

    3. Re:Hardware Request, Please by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      i think in this case the purpose of it is to take -part- of your field of vision to -add- something to it, not to replace it so you can play WoW without a monitor.

      Ideally, I'd want something that would look like a HUD to me - that is, I want it to cover all of my field of vision, just that most of it would be transparent at any given moment. But with things like floating info labels over objects and such, you really want it to be "full retina", so to speak.

    4. Re:Hardware Request, Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since it is scanning (probably with some sort of resonant mirror setup), they should be able to crank up the resolution on the fast axis to an insane level - back o' envelope numbers:

      800x600x60 = 28.8MPixels/sec - This means that the laser is modulating at about 14.4MHz. If you follow laser modulation specs, telcom lasers typically modulate well into the GHz range. If one decides to sink some R&D into building a cheap GHz DAC, it would seriously be possible to do a 80000x600 display with no modification to the mechanicals. Add a third axis (scanning, shaping, whatever) to the scanner, and presto, your 0.48M pixel display is suddenly this 50Mpixel monster. Throw in more lasers and you have all the pixels you could possibly ever want.

      Sigh. Of course considering how quickly HMD tech progresses (i.e. it seems to be regressing at the moment), I wouldn't bet on anyone optimizing it anytime soon.

  22. ob by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't it be retinae?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  23. Cool! by Singularity42 · · Score: 1

    I found a bluetooth headset that does mono A2DP (bluetooth audio streaming) and enjoy listening to podcasts while doing whatever. I'd have no problems keeping this on as well.

  24. Four thoughts... by TheGreatOrangePeel · · Score: 1
    • Thought 1: Finally. A potentially practical HUD for daily mobile computing.
    • Thought 2: Oh. Watch a movie at work and no one will know.
    • Thought 3: Huh. Watch porn wherever you are.
    • Thought 4: Wow. Why wasn't thought 3 thought 1?
  25. Whoops by Looce · · Score: 1

    Err, goggles. I posted the parent comment without even reading the summary. (Ha!)

    That's not so bad then. And don't we already have virtual-reality glasses and goggles and other things already? How would this be revolutionary?

  26. Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got? by Valdrax · · Score: 2, Funny

    Naturally, there are a few considerable limitations compared to more traditional displays, but the company's as yet unnamed goggles do promise to beam an 800 x 600 image directly into your retina that'll appear as a 10-centimeter wide image floating about one meter in front of them -- which is certainly no small feat, even if it may not be the most practical one.

    I would've pointed out that this is currently vaporware.
    In other words: THE GOGGLES! THEY DO NOTHING!

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  27. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by StaticEngine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    See, that's the awesome thing. They put a tiny camera on the other side, then project what the camera sees/the device obscures right onto your retina, plus some extra info. It's like the projector isn't even there!

    Sure there are some parallax issues, and one day you forget it's there, go to bed with it on, roll over, and gouge your eye out, but hey, that's the price of progress!

  28. Doctor ? by freaker_TuC · · Score: 1

    Do you know by any chance the Doctor ? ...

    Because he'd only bibblabobbli wobblidoodli like that!

    --
    --- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
  29. Head On by argent · · Score: 1

    Thank you, I was previously unaware of this product.

    You can die now. Your life is complete.

    1. Re:Head On by maxume · · Score: 1

      Snuggie?

      ShamWow? (I really can't believe that name...)

      Snuggie for Dogs?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    2. Re:Head On by argent · · Score: 1

      I'm not gonna get memerolled again. Sorry.

  30. 3D & the Environment by CatoNine · · Score: 1

    Finally, perfecting this technology will be the final introduction of *true* 3D (2.5D).
    (Without the need for extra glasses ;-)
    And it will be the end of big TV screens sucking up power and manufacturing resources.
    As a bonus, in games I can really look around with my head.
    Can't wait...

  31. Subtitles for real life? by tengeta · · Score: 1

    Seriously? For disabled people this is great, but otherwise its 1. lazy and 2. going to get spam broadcasting right into peoples heads.

    --
    "They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"
  32. So, I guess you could say... by Anubis+IV · · Score: 2, Funny

    The goggles (from NEC), they do nothing?

  33. Not me by HangingChad · · Score: 1

    I'm not projecting anything directly on my retinas until there has been at least 5 years of letting large numbers of other people test the safety of doing that on their eyes.

    If it works out it really holds promise for people with color blindness and other vision problems. Not to mention the possibilities for enhanced reality. Talking to some gal while Googling for naked pictures of her and then trying line up the body image with her real face while you're talking.

    No, not distracting at all...what was the question?

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Not me by wfstanle · · Score: 1

      "If it works out it really holds promise for people with color blindness and other vision problems."

      It's unlikely that it will fix color blindness because that problem is in the retina itself. In fact, it probably won't fix most eye problems with the possible exception of near/far-sightedness and astigmatism, which are due to the shape of the cornea.

    2. Re:Not me by compro01 · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't fix the root problem, but doing something like adding labels like "purple" to objects would be helpful.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    3. Re:Not me by u38cg · · Score: 1

      Is it generally pretty easy to find nude pics of women you know? Because if it is, man, I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd.

      --
      [FUCK BETA]
  34. Too bad it won't work well for me by haaz · · Score: 1

    Not that I want any advertising blasted onto my retinas as it is... but this event saw to it that my left eye became pretty well useless for this application. No pun intended.

    --
    -- haaz.
  35. Lumus already doing this for several years... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But I don't know when it's coming to consumer-level market:
    http://lumus-optical.com/

  36. Re:Hopefully society will rid us of the faggots by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sounds like somebody is struggling with some repressed sexual urges in the locker room!

    Just come out. You'll feel SO much better.

    -FL

  37. Back in 1999... by Amarantine · · Score: 1

    ...so ten years ago, i had the pleasure of visiting a startup (back then) called Microvision, developing what seems to me like exactly the same thing. Looking at their site now, they are still in business and working on the same stuff, which i think is cool.

    I recall wearing a similar device, with a Windows 98 desktop being laser-projected directly on my eye, altough at 640x480. I recall the nervousness of what would happen if lightning would strike at that very moment. Just the idea of a Windows desktop etched on my retina...

  38. Problems, yeah by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

    Naturally, there are a few considerable limitations compared to more traditional displays,

    There's also the problem of me taking a hammer to any system that tries to project something onto my godamned retina. I'm not kidding, Brother/NEC. My hammer, your fucking projector, guaranteed.

    1. Re:Problems, yeah by Zerth · · Score: 1

      Forgive me if I'm wooshing, but you are looking at a monitor right now?

      If you are, watch out, it is projecting light onto your retina.

    2. Re:Problems, yeah by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

      I was kidding, but you know someone is going to try and use this for advertising.

  39. Re:Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got? by sexconker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    HEY WORLD: GET IT RIGHT.

    "My eyes! The goggles do nothing!"

  40. First pass a law..... by stoicfaux · · Score: 1

    prohibiting people from operating a vehicle while wearing them.

  41. retinas! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My retinas! The goggles, they do... something?

  42. Imagine the scams I could pull off! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This would be great for liars! Combine facial recognition with a recent lies' database and voila! Most consistent liar ever! Finally, an invention for us sociopaths!

  43. subtended angle by wowbagger · · Score: 1

    Just one thing to keep in mind: the display, no matter what, won't be any larger than the subtended angle of the display apparatus as viewed by the eye. In other words, if you have a display covering 90 degrees of your field of view, then the apparatus generating that display will have to cover 90 degrees of your field of view.

    Now, that apparatus may be transparent and not interfere with viewing the rest of the world in that 90 degrees, but this doesn't mean that some little bug-like object on a lamppost twenty feet away is going to be able to target your eye and draw an advertisement that subtends 90 degrees of your field of view, since the little bug-like object doesn't subtend that 90 degrees - it will be able to make an advertisement no bigger than the bug looks to you.

    Really, this isn't much different than the head mounted display I was playing with years ago, which had a small mirror in front of the eye, and a display module that clipped to the side of your glasses. This just uses lasers rather than diodes.

    1. Re:subtended angle by registrar · · Score: 1

      Just one thing to keep in mind: the display, no matter what, won't be any larger than the subtended angle of the display apparatus as viewed by the eye. In other words, if you have a display covering 90 degrees of your field of view, then the apparatus generating that display will have to cover 90 degrees of your field of view.

      In principle at least, that is not true. Your eye is interested in where light appears to diverge from. There does not have to be a source at that place, as long as the light reaching your eye does so as though it were coming from such a source. It's possible to have a ring-shaped source that makes light appear to be diverging from a more remote point source. (The key point is that your retina is not able to tell where light is coming from, but only where it focussed.)

      So one could produce a dough-nut shaped object that allows light through the centre. Unlikely to be feasible, but certainly possible.

    2. Re:subtended angle by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      This system does not project an image at all. It scans a raster on the retina.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  44. Old technology? by ACMENEWSLLC · · Score: 0, Troll

    A girl I knew over 10 years a go had a 3D set of these hooked to her computer. I walked around her house during a party with them on, playing Doom in 3D. You turned your head to control your movement.

    It was pretty cool seeing Doom in 3D projected in the room in front of me.

    So how is this new technology? What's new about it? That this version is not 3D? That the resolution is 800 wide and not 320 pixels wide?

    1. Re:Old technology? by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      A girl I knew over 10 years a go had a 3D set of these hooked to her computer.

      Screenshot or it didn't happen. The 'girl' part is a dead giveaway...

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    2. Re:Old technology? by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      That it uses laser to scan a raster directly on the retina.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  45. lasers pointed at my retinas.... by CFD339 · · Score: 1

    what could go wrong?

    I think I'll wait for version 2.1 on this particular tech. First, because I don't want 800x600 on a 10cm screen a meter away. That's not useful to me. I want 1080p visible as a 52" 16x9 screen about 10 feet away. NOW we're talking.

    Aside from that, I think we'll wait and see just how much eye strain these things cause first -- and how well they travel. COOL would be if they'd sit at the hinges of fully functional sunglasses so the display could be a heads-up while you do other things (maybe not driving).

    --
    The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
  46. Did you see a ghost? by w0mprat · · Score: 1

    I'm personally looking forward to being able to beam images into peoples retinas. I can imagine all sorts of delightful pranks.

    --
    After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
  47. Microvision VRD (Virtual Retinal Display)... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.microvision.com

    These guys have had VRD in the cooker for over ten+ years. The HIT Lab and the University of Washington had black and white VGA displays (or better sorry it was college and a long time ago).

    Kinda lost track of them and the tech seemed like another technology that was always just two years away.

  48. End of windows+D (and alt+tab) by DavMz · · Score: 1

    Who needs those key combinations when you have your non-work related documents projected directly on your retina, as opposed to on the same screen as your urgent work related documents, and you see/hear your boss coming?

  49. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by beatsme · · Score: 1

    I think it's less arduous than you think, considering that the projected image is slightly translucent - this means that there is still continuity between the two retinal inputs.

  50. Re:Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got? by Valdrax · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hah, owned. I even did a Google search for "goggles nothing" to make sure I had the right phrase, but I didn't scroll down or follow any of the links. Sloppy.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  51. Let me help you there... by denzacar · · Score: 1

    Seek out the instructional video summarized here. It should provide you with insight and wisdom.
    Also... the Hero of the story? He actually hangs around these parts.
    Well... the guy who played him. I hear he is much cooler IRL.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  52. Google Goggles by jdbuz · · Score: 1

    > as yet unnamed goggles Google Goggles, of course! Oakley Omnis? Apple Eye's?

  53. Does it work like this? by ztexas · · Score: 1
  54. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    I mean the thing is right in front of one of your eyes. This means the other eye is free to look at the environment. This leaves the brain the arduous task to merge the two images into something useful.

    Arduous? Our brain is quite nicely tuned to handle specifically such a task!

    Here's a little experiment for you. Place your finger closely in front of one of your eyes. Does it preclude you from seeing normally? It shouldn't - you'll just see a translucent finger overlayed over unoccluded image from another eye.

    The same thing will happen with the screen. In effect, you get translucency for free - hardware-accelerated, so to speak...

  55. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

    > I mean the thing is right in front of one of your eyes.

    The next step will be some tricky optics (no, I don't know how it will work) such that the light will be reflected off (or refracted out of) the glasses lenses and into the eye while still allowing you full vision through the lenses.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  56. Pffft by KingTank · · Score: 1

    I already have a monitor that beams an image onto my retinas at much higher resolution than that.

  57. Beer Goggles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Software development for this thing could fun. Imagine creating a filter for a shallow hal type of effect.

  58. closed captioning for real life by freshfromthevat · · Score: 1

    closed captioning for real life
      Nice

    --
    .. Blub falls right in the middle of the abstractness continuum. -- Paul Graham
  59. Burn-in problem. by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

    You know when you look at a pattern really long, you get that burn-in effect.

    Now imagine it, about 10,000 times stronger. Must be "fun"...

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  60. After Dark..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 1

    I don't want to sound too harsh, but they'd better be DAMNED sure to include a screensaver. The last thing you want is to have an undesirable image 'burned-in' (not literally, but I'm pretty confident that overstimulating receptors could lead to degeneration) so that you see it constantly.

    If they do use screensavers, I hope they include:

    1: Lunitic Fringe
    2: Starfield
    3: Flying Toasters

    Honestly, the market potential for a new version of AfterDark is huge!!!1!

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
  61. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by Firehed · · Score: 1

    Doing that for hours on end probably increases eyestrain and fatigue tremendously. I can't say that I've ever been bored enough to try holding my finger in front of my left eye for half a day, but I'd imagine the effects are similar to being in very bright, contrasty, or dark places for extended periods.

    --
    How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  62. Screensavers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Would one use screensavers?

    1. Re:Screensavers? by aldld · · Score: 1

      Nah, they would be too distracting.

  63. Live subtitles are not so great by evilsofa · · Score: 1

    Just turn on the subtitles for Survivor or The Amazing Race, and you'll see real-time live steno-captioning that's as good as it gets - with a 5 second delay, which is unusable even on TV, much less live conversation. I happen to know this about those shows because, being severely deaf, I managed to get a reply to a complaint about the inadequate subtitling of those shows. Believe me, I would love to have subtitles on real life, but I really don't think the tech is up to it.

  64. Re:Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got? by f()rK()_Bomb · · Score: 1

    I wouldnt call it vaporware, since the technology exists and is already in use. Its a military tech, just trickling down to civilians now. James Cameron used it for the upcoming Avatar film.

    --
    "The space elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing." - Arthur C. Clarke ~1980
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  66. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by roguetrick · · Score: 1

    I was gonna do it but then I was thinking you'd hit my hand and gouge out my eye.

    --
    -The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
  67. Bablefish for your retna? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I look forward to all the comical misunderstandings this will cause
    .

  68. Re:Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    lol, misquoted, the correct one is

    MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!

  69. iEyes from Apple: the new cool by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

    > Apple Eye's?

    And when those come out such devices will instantly go from dorky to cool.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  70. Old Tech by MountainLogic · · Score: 1

    This has been around a while : http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/vrd/ -s

  71. What about us nerds? by sajuuk · · Score: 1

    You know, the nerds who wear glasses and as such can't safely wear the thing depicted in TFA. If i have to get contacts just to use this thing, forget it.

  72. Old hat by Grimace1975 · · Score: 1

    http://www.microvision.com/ has been doing this for years with their Nomad displays.

  73. plugging into my retina by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oh - I see - thats not so bad - they wont ask before plugging into my RETINA...phew, I thought the technology was going to make it impossible to sit down when using it...

  74. Re:Hopefully society will rid us of the faggots by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 1

    Sounds great - lead the way by example, fearless preserver of society's Good Living People.

    Funny how it never occurs to racists or homophobes that their own diseased thinking is the real problem.

    --
    ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
  75. Translator for women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now if we could just get one of these subtitle dowhackies with translations for what a woman really means when she says (or doesn't say) something to you. We will all live in peace and harmony.

  76. Ads by mxh83 · · Score: 1

    Now we can have ads beamed directly to our retinas.

  77. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by cgenman · · Score: 1

    I'd been wondering what the difference was between this and the LCD or other projector displays (like myvu) currently on the market.

    As far as I can tell... not a whole lot.

  78. Insightful? by Valdrax · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Either someone's having a bizarre laugh at my expense, or the standards for positive moderation near the top of the thread are just really, really low.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
    1. Re:Insightful? by Valdrax · · Score: 1

      Seriously, cut it out. Nothing I'm saying here is all that awesome. I even got the quote wrong.
      I've got a 5-digit UID, and I don't need more karma. Spread the love.

      --
      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  79. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by rhdv · · Score: 1
    I was not very clear in my original post. The image projected on the retina must be in focus, right?

    Ergo the system must somehow do a continuous auto-focus on the changing properties of the lens of your eye as you are automatically adapting your lens to the distance of the object you intend to see. If that isn't the case, your one eye will continuously try to focus on the projected image and the other eye will try to focus on the outside world. I can tell you that that is arduous.

  80. Big brother rather... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The telescreen is in your eyes. And who thought it would be a company amply named Brother to bring it to us? ;-D

  81. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by not-enough-info · · Score: 1

    The camera isn't mounted in front of the projector. It's mounted at the same distance from a double sided mirror as the eye. There's no parallax problems.

    --
    ---k--
    </stupid>
  82. Boring.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    10x10 cm?

    Call me again when they stream HD porn directly into my frontal lobe. Or whatever it is I see with. Or get an erection. You know what I mean.

  83. Re:Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, the googles did nothing?

  84. mount a camera rear facing.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and Viola! Instant eyes in the back of your head!

  85. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so what you're saying is, the goggles do nothing?

  86. Baby steps by Nerdposeur · · Score: 1

    ...Also working on a retina display of its own is NEC, which apparently hopes to incorporate a microphone into their display and use it as a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to someone."

    That would be awesome, but isn't it a little too ambitious for a single product right now?

    "Hey guys, I don't think that a safe, good, affordable retinal display system is hard enough. Let's add vocal recognition and real-time language parsing in two simultaneous languages!"

    Either one of these things would be very impressive. It seems a bit much to be shooting for both before either has been done well.

  87. Re:Prototype in article doesn't seem very practica by AlamedaStone · · Score: 1

    I was gonna do it but then I was thinking you'd hit my hand and gouge out my eye.

    That's absurd, only people whose hands are larger than their faces are dumb enough to think that might happen.

    --
    "All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
  88. Finally ! by vegiVamp · · Score: 1

    Now for someone to create a marketroid to english translator.

    --
    What a depressingly stupid machine.
  89. Bicycling Just Got Harder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YouTube will see get many more video submissions as bicyclers get hit by this. But I am assuming the recorder can even see the accident happen.

  90. Re:Hopefully society will rid us of the faggots by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 1

    yeah, you're a barrel of laughs. i'm sure you're one of those bitches who goes on and on about religion being a drain on society when faggots are a drain on society too. anyone who thinks religion needs weeded out shoul agree that faggots need the heave-ho too.

    Oh dear! And he's a conflicted Christian as well! Now that explains a great deal. Goodness, you are an unholy mess of contradictions, aren't you?

    But just remember what you were advised you to ask yourself in times of moral conflict; WWJD?

    -FL

  91. This could give monitor damage a new meaning! by DrShoe · · Score: 1

    If they're going to start beaming an image directly in the eye, I want to make sure that the xorg.conf file is correct.

  92. OMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Slightly less specific, but also working on a retina display of its own is NEC,
    > which apparently hopes to incorporate a microphone into their display and use it as a real-time translation device that would quite literally display subtitles as you talk to
    > someone."

    I think I just came.