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."

Comments

A Little Bit Backwards?

[Anonymous Coward]

...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?

Re:A Little Bit Backwards?

[Hurricane78]

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!

Obligatory joke

[dgatwood]

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?

Re:Obligatory joke

[chihowa]

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.

Invasion?

[CannonballHead]

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..

Imagine this

[abbynormal brain]

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!

Re:oblig

[Anonymous Coward]

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...

10 cm x 10 cm or 10 cm^2?

[MartinSchou]

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).

Re:oblig

[ZekoMal]

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

Re:Tsk. That's the best Simpsons meme you've got?

[sexconker]

HEY WORLD: GET IT RIGHT.

"My eyes! The goggles do nothing!"

Re:oblig

[Beardo the Bearded]

Imagine the burn-in.

Insightful?

[Valdrax]

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.