Interactive data eyeglasses could bring the PC to your face, won't fix nearsightedness

Leave it the mad scientists at Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to concoct this one. Rather than just figuring out a way to read back information in one-way fashion on one's glasses (think Sixth Sense, but with eyewear), these folks are diving right in to the real stuff: bidirectional communication. In essence, their goal for the interactive data eyeglasses is to track eye movement in order to allow ones retinas to scroll through menus, flip through options and zoom in / out on a map. Obviously, a microdisplay will be necessary as well, but that's just half the battle. We'll confess -- we're still not humble enough to take our Vuzix HMD out in public, but we just might swap our Transitions™ for a set of these.

[Via OLED-Display]

[jamesy @ Jun 4th 2009 8:37AM]

Ha! This is a mere design concept.
Check out http://www.lumus-optical.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=15 for the real deal.

[Shinigami @ Jun 4th 2009 9:16AM]

Fugly.

[TenaciousJ728 @ Jun 4th 2009 10:49AM]

Damn! I had an idea just like that too!

[erwin @ Jun 4th 2009 8:56AM]

coupled with a PDF and Word reader - perfect for my exams...too bad i have my last one tomorrow.

[slinky317 @ Jun 4th 2009 9:01AM]

I could have sworn I saw something like this in a commercial YEARS ago. It was an advertisement for an up-and-coming product from someone like IBM I think, and the commercial consisted of a guy sitting on a park bench with these funky looking glasses (although I believe it only covered one eye) shouting "BUY! SELL! BUY! SELL!" over and over again. The viewer is supposed to think the guy is nuts until they reveal that those funky glasses is a mini computer that lets you view stocks and whatnot. After seeing that commercial a few times I never saw it or heard of it again, but I thought it would have been the coolest device ever.

[superhobo @ Jun 4th 2009 9:01AM]

Ah, the monocle computer.

Bring it on.

[jake @ Jun 4th 2009 9:02AM]

man, id get to be a real life terminator

[Idlemind @ Jun 4th 2009 9:15AM]

lets see them do it with contacts....

[RadicalxEdward @ Jun 4th 2009 9:18AM]

here's the image so the text is readable if anyone wants to bother translating it.
http://i40.tinypic.com/anbq78.jpg

[htd @ Jun 4th 2009 9:32AM]

this might cause near sight

[Tes @ Jun 4th 2009 9:35AM]

From the source article: 'From the temple the image on the microdisplay is projected onto the retina of the user so that it appears to be viewed from a distance of about one meter.'

The one meter distance is probably chosen because your eyes 'meet' at around that range for depth perception and binocular vision.

How does this work with people with near/far sighted issues?
These all vary from case to case.
How big does that text look when it's viewed at 'one meter'?
I, for one, still wont' be able to read it at that kind of focus.
Being legally blind I read monitors at about 1 foot and paperback books at a few inches.

I'd LOVE this kind of technology but it needs to have variable focus.
So does this technology only work for normally sighted people?

I'd like to know if they're testing for the 'rest of us' and what the results are.
Or I'd be happy to help test as there are a lot of interesting options for this kind of technology.

[Mike @ Jun 4th 2009 9:45AM]

Transitions tm??? Is Engadget now doing product placement for schmansitions glasses?

[Stuart @ Jun 4th 2009 10:08AM]

Awesome now I can read engadget, eat, drink my slurpy, listen to an audiobook, and drive all at the same time

[Kelvinyam @ Jun 4th 2009 10:23AM]

This glasses + input device that shaped like a pen = Perfect tool for exam!

[niggle02 @ Jun 4th 2009 11:20AM]

just add some energy sensor, and then you can scream "it's over 9000!"

[snowglyder @ Jun 4th 2009 11:28AM]

Hmm.... no, I'm going to call Photoshopped on this one.

[blue @ Jun 4th 2009 12:53PM]

Nice gadget !!!! very useful for cheating in exams. :)

[mirakutea @ Jun 4th 2009 1:17PM]

Yea I want these :>

[poematik14 @ Jun 4th 2009 2:03PM]

They already have something similar to these by Panasonic I think. Alot of architects use them to view blueprints without the need to get out the actual thing and roll it all open and flip through the pages. The bad side is that they are HUGE glasses, and have a nice and hefty bettery pack that you wear on your belt.

[videoCWK @ Jun 4th 2009 2:58PM]

Do you know how LONG I've been waiting for this?!

[gzmask @ Jun 4th 2009 3:01PM]

whatttttt??? IT"S OVER 9000!!!!!!

[Faisal @ Jun 4th 2009 3:19PM]

Dennou Coil!

[Jason Zimmerman @ Jun 4th 2009 7:05PM]

If you look closely, I think you can see the coordinates to the location of the Allspark on there.

[CM @ Jun 4th 2009 7:55PM]

Good for having sex with the woman of your dream, umm.., I mean with your wife.

[Bash @ Jun 5th 2009 2:17AM]

Over 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cunthor @ Jun 5th 2009 2:45AM]

I'm not an expert on this, but I thought that human eye can't really focus with something that close to the eye... Maybe those crazy Germans are on to something.

[Las Vegas @ Jun 17th 2009 5:28PM]

I remember they were working on a concept like this built into a contact lens not too long ago. I wonder what happened to that? Throw these lenses into some oakley's though and I'll rock'em if it doesn't make me go cross-eyed.

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