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Apple seeks to spruce up the real world with interactive augmented reality, has the patent apps to prove it
When we go somewhere new, we wish we could spend more time taking in the sights and less time looking at our phone for directions and info about our surroundings. Apple's well aware of this conundrum, and has filed a couple of patent applications to let you ogle your environment while telling you where to go and what you're seeing. One app is a method for combining augmented reality (AR) information and real time video while allowing users to interact with the images on screen -- so you can shoot a vid of a city skyline with your iPhone, touch a building where you want to go, and let it show you the way there. The second patent application is for a device with an LCD display capable of creating a transparent window, where the opacity of the screen's pixels is changed by varying the voltage levels driving them. Such a display could overlay interactive info about what you see through the window, so you can actually look at the Mona Lisa while reading up on her mysterious grin. Of course, these are just patent applications, so we probably won't be seeing any AR-optimized iDevices anytime soon (if ever), but we can dream, right?
Transparent "ViVid Screen" can be affixed to windows, cut into shapes
Screens that can be switched from a transparent to an opaque state aren't exactly anything new, but LinkEarth Corp looks to be a taking a somewhat novel approach with its new so-called ViVid Screen, which it says is particularly well suited for digital signage. As with similar screens, this one employs some electrodes that become transparent when a current is applied, but it also makes use of a new "sponge-like" polymer acrylic structure that prevents the liquid crystals from leaking out even if the screen is bent or cut. That, the company says, will let folks cut the screens to any shape they like, and affix them directly to windows, letting businesses project an image onto them at night and simply switch 'em to transparent during the day. At over $1,500 for a 40-inch model, however, the screens aren't exactly the cheapest option out there, though the company will do custom screens up to 80 inches if you really want to go all out.
Transparent NXT SoundVu-equipped screen
Japan's Dai Nippon Printing Co. (DNP) is set to make the country even more futuristic this fall when they release their transparent "Crystal Illusion Screen" equipped with NXT's where's-that-sound-coming-from SoundVu technology. The screen itself measures a respectable 46 inches in old-school 4:3 and is coated with a special liquid crystal material that apparently only reflects the light from the projector, making it usable even in brightly lit areas. NXT's SoundVu system takes the display's flexibility even further, eliminating the need for external speakers, instead magically producing sound from the screen itself. It's not clear, however, if the projector is actually part of the system or if you have to supply your own. We hope it's the former, cause the screen's gonna cost you a hefty 480,000 Yen (over $4,000) when it launches in October. [Via Impress]
