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Posts with tag holographic

InPhase to finally ship Tapestry 300r holographic storage solution in May


Talk about escaping the label of vaporware by this much. We've been hearing that holographic storage was right around the bend from InPhase for well over three years now, but it has finally managed to get its ducks in a row and should start shipping the unicorn-like Tapestry 300r next month. The firm had a demonstrative version on display at NAB Show earlier this month, and apparently real live working units will be making their way out to archival junkies in just weeks. Granted, it will demand a whopping $18,000 to get a shipping label made with your address on it, and each piece of 300GB media is $180 -- but hey, that's the price you pay these days to know that you'll decompose before your data degrades.

[Via The Register]

Daihatsu and Provision building HLXX 3D holographic dashboard, the future


If those darn kids would get out of the way, what you'd see before you is a fancy new dashboard that Daihatsu teamed with Provision Interactive Technologies to build for its latest concept car. They're calling it HLXX, and it's pretty straightforward: there's a traditional flat screen 2D dashboard that is used for all the usual driving infos, with a 3D holographic screen in front that overlays warnings or alerts so they're more easily seen by the driver. Daihatsu hopes to have HLXX in production vehicles by 2012, but until then we suppose we'll just have to pretend these gauges and dials on our dashboards are 3D. Oh wait.

Holocube brings 3D projection down to desktop size

After years of promises, it seems that holograms are finally starting to gain a little traction, although the applications for the technology so far have been fairly limited. At least one company thinks that's about to change, however, with it now touting its retro-styled Holocube as an all-purpose solution for company's to advertise their products "like never before." Measuring about 20-inches square, the Holocube packs a 40GB hard drive for storing up to 18 hours of compressed video, which can magically float at 1080i resolution within the cube at the flick of a switch. Of course, the fact the company is targeting the device solely as a means of advertising should tell you something about the price (which is on a need to know basis, it seems). Still, it's a start, and we're guessing there are at least a few folks out there that'll snag one of these to fully round out their Star Wars-inspired home theater no matter what the cost. Head on past the break for some video of it in action.

Sony unleashes a holographic monster on Tokyo Bay


See, this is how you bust out a hologram -- unlike the mind-numbingly boring virtual Prince Charles we heard about the other day, Sony's invaded Tokyo Bay with a water-and-laser sea monster. The apparition is part of the promotion for a movie called "Water Horse: Legend of the Deep," but even with a title like that, we'll definitely check it out on import DVD when it arrives Stateside just to provide more incentive for stunts like this. Check out a video after the break.

Researchers develop a 360-degree holographic display


Researchers at USC have taken another step towards that holiest of sci-fi dreams: the 3D holographic display. Using a spinning mirror covered with a "holographic diffuser," a special DVI implementation, and a high-speed projector, the team's device can project a three-dimensional image that can be viewed from 360 degrees -- regardless of the viewer's height and distance. That's impressive, but that spinning mirror looks pretty dangerous. Check a video of the system in action after the break.

[Via Core77]

SeeReal demonstrates prototype holographic display


Three-dimensional displays have long been fodder for a good laugh, but Germany's SeeReal is taking a serious approach with its latest holographic prototype. Showing its stuff at the Society for International Display (SID) forum in California, the company has reportedly "developed a new technology for displaying 3D images on a TV set, computer display, or through a projector." The trick is seemingly in the company's proprietary Tracked Viewing Window technology, which "limits pixel size to HDTV levels and in combination with a real-time tracking system, eliminates superfluous elements while reducing the need for real-time processing." The firm's main objective was to remove the inconvenience factor that's typically associated with viewing 3D imagery, and with its unique use of holography, it has reportedly done so. Of course, the outfit is still on the hunt for willing and able partners to kick out products to the commercial world, but according to the CEO, it already has "a number of promising contacts in that regard."

[Via PCLaunches]

Sony speeds up its holographic storage system


Having already increased the storage capacity of its holographic storage system, Sony's now turned its attention to speeding up data transfer rates, and it certainly doesn't look to be wasting any time ratcheting things up. According to Tech-On, Sony's managed to increase the transfer rate of its "coaxial type" holographic data storage system from a mere 3 Mbps to 92 Mbps and 107 Mbps for read and write times, respectively. That considerable leap was apparently achieved by using a new image-stabilization technique developed by Sony (artfully illustrated above), along with an improved CMOS sensor that allows the system to operate at a higher frame frequency. Sony's far from done yet, however, promising to eventually increase transfer rates to a cool 1 Gbps by boosting the laser output and increasing the sensitivity of the recording medium.

Sony demos four-layer holographic recording technique


Sony looks to be making steady progress with its attempts at holographic recording, recently announcing that it's managed to bump up its previous single-layer Micro-Reflector recording technique to a full four-layers. As with the previous system, Sony used a standard blue-violet semiconductor laser diode to write on the 250 μm-thick photopolymer recording layer, with nothing more than a few optical parts added to change the focal point depth in order to write on multiple layers. They've apparently still got quite a bit more work to do, however, as they've reportedly discovered that the reproduction signal gets significantly weaker by the time it reaches the fourth layer (about half that of the first layer), with the data transfer rate also suffering as a result. Sony seems confident that it'll be able to overcome that problem soon enough though, even going so far as to boast that it'll one day have a 500GB disc made up of twenty layers packing 25GB apiece.



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