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Laser projector stuck to iPhone for 360 degree gaming
Are you ready to watch some videos of the most unnecessary iPhone modification in the device's recorded history? Check out the two clips posted past the jump to see YouTube user SoundKite's Frankenstein-esque tech mash-up, in which he adheres a Microvision ShowWX laser projector to an iPhone 3GS. While playing a game which uses the iPhone's compass (such as Sky Siege), the projector gives the illusion of 360-degree immersion. It looks awfully neat, though we're not sure how many practical applications it actually has. Though it would be pretty great to hijack a movie theater, and force its patrons to witness our sick Tilt to Live skills.
Sony's 360-degree 3D prototype displays blown minds (video)
Engadget Japanese is live at Tokyo's Digital Content EXP0 2009 where we've gone eyes-on with Sony's 360-degree 3D display prototype. Check the video (and sample image) after the break for a quick walk-around to see how Sony hopes the device can be used both commercially and in the home -- we're not talking HD here folks but it's an interesting concept nonetheless. %Gallery-76236%
Olympus creates 360-degree HD camera and projector
Sure, regular HD is nice -- you really get a gander at an anchorman's makeup, and the stars' wrinkles are shocking -- but does it go far enough? Olympus doesn't think so. The camera company -- long known to bring the goods on the picture-takin' end -- has just created the first 360-degree, 1080i camera and projection solution. Utilizing a proprietary system based around an "axisymmetric free-form-surface lens," the camera can shoot video at horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 360-and-50-degrees, respectively; the images can then be projected in the same range by a separate unit. Obviously, you won't see this in the consumer sector any time soon, but it does open some pretty interesting opportunities for installations and security alike.
Up close with the Ford Airstream's 360-degree TV
We had an opportunity this week to spend a few minutes mesmerized by the tube (literally) television mounted prominently to the floor of the passenger compartment in Ford's Airstream concept van. Granted, the big news here is that brick-like aerodynamics and hydrogen power make for strange bedfellows, but the bizarre display comes in a close second. Inhabitants of the van's quarters are theoretically able to use it to watch movies, but the thought of kiddies scrambling around a pole to catch the action on the other side of the picture is going to be a nightmare come true for parents of the distant future hauling down the highways and bi-ways in this thing. For what it's worth, the images looked extraordinarily bright (perhaps disturbingly so for the interior of a vehicle) and plenty crisp, but we'll ditch the movies -- we think could stare at that faux lava lamp for hours.