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Valve employee spills the hardware beans: wearable computers, ahoy
When Michael Abrash started working for Valve, he expected the higher-ups to hand him a pile of work and tell him to hop to it. They didn't. Instead, he was told to figure out the most valuable thing he could do for the company, and then do it. So, Abrash wound up kicking off an in-house R&D project for wearable computers, and according to a recent blog post, is looking to expand his research team. More than me-too mice and gamepads, indeed. Abrash is quick to put a lid on rumors of "Steam glasses," however, and warns readers not to expect any big reveals at E3 -- this is just an "initial investigation into a very interesting and promising space," he says, and is more "research than development." Rearing to give Google's Project Glass a run for its money? Or maybe you're just itching for a detailed narrative of employee and employer? Either way, you'll find what you're looking at the source link below.
Lumus' OE-31 optical engine turns motorcycle helmets, other eyewear into wearable displays
After showing off a duo of wearable, see-through displays at CES, Lumus is back with a second optical engine -- one that could be used in any style of frames, from prescription glasses to ski goggles. Available in binocular and monocular configurations, the tiny OE-31 sensor weighs just 10 grams (.35 ounces), allowing it to accommodate a variety of form factors besides your run-of-the mill (and quite dorky-looking) 3D glasses. As always, Lumus' hook is its ability to combine head up content, augmented reality and see-through displays, though this time around the sensor allows for a 19-degree field of view and a full-color, 640 x 360 picture. Though that's not as impressive as the 720p, 3D-capable frames on offer at CES, the company argues it should be adequate for reading text, particularly since the viewing experience will be comparable to staring at a 40-inch screen from 10 feet away. No word, of course, on what products might incorporate these discreet head up displays, though maybe, just maybe, we'll catch a demo in Barcelona. For now, we've got photos below along with a handful of demo videos after the break.
MicroOLED viewfinder delivers 5.4 megapixels in 0.61-inch monochrome display
Photographers who've spent years looking through the window of a high-end optical viewfinder may never find an electronic version that fully satisfies them. But this new MicroOLED EVF may get us closer than ever to an acceptable digital replacement for the TTL OVF, which will never find a home in modern-day compacts and mirrorless ILCs. Developed with military and medical-industry heads-up displays and digital camera viewfinders in mind, the new microdispay is able to deliver a 5.4 megapixel (2560 x 2048) monochrome image, or 1.3 megapixels in full 16-million color -- all in a 0.61-inch diagonal panel. The display boasts a top contrast ratio of 100,000:1, 96-percent uniformity and 0.2 watts of power consumption. There's no word yet on when the new tech will start popping up in enterprise devices and digital cameras, or how much of a premium it'll carry for electronics manufacturers, but it looks like we're closer than ever to having an excellent electronic alternative to the optical viewfinder. Jump past the break for the full PR from MicroOLED.
MVS California's Volumetric Head Up Display is a 3D laser show for your car's windshield (video)
Your windshield is good for more than just keeping bugs out of your mouth. It's also a big blank canvas waiting to display helpful info like directions, traffic notifications, and safety information. A number big name manufacturers like GM and Pioneer have offered up heads-up display concepts over the past few years, but what makes MVS California's Volumetric Head Up Display really neat is its impressive implementation of the volumetric aspect, using lasers to project images on the windshield in a such a way that gives the illusion of depth. So, if the system is being used to give driving direction via GPS -- its main application, at present -- it can make a turn arrow appear lined up with an exit half a mile down the road. The prototype showcased at this week's Augmented Reality Event 2011 projected in red only, though the company says it's capable of full color. How long do we have to wait for the future? MVS is hoping to get the thing into cars as a premium option in the next few years for around the same price of current high-end navigation systems. Surprisingly dull video of reality augmenting 3D lasers after the break.
Boffins at Oregon State create transparent circuits?
Dude, screw the transparent OLEDs, it's all about transparent circuits, which some Oregon State University scientists seem to have created. The significance, of course, is clear (ahem): you save a lot of space in devices -- especially portables -- when your circuit board is your screen, not mounted on a wafter in a package on a board behind it. Apparently the scientists even expect clear, glass-mounted indium gallium oxide circuitry to ultimately be cheaper to produce than silicon. The military's in on the gig too, the Army Research Office is a project sponsor (as is HP and the National Science Foundation), probably for the project's obvious heads-up display uses. Will we, um, not see this gear any time in the near future? Hard to say, they're only up to 26 transistors in a single array as of yet (compared to the hundreds of millions in chips nowadays), but we'll be waiting.[Thanks, James F]
