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Informance shades give athletes a heads-up display
For every gimmicky workout product that comes along like the push-up counter or talking grip master, there's also one such as the Nike+iPod or Entertrainer which actually seem to prove useful or motivational. Well you can add the upcoming Informance sunglasses from German lenscrafter Rodenstock to that list, which take your regular sports shades and tack on a tiny LED display that shows stopwatch or pulse data from a wirelessly-linked watch. Developed in cooperation with the UK's Cambridge Consultants, the display projects a 160 x 120 pixel image through a wedge-shaped prism, occupying 12% of the left eye's field of view in a reportedly unobtrusive manner when peering straight ahead. Look for actual products to hit the market sometime in 2009, for an estimated €700 to €1.000 ($990 to $1,400).
Microsoft patent app reveals heads-up vehicle display, fluffy dice
It looks like Microsoft is sparing no amount of detail in its so-called "adaptive heads-up user interface for automobiles," with the company even going so far as to include a virtual pair of fluffy dice (as seen above) in the still-in-development system. According to a recently revealed patent application, the virtual dice actually simulate the movement of the real thing, bobbing back and forth as your vehicle moves. As for the more practical aspects of the system, it seems that Microsoft sees no limit to its potential, with it able to display all the information normally confined to your dash, as well as stuff stored on your cellphone, PDA, or media devices and, of course, various GPS-related information (including ads for nearby businesses). This simply being a patent application, however, there's no indication as to when or if we'll ever actually be able to get some virtual fluffy dice of our own.[Via The Inquirer]
GlobalTop intros GPS HUD Speed Meter
It's practically a foregone conclusion that eying your handy GPS unit a bit too much whilst cruising down the freeway can indeed put you and your fellow motorists in peril, and while robotic turn-by-turn voiceovers do quell the staring fits somewhat, we still tend to rely a tad too much on sheer visuals. GlobalTop is hoping to make the roads a safer place to navigate with its forthcoming GPS HUD Speed Meter, which will supposedly makes its debut at CeBIT. This Bluetooth-enabled device purportedly "displays your speed and other navigational info, like direction, onto your car's windshield," and also enables handsfree communications with your BT-equipped cellphone. Moreover, the speed meter can be setup to alert the driver when exceeding a user-set limit, and while you may not be familiar with the brand, it's reportedly a spinoff of f-tech, which bodes fairly well for us actually seeing this thing beyond the Photoshop stage. As expected, there's no pricing or availability deets surfacing just yet, but all that should change come next month.[Via NaviGadget]
