[FoRK] [Tech] Goggles, or Projectors?

[Jef Allbright]

On 1/2/08, Kevin Elliott <k-elliott at wiu.edu> wrote:
>
> On Jan 2, 2008, at 3:58 PM, Jef Allbright wrote:
> > Rather than wearing goggles, I wonder whether we may find much broader
> > preference for very small video projectors displaying high-resolution
> > images on any suitable surface and maybe compact scrollable screens as
> > the target for a scanning laser built into the front edge of portable
> > keyboards?
> >
> > With reasonably advanced optics, sensors and computation, requirements
> > for planarity, incidence angle and even stability of the display
> > surface could be relaxed using dynamic compensation in the scanner.
> >
> > Given the inherent discomfort of goggles, and worse, the interpersonal
> > isolation entailed by covering the eyes and part of the face, I
> > suspect the personal scanning laser projector may predominate.
>
> I think your overestimating the discomfort/isolation of "covering" the
> face.  IMHO, The sort of
> "google" that goes mainstream would be nearly indistinguishable from a
> pair of glasses.
> I think the model we heading toward is more like a "HUD" technology
> that overlays the world
> in a minimally disruptive way.
>
> Arguing against "projector" technology is that magic phrase "any
> suitable surface".  Sounds
> like a pain in the ass to me.  Running around trying to find a
> suitable wall, worrying about people
> shoulder surfing, etc.  Hardly discrete.   Are we going to have people
> forming lines waiting to point
> there computer at the wall?

Maybe, but I'm thinking that dynamic compensation in the scanner could
make all the difference, and it's not clear to me that
*high-resolution* color in the same unobtrusive form-factor as a
standard pair of glasses is tractable.  (Anybody here familiar with
the prospects for scanning directly on the retina?)  Remember we were
talking about circa 2018, only ten years from now.

Personally, I won't be satisfied until it's something like a cerebral
implant using nanotech to intercept and augment vision at the level of
the optical nerves and/or cortex.

- Jef