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Apple Researching Virtual Reality Headsets

I think the theater thing is ********. This is a piece that comes from Apple trying to build a virtual operating system that a user could interact with. Making it seem like this is just for watching movies is to throw off their competitors. You know Steve Jobs is already thinking about what will come after touch screens.

YOU WAIT!

makes sense to me
 
I think the theater thing is ********. This is a piece that comes from Apple trying to build a virtual operating system that a user could interact with. Making it seem like this is just for watching movies is to throw off their competitors. You know Steve Jobs is already thinking about what will come after touch screens.
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except it's dumb and we already tried this. People don't like vr headsets very much.

this is just some engineer's pet project. They probably patented it because that silly gear in here is special somehow and they need it for something else they don't want to advertise. Next they'll be patenting a new 1-button mouse with square edges that beeps really loud when clicked, and a trackball made of inside-out duct tape...and you guys will be saying how much you've been wanting one of those.
 
psg0 said:
My thoughts exactly. Look like a pair of Oakley A-Frames with a bunch of gobbledegook after the lens. :D
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hmm yes oakleys are close but I think they might actually be these Smith I/O goggles.
3db0ebe3-b325-4797-b67a-08b307a39cbc.jpg

link to rei
http://www.rei.com/product/760775
 
iWork-Glasses

To be able to clearly see the Mac's text in bright sunlight would be awesome, both for reading and writing. There is no fancy 3D simulation needed for this. Give me something with enough resolution required for dealing with real work on a Mac as opposed to just watching movies. Come on Apple, a pair of 'iWork-Glasses' please.
 
lazyrighteye said:
Wow. TLMM... Haven't thought of that since.
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It came on TV yesterday in Germany. Saw it on the eyeTV program thingie.

tjcampbell said:
Porn will never be the same.
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3D porn might be... interesting indeed. On the other hand, not being able to interact will be even more frustrating I guess. Call me old school, but I like the touchy-feely part of non-cyber-sex. :)


I want a 3D High Def Camcorder now... those will be pricey.
 
the epitome of the crash of social skills...

i love technology, love apple stuff, but i think with gadgets like this eventually we would be so cut off from the world around us that we would be living a dream world... when i play video games it is to spend time with friends, when i'm on the computer, i still like to be able to see what is going on around me. If kids grew up in a world where everyone was wearing these types of inventions, how long before we couldn't even talk to eachother unless it was over a voice network or with a keyboard...
 
I think it's time to bring back VR headsets. When the technology hit its peak in the mid-90's it was still too rudimentary for people to take seriously. The headsets were too big and bulky, you had to be standing in a "ring" to sense movement and the graphics were too blocky and low res. Now we have inexpensive motion tracking and higher resolution graphics. Also the technology is cheap enough to build into a consumer device. With the future processing power of the iPhone/Touch you could feasibly run the graphics processing for the head set.
 
They should really really get this done :) I finally saw an IMAX movie a few weeks ago (there's no IMAX in my country) and just recently heard the virtual barbershop (find it in YouTube) and other holophonic clips and now I'm very hopeful to see virtual reality
 
This is a very extreme way to stop people complaining about reflections on glossy screens. :p

Seriously, I think it's a very cool and has huge potential. I'd love to see a poll of who thinks it could work based on people who do and don't already wear glasses.

That said, rather than mini-screens in there of the type on the diagram, I'd like to see some sort of semi-transparent screen that let you alter the level of opacity, you could do it with an exposé-like gesture with your eyes to a corner of the field of vision. Add a camera at the front and link it to a powerful computer, and you'd have Terminator/Star Trek/Predator-like visual analysis in real time - Night vision, mapping, facial recognition (scary!) and a million other uses. The potential is truly huge when combined with other technologies.
 
I don't know about a virtual movie theater...

but this thing would be perfect for use with flight simulators. I used to fly small planes but am now stuck with flying my Mac. I think it's actually harder to fly a landing pattern in a simulator than it is in a real airplane (although the consequences of screwing up are not nearly so severe) because I can't turn my head and look at my position relative to the runway. A gadget like this would eliminate that problem.
 
Digitalclips said:
To be able to clearly see the Mac's text in bright sunlight would be awesome, both for reading and writing. There is no fancy 3D simulation needed for this. Give me something with enough resolution required for dealing with real work on a Mac as opposed to just watching movies. Come on Apple, a pair of 'iWork-Glasses' please.
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yeah i could actually see the point of that
and i'd probably wear something stupid looking outside to get work done more efficiently without squinting
 
They should research updated Minis and ACDs, matte screens and affordable desktops instead of absurd VR junk. I wish Steve would go on a five year sabbatical and turn the computer biz over to Woz.
 
Video Glasses

While I think this patent is fairly trivial, I hope Apple's "Netbook Killer" is something along the line of HD video glasses tethered to an iPod Classic-sized controller. If you combined it with a bluetooth keyboard (with track pad), you end up with something that is fantastic for working in constrained spaces (airplanes) or "hostile" environments with too many eyes to work on confidential documents.

The problem today is that none of the glasses are HD resolutions; best I have seen is VGA. Give me a 17" laptop performance and display in a package around one pound, and I am a buyer.

Hey, I can dream.
 
aaarrrgggh said:
While I think this patent is fairly trivial, I hope Apple's "Netbook Killer" is something along the line of HD video glasses tethered to an iPod Classic-sized controller. If you combined it with a bluetooth keyboard (with track pad), you end up with something that is fantastic for working in constrained spaces (airplanes) or "hostile" environments with too many eyes to work on confidential documents.

The problem today is that none of the glasses are HD resolutions; best I have seen is VGA. Give me a 17" laptop performance and display in a package around one pound, and I am a buyer.

Hey, I can dream.
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also how will you type if you can't look at the letters on the keyboard??...:eek: lol

i mean i mean not that I do that or naything :rolleyes:
 
"We won't need to wait until 2030 to experience shared virtual reality environments, at least for the visual and auditory senses. Full immersion visual-auditory environments will be available by the end of this decade with images written directly onto our retinas by our eyeglasses and contact lenses. All of the electronics for the computation, image reconstruction, and very high bandwidth wireless connection to the Internet will be embedded in our glasses and woven into our clothing, so computers as distinct objects will disappear."

The Law of Accelerating Returns
by Ray Kurzweil
Published on KurzweilAI.net March 7, 2001.
 
Lilx said:
"We won't need to wait until 2030 to experience shared virtual reality environments, at least for the visual and auditory senses. Full immersion visual-auditory environments will be available by the end of this decade with images written directly onto our retinas by our eyeglasses and contact lenses. All of the electronics for the computation, image reconstruction, and very high bandwidth wireless connection to the Internet will be embedded in our glasses and woven into our clothing, so computers as distinct objects will disappear."

The Law of Accelerating Returns
by Ray Kurzweil
Published on KurzweilAI.net March 7, 2001.
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by the end of the decade? not so much
 
Porco said:
This is a very extreme way to stop people complaining about reflections on glossy screens. :p

Seriously, I think it's a very cool and has huge potential. I'd love to see a poll of who thinks it could work based on people who do and don't already wear glasses.

That said, rather than mini-screens in there of the type on the diagram, I'd like to see some sort of semi-transparent screen that let you alter the level of opacity, you could do it with an exposé-like gesture with your eyes to a corner of the field of vision. Add a camera at the front and link it to a powerful computer, and you'd have Terminator/Star Trek/Predator-like visual analysis in real time - Night vision, mapping, facial recognition (scary!) and a million other uses. The potential is truly huge when combined with other technologies.
Click to expand...

Haha, imagine a keynote where steve says:
The number one complaint about the Macbook Pro is the glossy scrren, and the number one cpmplaint about the Macbook is the screen is to small. So here's our solution, the new iVision.

This isn't your regular pair of VR glasses. Number one, they look fanstastic. Number two, that little touch area on the side lets you control the opacity, from 99% transparent to 99% opaque. They double as sunglasses when they're off, just don't look directly into the sun. You can even choose the tint of the glasses, and here's a fun red/blue 3D preset for old-school 3D movies.

Speaking of 3D, there's one high resolution display per eye here so the 3D effect works very well. It gives you the impression of looking at a High Definition display at the size and distance you choose. Even better: when you squint, it zooms in at where you're looking at so you can read small print and check the detail on that pictures better.

Your whole Mac experience is now 3D, Windows seem to float above the background image, cover flow looks stunning, Time Machine and Front row are seriously nice, too. And if you move your head, you can actually look behind the front-most item. You want dual displays? Just turn your head and it's like you're looking at the secondary display. Actually, since we only have to show you a small portion of the image at high details, you can have up to sixteen virtual 30" displays, right in your iVision goggles.

Let's talk about pricing now. The iVision comes in 2 different versions:

#1:
- 1280x800 resolution
- headphone jack (for 3D soud simulation)
- accelerometer (for head tracking)
- virtual resolution: 1600x1200

#2:
- 1680x1050
- headphone jack (for 3D soud simulation)
- accelerometer (for head tracking)
- virtual resolution: 6400x4800 (requires graphics card with 512 MB RAM)


How aout accessories?
We all know taking out a camera or camcorder to make snapshots can be hard. So how about a head-mounted camera that's always there? Behold, the new dual-iSight. It mounts onto the iVision, records 3D video or images to the iVision's built-in memory and has a built-in stereo microphone. If you tether it all to your iPhone, you can overlay a map of your location, even Street-View Data so you can navigate like you were already there.
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^^^^ Made up quote, purely fictional!
 
This idea is so old and proved to be a failure I hope it's not coming back anytime soon.
 
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