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Technology

Next Generation of Holographic Images 183

Posted by CmdrTaco from the think-of-the-porntential dept.
suman28 writes "Imagine being able to view an image from all sides and have it interact with you. Scenes or images pop-out at you and change on the fly and are viewable in full color. Best of all, you don't need head-gear or any wearable device to make this possible. They are generated by a computer with two cameras that track your eye movement and there is a transparent LCD screen between you and the display that makes the pictures come alive. Though it may be a while before this becomes part of our daily lives, it is interesting to see what the kind of research being done on this. "
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Next Generation of Holographic Images More

Next Generation of Holographic Images

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  • here we go... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jucius Maximus ( 229128 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:08PM (#4473321) Journal
    *insert obligatory 3D pr0n reference here*
  • Isn't this already possible on 3D games? Talk about interaction!

  • Just imagine! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Cowtard ( 573891 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:10PM (#4473349)
    Real-world pop-ups!!! The JOY!

    </sarcasm>
  • how UT would be *very* real in 3D :)

  • Research, right... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mrgrey ( 319015 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:13PM (#4473371) Homepage Journal
    it is interesting to see what the kind of research being done on this. "

    "Research". So that is what pr0n is called now....

  • Too many ads! (Score:1, Informative)

    by Klerck ( 213193 )
    That page has far too many ads.

    Click here [technologyreview.com] to read it without the annoying ads, but with all the pictures!

  • Doritos (Score:4, Funny)

    by name_already_in_use ( 604991 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:14PM (#4473384) Homepage
    Imagine the implications for Dorito's.
  • I take it that this doesn't quite work if two or more people are looking at the screen?

  • Left Thumbs? (Score:3, Funny)

    by thrillbert ( 146343 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:14PM (#4473387) Homepage
    after all, millions of video game players would give their left control-pad thumbs...

    I knew there was a reason why other people seemed to be better than I was at Quake. But knowing they had more than one LEFT THUMB makes me realize how handicapped I was in those games...

    Cool technology though.. I guess we are getting to that future we were wondering about 10 years ago..

    ---
    Schizophrenia beats being alone.

  • The problem with 3D (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:14PM (#4473388)
    more often than not 3D is distracting rather than engaging. the best way to make use of 3D is in applications where we EXPECT a 3D image.

    when we drive down the street, since everything is behind glass anyway, it sort of reduces the 3d-ness, doesn't it?

    • not really (Score:4, Informative)

      by _avs_007 ( 459738 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:28PM (#4473530)
      Even though everything is "behind glass", you are still seeing 3D. Afterall, the glass is transparent, it's not like the glass is "producing" the images...

      Besides, driving down the street, you will want some *depth* perception. What's funky are those prescription windshields... Try being a passenger in one those cars. You almost need to be stoned/drunk to survive that without a migrain.
    • You should try driving with one eye closes some time to remove your depth perception. See how well you can avoid those giant orange pyramids in the distance. You certainly need 3d for driving.
    • Not to offend our one-eyed readers, but some of us have this thing called depth perception that does, in fact, make driving a 3d experience.

      Hey moderators -- don't bogart that fine product you're smoking. Share!

    • Re:The problem with 3D (Score:4, Informative)

      by qwertyphobia ( 583976 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @06:34PM (#4474050) Journal
      People with only one eye still have depth perception - they just don't posess stereo depth perception.

      There are many different cues that contribute to our perception of depth: stereo, perspective, parallax, overlapping objects, shading and shadows and changes in accommodation and convergence of the eyes.

      Those with one eye lack stereo (the strongest cue), but still have a decent amount of depth perception for surviving in the real world. It is only when attempting to use devices that rely soley on stereo to generate a pseudo-3D image that they have problems.

      See this page [washington.edu] for a more detailed discussion.

  • Buck Rodgers (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Syncdata ( 596941 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:14PM (#4473390) Journal
    It may not be the flying car, but I'm amazed by the technologies that I was convinced not long ago, were decades out on the horizon. Holograms, Cybernetic prosthesis, cheap lasers, and common genetic alteration. Good times. Seriously though, here's to hoping the flying car is next.
    • Strange that in a world of space ships and helicopters and supersonic jets people still think of "flying cars" as a fantasy technology of the future. How do helicopters and other personal aircraft _not_ qualify as flying cars?

      • Re:Buck Rodgers (Score:5, Funny)

        by texchanchan ( 471739 ) <ccrowley@@@gmail...com> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:51PM (#4473737)
        How do helicopters and other personal aircraft _not_ qualify as flying cars?

        Because there's not one in my garage.
        • How do helicopters and other personal aircraft _not_ qualify as flying cars?

          Because there's not one in my garage.

          You know, just when we are getting to terms with how poorly we handle technology, we go wishing for a better one.

          Its taken us decades to build safer roads, invent seatbelts, crumple zones, anti lock braking, all wheel drive and air bags.

          Now we are here wanting to be able to personally lift tonnes of metal kilometers into the sky so that 18 year olds can do laps of the city whilst drunk hoping to impress girls by how close they can swoop a building?

          Can't you see that we do have flying vehicles, they aren't terribly expensive (esp. ultralight aircraft), and that nobody in their right mind would suggest that they gain mass acceptance.

          Having said all that, do you really want to have one in your garage (and everyone else's, too)?

          My 2c

          Michael

      • do you have a helicopter? Do you commute in it, piloting yourself? that's what I thought.
    • Seriously though, here's to hoping the flying car is next.

      Of course! After all, we've already beta-tested the combination car-bomb/airplane hijacking with great success!

  • The NYU System and multiple users (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Hayzeus ( 596826 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:16PM (#4473406) Homepage
    I wonder how the NYU system would manage with multiple users? Can the "alternating bars" system be adjusted for more than a single user at a time?
    • I was tihnking the same thing but for regular monitors. They already sell those fruity 3D lcd shutter glasses anyways. So if a monitor refreshes at 85 to 120 Hz, you could theoretically show 2 people different screens at 42.5 to 60 Hz by showing each an interleaved screen that was synced to their glasses. So if you could get Quake, UT, etc... to work with a simpler control device, you could have two or more people play with the same system.

      I don't think the computing power is there though to accomadate running the same program twice on the same computer, although really you are just performing the tasks that the programmed AI would do for a character in the game, so maybe giving more manual control isn't a big deal.

      ngoy
  • Traditional holograms are made from two beams of monochromatic light.

    Using any old He-Ne laser you may have lying around the house, provide the light source.

    The beam from the laser is divided into two paths. One beam is used to illuminate the object; the other is just a reference beam; you could even shine them while watching Baywatch or something as long as you can keep them fairly steady during the bouncing juggly scenes.

    Also, try to find something in the kitchen or basement that has eight segments coated with a high-quality aluminum to provide for reflectivity in steps from 10% to 80% at 45 incidence (use a ruler or tape measure for quick measurements).

    Oh, one more thing -- the laser should be on for about a half-hour to allow it to stabilize. If it's not warmed up enough after that time and doesn't seem to be very bright at all, peek into where the light comes out while it's on to check for any dust specs that may be impacting the light's exit from the device.

    Bottom line -- (cos^2)(theta) dependencies rock!
    • peek into where the light comes out while it's on...

      ...and never see out of that eye again!

      Flipping moron. Stare into a class IIIb laser for a while. While you're at it, stare at a solar eclipse and do some MIG welding without glasses.

      I am convinced that PhysicsScholar is both a bot and candidate for a Darwin Award.

    • "peek into where the light comes out while it's on to check for any dust specs that may be impacting the light's exit from the device"

      Seems like staring into the business end of a laser, even a not "at all" bright one isn't a very retina-friendly activity.

      Thanks for the hearty guffaw!
      • Seems like staring into the business end of a laser, even a not "at all" bright one isn't a very retina-friendly activity.

        I don't think staring into the "business end" of ANYTHING is a very bright thing to do... However, I suppose it can be a *VERY* friendly activity....
    • Ah the joys of a semi-democratic mod system ;)

  • Another impractical "3D device of the future". (Score:5, Insightful)

    by raehl ( 609729 ) <raehl311@@@yahoo...com> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:17PM (#4473424) Homepage
    "Alright guys, we have 3D that anyone wearing inexpensive, lightwieght glasses can see. I think if we put a special screen between the image and the viewer and add two expensive cameras that must be able to see and track the viewer's eye movements, we will have brought 3D imaging into the future!"

    Poppycock.

    New ways to do 3D rendering are cool, but they're never going to escape the lab unless they do something not otherwise available in a more economical package.

  • Driving technology (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Charlton Heston ( 588481 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:17PM (#4473425) Homepage
    Still the diffraction pattern from just one high-resolution hologram can easily use up more than a terabyte of data--enough to fill 1,600 compact discs

    This is the kind of technology that pushes the speed of technology forward. Not only will gigantahumongous hard drives be required to hold this data, but extremely large memories, fast processors, and fast video systems will be needed. For a few years now computers have been quite fast enough. The web only needed a certain amount of horsepower, and as much as Microsoft has tried, there really a limit to how bloated and slow IE can be made. The newer chips eat IE for lunch. That's bad news for chipmakers, because it's hard to sell faster computers to customers who are satisfied.

    This technology is not just going to help whoever develops and sells it, it's going to indirectly help everyone. Get ready for the next tech bubble in the next few years - except this time, when Greenspan says the magic words "irrational exhuberance" sell that shit.
  • ...the device in Snow Crash =)

  • I think, in respect to games, this is progress. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by buswolley ( 591500 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:20PM (#4473450) Journal
    That new visual, physical interfaces need to be devloped inorder for Games to really become interesting.

    For years now we have been playing games in 2D,(ok sometimes shitty 3D) and a controller with several buttons.

    All that has improved, in all these years is graphics quality, and bigger, more-in-depth games. But we continue to use the same interface to the game, therefore all games can be summed into, push this button to do x, push this button to do Y, or combinations etc.. Games have become boring to me.

    But to get real innovation in games, we need interfaces such as this hologram tech, or forced feedback suits etc.

    When I can manipualte a 3D object(like an apple)with my hands and fingers, and I can feel it, spin it etc. That is when games can become really interesting as escapes from reality.

    I know there are people working on these things, and I know that there are quite a few difficulties but, I think only then will Gaming come into its own, ESPECIALly INTERACTIVE GAMING.

  • star pr0n? (Score:5, Funny)

    by EngMedic ( 604629 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:21PM (#4473452) Homepage
    combining the Windows Messenger popup post with this one, we get:
    [popup] if you want to see the rest of Princess Leia's message, click here![/popup]
    gak.
  • "The big problem with television isn't that it's flat," Benton says. "It's that they canceled Twin Peaks after two seasons."

    Still the diffraction pattern from just one high-resolution hologram can easily use up more than a terabyte of data--enough to fill 1,600 compact discs.

    Just think what holographic pr0n would do data storage business.

  • I'm waiting for this tech to be married with a video phone...as long as it's of decent quality. I'm sure that a streaming holographic projection is going to require some heavy bandwidth... Of course, what everyone will be using the new holophone for will be much akin to some posts that have been written already...holophone sex. But then again, I'm sure some of the employees of these facilities aren't going to be as happy about that...hmm. With my luck, it won't work with my GeForce 4...

  • Stick this technology (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bobtree ( 105901 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:24PM (#4473492)
    in the arcades where it belongs!

    Since home game systems have caught up with arcade hardware at low cost, there isn't a sufficient technology advantage to keep arcade gaming advantageous and afloat.

    Serious holographic displays on arcade machines would be fantastic, and home consoles wouldn't be able to touch it for many years since TV/monitor standards are so slow and entrenched.

    Note: please allow 3+ years for development and adoption, and keep your fingers crossed that arcades still exist then.
  • Finally, something worth moving up to from my 12 inch CGA.

    mirror at http://www.msu.edu/~brownd41/mirror/3D/index.html

  • A Cure for Cancer! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by scottennis ( 225462 )
    I love "technical" articles that start out by announcing a new technology's potential in finding a cure for cancer. This is a sure sign that the article was written (or underwritten) by someone who is trying to sell more than advertising space (pop-up or otherwise).

    If you think this article is sincere, here are some more of today's headlines for you:
    • Microsoft Profit, Sales Up, Shares Rise on News of Windows-based Cancer Cure
    • Indonesia Appears to Signal Anti-Terror Resolve as Indonesian Doctors Close in on Cancer Cure
    • 'Rosie' Magazine Shuttered, 120 Jobs Slashed, Cancer Research Reporters Kept On
    • Jazz Forward Malone Mulls Retirement, Plans to Become National Spokesperson for American Cancer Society

  • I don't like having my eye movement tricked. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by handybundler ( 232934 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:26PM (#4473515) Homepage Journal
    So do they think that people with 20/20 vision can actually view this for any length of time without casuing major eye strain, vertigous reaction, and any other focusing issue?

  • More than one viewer? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sssmashy ( 612587 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:26PM (#4473516)
    The cameras can easily isolate the viewer's bright pupils, enabling them to track the eyes and adjust the location of the shifting stripes so that they always block the image in a way that sustains the stereoscopic effect.

    Sounds wonderful, but one limitation that jumps immediately to mind is that the 3d effect is limited to a single viewer. I was reminded of the scene in "Minority Report" which shows Tom Cruise watching 3d video of his deceased wife, and then the eerie image distorion of the wife as the camera shifts from Cruise's POV to circle behind the projection.

    • Sounds wonderful, but one limitation that jumps immediately to mind is that the 3d effect is limited to a single viewer.

      Yes, but is this really that much of a limitation? Obviously for most computer work (or play) there is only one user so then it does not matter. In fact, it could even be an advantage, since the guy next to you on the airplane would not realize that you are watching pr0...er, see your sensitive business documents. For other uses, say family video night, you would have to replace one screen with several of these devices. That would not have to be very expensive, especially not compared to getting one of those enormous TVs that everybody has these days.

      Tor
    • one limitation that jumps immediately to mind is that the 3d effect is limited to a single viewer

      That's only the NYU system and the article says later that they're working on that. The MIT true-holograph system can produce the 3D images for multiple viewers, but is limited by the massive quantities of processing power needed. Meanwhile the NYU system runs on a pc but only gives the effect to one person, though:

      "The group is also working on a system that would simultaneously provide 3-D views to multiple observers, such as a team of surgeons debating the best approach to a difficult procedure or a group of video game players competing on a shared monitor"

  • This should be great for med students learning anatomy. Being able to see things from all sides at scale could be a usefull learning tool for all kinds of things.

    Just imagine the kinds of computer games that would benefit from this as well.

  • 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...

    Oh, just counting all the posts that included some reference to pr0n.

    ...8...9...10...11...12...[...]

  • Super Computing? (Score:3, Funny)

    by pixelpusher220 ( 529617 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:31PM (#4473569)
    churning through 20 terabytes worth of information every second would require extraterrestrial technology Mental note to self: must get more hampsters...
  • Getting Goatse'd in 3D [goatse.cx]! Oh, the horror of the future! Don't bring children into such a world!

    If you can't figure out magic eyes, this one [goatse.cx] is easier to see -- you might just have to give it awhile.

    And yes, this is somewhat relevant -- it is a magic eye image of Goatse, which is an inextricable part of slashdot now that we've all been desensitized to it for 2 years.
  • "Scenes or images pop-out at you and change on the fly and are viewable in full color. "

    I hope mozilla will be able to block 3D popup ads :)
  • quote from article: "The big problem with television isn't that it's flat," Benton says. "It's that they canceled Twin Peaks after two seasons."

    Well, I think the bigest problem is how outdated his reference is. Next he will be complaining about how the CHiPs didn't get picked up for an additional season.

  • If anyone has seen the movie "Vanilla Sky," they might recall the big birthday party scene where there is a hologram of John Coltrane playing the sax. If that's the kind of technology we can expect in real life, then I'm without a doubt excited by it.

    I wonder how long it will take this kind of technology to really take off and start to infiltrate the average home. If it's done well enough, I imagine it could have to potential to send our old TV's to obsolete land. Imagine 3D TV. Hell, in enough time (far into the future here) we could be wasting our lives away in a holodeck type environment instead of on the couch. Remember that LCD-Paint that people were talking about a while back? These kinds of technologies in conjunction could change our lives, much the way tv and radio changed the lives of people when they were first introduced.

    I suppose this is a bit of a futurist vision, but when you hear about stuff like this, how can you not get excited by the possibilities? These are very exciting times my friends... very exciting..

  • Research application: proteins and molecules (Score:5, Insightful)

    by f97tosc ( 578893 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:33PM (#4473586)
    A lot of research goes into undertanding how proteins and other bio molecules fold and fit together.

    This can be difficult to understand for a researcher that is looking at a flat screen. Also hard disk needs for doing this 3D would not that ridiculous, as the view from different angles can be calculated from scratch based on the chemical composition (rather than stored than having the computer storing the information of each possible angle).

    Tor

  • Gamer's Paradise (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:35PM (#4473604)

    I already play 3d games where I view an image from all sides and it fully interacts with me. Scenes or images, in living colour, pop-out at me and change on the fly. Even better, I can interact with friends in a dynamic playing environment where different, continously moving, fully realized 3d images are viewable by all participants from all possible angles.

    It's called "sports". Get off the couch, fatties.

  • Wasn't that orlando jones' character in "The Time Machine" movie that came out recently?

  • Or not (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Morgahastu ( 522162 )
    "Though it may be a while before this becomes part of our daily lives"

    If ever, probably never.

    Holographic projection systems will never become part of our daily lives until its actually a 3d image being projected into the air that EVERYONE can see, not just one person with two camera looking at him.

  • Virtual Boy Reference (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Q3vi1 ( 611292 )
    I wonder if it'll give me the same headaches? I mean, after all that 3D pr0n, I'd already expect a headache, but what about when I'm just doing research? *sig*
  • "Imagine being able to view an image from all sides and have it interact with you" Wow! That's exactly like what I see every single day!
  • ..the fog machine version. At least then you can cool the computer, yourself, your popsicle, etc.... while you play. This one you probably need bifocals in order to use it. ;-)
  • Did you notice that the images in the top left corner of the article web pages were the one and the same on all five pages, just cropped and scaled a bit?

    Does anyone else have better images of this thing?
  • 1280x1024x1024 in true color is 5 gigabytes! Double that with z-page swapping (doing the work in a second section of memory, then, when the raster scan is resetting, move the contents into video memory). Finally AGP 4x has a peak transfer rate of 1 GB/s. Well, I guess by the time this tech comes to market, the rest of the hardware will be up to speed.

    Fun!

    This is a .sig

  • The future is 30 years ago (Score:3, Funny)

    by katarac ( 565789 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @05:52PM (#4473741)
    Man, they've been doing this kind of stuff since the 70's. Why, I'd bet that everytime me and the gang would be investigating a mystery, some embittered ex-carnival employee, or some crooked investor would use this exact same technology to project a ghost or some other apparition to scare away people who might horn in on his fortune. Oh wait... lines... between fantasy and reality... becoming clearer....forget what I just said.
  • I wonder if they might look something like the holo-pictures in these shots [natalieportman.com] in this [natalieportman.com] scene [natalieportman.com] from the Attack of the Clones DVD.

  • Clippit running around your desk (Score:5, Funny)

    by texchanchan ( 471739 ) <ccrowley@@@gmail...com> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @06:08PM (#4473839)
    Now we can get
    • Little holographic characters (Clippit and his friends)...
      • Geysering out of your computer screen into your personal space
      • Cavorting around on your keyboard singing about Chevrolets or cold drinks or overdue upgrades
      • Acting out tiny love scenes or fight scenes to grab your attention
    • Or a full-sized holographic hand reaching out to hold yours, saying "Would you like suggestions on style? May I recommend the Palatino font?"
    • at which a printer, complete with leather apron, leaps out holding up a proof sheet using YOUR doc's words
    • until a Tyrannosaurus Rex bounds upon the scene and gobbles all the other holograms, only to turn to you and say "Hey, [YOUR NAME], tired of intrusive software? Get NO-Zilla the holo killa! Only $39.95!"


  • I thought we were supposed to have large rooms which could holographically take on the appearance of any environment by The Next Generation, complete with lifelike artificial characters? Not to mention warp drives, food replicators, and a sentient android....

  • Minority Report, 3D (Score:3, Funny)

    by serutan ( 259622 ) <snoopdoug@RABBIT ... minus herbivore> on Thursday October 17, 2002 @06:34PM (#4474053) Homepage
    Transparent panel between you and the display... like maybe a Store Window?

    Busty Babe in Store Window: "Hi, [your name], I notice you like walking. How about a pair of Nike PaveHuggers?"
    You: Huh?
    Babe [tracking your eye movement]: Oh, do you like my boobs? Check out my personal website. I just sent the URL to your PDA. [Licks lips] Will I see you later?
    • And sadly, that whole idea was the cleverest, most breathtaking thing in the film.

      But that didn't stop it somehow being rated Top 250 by imdb [imdb.com] (#91 when I looked).

      What is up with that? Even Mr Cranky [mrcranky.com] didn't entirely hate it.

      Bad Idea for the Morning: Hey! I should do a review site and post how much this movie sucked. Or maybe I should just get another Oola-flavoured-beverage and shut the fskc up. Yeah. The second one.

  • Holography stereoscopic 3D (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rufusdufus ( 450462 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @06:48PM (#4474159)
    Holograms do more than simply stereoscopic 3D. A hologram encodes the entire wavefront of the image, not just two positions like 3d goggles or other cheesy steroscopic devices.

    This differences is substantial: the amount of information presented to the eye is vastly larger than simple stereoscopic methods. In a simple stereoscopic image, all objects and surfaces appear to be in the same focus plane. Holographic images essentially gain a 3rd axis of resolution by adding a very large number of focus points in 3 space.

    This also allows for true perspective wherein different viewpoints provide different information. You can 'look behind' objects in a hologram, which you cannot do with steroscopic tricks.

    Thus, true holograms provide a qualitativly better experience over existing 3d methods.

  • Haven't they learned anything from Trek? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Thursday October 17, 2002 @07:07PM (#4474274) Journal
    Holodeks always break down and take over the ship or house with weird characters out of books.

    Stop this stuff now!
  • Imagine being able to view an image from all sides and have it interact with you.

    Help me, Obi-Wan Kanobi, you're are only hope.
  • Are 90% of the audience of Beavis and Butthead intelligence? A real breakthrough appears in 3D technology, and most of the comments are stupid remarks regarding Star Wars, 3D in real life (DUH!) and how this would be great in the porn industry!
    If you don't have anything to say, that is on topic, STFU!
    J.
  • Sorry to be pedantic, but holograms are created with interference patterns using a laser on specially treated photographic materials.

    What's referred to here are not, infact, holograms by definition. It's merely a 3D display technology.

    (Holography is a hobby of mine...it's amazing how much fun a guy in his bathroom can have with a laser and some chemicals!).

    -psyco
    • holograms are created with interference patterns using a laser on specially treated photographic materials

      How is the main technique described in the article not a hologram? It specifically involves shining a split laser through a material that contains an interference pattern. The only difference is the interference pattern is created by calculated soundwaves passing through a stack of tellurium-oxide crystals, instead of using film.

      No one ever said the depicted object has to actually exist for it to be a hologram...

  • So this brings us one step closer to an invisibility cloak. Simply plaster these displays on the sides of a box, find a "victim" (i.e., person to whom you want to be invisible), track his movements and pipe the stereo image that would be behind you...

    If we get thisworking with multiple people, I'm sure people might pay for this. Otherwise it might be a nice parlor trick...

    (perhaps I should patent this idea...but here it is on slashdot as 'prior art')
  • Just great, bad enough I get pop ups in my browser, the possibility of popup spam on the Wintel box at work, but now I may have to put up with pop up sharks from Jaws XI like poor Marty McFly did in Back to the Future.

    Seriously though, while this is fairly cool, it could also lead to some extremely annoying street advertisements on the sides of buildings. Its bad enough to have billboards everywhere, but now ones which can actively annoy you in 3D? UGH!

    That and maybe all bartenders being replaced by the Max Headroom version of Ronald Reagan.
  • I know I am super late on this, but what the hell...

    This is cool technology, and does have obvious practical uses as outlined in the article. But it will never replace the potentials offered by HMDs (Head Mounted Displays).

    HMDs offer the the one thing you can't get from a 3rd person perspective - immersion. Unfortunately, HMDs still have some serious drawbacks, the greatest of which is the fixed focus. Some HMDs are supposedly focused at "infinity", but they are still fixed focus in that there is no way to create the different levels of focus that the real world offers the eyes - everything is at the same distance. Thus, your eyes do not change focus as they do in the real world, which leads to eye strain. Once this issue is overcome, and issues relating to FOV (field of view) vs. resolution (namely you can't get a big FOV with high resolution yet for any reasonable amount of money - it is always a trade off) are surmounted, the ability to work and play in simulated VEs (virtuals environments) for long periods of time will become a reality.

    That is what I am waiting for...

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