Hasta La Gadget!

Police officers and other emergency services personnel may soon possess Robocop-like abilities, thanks to the Golden-i headset. This device is similar in appearance to the Glass project by Google. However, it has the ability to see through walls using infrared technology.

Golden-i was first shown in CES 2013 in Las Vegas a couple of months ago. The hardware is developed by U.S. company Kopin Corporation while the software is created by Nottinghamshire-based firm Ikanos Consulting. Users access vital information and operate the device using voice commands and head movements, eliminating the usage of hands which can be used for other tasks. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Darth Vader Head Planetarium, Leap Motion Has Big Plans For Gesture-Based Computer Interaction,

Microsoft has talked up its Kinect Fusion tool since 2011, but it took some time at TechFest this week to show off how the software could be useful in operating rooms. For those who need a refresher, Redmond’s solution can create 3D models of whatever an attached Kinect sensor lays eyes on, but in this instance it was leveraged to create an augmented reality experience. Using an off-the-shelf Kinect camera duct-taped to a tablet, Microsoft researchers layered a model of a brain onto a mannequin’s head, making its would-be mind viewable on the slate from different angles. Ballmer and Co. reckon that neurosurgeons could use the technique to visualize what’s in a patient’s noggin and plan how they’ll guide their scalpel. Word that Fusion would come to the Kinect for Windows SDK first surfaced last year, but Microsoft now says it’ll hit the dev kit’s next release, which should arrive shortly. Head past the break to catch a video of the medical concept app in action.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Science, Microsoft

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Source: IEEE Spectrum

Canon announced the launch of its MREAL system for “mixed reality” today, which includes a head-mounted display that allows wearers to combine virtual objects with the real world in 3D, which essentially sounds like a product designer’s dream. On the consumer side, augmented reality hasn’t done a great job of proving itself generally useful at this point, but in an industrial design setting, the payoff could be big, and that’s why Canon’s MREAL is priced at a professional-level $125,000.

The MREAL headset isn’t nearly as sleek as Google Glass, and instead of projecting info on transparent displays, it actually takes in video of your surroundings, runs it through a computer which supplies the virtual elements, and then delivers a live video feed to dual displays mounted in the visor strapped to a user’s face. It’s not light and all-day wearable like Glass, but it means the system can deliver extremely clear 3D computer-generated images that blend more realistically with a user’s actual surroundings, which is exactly what you want if you’re designing a coffee table for a specific living room space, for instance, or want to see what a car concept looks like under showroom lights before you build a physical model.

The $125,000 price tag and $25,000 annual maintenance fee might prohibit ordinary folks from picking up one of these, but the system’s impact could be felt at all levels, and in addition to being used by designers and engineers, might make its way to show floors for augmented reality consumer demonstrations. It also could make it easier for inventors pitching an idea to investors to provide a more realistic look at what a finished hardware product would look like, without building an actual prototype. If you’re making an iPhone case, the cost doesn’t really justify it, but if you’re a Lit Motors trying to sell the next generation of personal transportation, it begins to look like a much better bargain on the balance sheet.

Plus, this launch of innovative interactive design tools from an established player invites startups to try to build equivalent low-cost solutions to disrupt the market. I’d love to see a hardware prototyping app come out for Google Glass when third-party devs start building for it, which could potentially bring the cost of AR prototyping down to a more manageable, startup-friendly level.

We saw Vuzix shift to a more Google Glass-esque set of smart glasses at CES in January, but it looks like it’s not about to abandon the more traditional wrap-around headsets it’s been churning out year after year. The company’s latest is the Wrap 1200AR, which is a lot like its Wrap 1200VR headset, but with a focus on augmented reality instead of virtual reality. That means you’ll get two (VGA) cameras mounted on the front to capture stereoscopic video of your surroundings, along with a pair of displays (852 x 480 each) to view that video — augmented or otherwise — in 3D. As with the Wrap 1200VR, the glasses also come equipped with head-tracking technology, but they don’t come cheap. These will set you back a hefty $1,499, and are available to order now.

Filed under: Displays, Wearables

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Via: Electronista

Source: Vuzix

Shopping gets even more interactive these days as retailers compete for every single lurking dollar out there, and here we are with teamLab and their teamLabHanger product which is on display at the VQNQUISH Ikebukuro PARCO store. How does the teamLabHanger work? Basically, whenever a hanger is removed from a rack, the teamLabHanger system will detect this and use a nearby monitor to show off some photos or a video which will show a model wearing said clothing on the hanger. This is great in theory, but in a high traffic fashion store, there are times when the wrong clothing is placed on the hanger, so you might end up with a confused looking customer at the end of the day should things not add up visually.

The teamLabHanger has been described this way, “When the hanger is removed, content is shown on the display. This is a switch, and it moves. When the hanger is on the rack it’s off, and it switches on when the hanger is removed. Each hanger has a unique ID. When the hanger is removed the ID is transmitted to a PC in the back, and content tied to that ID is then displayed on the monitor.”

This is certainly a step forward compared to what we have seen from teamLab a couple of years ago, which is a good thing.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia Cuts 1,120 Jobs, AT&T To Expand Its Business In Europe [Rumor],