Computer Glasses

[12_String]

By computer glasses I mean like what the blackberries and cell phones do now - access the internet. You could focus way far off or up close and see the screen's image floating in the air in front of you. Of course you could still see the real world around you, but by focusing you could make it more or less opaque. It could be voice activated so there were no buttons or mouses to operate. It could even have an auto-record so people online could see and hear what you are doing and seeing and hearing. For the really-mobile multi-tasker.

[aburt]

For sure! In my novel-in-progress I have people using spex like that as a common interface.

[Crone]

"Computer glasses"! Yes! Disappointing to find you didn't want REAL computer glasses. I've got varifocals for general use and reading glasses. That means I tilt my head at an odd angle to read the screen or hunch over the keyboard.

[aburt]

I'll add that, if I read this right, Sony and others think we all will widely adopt 3-D TVs, using glasses to watch it. I'm skeptical of that (been tried before for decades, but who knows). However, if it does catch on, then that might pave the way for the glasses to do a lot of other functions than just 3D TV.

[cj7hawk]

Hmm, makes me think of William Gibson's "Virtual Light".

But I'll go you one better - Contact lenses with broad-spectrum interference based holographic image creation... Then you don't have to wear glasses because you're wearing contacts...

Better still, because it would use interference-based holographic image creation, the "depth" and "focus" of objects could be changed....

Anyway, computer glasses are around - they just don't sell well... Anything over 640x480 resolution is prohibitively expensive.

David.

[aburt]

Contact lenses with ...

Hmm, wouldn't glasses (a) be much easier & faster putting on / removing, and (b) provide a framework to do audio easily too?

(Implants would be better yet, but further off.)

[cj7hawk]

Perhaps, but I wear glasses and hate contacts, so I figure there has to be some technology out there to mitigate my dislike for them

David.

[wswears]

I think that computer glasses are a short-term interim technology. Even in early stages, I'd imagine GPS, night vision, cartographic mapping features for visible and distant features. If I was designing them, they'd be able to seamlessly link up to my car and airplane to provide heads up displays of things I'd consider useful while piloting those vehicles.

Like the iphone, I'd imagine they'll be capable of more than any given user wants. I expect they'd have audio and video recording enabled at all times, unless that feature was shut down. That way, the wearer is sort of plugged into a personal alarm system that can call the police and provide evidence.

I'm calling smart-glasses interim because I expect to see those.

Bill

[admin]

I think that computer glasses are a short-term interim technology. Even in early stages, I'd imagine GPS, night vision, cartographic mapping features for visible and distant features. If I was designing them, they'd be able to seamlessly link up to my car and airplane to provide heads up displays of things I'd consider useful while piloting those vehicles.

Yup, exactly how I have them envisioned in my novel-in-progress.

I hear that the big TV makers thing 3D TVs will really take off this year, and people will wear glasses to watch them. That may be a bit of a stretch that people will wear glasses just to watch TV, but if they do a lot more, are lightweight, also correct your vision, act like sunglasses, etc. etc. then I suspect people will adopt them.

[cj7hawk]

When your glasses become your entire optical input from the world around you ,think how weird it could get...

Is that pretty girl you're taking out real, or did someone hack your glasses as a practical joke? Doesn't it seem strange that she won't let you touch her? How she pulls away each time, apologizing that she's just a little retentive? You start to get suspicious and find a reason to make contact. Something's not right. You rip the glasses off and find out she PHOTOSHOPPED herself into your glasses... She doesn't look like that at all! In reality, she's all pimples and unfixed teeth. She tries to apologize. That's OK, you tell yourself, she hasn't realized yet that you don't look the way she sees you either...

Hmm. That's almost an entire story in a single paragraph!

David.