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Re: it ain't easy

From: Doug Sutherland <>
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 00:57:52 -0800

Dave,

> Your point that making eyeglass displays isn't easy is well taken.
> I realize that your were not flaming, though I did sense a bit of 
> an emotional something in your response.

That's probably because Matt has gone down that road and found out
that it's not quite as easy as it might appear. Here is some info
about Matt's M1 Glasses hack:

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/mcarlson/sunglasses_hack.html

And here are some links to other similar hacks:
http://wearables.los-gatos.net/#HMD-mods

> I am surprised that there is not (at least to my knowledge) a 
> stronger push in the private sector for this kind of technology.

Not sure exactly what you mean by that. The market for head mounted
displays is small. Most of the world is stuck in the laptop and PDA
mentality. We seem to be stuck in a chicken egg scenario here.

> To date I have seen 2 commercials (one was IBM) demonstrating a 
> fictional rendering of this stuff.  

Wearable comp and specifically HMD is the trendy thing for adverts.
Companies are using this to create the illusion that they are one 
step ahead of everyone else. Big Blue has done some research but 
that's about it.

> So I guess it's right around the corner now. 

Ha. We have been saying that for years. This is technology that 
seems to be forever just around the corner now. You can find links
to all of the HMDs that I can find (minus virtual reality headsets
since they aren't very good for wearables) here:

http://wearables.los-gatos.net/#HMD

You will find that you can get a low resolution HMD for a reasonable
price ($500-$600), but it will be QVGA (320x480). The most popular 
HMDs in this category are the Tekgear M1 and Sony Glasstron PLM-A35.
If you want to go up to 800x600 color, by today's standards you'll 
need to shell out something like $1200-$1500. Pricing are starting 
to drop on the higher end HMDs, but its a slooow process. Many of 
us are waiting for the Inviso e-Shades to materialize, they say 
that they will be $600 and are 800x600 color, and apparently will 
be available within a few months. I for one am skeptical. I hope 
I am wrong, but if these are available to Joe Anybody for $600 in 
April 2001 I will fall off my chair.

  -- Doug 

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