Comments on: Laser-o-vision!

Laser-o-vision!

moonbird — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:15:03 -0800

Laser-o-vision: A system that projects light beams directly into the eye could change the way we see the world.

By: adrianhon

adrianhon — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:21:22 -0800

This has been talked about for a while but it's nice to see it working in real life now. I was a bit confused by this passage in the article though: "Within five years, such systems could be incorporated into mobile phones or hand-held computers and appear to the brain as a brightly lit widescreen TV version of what is on the device." Mobile phones? Why does the BBC insist on saying that every single new technology that comes out these days will find their way into mobile phones? I can't envisage how you'd be able to put a laser retinal projector into a traditional handheld mobile phone and make it work - now, putting it into glasses that also happened to have mobile phone functions, sure, but still, it's lazy writing.

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 05:13:47 -0800

I've been thinking about dual 21" monitors on my desktop. If this can give me the 3200x1200 resolution I'd like, only cheaper and more conveniently (a flip-down visor, let's say), that's all to the good.

By: unreason

unreason — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 05:21:19 -0800

Looks pretty cool. One thing though, I wonder how you'd use it in every day life if you wear glasses.

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 05:53:45 -0800

*Advertising and Marketing world cheers* Ha ha! You're fucked now!

By: pealco

pealco — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 06:28:16 -0800

The true advances will come when we can project lasers out of our eyes.

By: ewkpates

ewkpates — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 06:48:46 -0800

Lower the monkey shield!

By: dfowler

dfowler — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 07:21:22 -0800

This link doesn't shoot my eyes with laser beams, does it? I'm not opening it until I know.

By: daHIFI

daHIFI — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 07:22:44 -0800

I personally cannot wait to have one. Although maybe I should save my $2K for the spinal cerebral computer interface implant.

By: zsazsa

zsazsa — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 07:34:21 -0800

This probably explains the "with lasers" phenomenon on Orkut.

By: password

password — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 08:28:53 -0800

I'm not sure if this would be good for you.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:59:01 -0800

Between this, the gel armor, and the (still too small) aircraft carrier for sale, we're straight on the path to Snow Crash. Watch for rat things.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:03:08 -0800

To heck with better information, I want to hook this sucker up to my Playstation 2, load up Vice City and go driving on the highway and around town!

By: Miles Long

Miles Long — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:05:43 -0800

Down inside the computer are three lasers- a red one, a blue one, and a green one. They are powerful enough to make a bright light but not powerful enough to burn through the back of your eyeball and broil your brain, fry your frontals, lase your lobes. ...In this way, a narrow beam of any color can be shot out of the innards of the computer, up through that fish-eye lens, in any direction. Through the use of electronic mirrors inside the computer, this beam is made to sweep back and forth across the lenses of Hiro's goggles, in much the same way as the electron beam in a television paints the inner surface of the eponymous Tube. -Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, 1992

By: Miles Long

Miles Long — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 10:11:04 -0800

ROU_Xenophobe beat me to the Snow Crash reference. Oh, the geek embarrasment! adrianhon, mobile phones have screens. i think that was what they were talking about. but you're right- mobile phones are totally a buzzword right now.

By: Nauip

Nauip — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 12:34:45 -0800

Hell, yeah! I, for one, welcome our laser-eyed-cyborg overlords!

By: campy

campy — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 20:35:19 -0800

Oh hell yeah, Snow Crash here we come! I've already got my Rat Thing Hutch placement all figured out for maximum effect. As an old MeFi'er who's been away a few years there's nothing like a Neal Stephenson reference to bring me back into the fold. Bring on the Future. With Lasers!

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 21:00:37 -0800

Isn't there something just a little medically wrong about shooting lasers into one's eyes and burning out one's retinas? Direct sunlight for more than a few seconds can cause irreperabe damage, but the Pink Floyd Laser Light Show bouncing off the corneas, that's completely acceptable? Change the way we see the world? How about it making us all go blind?

By: Tlogmer

Tlogmer — Fri, 30 Apr 2004 14:39:59 -0800

Microvision say the technology is safe because of very low strength of the laser used. The power of the light is about a thousandth of a watt," said Mr Goldstein. "Not only is it low power, but it is also not dwelling in one place on the retina for any period of time. It is sweeping across the retina at a very high rate."