Obscura Digital, who specialise in interactive media, have released a video demonstrating their new VisionAire “multitouch” projection system. The company themselves admit that it’s not exactly true multitouch, since there’s actually no contact involved; in fact, you gesture around in mid-air to control different windows and other objects. Multiple people can use the system at the same time.
Check out the video demo of VisionAire after the cut
There isn’t much in the way of technical details; the Obscura blog describes it as “our standard multi-touch framework [integrated] with the Musion system we have in house”. Musion are a company that produces a high-definition freeform 3D holograph on a live stage.
No word on whether this system will be made commercially available.
The ICT Graphics Lab at USC has created a low-cost volumetric 3-D display that brings Princess Leia one step closer to begging Obi-Wan for help. The system projects high-speed video onto a rapidly spinning mirror. As the mirror turns, it reflects a different and accurate image to each potential viewer.
The rendering algorithm can recreate virtual and real scenes with correct occlusion, horizontal and vertical perspective, and shading. Close to 5,000 individual images are reflected every second within the surface area and create a real-space three-dimensional object. Video below.
I love new concepts, but this one may be looking a bit too far into the future. The Tea Cup PC Concept contains a holographic projector that projects holographic images around the inside of your cup.
If for some reason you want to share information with another user of the magic Tea Cup, you just pour it in to the other cup. If a group of people want to see information, just spill the contents of the cup out on the work surface. Yes, it’s crazy. Even insane. Frankly, it’s more magic then anything at this point. All I can really say is that I don’t want to use this…ever.
Shkinder Maxim’s Transformer concept phone is pretty amazing and amazingly versatile. This thing is a cell phone of course, but can also double as a photo/video camera, multimedia player, projector, and it supports holographic imaging and 3D scanning. It’s a shame it isn’t available here and now, but that won’t stop us from drooling.
Among it’s other outstanding features are several independent swiveling and flipping displays, which let you switch from one function to another with ease. This will be an instant hit whenever it comes out in the future.(We hope) The holographic aspect alone will make it easy for a dark Jedi to keep in touch with his Sith overlords.
[NOTE: With CES now over, we are winding down our CES coverage. Expect to see a trickle of stories on trade show announcements next week, but also expect we will be focused on MacWorld and anything else that comes our way. Thanks to everyone who has visited and linked to us - we enjoyed providing you indepth coverage of new product releases.]
Sony seems to have found enough success with its mylo Internet device to have unleashed at CES this week a new generation of the product. The updated Sony mylo goes on sale this month for around $300.
The Sony COM-2 mylo communicator, as it is being called, comes in black or white body colors and has a backlit, slide out QWERTY keyboard. Like its predecessor it lets you connect to open wireless hotspots to instant message with your buddies. You can also use it to view Web videos, take pictures and post them directly to a variety of sites, use widgets to do various online functions, play games and enjoy various media formats.
Get more details on the new Sony mylo after the jump.
SONY’S MYLO PUTS THE FUN OF A PC IN YOUR POCKET
Portable Communicator Adds AIM, Facebook, YouTube to its Social Network Capabilities
LAS VEGAS (CES Booth #14200), Jan. 6, 2008 –For anyone who lives their life online with multiple social circles and struggles to get enough time on their home computer, Sony’s mylo communicator supports the popular web entertainment applications of a PC, in a pocketable broadband device.
Available in black or white, with a back-lit, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, this wireless broadband device connects to open Wi-Fi networks using 802.11/b and /g standards.
It does not require a monthly service contract, and as an added bonus, the new COM-2 mylo communicator devices will receive free access to participating Wayport® hotspot locations in the U.S. including more than 9,000 McDonald’s™ locations until Dec. 31, 2010.
Enhanced Web Browsing
With Adobe® Flash® Lite 3 software, the mylo communicator gives you full access to many of the odd and outrageous videos posted on YouTube™ and other popular Flash-based Web sites. The device can also upload and download content to and from the Web using the touch screen interface on its 3.5-inch high-resolution display.
Shoot and Share
You can keep Facebook™ photos fresh with the communicator’s 1.3 mega pixel camera and photo editing software. You can resize, write captions or draw on photos and post them from the device directly to most social networking pages or blogs whenever you are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot.
“With the rise of social networking, people are making more friends and staying closer to the ones they have,” said John Kodera, director of marketing for personal communication devices at Sony Electronics. “And while they’re chatting and posting to their personal web pages, they’re listening to music, playing games or surfing the Web. The new mylo communicator combines these fun parts of your PC in a portable device so you can stay connected when you’re away from your home computer.”
Keeping Up With the Buddies
According to The 2008 TRU Study, almost 50 percent of teenagers in the U.S. use instant messaging clients to send messages to friends and family. With the mylo communicator you can log into existing AIM®, Google Talk™, Yahoo!® Messenger and Skype® accounts to access contact lists, while sending and receiving multiple messages at the same time.
When there is just too much news to type, you can make free Skype-to-Skype voice calls to more than 246 million other people who use Skype. You can use SkypeOut™ to make inexpensive calls to landlines and mobile phone numbers anywhere in the world.
Widgets Do the Work for You
Offering short cuts and the ability to keep tabs on your social networks, the mylo communicator features five specialized programs, known as widgets, to enhance the web experience on the device.
The Google™ Search Widget is a short cut application so you can quickly search the web for information on your favorite band or the new kid at school.
The MyContacts Widget compiles all of your instant messenger contact lists and shows you who is online and available to chat.
The YouTube™ Widget keeps you informed of the featured videos on the site. If you subscribe to real simple syndication (RSS) information, the RSS Widget sends you updates about your subscriptions.
The Facebook Notifier keeps track of specific elements of your Facebook page.
Mylo users can also register to become developers with access to the information they need to create their own widgets for the communicator. Developer registration will be available at the end of the month at http://www.sony.com/mylo. Personalized widgets created for the device can be shared on this same site.
While You Were Out
When you are between hotspots, the device will support flash-based games. Sony will be offering such games as Sudoku and Solitaire as free downloads timed to the product’s availability.
The new communicator comes with 1GB of internal memory, with the option of adding up to 8GB of additional storage with Memory Stick Duo™ media. You can use this memory to store additional flash games, digital music files, video files,image files or news summaries downloaded from the Internet, or imported from your computer or digital camera.
The device supports Windows® Media DRM 10, so users can store and play music that has been downloaded or purchased from compatible online stores and subscription music services. It plays MP3, AAC, ATRAC® or WMA (secure and unsecured) files. You can watch MPEG4 simple profile and MPEG4/AVC baseline profile video transferred to the mylo communicator via USB from a PC or downloaded from the Web.
When you’re ready to get back online, but not sure of where to find Wi-Fi, the unit includes a hotspot location database from JiWire™ for the top 20 U.S. cities. You can easily customize and add locations to the database stored on the device by visiting http://www.sony.com/mylo..
The mylo communicator uses a lithium-ion battery that offers up to 20 hours of music playback, six hours of continuous Skype talk time, and up to seven hours of video playback. It comes equipped with a microphone, stereo headphones, USB cable, a stylus and a neoprene case. You can personalize the device with attachable face plates, which are sold in two packs — red with gold or blue with pewter. Each pair will be sold for about $20. There is also an optional charging cradle available for around $30.
The latest mylo communicator will be available this month for about $300 direct at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style® retail stores (www.sonystyle.com/retail) and at authorized dealers nationwide.
For those of you wanting a closer look at the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, head on over to AVING USA here. They have several close up shots of the device which was demonstrated by Nokia at the DigitalFocus@newyork event. In case you’re not familiar with the N810, here are the specifications:
4.13 inch WVGA display (800 x 480 resolution) with up to 65K colors
TI OMAP 2420 processor running at 400MHz
128MB DDR RAM and 256MB Flash memory
Up to 2GB internal memory
Support for miniSD and microSD (SDHC compatible)
10 hour battery life for music playback
5 days battery life for always online time
14 days for standby time
Smooth slide with integrated QWERTY keyboard
Integrated GPS receiver
Stereo speakers and sensitive microphone
Integrated desk stand
Integrated VGA web camera
HW key to lock touch screen and keys
Ambient light sensor
WLAN support
Bluetooth 2.0 support
3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
Maemo Linux Based OS 2008
Mozilla based Browser, Media Player, Internet Messaging, Video Calling, Map, RSS reader Image viewer, Utilities
The N810 is going for around $450 to $480 on the net right now.
With the Cyber-Rain XCI, you can water your lawn the “Green” way. It will save you money and conserve water at the same time, by giving you control of your sprinkler system across eight zones. Through a wireless connection with your PC, it will make adjustments to it’s watering schedule, using weather data.
If it looks like it is going to rain, it will put a hold on it’s watering duties. It will even adapt it’s schedule as seasons change. Another bit of good news is that it is very affordable. You can add it to an existing irrigation system for only $295. At that price the system will pay for itself in no time. This is the kind of environment conscious technology we like to see. The Earth will thank you.
Let’s face it, Terrestrial radio is nearly dead. That means it’s time to replace that old AM/FM device that you have. The MusicPal wireless Internet radio and MP3 player looks like a good choice. It also has some advantages over other wireless radio devices. For one thing, it’s smaller then many of it’s competitors, no extra hardware is required and it doesn’t require a computer to operate either. It even goes so far as to display some of your favorite RSS feeds.
The Musicpal comes programmed with a library of more than 5,000 Internet radio stations, but if you still like your MP3s, it can stream them directly from a home network. Did I mention that it also has an alarm clock? At $150 you get your money’s worth.
[NOTE: With CES now over, we are winding down our CES coverage. Expect to see a trickle of stories on trade show announcements next week, but also expect we will be focused on MacWorld and anything else that comes our way. Thanks to everyone who has visited and linked to us - we enjoyed providing you indepth coverage of new product releases.]
