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Olympus unveils Project Glass-style wearable display prototype
Wearable computing is shaping up to be the next big trend (or fad?) in technology, with Google presenting its Project Glass headset in spectacular fashion at this year’s Google I/O conference and news of Apple recently being granted a head mounted display patent. Looking to get its share of the spotlight, Olympus has announced its very own prototype of a glasses-mounted heads-up display (HUD): the MEG 4.0.
The Japanese firm has actually been working on wearable displays for a few years, but seeing how Google is moving the technology closer to consumers the timing seemed right to unveil its latest prototype.
The MEG 4.0 floats a 320 x 240 screen above the user’s regular eye-line and hooks up via Bluetooth to a nearby smartphone or tablet. It weighs around 30g and has up to 8h of battery life in intermittent display mode that will automatically turn on the display every 3 minutes during 15 seconds only.
There’s also a built-in accelerometer to detect the position of the user's head and react accordingly, but unlike Google, which has shown the potential for photography and even video conferencing with Project Glass, Olympus didn’t include a camera in their MEG 4.0 prototype.
There was no mention of pricing or availability or even a video demonstration of the technology.
For its part, Google has already opened preorders for an early "Explorer Edition" of its Project Glass head-mounted display but it is limited to I/O attendees and costs a whopping $1,500. Those should arrive early next year while a more consumer friendly rollout is planned for sometime during 2014.
User Comments: 12
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news of Apple recently being granted a head mounted display patent.
of course they did tere already getting ready to sue someone for something thats not really their idea
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Apple has too much money to waste, now they patented the head display, they probably don't have the technology or prototype, they just patented an idea and are waiting for a company to get a product on the market then sue them for billions and when the company cannot pay they will buy the company and claim they invented the technology.
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Ranger12 said:
You couldn't pay me to where those glasses in the picture. I have a hard enough time making myself look presentable. I don't need those on my face.
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Who was in charge of making the design for these?
No one in america (and im assuming europe) would get caught dead wearing these.
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StaffJos said:
@Ranger12 @ikesmasher I'm with you guys on that one. They look ridiculous. Although to be fair, those are still prototypes.
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1 person liked this |
C'mon guys, they'll look sweet with a bluetooth headset and your Samsung Note in a holster on your belt. If anyone asks you about it, you can do the Robot while you answer.
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3DCGMODELER said:
1500 bucks ya right....
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C'mon guys, they'll look sweet with a bluetooth headset and your Samsung Note in a holster on your belt. If anyone asks you about it, you can do the Robot while you answer.
rofl
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spydercanopus said:
They may need add collision detection, so when you hear "heads up!" you can duck the food being thrown at your face.
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spydercanopus, the way those things look, they probably have radar built in...haha
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dennis777 said:
dragon ball tech... cant wait for the capsule corp to show up.
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1500 bucks ya right....
The price is for the developer version, you know the limited production ones made so that program makers can have access to them they are not for the general public.
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