“A company that makes video display products for military and industrial uses is setting its sights on a new market — the iPod,” Todd Bishop reports for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “Bellevue-based eMagin Corp. has developed a wearable headset system that plugs into Apple Computer’s portable media device and displays video from it in front of one eye, using optical technology designed to give the picture a higher resolution and make it appear larger than on the iPod’s screen… Scheduled to debut in the first half of this year, the EyeBud is expected to retail for as much as $599 — $200 more than the cost of a 60-gigabyte iPod.”
“But eMagin’s executives are betting that the notion of a virtual big screen will win people over. With the proximity of the screen to the eye, and the magnifying effect of the company’s optical technology, the company says that using the headset is akin to watching a 105-inch display from 12 feet away,” Bishop reports.
Full article with photo of Gary Jones, president and CEO of eMagin Corp. of Bellevue, demonstrating his company’s new wearable display for video iPods here.
Perfect for the uber geek who longs for the Borg look.
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I do not think so.
Fit this into a pair of specs and I’m in.
Pilots use the same technology.
Call me crazy but this is what I envisioned (pardon the pun) back before we actually got an iPod with video capability. Music doesn’t have to be on speakers (we have headphones), and now video doesn’t have to be limited to the screen.
Imagine ten years from now when your iPod-sized mac mini is in your pocket and you can check your widgets while walking around!
Until then, give us nanobooks!
MDN
Is this CyBorg or Bjorn Borg?
jec
Have you seen the thing – it’s huge, anybody would look a complete dork wearing that. I initially thought it would be akin to HUD, but it’s sadly not.
So it looks dorky, and you’ll probably bump into things, great.
I think they’ll make their money selling to industry and this product will die a slow unprofitable malingering death.
The screen needs to be built into what would appear to be a normal pair of sunglasses.
I predict this product won’t be around in a year.
Bump into things???
This gizmo may or may not be a good idea, but why would anyone want to walk around while watchng a movie??? How can you “bump into things” unless you’re moving?
Maybe not now, but in its 3rd or 4th revision where it costs three or four hundred and is hidden inside some sunglasses…
…of course, I first have to save up for the iPod video or wait for my iPod photo to break and be replaced by video under Best Buy’s extended warranty….
And, as if reading my mind, the MDN Magic Word is ‘later’.
BTW, John Crawford, it would be “iBorg”…
“Bump into things???” – Er, it only covers one eye and attaches to a headband that plugs into a mobile music device. I think the chances are you are meant or at least capable of performing other actions whilst wearing the ‘eye patch’. This is a derivative of a miltary device remember.
I think walking with a iPod would not be out of the question, this isn’t a home cinema device to be placed on a stool or shelf somewhere.
I think this is a first generation device that will either die or, spawn better hopefully less intrusive versions. I hope a HUD version that would allow you to watch a 10 minute news item whilst walking to work will be available – but I’m not holding my breath…
This sort of thing conjures up images of the two nerds (John Cusack and some other guy) in the movie Sixteen Candles that come out of their house to take pictures of Farmer Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) in the Rolls.
The Donger would be sad. Any dork wearing this thing would be greeted with immediate laughter on the subway.
hey guys,
If you think Apple was getting sued for scratches on iPods think of the lawsuits from idiots wearing these units and usig an video iPod and driving, walking, etc.
I can see the headlines:
Apples sued because some idiot decided to watch a video while driving his car and crashes into a wall – sues Apple for created such a device.
Apple sued beacuse an idiot walks across the street thru a red light because of his video iPod and gets hit by a car – sues Apple for causing him to get so involved with his video iPod and does not see the car, etc…..
>The Donger would be sad. Any dork wearing this thing would be greeted with immediate laughter on the subway.>
No. He would be mugged.
It may seem like your watching a 105 in screen from 12 feet away.
But I’d hardly consider a “mono” image a “cinema experience”
Who watches their big screen with one eye covered?
Pirates?
Idiots!
100 inch DDs. Whoo hoooooo.
Olympus has been making something similar for about ten years.
I did not read about it on their site because i don’t see myself spending 600 smackers on this. two things. i would want to be able to watch it on two eyes, not just one, but if i was forced to watch one eye it has to be my left eye, not the right like that picture shows.
I never do the MW thing, but this was perfect.
MW: VIEW
I like to VIEW with my left eye.
Apple WILL probably get sued. Winnebago got sued by some guy because noone told him his criuse control would not steer while he got up and made a sandwich. All of the new RV’s now have a warning sticker.
Something else to think about…
I was at an industry presentation given by Symbol.
They make the hand-held computers used by Wal-Mart and UPS (I think) that scan packages.
They have been using lasers in portable products for about 30 years and it was mentioned to me that someone at the company figured out a way to overlap a red, green, and blue laser to form a full color video display.
It is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and doesn’t require focusing. The farther you move it from the wall or screen, the bigger the image is.
Haven’t heard anything official, but the idea has potential.
~M
I wonder if you can modify the focus. I can’t see anything placed that close to my eye unless it has a focus modification. Hey, we all get old.
Told you about this three months ago.
Hey, Schmutz — PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS . . .
and learn the difference between reality and an URBAN LEGEND!
Schmutz = Putz.
This is GREAT!! I can’t wait to use it while I’m driving in the car on long trips. I won’t have to try to watch videos on my laptop screen on the passenger seat anymore.