We want HUDs, we love Iron Man.

(pic nicked from io9)

Here’s a neat viral video that will make more sense once you’ve seen Iron Man 2.

(viral vid via Tech Digest)

Gimme!

Meet Parrot – ‘a wifi helicopter with two cameras’, or basically your own personal UAV.

A fantastic piece of tech. However, as Chris Arkenberg pointed out, “Compelling AR ultimately requires HUD glasses.” (Something I’ll be investigating personally this year.)

This hasn’t stopped Mr TheStreetFindsIt’sOwnUseForThings, William Gibson, himself from leading the discussion on just what cool uses this tech can be put to.

Welcome to 2010.

I really wasn’t sure what I wanted for Christmas until now.  In fact, this is just the sort of system a twenty-first century Santa needs.

From WIRED’s Danger Room:

…described as a modular upgrade for parachute systems for use in “high-altitude, high-opening” jump missions, typically carried out by Special Forces. This 6-foot wing gives a glide ratio of 5:1, which means that a drop from 30,000 feet will allow you to glide about 30 miles. The makers estimate that this would take around 15 minutes, giving an average speed of about 60 miles an hour.

“All equipment is hidden in a lifting body optimized for stealth, the radar-signature is extremely low,” says the Gryphon data sheet (PDF). “Detection of incoming Gryphon soldiers by airborne or ground radar will be extremely difficult.”

Gryphon has a guidance system and heads-up display navigation. Best of all, the company are looking at an option for bolting on small engines similar to those used in Yves Rossy’s setup. These will increase the range to more than 60 miles, but will also make it possible to cover long distances from low altitude so that the entire mission can be more stealthy.

Yes, so while Yvs Rossy (aka Fusion Man) won’t sell to the military, other companies are happy to.

thanks to my buddy Tone for the tip-off!

Previously:

• Fusion Man to fly across the English Channel
• Wingsuits

Rejoice, augmented reality is here! OK, now.. what’s next?!

Wait, first we better roll the video – Bruce Sterling’s keynote for the launch of the Layar Reality Browser, in which, Bruce being Bruce, he drops a metric ton of reality of these hip Dutch hackers. In fact this is mandatory viewing for anyone in a tech scene faced with the dangerous prospect of imminent success:

Now, while there’s still a little hype juice left to squeeze out of the lemon, let’s run a bunch of clips showing just how now Augmented Reality is.  Proof being, if it barely works, it’s cutting edge tech, riiight?!

First, Layar’s main rival – The Acrossair iPhone 3GS AR Browser:

Then the Yelp ‘Easter Egg’, later revealed to be using Layar’s platform:

Further proof that one of the initial killer apps for AR will be tourism, the augmented London Bus app for the iPhone:

Finally, a little South Korean weirdness to finish things off – Maptor, an AR “torch” is I guess the best description:

Yes, I know, I know, I know.. AR isn’t really here until it’s Clatter, right. Or HUDs at a minimum. Well, be patient.. Lockheed Martin just dropped a cool $US 1M to Microvision “to develop a see-through eyewear system for ground soldiers.” Cross-fingers, we’ll be getting our grubby paws on those in a few years.

So where do this leave us fine citizens of this marvellous Future Present?

By our current measure of the state of Future – ie Japanese anime – the world of Eden of the East is just around the corner, but Dennō Coil might be a ways off yet. As fans of this show know, that’s your shining example of the realisation of technology as magic, which Bruce mentions in the keynote.

With such wonders on the horizon, I can’t help wondering what’s lying beyond it. Anyone care to take a guess?

The following speech by Karl Schroeder is an excellent summation of the future we’ve been documenting here, the world that lies just around the corner:

His thoughts on, well I guess you have to call it Nature 2.0, are a nice progression on some of Kevin Kelly’s ideas in his book Out of Control.

via BoingBoing | Futurismic

The story here is that CNN is reporting this. Or as reader Paul Luthy wrote “It seems significant that a major network news source is treating this as science news…”

So not much progress has been made since we posted about this in Jan ‘08; but more people are aware of it now. Thanks CNN!

From gizmag:

Students at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany are developing a pair of interactive data eyeglasses that can project an image onto the retina from an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) micro-display, making the image appear as if it’s a meter in front of the wearer. While similar headwear only throws up a static image, the students are working on eye-tracking technology that allows wearers, with just the movement of the eyeball, to scroll through information or move elements about.

via Mac Tonnies

As promised these have been spotted at CES.

Pocket lint has touched them and has more details:

Vuzix’ proprietary Quantum optics technology gives Wrap 920AV wearers a “see-thru” video experience in the form of a functional pair of sunglasses with prescription lenses optional.

Claiming to be capable of 3D, Vuzix mysteriously states that an “optional Bluetooth 6-Degree of Freedom tracking sensor and/or Stereo Camera Pair will enable users to upgrade their Wrap 920AV to experience virtual, augmented and mixed reality environments“.

Awesome. Now stop teasing and gimme!

Via gizmodo.com:

Apparently, the Wrao 920AV will be “the first to actually function as sunglasses or portable video eyewear. It’ll combine virtual reality (VR) capabilities as well as augmented reality (AR) features.” Holy crap that is awesome.

I am one happy little camper right now. I have been waiting for HUDs to de-lurk from the future since, well, forever really.

It looks like the tech has finally progressed to a point to make them pragmatic. Witness Microvision’s new product:

The information being displayed in the eyewear optics would originate in the mobile device and arrive at the eyeglasses through a wired or wireless connection. The mobile device eyewear viewing experience could be completely see through, providing the wearer with a visual information overlay, while not losing awareness of their surroundings. Or, the viewing experience could be occluded, offering the wearer an immersive, visual experience where the wearer purposefully escapes their immediate surroundings.

So you can toggle between using them as a HUD or just a straight video player. Nice.

Far more information in their detailed spec.

But where is the Buy button? If I am reading this right they are still looking for partners to pair up with and distribute this. Which is just achingly frustrating. I need this now!

thanks to G_A_P_S for the heads up on this!

So one of my things to do in Japan was going hunting for HUD tech. Like a good little cyberpunk, I head straight for Akihabara and start asking around.

Despite the best efforts of my buddies that were translating for me, all I got was blank stares from the shop clerks. The best advice I got was to try Hong Kong, which is apparently now the home of edgy, crazy tech?!

Disappointed, I skulked off, and had idle thoughts about sneaking over to HK. The next day, what do I see on the train? A very HUD looking ad from Nikon, for the Media Port UP, which:

…incorporates display, headphones, mobile A/V player, Wi-Fi capability, high-capacity memory, and power source in a single compact unit is the first of its type. The UP allows users to easily enjoy high-quality images, videos, and music anywhere.

While it’s far from Clatter, this is available to buy right now. Sure, it isn’t on a contact lens, but “viewing with a sensation equivalent to that of viewing of a 50-inch large screen from a distance of three meters” isn’t too shabby either.

I’ll be curious to see what the take up rate on this is. As this photo from Akihabara News shows, they don’t actually look that bad on:

I can hear you all asking. Where’s my alien dancing girls?!

Well, an Israeli company, Lumus are just about to debut their HUD solution.

Unfortunately, they’re dorky as hell.

And while it’d probably get you kicked out of any decent Grinder Bar, it’s perfect for the next retro-future 90s cyberpunk party you get dragged along to.

via Charles Stross