Wall-Sized TV Screens
One of the piece of technology that goes almost completely untalked about from the novel Fahrenheit 451 are the wall-sized TV screens. Recently Ray Bradburry has spoken up to try to fix that by pointing out that really the message he wanted us to take from the book was the dangers of television. I think he is the one missing the point. Wall-sized televisions would be awesome. Can you imagine sitting back on your sofa or favorite recliner with an alcoholic beverage of your choice to catch the night's American Idol on your TV the size of your entire wall? At that scale people would be practically life size. If it could match some of today’s 4K display screens in terms of definition, you might not even need 3D tech at home. Having screens that large would really allow you to transport yourself to a different world. Remember that even in times of economic downturn, people still flock to movie theaters and pay unreasonable prices to sit in front of a screen the size of their house. Maybe I have more faith in humanity than Bradbury but I think we could enjoy a giant tv without causing the breakdown of society.
As for the probability of this piece of technology happening I can really only speculate. Televisions are getting larger and larger. Building a television the size of a wall would probably produce a small steam engine’s worth of heat so my best guess is that we will not see this technology.
Minority Report style interfaces
Really the only thing I hear people ever say about the movie Minority Report is how cool the touch controls were. In the film, Tom Cruise was able to swipe, drag, and resize windows on his cool pop-out 3D screen. I’m not really sure how useful this concept is. I don’t remember ever seeing Cruise type anything and it seems a bit of a waste to have all that motion control technology used so you could wave your hand rather than click a button to change channels. The biggest difference between today’s motion control systems and a Minority Report style system is interactivity. Today cameras can interpret your motions but they are not fully interactive. Simply put it is the difference between waving your hand to change channels and having a fully functional motion controlled keyboard.
We are basically halfway to this piece of display technology. Most of the things that the characters in Minority Report are able to do can be done on the iPad or any multi touch interface tablet. Sure those screens are projecting 3D images, but that’s just a technicality. With an increasing number of people who have an Xbox Kinect or a Playstation Move in their living room, we are bound to see motion interfaces becoming cleaner and more useful. If only we could also get someone to invent future prediction to go with it.
Check out this TED talk from the consultant for the movie
Haptic Perception
Alright, I’ll admit that this one is a little bit of a cheat. Haptic technology generally refers to the technology that allows you to feel something that isn’t there. For me, advanced display technology and haptic tech go hand in hand - quite literally. We’ve seen 360 degree screens and cheesy headsets that were supposed to be immersive display technologies. The problem with these were always that you couldn’t reach out and touch things. This threw up a pretty strong wall that stopped your brain from really forgetting what it was doing. Any sufficiently advanced display technology will have to solve this problem. It could be as simple as providing contact feedback for a keyboard that isn’t there or giving someone a high five through the internet. While I don’t think that I really need to get up in the morning and pull on my haptic onesie, a pair of gloves would probably do most of the things I would enjoy.
I’m not really sure how this tech would work. In some fiction it is gloves that contract and provide tension that recreates touch. In others it is a computer interface that turns digital touch sensations into analog information pumped straight into the brain. I have not come across anyone seriously working on this so I don’t know if there is a real world counterpart.
Flexible Paper-Thin Screens
The only thing that would be better than a thin tablet device that you can fit in your pocket is a paper-thin tablet that you could fold up and put in an even smaller pocket. The concept of flexible paper displays is a familiar standard. Flexible screens could be plastered to any surface, turning them into instant video consumption objects. Paired with an equally thin touch interface, it would make for an incredible mobile computing experience. Imagine you wake up in the morning and unfold your newspaper while you sip a cup of coffee. The paper is the same one you opened yesterday but it updates with today’s news. When you leave for work you fold the paper back up and bring it with you. Perhaps you toss it on the seat next to you and bring up a map that actively updates your location. I couldn’t possibly touch (pun intended) on all of the implications of this technology.
Perhaps the best part of this display tech is that we aren’t all that far from it. Just recently LG announced that they are making the final push toward a flexible e-ink screen. It doesn’t quite fold, but it bends up to 40 degrees. E-ink has an incredibly low power consumption and has even proven to be able to work with touch inputs (see the Kindle Touch). This is just a start but it’s really cool that we are starting to see sci-fi screen technology being developed, not just as theory but as practical products.
Check out this article about the LG announcement.
Heads Up Interface / Augmented Reality
If you’ve ever seen an Iron Man movie, played a giant robot video game, or generally seen any sci-fi movie ever, you are probably familiar with the concept of a heads-up display or HUD. Through a variety of possible means a HUD is a set of data displayed directly into your vision rather than onto a screen. Why bother with carrying a screen around at all when you could input the visual stimulus directly into your eyes? Sometimes this takes the form of a pair of sunglasses that display the time or what direction to head to your destination. Sometimes they take the form of biotech built into the user’s head and displays how much money the person they are talking to is worth. Regardless of the implementation, augmented reality is really there to cut out the middleman. We all want the information that the internet and its resources can provide us but without having to stop and look something up on a clunky smart phone interface. Sometimes driving you simply can’t interact with your phone.
Since 2010 when Google released their Google Goggles app for Android and iOS, people have been hypothesizing that Google was working on some kind of augmented reality device. Being able to hold your cell phone camera up to a restaurant to have the app look it up and spit out reviews was nice, but it still involved stopping and using your phone. Sure enough, this week Google’s secretive Google[x] team released information about their project “Glass” which is apparently working on just what everyone had said they were. The information they released doesn’t really make it clear if the product they are working on is a pair of wrap around glasses (Think Geordi La Forge), smaller more stylish single screen glasses, or an actual contact lens. What it we did learn is that Google wants this product to exist and is willing to get some of the top people in their fields to work on it. I can’t personally predict when this device will show itself, but I know I’ll be in line to buy it when it does.
Since 2010 when Google released their Google Goggles app for Android and iOS, people have been hypothesizing that Google was working on some kind of augmented reality device. Being able to hold your cell phone camera up to a restaurant to have the app look it up and spit out reviews was nice, but it still involved stopping and using your phone. Sure enough, this week Google’s secretive Google[x] team released information about their project “Glass” which is apparently working on just what everyone had said they were. The information they released doesn’t really make it clear if the product they are working on is a pair of wrap around glasses (Think Geordi La Forge), smaller more stylish single screen glasses, or an actual contact lens. What it we did learn is that Google wants this product to exist and is willing to get some of the top people in their fields to work on it. I can’t personally predict when this device will show itself, but I know I’ll be in line to buy it when it does.
Check out the Google+ page for the Google[x] project.
I don’t think that anyone would argue that holographics are the ultimate science fiction display device. They are used for everything from a relatively low-fi plea for help in Star Wars to the full holographic room experience in Star Trek. Making what is not real appear real, in full 3D is the absolute of display technology. Screens are irrelevant when you can use a hologram to create an image of the person you are calling in front of you. Why see a movie when you could live the movie in a holoroom? The tech certainly has some limitations in terms of portability when compared to a low form factor pair of augmented reality glasses but, if you are willing to restrict your viewing to a room or the immediate area around a holographic generator, the possibilities are almost limitless.
I wish that I could say I had information about research being done in this field. I know that progress is being made in 3D projection but it is usually done into a glass cube or in a field of smoke. To the best of my knowledge no one has made any serious breakthroughs in building me a holochamber.
There you have it, six of the top futuristic display devices that I wish someone would market and sell me. If you are interested in finding out more, I will add some links after this article where you can follow through on some of the research that I talked about. Only a few years ago computers were restricted to enormous CRT monitors and now we can carry a screen around in our pockets. Who knows where this technology will go? I don’t know how old or where I’ll be when they come around, but you can be sure I’ll be using my HUD display glasses to help me find my haptic gloves so I can jump in the holochamber and experience a movie or play a game with some friends.
Holographics
I don’t think that anyone would argue that holographics are the ultimate science fiction display device. They are used for everything from a relatively low-fi plea for help in Star Wars to the full holographic room experience in Star Trek. Making what is not real appear real, in full 3D is the absolute of display technology. Screens are irrelevant when you can use a hologram to create an image of the person you are calling in front of you. Why see a movie when you could live the movie in a holoroom? The tech certainly has some limitations in terms of portability when compared to a low form factor pair of augmented reality glasses but, if you are willing to restrict your viewing to a room or the immediate area around a holographic generator, the possibilities are almost limitless.
I wish that I could say I had information about research being done in this field. I know that progress is being made in 3D projection but it is usually done into a glass cube or in a field of smoke. To the best of my knowledge no one has made any serious breakthroughs in building me a holochamber.
There you have it, six of the top futuristic display devices that I wish someone would market and sell me. If you are interested in finding out more, I will add some links after this article where you can follow through on some of the research that I talked about. Only a few years ago computers were restricted to enormous CRT monitors and now we can carry a screen around in our pockets. Who knows where this technology will go? I don’t know how old or where I’ll be when they come around, but you can be sure I’ll be using my HUD display glasses to help me find my haptic gloves so I can jump in the holochamber and experience a movie or play a game with some friends.
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