Archives for 2011
Matt Novak, in Smithsonian’s Paleofuture blog, draws some interesting contrasts between Jaron Lanier’s 1991 Omni Magazine interview and his current book: “You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto.” While the Omni article portrays Lanier as “…a man of vision, enthusiasm, and purpose, if a bit of an eccentric: “The Pied Piper of a growing technological [...] Related posts:
The Science Channel interviews Jaron Lanier who shows off some wide field of view headsets from the late 80′s. Jaron feels like a platypus when wearing one of these JumboTrons. The narrator’s conclusion (and Jaron’s as well): The state of the art in VR hasn’t progressed too much further. (A tip of the hat [...] Related posts:
24 years ago Apple ran this advertisement predicting a tablet based voice assistant. The futuristic ad takes place in September 2011. With yesterday’s announcement of Siri, they missed their prediction by only one month (out of 24 years.) Wish all my engineering projects achieved such schedule precision! No related posts.
There’s been an enormous resurgence of DIY HMDs in the VR hacker community recently, some quite impressive. Understanding how the eye works is the key to these inventions. I found a really instructive 70 year old nugget which gives HMD designers the real lowdown. All the way from 1941 to you…. If you find this [...] Related posts:
Rob Spence, had his eye replaced with a video camera after a shotgun accident. He then set out to make this incredible documentary about visual and limb prostheses. The concept of direct imaging to the brain and the incorporation of augmented reality has been much flailed over the past 30 years. Spence introduces us to [...] No related posts.
MAD Magazine, June 1954: DDD (3D) COMICS DEPT: By now you are familiar with 3-D Comic Books! You Know that some 3-D books enclose One set of 3-D glasses… You know some 3-D Books enclose Two sets of 3-D glasses! We are proud to announce that we of Mad are enclosing No sets of 3-D [...] Related posts:
At the risk of overstepping any and all boundaries of propriety, here are complete do-it-yourself build instructions for an “incredible” haptic feedback interface for your Atari console. With a bit of soldering and epoxy, you can add force feedback into any Atari console game, everyone’s a winner, come one, come all. First check out the [...] No related posts.
Harvey Newquist tires of waiting for the New York Post headline to scream: “Wife Dumps Husband For Cybersex Lover” or “Computer Casanova Seduces Virtual Valerie.” Money quote: Does the average person get to see or use any of this stuff? Can you go any place just experience the joys of VR? Is Ronald Reagan in [...] Related posts:
From 1993: “Now you can go to Radio Shack, buy what you need, and build it yourself.” Robert Suding and the Virtual Reality Special Report provide specific instructions for building a stereoscopic HMD for $435. Interestingly the optics and prisms are quite similar to the V-Rtifacts “Leep On The Cheap” design. Read the plans in [...] Related posts:
“Inside Jaron Lanier is a precocious eight-year-old who got together with some friends and built a spaceship,” wrote Howard Rheingold in his 1991 book, Virtual Reality, the definitive history of VR to date. “Now he wants us all to take a ride in it.” More from Burr Snider’s 1993 perspective in Wired…. Related posts:
VR pioneer, Mark Pesce discusses the relationship between Virtual Reality and psychedelic substances. MAPS: Do you ever use psychedelics for problem-solving tasks? Where you have a specific question in mind, and then you take psychedelics in search of an answer? Mark: They’ve certainly been facilitators or catalysts for that. The most striking example is all [...] Related posts:
“Don’t shade your eyes; plagiarize!” (Tom Lehrer) Why VRtifacts matters. “I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the [...] No related posts.
From the 1995 made for TV B movie Evolver, check out their head mounted display of choice. Related posts:
It’s tough trying to manage one of these businesses. Every time one of my vendors/bankers/landlord/ etc., asks what we do, and I say “Virtual Reality,” their eyes roll up and then glaze over, as if to say: “Oh God! One of those flakes!. ..and he seems so normal” At that moment I make a mental [...] Related posts:
[caption id="attachment_2948" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Virtual Research VR-4 Adapted For Stereoscopic Augmented Reality - circa 1993"]
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We all know that the 1950′s were the golden age of 3D movies, Hollywood’s attempt to fend off the rapidly growing television audience. Their 3D thrust was short lived, and with a few exceptions, we enjoyed almost 50 years of 2D bliss. This time around 3D is harder to avoid… TV has it too! For [...] Related posts:
Based on a mix of US and Japanese technology, this brief news segment shows a vibrant VR c0mmunity in 1990 Japan. There’s gloves and HMDs from VPL, although the LCD displays inside the helmet are from Sony Japan. There’s also a nice augmented reality helmet (built on an actual construction helmet), and a force/tactile feedback [...] Related posts:
Suddenly, I found the information that USSR army, just before World War 2 developed electronic head-mounted infra-red night-vision goggles for tank crew! It is not exactly a virtual reality subject, but nevertheless it’s early days of electronic HMD’s in Soviet Union. In 1993-1940 years infra-red goggles “Ship” and “Dudka” were tested by crews of BT-7 [...] No related posts.
Scenes from a typical day in the virtual world of tomorrow: You wake up and attend to your daily bathroom rituals, which unfortunately will never be replaced by any virtual reality process… Thus, after your real world morning ceremonies are completed, it’s time to get immersed in your virtual world…. By the time you put [...] Related posts:
Size matters! If you ask the manufacturers of Head Mounted Displays over the past 15 years, they would echo that mantra, but it’s SMALL size that they’re boasting. Indeed, those tiny little eye glasses size VR displays look cool (from the outside), but from the inside you’re looking through a distant window. It’s hardly immersive. [...] Related posts:
Several months ago I shipped off an MRG2.2 to Mnemonic in the Ukraine. He said he wanted to do a few mods and some experimenting. Little did I know that he would put together a totally sweet augmented reality system, where the view inside the VR helmet combined the real world outside the helmet with [...] Related posts:
Two snippets from the old, old school of VR, circa 1991, pitching a reputable UK firm – Division (acquired by PTC in 1999.) Featured are a couple of helmets from VPL Research using LEEP optics and cloth/velcro enclosures. One HMD appears to have been modeled after a gask mask from the trenches of the Great [...] Related posts:
If you look yourself in the eyes, you’ll start to realize that your eyes and your head are different than anyone else’s. The spacing between your eyes, known as the interpupilary distance is about 65mm, but this varies from 50mm to about 75mm, depending on who’s eyes you’re looking through. Also the position of your [...] Related posts:
