APPLYING TECHNOLOGY TO DISPLAYS

"Step into the 3D world."

The poster reads...

You are not kidding.

At the Society For Information Display's (SID) convention in Seattle, WA May 25-27, 2010 it was 3D all over.

The demonstrations ranged from a giant 84" panel from Samsung with a 3D screen resolution 4 X High Definition (3,840 X 2,160), that you viewed with glasses, to small mobile device 3D displays that give you a crisp 4-6" 3D image you can see without glasses.

The SID show is not so much about finished products that you can go out and get at Best Buy today. This show is where the people who make those display systems you buy at retail get their technology and technology components. It is the ultimate annual display dweeb fest.

It is the place to catch the industry's themes and directions, as well as understanding what will be at retails in a year or two.

The themes for 2010 are:
1. 3D Everything
From display technologies to the manufacturing and testing tools to put the technologies to market.

2. Multi-touch

So you can expect to touch and pinch everything over the coming years.

3. OLED (Organic Light -Emitting Diode)

An up and coming display technology that make thinner, lower power and even flexible displays possible.

4. Low power consumption

Technologies that make our large home screens 4 times as power efficient, to laptops and pads that will run for weeks without recharging.

5. Thin

All the way to flexible!

I gathered a lot of material and shot some great interviews that I will be bringing you over the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

This is Theo looking at how the industry is applying technologies to displays.

APPLYING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF 3D - Part 1

Fundamentals - PART 1

Thumbs, horses, frogs and birds.

Over the coming months and years as the 3D hype builds and escalates, you will encounter 3D references about movies, television, cell phones, computer displays, games and that big screen in the family room.

Before you can understand all this, it really helps to understand why and how you can see 3D at all.

Stereopsis is the ability to see 3D. It is also known as depth-perception. The reason humans can do this has as much to do with our thumbs, as with our eyes. Yup... our thumbs!

Because we have opposable thumbs, we are very good at manipulating objects. And because we manipulate objects, it really helps to have a very good sense of depth-perception. Think how hard it would be to thread a needled if you could not perceive the needle and thread in 3D.

That is also why our eyes are located in front of our face. To see 3D, you need to look at objects from two slightly different angles. The two images that form in your two eyes and are sent to the brain, don't quite line up.

If you want to check this out, hold your hand in front of your face. Now close one eye, then the other. Do this sequentially back and forth. You'll notice that your hand appears to be in two different places in context to the background. Your brain knows how to calculate this difference into distance from the eyes. Pretty neat stuff!

It also means that if you happen to be blind in one eye, you can't see in 3D.

Horses don't have thumbs and probably can't see 3D very well. Their eyes are located more on the left and right sides of their face instead of in front. This has the advantage of a very wide field-of-view. They are better at seeing everything around them and running away if there is a problem. Humans gave up field-of-view, but we have better 3D (and can throw rocks).

A frog has eyes that look to both sides and can also swivel forward. Proportionate to their head size, their eyes are set apart much wider than ours. This is a good 3D enhancement for frogs. A frog needs really good 3D to flick that tongue out and nail insects flying by. Without 3D frogs would not be able to catch flying bugs.

A lot of birds and lizard are 3D hybrids.

They tend to have their eyes totally on the sides of their head and are really good at seeing two giant bubbles of image all around.

It help to avoid being eaten. But did you ever notice a lizard or a bird bobbing their heads up and down? Guess what they are doing? They are making two images, one over the other, in order to get a 3D picture of their surroundings. Ain't nature clever?

SUMMARY:

You can see 3D because you have two eyes that are offset so that each one observes the scene from a slightly different angle. This helps us to have depth perception, which is essential to refined manipulation of objects.

In order to create 3D media you need to generate or capture two pictures of each scene from similarly set apart views.

Then, in order to show that media in 3D, you need to get those two images separately into each of your eyes.

All 3D technology is based on this foundation. Most of the discussion about 3D on the Applying Technology blog will, in one way or another, also be built on this foundation.

So, this is Theo Applying The Fundamentals of 3D technology to thumbs, horses, frogs and birds.

Applying 3D Technology - A NEW SERIES

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APPLYING 3D TECHNOLOGY

In this series we will be exploring "What is 3D: from many angles". We will include the technologies that allow it. And as always, the view will be through the primary lens of: "Applying 3D Technology"

So please join us and follow this new series on the Applying Technology Blog.

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3D IS HOT right now.

3D (Stereoscopic) media has been around a while. The StereoScope itself was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838. So the idea of looking at 3D media is nearly 175 years old!

Much more recently, I was postulating that 2010 might be the tipping point for 3D. No one is more excited than I am that it is seems to be happening.

• Major film spectacles are releasing in 3D and the capability is becoming common in more and more multiplex theaters.
• Most major home-video display manufacturers are rolling out 3D capable models.
• Sport media, a major driver for many home entertainment technologies is getting ready to rock.
• Video gaming, whose profound effect on high-technology cannot be overstated, is taking a giant push into this arena.
• Next week's SID (Society For Information Display) convention is Seattle has a major 3D theme.

I based the above prediction on my experience as the CEO of Panoram Technologies, where we build more than 120 stereoscopic immersive data visualization facilities between 1997 and 2007.

These "wrap-around" immersive rooms for 6-10 people were capable of rendering real-time 3D computer graphics from super-computers. You have probably seen them on the oil company commercials.

In 2005, I also had a chance to write, produce and direct a high-resolution 3D museum film. This provided a great deal of insight into the processes, challenges, methods and benefits of producing media in the medium.

BOTTOM LINE

• Why is 3D HOT NOW!?
• Why should you care?
• Do you need 3D?
• Do you want 3D?
• and of course, HOW DO YOU APPLY 3D?

It's Theo exploring the many dimensions of APPLYING 3D TECHNOLOGY.

APPLYING MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE A GUITALK

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video. This is a fun follow-on to last weeks blog on the iPad as a control surface.

When you watch the video, you'll notice that most of the action is on the iPhone with the android and MS Mobile devices appropriately playing supporting roles. A good market metaphor, if ever there was one!

The performer is a software developer who thought he would show his prowess by integrating a stack of mobile devices into a guitar like thing. He sure did. This is my kind a guy! And this is just plain fun.

This is Theo - Digging on Steffest applying mobile phone technology to make and play a "Phonetar" or "Guitalk".

Applying iPad Technology AS A CONTROL SURFACE

The iPad is the control surface I dreamed of for years.
In my 20's I started designing technical systems, beginning with mixing consoles and tape recorders. The control surface designs (better known today as UIs or User Interfaces) were limited by buttons, switches and sliders that needed to be logically located for the user - but also dictated by engineering and board layouts.

In the early 90's, as digital controls became feasible, I started to design control systems using computers. The first of these were very crude, but by the mid 90's I was able to create graphic user interfaces for machine and system controls. I eventually received a few patents in this area.

Probably because of my background in hardware UIs, I always liked software that emulates hardware. Buttons sliders and knobs should look, feel and operate like their physical counterparts. The main benefits of the electronic interface is its tremendous flexibility. Of course, interacting with this interface using a keyboard and mouse was a giant leap backward.

In this new century, touch control has leaped forward as evidenced by many things including the touch screen in my car and of course now my multi-touch phone.


Putting the iPad into this context is more than exciting!
Consider the following characteristics:

• The iPad is not only touch but multi-touch.
• The iPad is untethered with great battery life and the ability to link the control surface to the controlled system wirelessly -with both wifi and bluetooth.
• The iPad can leverage client-side AND server-side applications for really sophisticated controls that are software and database linked.
• The iPad offers powerful high-speed graphics and animations to support real time feedback including live video cameras and sound.
  
• The iPad is an ideal size for a single user UI.
  
• The iPad is very inexpensive in the context of control surfaces.
• The platform is very feature rich compared to a standard touch screen. It includes multi-touch, accelerometers, GPS location, wifi, blue tooth, web, multi-tasking (imminent), sound, and more.
  

THE TOPPER!
And most important, the iPad is NOT some proprietary hardware system you need to integrate and support. Rather, it is a relatively inexpensive, commodity, commercial device you can easily adapt to your most esoteric application by simply developing software - and if the device you need to control does not support wifi or bluetooth, a little bit of hardware interface is probably enough.

It seems that the audio Apps have really gotten into this. As an example, Groove.Maker includes sliders, button, selectors, real-time visual feedback and more.

Although this particular app does not control an external device, it easily could. Others do.

It adheres to many real-world design metaphors and you can run multiple faders and turn knobs at the same time because the control surface is multi-touch. Wow.

The real innovations are yet to emerge. I expect industrial casings, dual hand or "many surface" coordinated applications, video integration, and much more.

I will go as far as to predict that the iPad becomes a catalyst for a renaissance in man/machine interface...

This is Theo - Exploring the iPad as an amazing control surface application.

Applying iPad Technology IN THE KITCHEN

Over the weekend, I was taking a little timeout on Netflix to watch a delightfully bad scifi movie on the family iPad. I suddenly realized it was time to prepare that meal I had promised.

I wandered into the kitchen clutching the device under my arm and grasped that I was entering new iPad territory - literally! How does the iPad fit into the kitchen? "Good question!", I mused.
"And a good idea for a post!".

There were several issues to consider including: Why an iPad in the kitchen?

Well, I was not finished with my movie and it was time to prep then cook. I don't have any media in my kitchen and taking the iPad with me offered music, radio, television, movies and of course access to that online recipe I was going to use.

But an iPad in the kitchen? With water, grease spatters, and all manner of sticky organic material? Maybe not.

Just then, my wife wandered in and pointed out that we had the same problem with our beloved collection of cooking books. Why not use the same solution?

Of course! There are many cookbook stands that combine a nice adjustable angled stand with an acrylic cover to protect the book. This is a perfect solution for the iPad in the kitchen.

You can find these stands for as little as $20.00 at stores like Crate and Barrel, Bed Bath & Beyond, and of course Amazon. Just make sure it is adjustable and more important, that it has a splash guard. These are typically acrylic and the best ones are over sized for better protection. Ours was perfect.

Of course you can't use the iPad's surface without touching it. But again, this is the same for a recipe book. If you need to change the page (or the movie), wash those hands and raise that splash guard again when you are done.

I think the iPad would clean up easily from some errant spatters with its milled aluminum fitted back and glass front. It is probably reasonably kitchen safe anyway, but I'd hate to find a glob of sticky on it the next time I grabbed it.

So get yourself a cookbook stand and go iGourmet!

This is Theo APPLYING TECHNOLOGY in tasty new ways.

Ref: Google search for cookbook stand

Applying "Lean Back" computing with the iPad

The idea of "lean forward" and "lean back" computing has been bandied about over the past few years in context to the IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) movement. It is pretty self explanatory.

Sitting at your computer, and clicking links is considered to be "lean forward".
Sitting on your couch watching television is considered to be "lean back".
This makes sense when you think of the experiential aspect of each mode.

I bring you this idea because it is one of the most intriguing aspects of the iPad.

It is arguably the world's first "lean back" computing device. It simply invites you to curl up in your easy chair and fondle your way through the internet... or simply watch a show... listen to music... or read a book. And when you are in a "lean forward" frame of mind, you can pop it onto the table and start typing. It is really terrific that way.

As we all try to make sense of this new device, the "lean back" attribute of the iPad is one of its greatest differentiators. It is little wonder that the traditional computer categories don't fit it well.

It can also make it challenging to justify the iPad as a work tool. I'll address that in an upcoming posting on work surfaces. Right now, I am going to take my iPad out to the patio and watch a movie on Netflix.

Theo - Leaning back while applying new computing technology.