Kongtechnology.com

Kongtechnology.com

360-Degree 3D Fog Display

Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:00 AM PDT

By now, 3D displays are nothing new, with 3D being rampant everywhere from the cinemas, to your home theatre system and even to handheld gaming devices. Some of these systems have improved upon the idea, with the first step in removing the ever prevalent 3D glasses.

Now, the researchers at Osaka Universiti‘s Oshiro Lab have taken this 3D technology a step further, by inventing what they call a ‘true 3D display’. This display discards both the glasses and a monitor screen, opting instead to project their image onto a fog screen.

The so-called 360-Degree Observable Fog Display uses 3 projectors, at different angles, to project a different picture each onto a cylindrical fog screen.

View the video here to see how looks in action.

The team is now working to improve on the technology to make the fog screen more stable and with the addition of more projectors, the makers say that they could potentially build a much larger 360-degree screen.

Projecting images on fog screens is not a new technology, yet I wonder why people have not thought of using multiple projectors to make a 3D image before. The image projector does look a little shaky at the moment, but hopefully the team will be able to come up with a much more stable surface to project upon. Technology like this makes me think of holograms from those sci-fi movies we all know and love.

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>>  at 07:10 |  add a comment  | 

Kongtechnology.com

Kongtechnology.com

Kinect Puffersphere: DIY Creepy Eyeball That Tracks You Around The Room

Posted: 21 Mar 2011 08:53 PM PDT

Kinect hacks are aplenty out there, and there are many strange and wonderful things that people have come up with to make the virtual and real world a much more interactive place.

This little do it yourself is sure to be a favourite amongst Lord of the Rings fans. The ‘hack’ allows for one to create a giant eyeball that can track you as you move in front of it.

The Technology Studio in the UK are the minds behind this little idea. Not only have they done just an ordinary eyeball, they have responded to the fans’ request and did a rather creepy rendition of the Eye of Sauron, that spews quotes from the movie one after another at you.

All you need is a PC, a Microsoft Kinect and a Puffersphere (that’s a spherical projection display by Pufferfish). The latter of which is certainly not cheap. Nonetheless it does make for an interesting hack.

Unfortunately, because the Kinect does not support a full 360 degree coverage, the eyeball cannot track you all the way around the room.

While this particular usage of the Kinect isn’t groundbreaking, it’s certainly fun, and I love seeing all sorts of uses that people have put the Kinect to. Research in the name of fun, I like the sound of that.

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>>  at 07:06 |  add a comment  | 

Kongtechnology.com

Kongtechnology.com

Panasonic Solar-Powered Wireless Charging Table

Posted: 13 Mar 2011 08:12 PM PDT

In this day and age of the technological era, we are still highly dependent on non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels. In the move to greener and more environmentally friendly sources of energy, we have turned to the power of the Sun. In this case, I think it’s an cool move that Panasonic has invented this table.

Solar power is certainly nothing new, but the twist of putting together the solar-cells with the ability to recharge our mobile devices is pretty interesting.

Panasonic unveiled this invention at the recent 2011 Security Show in Tokyo. The solar panels are embedded into the table-top and the energy it harvests goes to dedicated wireless charging pads that are placed around the sides of the table.

With the use of QI Wireless Power transmission technology, this table will allow any phones or mobile devices that support the QI standard to be charged.

At the showing, it was unclear as to how long you would be able to charge your device or if the table has a battery inside it to store the collected solar energy. It has been confirmed however, that the Solar Table with its wireless power transmission will be available to the public (at least in Japan) later this year or early 2012.

Personally, I think when this device hits the market, it would be out of the budget of most consumers. Also, I certainly wouldn’t be putting anything on top of the panels for that would render it useless. Sounds strange to have a table you can’t put anything on top of, but then again, that’s how this device works!

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>>  at 07:04 |  add a comment  | 

Kongtechnology.com

Kongtechnology.com

Elfoid: The Human-Shaped Mobile Phone

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 09:02 PM PST

Pretty much everyone has a mobile phone today, in all shapes and sizes and different capabilities. There are smartphones with touchscreens and then there are some pretty cool concept phones out there.

The Elfoid certainly fits the category of strange, and I’ll admit it, rather creepy. This Japanese invention, developed in Osaka University with the help of NTT DoCoMo, is a human-shaped mobile phone that is supposed to make you to feel closer to the person on the other end.

It has a skin-like outer layer and wiggles when it ‘talks’ to you. It also tickles you to let you know that there is an incoming call. You talk into its belly and it speaks to you in response, complete with gestures. There is also a LED in its chest that turns blue when in use, and red when in standby mode.

This is actually the mini-version of a previous invention known as the Telenoid R1, a robotic answering machine developed by the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR).

They are hoping that the Elfoid will be put into commercial production within five years, with the addition of image and voice recognition functions.

Personally I think this is a novel concept for a phone. I wonder why did the designers choose such a strange design though. It looks like a limbless torso with a head and I can’t help but wonder why not use something that resembles more a full-bodied doll instead? The featureless face also doesn’t help. This falls into the uncanny valley for me.

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>>  at 07:33 |  add a comment  | 
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