back to article Brother creates direct retinal imaging specs

Brother has developed a pair of high-tech specs that could soon let you openly view naughty images or read top secret documents in complete privacy. Brother_RID_02 Brother's Retinal Imaging Display glasses The firm's specs are based on Retinal Imaging Display (RID) technology which projects light directly onto the wearer’s …

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  1. Jimmy Floyd
    Paris Hilton

    Filth!

    "...let you openly view naughty images ... in complete privacy."

    The raging hard-on might give it away though!

    Paris. Umm......

  2. Inachu
    Heart

    Cool!

    I can't wait to try this with World of Warcraft!

    Those old Sharper Image goggles are heavy on my nose!

  3. John Dougald McCallum
    Thumb Down

    OH Brother

    As a spec wearer no thanks not exactly subtle are they.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sweet

    Wonder if two (with larger image area) would allow 3-D projection too..

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    hmm

    If you sit too close to the telly you'll get square eyes!

  6. Dr Richard

    Decent spec(ification)s

    Interesting heads-up display with at last a decent image resolution ... would be great if it could be linked to an iphone with augmented reality software.

    The resolution has to be good (tick), it needs to allow normal vision to work (i.e. not just the dark headsets found in the existing lower res devices) and not be vomit inducing!

    I'd have one if the price is pitched right, has iphone connectivity ... and assuming the lasers won't blind !!

  7. Charles 9

    Much as I saw this coming...

    ...I wonder if Brother has given any thought to the possibility of retinal burn-in?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Future of gaming

    This kind of technology is the future of the video game. Full immersion, 3D.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    nobody will ever suspect!

    Fantastic, I've always wanted to ogle pornography in public places, get a raging hard-on and fail dismally to pay attention to anything other than my throbbing member and the image at hand.

    Now I can do it with these discreet specs - after all, who is going to notice another inappropriate protuberance when there's a pulsating trouser snake lifting the fabric?

    Damn, I'm as bad as The Reg, I fail to see any other use for this technology.

  10. Anonymous Bastard
    FAIL

    So?

    "Retinal Imaging Display (RID) technology which projects light directly onto the wearer’s retina."

    I'm no biologist but doesn't vision normally work by light reaching retinas? As far as I can tell the only difference is light isn't leaked to the sides, like a bad viewing angle from cheap LCD.

  11. Kevin 6
    Alien

    nice

    Wonder if anyone will make that game from Star Trek TNG (S5ep6) that the crew got addicted to that used a device that looks remarkably similar to this ;)

    Anyways I want one.

  12. davolente

    Glasses half full

    Just right for making a spectacle of yourself.

  13. Uncle Slacky Silver badge

    Wild Palms

    anyone remember that series? ISTR it was based on a similar invention...

  14. Stevie

    Bah!

    Great! Another way for people to be not paying attention to the road when they drive.

    Way to go, Brother.

  15. Chronos
    Thumb Up

    Augmented reality nears...

    ...unless you count the Beeb whose reality is already augmented ;o)

    In the car: "There's that stupid bastard that cut you up two weeks ago! Target lock acquired, rendering Hitler 'tash, missing teeth and Magoo specs. No, of course you don't look more ridiculous with these on your face..."

    By the way, was I the only one thinking "Whose bloody brother? Is this a religious thing?" until the capitalisation sunk in and the penny dropped? It's been a while.

  16. Aaron Gilliland
    Coat

    <obvious>

    Brother, can you spare some direct retinal imaging specs?

  17. Charles Manning

    10cm image @ 1m?

    So it's all kiddy porn then?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @AC 1713

    No reason why they shouldn't... it's how current 3D works- one image for each eye.

    Hide the workings behind the lenses, black the lenses out and you've got a great covert AR system!

  19. Mike Flugennock
    Alien

    Oh, no! He's been Borged!

    But, seriously, I can't possibly see anyone in the general public using these besides total geeks, or perhaps those people I see all the time wearing those clunky-assed Bluetooth earpieces with the little blue lights on them ("hailing frequencies open, Captain...")

    Still, I could see where they might come in handy at, say, Mission Control, Houston, where flight controllers might want to have a display of certain important systems data visible without having to keep their heads pointed at a regular computer screen on the console.

    Otherwise, imho, definitely in that category of Things You Shouldn't Do Just Because You Can.

    Alien icon because I, for one, welcome our goofy-looking clip-on retinal-projector-wearing overlords.

  20. Patrick Ernst
    Joke

    @Stevie Bah!

    "Great! Another way for people to be not paying attention to the road when they drive."

    You're trying to find problems. While you are driving, with these imaging specs on, you can project images of the road into your eye so you can see ahead. Problem fixed!

  21. Shades

    @Anonymous Bastard; RE: So?

    "I'm no biologist but doesn't vision normally work by light reaching retinas? As far as I can tell the only difference is light isn't leaked to the sides, like a bad viewing angle from cheap LCD."

    Yes, but the difference is the only way to view an LCD in complete privacy is to either A) Do it completely alone, or B) stick your face a few feet from the screen and throw a blanket/towel/coat over yourself and it! This device, by beaming light directly into the retina, prevents the privacy busting scattering of light in multiple directions like an LCD or CRT or pretty much anything else thats not intended to be viewed by just one person.

    Thats how I see it anyway!

  22. Lupus

    Shut up, Wesley!

    Man, that episode of Star Trek was actually quite worrisome.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why are the images so tiny?

    800 x 600 resolution, 10cm² object at a distance of 1m

    =>

    about 2.74 cm x 3.65 cm

    I guess there's no loss of resolution through myopia, but that's still a bit small and far away to see properly, in my opinion.

  24. Tony Barnes

    Field of vision..?

    Anyone else notice how his field of vision to his left will be nigh on destroyed by the massive lump of plastic on his specs...?

    So not only will you be sidetracked by the grot your watching, you also wont spot the #10 bus come round the corner at you...

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meetings

    The obvious business application is meetings. This would allow meeting delegates to continue with important work (AKA browse the internet, check mail, online chat, ...) when stuck in a meeting. With some practise, it should be possible to feign interest in what the speaker has to say whilst actually concentrating on more interesting stuff. Oh wait - I have to go a some boring meeting..

  26. Melvin Meatballs
    Thumb Up

    Waiting for the next step

    All lovely stuff. Your own personal HUD.

    Add a GPS and conect to the web via smartphone and 'they' can start to stream location based ads straight to your eyes.

    But I want the one that just hardwires straight to the brain instead of all that archaic plastic stuff resting on your nose.

  27. EvilGav 1

    Wow . . .

    . . . so Brother have finally made a commercial version of technology the US military were playing with around 15 years ago (though they were looking at it for VR purposes and drawing the image on the retina with a laser).

  28. Simon B
    Stop

    Lasering my eyes?!!!!

    Hmmm, I like the idea, but having LASER diodes firing lasers at eyes, sorry 3 lasers RGB at my eyes doesn't fill me with confidence!

  29. Graham Bartlett

    At last!

    Finally, someone's got one of these working. Took them bloody long enough - it's not like it's a new concept.

    @ Stevie and Patrick: Yeah, watching a DVD whilst driving would be bad. But we're talking Augmented Reality here, so how's about a HUD incorporating millimetre-wave and IR overlays so you can see perfectly in the dark? Plus automatic dimming of other cars' headlights. Plus a big red outline on the car/tree/pedestrian it looks like you're about to impact with unless you brake NOW. And outlines around speed cameras. And a dotted line showing the junction you need to be turning off at. Who wouldn't buy that?

    (Obligatory reference to Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and Charles Stross's "Halting State" - if you ain't read them, get them bought now.)

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Now just need to connect it to a

    T-ray imaging system and we can have those "x-ray specs" for real.

    Actually I can see a lot of Assisted Reality uses for this technology... not all of them pornographic either.

  31. John F***ing Stepp

    Givgiven decent resolution and a left eye thingee*.

    I would have bought into this years ago.

    I will not spend good money for cheap.

    I want my HD, map it to my brain though (not being used for much else).

    *Right eye went south a bit ago; damn staring into the Sun.

    Added, EM; what is it with the low res bullshit?

    A product launch, and it is the same as every other product launch out there; give us some hope.

    Some of us would really like to be offered hope (resolution; dumbf**ks, resolution.)

  32. Charles 9
    Boffin

    @Melvin Meatballs

    They're working on that (No, seriously! There are medical trails using blind people.). They just haven't gotten all the neurons figured out yet.

    The personal HUD sounds interesting--augmented reality taken to the next step.

  33. crypt
    Thumb Up

    living in the 21st century is fantastic

    hmm.

    jogging WHILST a small hud gives me a distance traveled readout as well as calories burned

    want +1

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