Vuzix Wrap 3-D glasses promise big screen experience

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gizmag — Can’t afford a big screen TV or projector but still want to experience that cinema feeling when watching a movie? The Vuzix Wrap 920 video eyewear is a sunglass-style display that delivers a virtual 67-inch screen as seen from 10ft away, displays 2D and 3D video and is claimed to be the most advanced wearable display available. It also features removable noise-isolating earbuds, an adjustable nose bridge and weighs less than 3oz.

The Vuzix Wrap 920 connects to all NTSC or PAL audio/video devices with video-out capabilities and composite video connections. The eyewear comes with a composite A/V adapter for iPod/iPhone for simple plug ‘n’ play connection to your portable media player. There are optional Wrap Adapter connections for HDMI-equipped devices and even desktop PC and laptops for watching movies.

Motorola shows off Kopin Golden-i wearable computer

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engadget – Our dreams of an actually useful wearable computer have still yet to materialize, but the second-generation Kopin Golden-i concept — now inconspicuously Motorola-branded — is an interesting attempt. It’s based around a head mounted, magnified SVGA LCD that is meant to be “glanceable” while the user remains aware of their surroundings. The Windows CE-chugging, OMAP3530-powered computer onboard is voice controlled and also motion sensing (for cursor control), and can hook up with other devices over Bluetooth, WiFi and USB. Of course, it remains to be seen if software can make something like this truly usable, but it certainly looks like the hardware is all there — and the form factor isn’t pure tragedy either.

Wearable computing research gains support

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EE Times — A project that aims to revolutionise the design of technologies for supporting research has been awarded a grant of about $2.6 million by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council through the RCUK Digital Economy programme.

The multidisciplinary project, entitled PATINA (Personal Architectonics of Interfaces to Artefacts) will be led by the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Universities of Brighton, Greenwich, Newcastle, Southampton and Swansea. The project includes involvement from Microsoft Research, Nokia Research and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The consortium will build wearable technologies that can identify objects such as books or historical artefacts and use miniature projectors to enhance those objects with related digital information taken from the web.