
Sony develops transparent lens eyewear “SmartEyeglass” - Istof
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201409/14-090E/index.html
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eclipxe
This is ugly yes, but this is a very different experience than Google Glass.
Glass is a tiny screen in the top right of your peripheral vision, which
requires a conscious effort to glance up and view.

These are complete overlays on top of your complete field of vision. Google
Glass can't do real AR, but these can.

Ugly, but pretty neat to me!

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dhagz
And in a couple of years, they'll be slimmer and more pretty. I'm not a fan of
the way the battery and touch sensor are handled, though. I don't really think
there was another way to do it, though.

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blueicelt2004
Of course it's ugly, its a prototype. Have you ever seen prototypes of the
original iPhone and Google glass? Any developer knows you make something
functional then you make it practical. If you look at the tech behind the
product, it looks promising and I will definitely be watching this product
evolve.

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mplewis
This is incredibly ugly. That wouldn't matter if they positioned this product
toward industry and manufacturing.

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hkmurakami
So everyone's commenting about it's ugliness. Definitely the first thing I
noticed too.

But then this bulkiness reminded me of something... yes... ski goggles and
similar athletic corrective lens accessories. Market size and practicality
aside, the idea of having a HUD show me some stats while skiing/snowboarding
down a mountain seems pretty awesome to me.

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wiml
I'm pretty sure I've seen that product already ... aha, yes, it's being
marketed to snowboarders:
[http://www.reconinstruments.com/products/snow2/](http://www.reconinstruments.com/products/snow2/)

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Pxtl
I'd be interested in this for AR gaming if it were fully stereoscopic and
fast, but I doubt it. AR gaming glasses could get away with being that ugly,
but you'd have higher processing needs.

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hagope
A look at the specs: 419x138px monochrome green display.. so they basically
attached a COG lcd display to glass frames? This actually doesn't seem to hard
to hack with off the shelf components...

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darkmighty
Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe it's a lot more complicated
then that. Your eye can't focus on a transparent display so close to the eye,
so the display light must be highly converged, while incoming light is
undisturbed. I'd guess they're instead reflecting light coming from a small
projector on the glass with a special coting that reflects only a narrow
bandwidth around the green laser light (otherwise transmissivity couldn't be
so high).

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foobarguy
Wow, many comments about a prototype being ugly. It is as ugly as you or your
baby as a fetus. That does not mean you are ugly, does it?

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azinman2
They say kit avail, but how to buy and how much?

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abandonliberty
Hoping to have people start developing on it while they improve the
technology.

Looks ugly now, but it won't in 5 years.

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SilentDirge
Yeah, it's fugly, but in typical Sony fashion, i.e. Exec: "Google Glass is the
future. We must own the future. Make a Google Glass Killer". Engineer: "Well,
Google has spent years miniaturizing the required tech to make it into a
fashion accessory people can accept. It will take us years as well". Exec:
"You have 6 months"

Bada bing! We get this beauty.

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jonmrodriguez
Sony has had their version working since 2008.

[http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080523/152287...](http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080523/152287/)

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beggi
Huh, so this might be what was needed to make Google Glass look cool.

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imaginenore
Ugly.

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webwielder
For everyone decrying the Apple Watch, this shows what "ugly" and "pointless"
truly look like.

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georgemcbay
For those thinking about getting Google Glass but who were holding out for
something that makes them look way more dorky.

Typical of most Sony consumer electronics products post-2000 or so it is kind
of amazing in a narrow technical way but completely drops the ball in every
other way. In this case, by making you look like the stereotypical "nerd"
comedy relief one might see on a tv show or in a bad movie.

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kabdib
The military has a term: RPG, or Rape Prevention Glasses :-)

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zaroth
The term is 'Birth Control Glasses', which is not only less offensive, it
actually makes sense.

