AR? Key tech is Depth sensing (and small display.)

ReCode  -- More at the source.

The key point, however, is that the integration of 3-D digital objects into our three-dimensional world is an incredibly powerful combination that will bring computing overall, and smartphones in particular, to a new level of capability, usefulness and, well, just plain coolness. It will also drive the creation of the first significant new product category that the tech world has seen in some time: Augmented-reality headsets.

To be fair, initial shipment numbers for these AR headsets will likely be very small, due to costs, bulky sizes and other limitations, but the degree of unique usefulness that they will offer will eventually make them a mainstream item.

The key technology that will enable this to happen are depth cameras. Intel was quick to recognize their importance, and built a line of RealSense cameras that were initially designed for notebooks to do facial recognition several years back. With Tango, Google brought these types of cameras to smartphones. And as mentioned, Apple is rumored to be bringing these to the next-generation iPhone in order to make its first stab at augmented reality.

The experience requires much more than just hardware, however, and that’s where the prospect of Apple doing some of its user-interface software magic with depth cameras and AR could prove to be very interesting.

3D without Glasses? Kindle Phone?

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Amazon phone reportedly coming in September with glasses-free 3D

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Amazon's getting ready to launch a phone. This is actually one of the longest-running rumors we've heard, with the first reports stretching back to 2012. So what's different this time? According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is already showing off prototypes of the handset to developers and is gunning to announce the device by the end of June with a September release. The report tells us that Amazon wants to differentiate itself from other top-of-the-line flagships by adding four cameras with retina-tracking tech, making it possible to project 3D images without needing glasses.

Rumors of a "Kindle phone" (or multiple phones) have been floating around the internet for ages, and this isn't even the first time we've heard that Amazon was working on a 3D-type display -- the Journal began reporting last May that the project would enable visuals that "seem to float above the screen like a hologram." Given how much smoke we've seen, there's quite likely fire. We wouldn't be surprised to see some news come out around the same time as Google's I/O developer conference, but we're more curious to find out exactly what Amazon plans to do with this retina-tracking tech and how developers will be able to take advantage of it. Needless to say, it certainly would add an interesting element to our already endless Instagram feed.

OML at EURODISPLAY 2013, London

From Optical Microsystems Laboratory

We were at the Eurodisplay conference of SID: 33rd International meeting on display technologies. We have attended the conference with three different paper on new display technologies (Link to the proceeding of the conference):

[1] K. Akşit, O. Eldes, M. K. Hedili and H. Urey, “Paper No 15.1: Augmented reality and 3D displays using pico-projectors,” in EURODISPLAY2013: 33rd International Display Research Conference, September, SID, 2013.

[2] O. Eldes, K. Akşit, and H. Urey, “Paper No 17.4: 3D Auto-stereoscopic display using pico-projectors and rotating screen,” in EURODISPLAY2013: 33rd International Display Research Conference, September, SID, 2013.

[3] P. Surman, B. Day, B. Boby, H. Chen, K. Akşit, and H. Urey, “Paper No 15.2: Head-Tracked Retroreflecting 3D Display,” in EURODISPLAY2013: 33rd International Display Research Conference, September, SID, 2013.

Our presentations from the conference can be found as the video link down below:

Prof. Dr. Urey’s presentation:

Osman Eldes’s presentation: