Goertek Smart speaker with laser projector

From Goertek.

This is the kind of installation I've been looking for. A speaker with a projector that can be focused on the counter top or the wall (or ceiling.) One projector that can be aimed at multiple surfaces is where MVIS technology will shine.

I still have more reasons to believe that the 10 million partner for projection only is Sharp/Foxconn. It is still possible that they could build this and use remaining inventory, and purchase engines elsewhere. (Or use the interactive engine and build it themselves.)

I'm a firm believer that having one or two engine suppliers for the broad consumer electronics market is going to be the most efficient method to get this technology to the masses.

Many of these large electronics manufacturers have customers who are also their competitors.

(Samsung, for example, sells screens and components to Apple, as does Sharp. Foxconn seems to manufacture for everyone, while making it clear recently that they wish to come out with their own phone to compete with Apple -- even though they make something like 80% of iPhones.)

Thanks Joe and several others.

Goertek Industrial Design

Injuries at Apple pointing to AR testing?

Another source of potential leaks Apple needs to seal...

I've seen these reports for what seems like a few days now. (Been a busy week) This one is the most detailed I've seen

I recommend reading the whole article, but a few choice clips are here. 

There isn't anything certain about this report - except what it says -- it might be meaningful, or it may mean that in a gigantic organization nearly every kind of injury will pop up at some point. A laser flash could have come from a number of common household tools.... there's not enough here to know anything. (just more dots that may at some point be connectable to something else -- that might or might not at some time provide us with a picture.)


Tech Radar

Gizmodo

"In what sounds like a fairly routine report are a pair of incidents that potentially point to an Apple AR product in testing: two people experienced eye injuries when using prototypes.

One person required "medical treatment beyond first aid" after she experienced eye discomfort while using a "prototype unit".

"After BT4 user study, user advised study lead, that she experienced discomfort in her eye and said she was able to see the laser flash at several points during the study," the report reads. "Study lead referred her to optometrist and secured prototype unit for analysis."

"See the laser flash" is a phrase that leads us to think the tester was looking through something when she developed an eye issue, though that's our speculation."


Gizmodo spoke to a source at Apple who mused the second incident may involve an AR device Apple is possibly testing, though this person didn't offer any hard evidence. The publication notes the device is "something like glasses with an overhead display."

Cicret Bracelet -- prototype very likely using Microvision Technology.

Cicret Bracelet -- so we've all seen this concept video for this cool bracelet.

I'm profoundly dubious that this could ever be produced in the form you see it here. For a variety of reasons.

A similar -- BETTER use could be made of a small projector with PicoP. (We'll start seeing that in action very soon, when the Celluon PicoAir and PicoPro start being seen by real people.)




But a prototype has been built -- and they have released a video with the prototype in action. Here it is:




Now you may be wondering, is this Microvision making this thing work?

I'm quite confident that it is. (and still confident that the original depiction of the bracelet is VERY optimistic.) It is a great illustration of how useful PicoP can be, however. 

So, first up is the bottom of the projector. (In the demo, it appears they have the bottom of the projector facing away from the person's skin.)

This looks like the bottom of a ShowWx projector from Microvision. The ShowWx would be excellent for making a prototype - the projectors currently being manufactured with Microvision tech are of significantly better specifications.

And, there's the question of scan lines. The scan lines of a ShowWx are distinctive. They make a kind of  curved scan line across the image. (Different than the newest iteration of the Microvision's PicoP. Here is a scan line comparison. 

The scan lines are different, but similar enough in that they have the same "swoop" shape. On the Microvision image, I have highlighted the scan line on the left image from ShowWx splash screen. (It's much easier to see when the picture is moving.) And the curved darkened area in the middle of the picture on the right that gores from top right to bottom left through the red blotch is the scan line. Considering the projector is upside down, and has been adjusted to have extreme low angle projection, this seems very likely to be the ShowWx.

Is it Microvision PicoP? I give it 95%+ likelihood that it is.