Microvision Slideshow from CES

From Microvision's DisplayGround Blog

MicroVision Scanning Engines Overview | January 2017 from MicroVision

Interesting Report on STM

There is some familiar language in here, some interesting timing. 

The position of the quote marks is important. It is a mixture of reporting facts and reporting conjecture...

This is what STM did with Microvision at CES

Barron's Blog

Reuters

Yahoo News

Franco-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics posted in-line 2016 results on Thursday, driven by solid phone and car part sales and improved factory utilization, while setting out a plan to boost plant capacity that could fuel revenue later in 2017.

Europe's third largest semiconductor company said it had won a deal with an unnamed customer that can generate "substantial revenues" in the second half of the year, which analysts believe are tied to parts for upcoming Apple iPhones.

The next generation iPhone 8 line is expected to be released by Apple in the back half of 2017.

Liberum analyst Janardan Menon said ST's latest results reflect demand from automakers and phones such as the Apple iPhone 7, including "time of flight" proximity sensors that also measure ranges between a phone camera and objects in its view.

"This is likely to be a new product in the iPhone 8, in addition to on-going shipments of the time-of-flight sensor," Menon advised clients. "We expect STM's strong revenue growth to convert into rising margins and further multiple expansion," he said, referring to factors justifying a higher stock price.

ST Chief Executive Carlo Bozotti declined to comment on who was behind the new customer contract. "We cannot say more," he told analysts on a conference call. "We cannot give more color." Apple demands suppliers never reveal its contracts.

Startups to watch from CES 2017

Microvision confirmed that Hololamp has Microvision Tech inside. It appears that Hololamp they're moving ahead with a developer version.

PanAmericanWorld

HOLOLAMP

Spatial augmented reality projector bot

One of the big tech trends at CES 2017 was augmented reality -- the ability to transpose graphics, video or other computer-generated content on top of what you are actually looking at. While most AR systems depend on glasses and other headgear, the folks at Hololamp are developing a system that projects a 3D image -- well, an image that appears to be 3D -- onto a tabletop or other surface.

Alan Jay, the cofounder, explains how it works: Using a computer based on the Unity game development platform, the system first creates an image of a 3D object. "We then track your face using our device, and because we know where you are, we can take the 3D object, form a 2D projection of it onto the tabletop with the projector, and then as you move, change the projection, so it is as if you were looking at a 3D object."

The Hololamp, says Jay, has excited a lot of interest among developers. "I was talking to somebody who runs services for doctors, and he said wouldn't it be great if, when you went in to talk to your doctor, they could actually have a 3D model of your heart in front of them."

He adds that the Hololamp is about eight weeks from the point "where we'll have something we can show people to buy." The company is planning a crowdfunding campaign aimed at developers; he expects the initial price of the developer unit to be around $1,000

CES Trends - Get ready for your TV to disappear

Not a direct hit, but close. 

He's focused on the big models and a lot of them that will set you back a lot of bucks. And One is available from Celluon that can fit in your pocket for under $500.

Hisense can get you up to 140 inches for $13,000? 


Jako Roettgers is someone who should notice Microvision

Variety

But while TV screens are getting thinner and thinner, some companies are working on screen-free futures altogether. Sony showed off a really impressive 4K laser projector dubbed the VPL-VZ1000ES that made you forget that you are not looking at a TV — and unlike the old man-cave projector that needed to be mounted across the room, this new generation of projectors is short-throw, which means it can be placed inches away from the projection target. Sadly, your bank account will know the difference between this and a regular TV right away: The VPL-VZ1000ES will cost $25,000.

Hisense is making a slightly more affordable laser projector that is going to retail for $13,000, and the company said that the device will eventually be able to power screens of up to 140 inches. Hisense also showed off the next generation of laser projectors with two color wheels, hinting at a glorious future where the best picture quality won’t require a display at all.

Mid Range LIDAR

Screenless displays, interactive projection, near eye displays and LiDAR are major growing areas in electronics. (Microvision's tech is useful in all of these areas.)

Much of the talk recently in tech is about self-driving cars, and what they need are really good sensors to look around.

I heard a conversation yesterday about just how good that is and did a little checking up. The story I hears was about how the car is taking pictures of everything all the time -- lots and lots of sensing going on -- and when the car detected in front of it a car that was slowing, and a following car that couldn't possibly stop in time -- warned the driver about the accident BEFORE it happened.

There's video of this happening.

A lot of old-timers who are used to having their hands on the wheel ( and being surrounded by lesser drivers ) have some hesitance about accepting assistance from a machine.

Will this all be perfect? No. Will it need better sensors to get there? Yes. The Mems LIDAR will be very useful for this, and is driving down prices.

Microvision is in LIDAR with STM, which is a tremendous partner. 

Ford is working with Velodyne, and Velodyne is mentioning Microvision in at least one LiDAR patent  -- the current Velodyne laser scanner is large and expensive.

CNET - LIDAR and self-driving cars.

Mercury News -- more at source


More Background - ABC Australia

5G

According to Netflix, streaming an HD movie is 3 Gigabytes/hour.

5G can handle 26 Gigabytes/second.

Download 4 HD movies in one second.

Can't be bad for PicoP 

CES Twitter

Panasonic -Projector in an egg

So, got a heads up this evening about this one. A lot to see at CES!

Have no idea if MVIS is in this, I haven't spotted the telltale scan lines, but those can be avoided by the right camera work.

Ultimately, the more little projectors are used -- the better for Microvision.

Thanks Dr Bravo!








Engadget

Specs from Panasonic

Panasonic has submitted patent or design registration applications in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Specifications (Based on test model; subject to change)

Product name	Desktop companion robot
Dimensions	Diameter: Up to 290 mm (9.5 inches) Height: Up to 485 mm (1.5 feet)
Weight	3.7 kg (8.1 lbs)
Movement speed	Max. 3.5 km/h (2.1 mph)
Battery	Lithium ion battery Capacity: 11.1 V 6600 mAh Operable hours: Approx. 6 hours
Sensors	8 M pixel CMOS camera × 1, infrared sensors × 5
Motors	Wheels: Pulse width modulation controlled DC motor × 4 Neck: Feedback controlled servo motor × 3
Projector	WVGA+ (854 × 480 dots), 50 lumens
Language	English
Processor & OS	1.2 GHz 64/32-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53, UNIX OS
Wireless connectivity	Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) Bluetooth: Version 5

Vuzix - working on smart glasses

Vuzix confirmed they are Microvision's customer. (We don't know how much they buy, and they were buying displays from two vendors.) They are looking to go into production on their smart glasses -- and they were helping Google. There are a few dots to connect.

They do intend to roll out production

"As a preferred partner in the Vuzix Industrial Partner (VIP) developer program, Ubimax received and shared the M300 Smart Glasses with customers currently using the M100 technology, including shipping giant DHL and automaker Daimler, so users could become acclimated with the new technology before full-scale production.  After a successful pilot program showed the operational benefits of the M100 series powered with Ubimax's X-Pick software, DHL recently announced global expansion of its vision picking pilot program, to include the M300 series, across the United States Europe and England."

This is about Vuzix.




wareable.com -- more at the source.

So where to next? Are smartglasses now destined to be the big wearable event of 2017? Nobody out there knows better than Vuzix, and nobody within Vuzix knows better than CEO Paul Travers. Since 1997 (it was named Icuiti for the first ten years), Vuzix has been quietly working on the smartglasses revolution with a focus on enterprise - a low hanging fruit, Paul admits - building devices for helping professionals in warehouse logistics, healthcare, quality assurance, and even the military field. 

Almost all of them have been fashionably questionable, which is fine when nobody else sees them, but it's also given Vuzix the time to build slowly towards the consumer.

At CES 2017 it will be demoing its new pair of specs, the Blade 3000. This marks a midway point between business and the everyday user - what Paul calls the "prosumer" - for consumer-facing professionals; doctors, dentists, secretaries etc. Using Vuzix's waveguide technology they'll provide a digital display onto the lenses, providing anything from GPS navigation data to patient information, to Skype video calls and HD movies.