Wearable iPod Headset Displays Video
eMagin Corp, a company that makes video imaging technology for military and industrial uses, has adapted its expertise to create a first of its kind headset accessory for the 5G iPod which displays video in front of one eye. Due to the EyeBud's propinquity to one's field of vision, it can purportedly produce a video watching experience comparable to viewing a 105-inch display from a distance of 12 feet. Priced at $599, the EyeBud is $200 more than the most expensive iPod available and is projected to be released by July 2006.
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The Philoneist Says: The makers of EyeBud claim society will eventually get used to its outlandish appearance the same way people have adapted to Bluetooth headsets. I disagree – Devices which isolate auditory input to one ear are comfortable (i.e., phones) but splitting one's field of vision is highly disorienting and I wouldn't want to watch a movie that way. EyeBud will garner curious and aspersion casting stares from anyone who might be concerned they're looking at a prototype for RoboCop. Surely hands free visors that display video onto both eyes will eventually improve and gain market acceptance, but in my opinion, EyeBud isn't the device to start the trend. eMagin Corp should take notice of this concept, which features a flip down screen built into a visor.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
That’s a rather hilarious claim that “society will adapt”. Yes, given time a society will adapt to anything. However, in order for eMagin to do it before their CEOs are great-great grandfathers, they will be forced to make the device more “cool” looking in the eye of the beholder-young and old alike. iPods have never looked “silly” since their inception, but this product does. It resembles a bulky prosthesis for a computer user who cannot use her or his hands. I am not an engineer, nor am I old enough to be a CEO yet, however should they have not had the foresight to see that something designed to sit on one’s face should be carefully and strategically designed to take practicality into effect? Imagine a soldier wearing this device – then put it on a hip businesswoman in a sunny day in New York and you’ll have yourself a big laugh.