In recently announcing a partnership with Finnish phone maker Nokia to develop three-dimensional features for mobile devices, Intel’s news release contained a terse but intriguing mention that the firms might develop phones that display “3-D holograms” of the people using them
Intel cautioned that it could be years before it produces anything resembling the Star Wars movie scene where R2-D2 plays a holographic image of Princess Leia pleading, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.” But companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere already are developing — and in some cases selling — holographic displays for everything from designing cars and buildings to teleconferencing and commanding soldiers on battlefields.
Unlike 3-D images on a flat surface, such as a movie or television screen, holograms project a three-dimensional image in open space. A few companies are exploring interactive holograms that you can reach into and move with your hand. Researchers even have found ways to make ones that can be physically felt.
Given how quickly 3-D technology is evolving, “there are just a huge set of things that can become possible,” said James Spare, CEO of Sunnyvale-based Canesta, which makes microchip sensors that enable machines to see in three dimensions. “This stuff is super neat.” The advantage of 3-D images — whether projected on screens or as holograms that can be walked around and viewed from different perspectives — is that they often can provide more useful informative than traditional two-dimensional images, some experts say.
They also tend to seem more real to people because “we are living in a 3-D world,” said Heikki Huomo, who directs the Center for Internet Excellence at the University of Oulu in Finland, which is collaborating with Intel and Nokia on 3-D. Due to that appeal, he added, the technology could be a powerful way to reach consumers.
“I believe this will broaden the usage of e-shopping,” Huomo said, noting that websites boasting advanced 3-D could be made to look like actual stores.
So far, 3-D displayed on two-dimensional surfaces is far more common than the holographic kind, which often appears to be floating in space.
Samsung, Hitachi and other companies already sell 3-D phones. Other 3-D products on the market include TVs, computer monitors, still cameras and video recorders. And on Sept. 1, Hewlett-Packard introduced its first 3-D notebook, which it touts as able to provide “an unbelievable entertainment experience — just like in movie theaters.” Though just 700,000 3-D gadgets were sold in 2008, accounting for $902 million in total revenue, research firm DisplaySearch expects the market by 2018 to hit 196 million items sold for a total of $22 billion.
By contrast, only about 1,000 holographic devices were sold last year and that figure is expected to rise to only about 20,000 in 2018, said DisplaySearch analyst Jennifer Colegrove.
Currently, the high price of holographic displays — $20,000 in some cases — is a major drawback, Colegrove said. But if the cost could be significantly reduced, she added, “I would think there are a lot of people who would be interested,” particularly “if you had a holographic game on, say, your coffee table.” That’s just one idea being explored.
During its presidential election-night coverage two years ago, CNN made a holographic image of correspondent Jessica Yellin, who was in Chicago, appear to be standing and chatting with Wolf Blitzer on his New York set.
Cisco Systems of San Jose has demonstrated similar holographic teleconferences. During a recent interview with CNet News, Cisco CEO John Chambers said he envisions holograms being employed in 10 years “to enhance business communications,” among other uses.
An HP representative said that company also is investigating holography and Japan’s national broadcasting corporation, NHK, has a goal to broadcast within a few years holographic images outside the TV set, including World Cup soccer matches projected to audiences in stadiums half a world away from the action.
Definitions of what constitutes true 3-D vary, and critics say gadgets purporting to offer the technology often merely provide 2-D images gussied up with visual tricks. While similar complaints have dogged some holographic gear, the concept is gaining acceptance.
By using a holographic blueprint for a new Thunderbird, carmaker Ford several years ago discovered a previously unnoticed flaw in the vehicle’s headlamp design, according to Michael Klug of Texas-based Zebra Imaging, which made the display. And with financing from the military, Klug said, Zebra is developing an interactive hologram of a battlefield map that lets officers reach into it and move soldiers around to help them better visualize the consequences of their commands.
Apple apparently is studying a similar idea, although the company declined to comment. It filed a patent application in May for a holographic display that would enable “grasping, pushing or otherwise manipulating the virtual objects as if they were actually present (which they appear to be).” Researchers at the University of Tokyo have taken that concept a step further. In a study last year, they said the illusion of a holograph is diminished “the moment you reach for it, because you feel no sensation on your hand.” So they made a hologram of falling raindrops that you can actually feel by radiating the display with ultrasound, creating acoustic pressure around the hand.
“When the raindrop hits the user’s palm,” the researchers reported, “he feels tactile sensation.”
Sept. 12, 2010 by Steve Johnson
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