I-Glasses

At the lab where I work we have a bunch of I-Glasses.  They’re these little stereo goggles manufactured by Virtual I/O that you hook up to a video source through RCA input jacks.  You can use them to create “augmented reality” type simulations, or connect them to your VCR or DVD player to watch special 3-D movies.

You’d think that a head-mounted display device would draw lots of attention, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in Wean Hall 5203.

Ethan and I borrowed a pair to try out in the Wean Hall computer cluster.  We hooked the VGA out on one of the Sun Ultras to a scan converter, and then plugged in the I-Glasses.  The result, as you can see, is the ability to “hack” in a private display environment.  The I-Glasses have a special “transmissive optics” design so that solid blue signals appear transparent on the display.  This means that if you make the background in your text window blue, you’ll see your real-world environment overlaid with the computer text.   This could be really useful — if you were to carry a laptop in your backpack and strap a keyboard to your chest, you could work on your code while walking around outside!   Imagine going for a jog in Schenley Park and completing your 15-212 assignment at the same time.  The challenge is learning how to touch-type on a keyboard attached to your body.