December 10th, 2004
Nerd fashion dilemma
Microvision has built a laser HUD (heads-up display), a lightweight unit that fits above your brow and projects a see-through monochrome image onto your retina using a very, very, very low-power red laser. (Full color will have to wait for cheap green and blue lasers.) Microvision sells it as part of a system designed to superimpose schematic diagrams over machinery that’s being worked on by a mechanic.
So what?
I admit that I’m not secure enough to adopt this device–I’d need to see Tom Cruise (or at least Tom Arnold) wearing one before I took the plunge–and it weighs in at $4,000, which is a bit outside my range. But cell phones were exotic and expensive when they came out, too. Then it emerged that they conferred a distinct advantage in your business–and personal life–so the rest of us dived in and penetration increased as prices plummeted.
Now, imagine continuous, large-screen (this is important–cell phone screens are fatally cramped for most applications), wireless access to e-mail, IM, your files and Google–from a professional perspective, you’d be unstoppable. If someone comes up with a cheap, tiny, high-resolution version of the laser HUD–perhaps integrated with a Bluetooth headset and Blackberry-style keypad–I predict a pretty dramatic take-up, even if it does make you look like Wonder Geek. You heard it here first.–Ed Gottsman
