I'm nearsighted. That is to say, without glasses, anything beyond arm's reach appears as if it is being viewed through an out of focus camera. I noticed that, without my glasses, I can see surprisingly well through the camera on my smartphone. Just hold up the phone within my natural optimal viewing range, turn on the camera, and look at the screen. It occured to me that, with a suitably equipped hat, I could mount my smartphone such that it hangs in front of my face and do without glasses. The front-facing camera could be used to detect squinting, and automatically adjust the zoom level according to how much I'm squinting. So close to the face, voice commands would be easy to use. This is total immersion augmented reality. Much more overtly nerdy than Google's Project Glass, and less expensive than buying such a separate accessory (a hat with a mounting frame on the bill and counterweight on the back would be much cheaper than Bluetooth glasses). Win win.-- 21 Quest, Aug 01 2012 mea culpa http://www.halfbake...the_20short-sighted [not_morrison_rm, Aug 08 2012] Vuzix Wrap 1200 http://www.vuzix.co...ucts_wrap_1200.html [not_morrison_rm, Aug 09 2012] I like it. I do request that you find a way around the counterweight though - anything extra on your head should have purpose. Memory storage perhaps?-- normzone, Aug 01 2012 Memory wouldn't add any appreciable weight. You can get up to 32 GB in a MicroSD card. A plug-in rechargeable battery pack would be more helpful, because, I'll admit, running the camera, screen, and (at night) LED flash constantly is going to use a monstrous amount of power. A pair of iGo chargers would counterbalance a large- screen phone quite nicely, so the hat could include an empty sack on the back in which to place a counterweight of your choice.-- 21 Quest, Aug 01 2012 Unless you could afford two smartphones, one of the eyes would have to be covered by an iPatch.-- FlyingToaster, Aug 01 2012 // iPatch //
[marked-for-taglline]-- 8th of 7, Aug 01 2012 I intended for the phone to be held horizontally so it covers both eyes.-- 21 Quest, Aug 01 2012 This is great, would they have a rose tinted setting, or Sepia for that old school feel, and perhaps a deuteranopia setting.
I also noted that today "8th of the 7" is the wrong way around.-- PainOCommonSense, Aug 07 2012 //phone to be held horizontally so it covers both eyes//
If a horizontally-held iPhone screen covers both your eyes, then you have the sort of close-set eyes that indicate deep character flaws.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 07 2012 What ever put such a silly thought in your head what gave you the idea that a man of my discriminating dignity would be caught dead, much less alive, with that Apple-branded abomination in my posession??? I bite my thumb at you for making such a preposterous insinuation, good sir! Of course a device of such diminutive dimensions as a mere 3.5 inches across the diagonal axis would be utterly unsatisfactory for a truly immersive dual- eyed experience. iPatch, indeed!-- 21 Quest, Aug 07 2012 Well, best suited to the Vuzix Wrap 1200 data glasses, which I can find here (Akihabara), but somewhat reluctant to purchase as they won't let me try them first...at 49,000 Yen (624.27 USD) that's a pretty expensive mistake to make-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 09 2012 //I also noted that today "8th of the 7" is the wrong way around.// A little slow on the uptake, are we?-- sqeaketh the wheel, Aug 09 2012 A light counterweight will work if it is far enough back from the balance point.
I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine how far back you'd need to put a 2 gram SD card, or a 0.25 gram microSD card to balance a 140 gram phone 10 cm in front of a balance point on your head (sorry, but I am using the iPhone weight there. SD card weight approximate and taken from Wikipedia)-- caspian, Aug 10 2012 Some of the software mentioned has since been developed for the first generation Google cardboard. Voice recognition. Color changes. No squint detection though. And don't recall adjustable zoom either.-- caspian, Jun 26 2015 random, halfbakery