Finnish scientists unveil an amazing projection technology
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
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primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
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I also can’t think of any real applications for this. In a movie theater, for instance, you already have a screen, and a projector. How would a “sheet” of fog make watching a movie any better than projecting onto a standard projector screen?
bothered.
The intake should be the same CFM rate as the exhale on the fog device, that way a solid, flat, fairly fluid stream would exist.
I can think of lots, but then again, I work in the video display / marketing business. You are thinking of a screen as simply something you sit down in front of to watch a movie. You need to think in terms of "where can VIDEO be displayed with this that would make it eye-catching and appealing?" Stores, malls, museums, big trade show booths, casinos, amusement parks, etc can all benefit from this technology.
A few years ago, Hitachi perfected a thin plastic film that can be pasted onto glass. The film is almost completely see-through (think of the black sun-screens some people put on their car windows, only even more see-through.) The particles within the screen were aligned in such way that it always refracted light on a 55 degree angle. If you stick a sheet of this on to some glass (ie - a window store front), and then point a video projector at it from above or below on a 35 degree angle, then it perfectly refracts the video image. The result if this is that you can now project video onto glass, with the projector hidden from view above or below the window facing. A person walking by on the street passes your store front, and sees video in the window. Not on a TV screen behind the window...but actually in the window. And, if you move to within a couple of feet of the image, you can sort of see-through it (hard to do if the projector is farly bright.) Shut the projector off, and you can see right through it.
I saw this shortly after it's introduction in North America a few years ago. Very cool. Within a year, it has made it's way into some store fronts, and at the next 2 big trade shows I went to, I saw a few booths using this technology to catch people's eyes by hanging a sheet of glass above their booth and pointing a projector at it. With thin, nearly see through plastic wiring, it almost makes the video look like it is floating in the air.
The only catch with this stuff is that it is bloody expensive, like thousands of dollars for the small sheet of film. More expensive than a plasma screen. So, until the price comes down, it won't be everywhere that a TV or Plasma screen is now. I have no idea what this fog-screen costs, but I imagine it won't be cheap either.
Yes, it is a gimmick. But gimmicks catch people's attention. In a society permeated with advertising, gimmicks are very useful. If you were walking through the mall and saw a bunch of kids staring and touching this thing like they are in the pictures, and you saw the moving video inside of it, are you telling me you wouldn't want to go and look at it? And the next 50 times you went to the mall, you would glance over at it, because it is still new and different technology, and you must be at least somewhat of a techno-geek, or you wouldn't be on this site
Meanwhile, the things will start popping up everywhere, and they will lose their "gimmick-iness", and somebody will come out with some new gimmick to catch your eye (still waiting for good holograms here...) Because in the advertising world, it's all about eyeballs and how to capture them to convey a message. 95% of us, despite protests otherwise, are just big sheep in the conusmer flock, waiting for that advertising shepherd to guide us to the next great thing we just MUST have. The other 5% are still sheep, just jaded ones who say "bah" instead of "baa"... But even the jaded sheep need their new products, whether that be food, beverages, clothes, cars, twin 3.5 GHz processors, 2 terabytes of RAM, 10 zillion polygon per second video cards, absolute zero cooling fans, or whatever you are into. Advertising is how this information gets to you. Saying "bah" does not change your sheep-ness...it just makes you a more jaded sheep, who needs a new gimmick to be enticed by...
Dexter...
They must be using dryice to produce the fog, because since dryice is nothing but CO<sub>2</sub>, which is heavier than air, and falls like that.
I fail to see how that will change the world.
Yes, it is a gimmick. But gimmicks catch people's attention. In a society permeated with advertising, gimmicks are very useful
They may be useful if you're in advertising but the're just more bombardment to me. I hate advertising, Everywhere you go, Every surface you look at, Every 6 minites on TV, Some bugger is trying to sell you something.
I AM NOT A SHOPPER, I AM A HUMAN BEING! (John Merric)
We want less advertising, Not more.
bothered.
Hmmm, that depends on your definition of "changing the world." Merely by being invented, it has changed the world, because something that did not exist in the world before does exist now, which is a change. If by "changing the world", you meant a more solipsistic view of things, ie - "how is it going to change my little slice of the world as I perceive it?" The answer to that is more a matter of how well it catches on and whether or not you will see one in a mall, museum, amusement park, casino, etc. Not every invention is going to have the impact of TV or desktop computers...nor is there any functional requirement for them to do so. An invention is intended by it's inventor(s) to make him/her/them some money....and I would bet that this one will.
Right, and that's sort of my point. The less you want advertising, the more the advertisers have to find ways of reaching you where you can't turn it off/tune it out. Never watch TV commercials because you record everything and skip through them? Then they do product placements within the TV shows, or have sponsors for segments of sports shows, etc, and product placements within movies. Don't look at the old-fashioned biilboard ad? Then they put up outdoor LED video screens. Flip past the ad pages in the magazines or newspapers? Then they wrap the articles right around the ads on the pages, so you see them no matter what, even if you do your best to ignore it, it will grab your subconcious attention. Don't read banner ads on the net and you use a POP-Up blocker? Then they imbed ads in the article / page, or they use Shockwave overlays that you have to close so you can finish reading the article. Bought one of those telezappers to stop the telemarketers? The telemarketers have started reprogramming their predictive dialers to ignore the telezapper tones.
The more you try to ignore advertising, the more it is going to permeate your world. Because it all comes down to the almighty dollar, and the advertisers are fighting over the ones in your pocket.
Cheers,
Dexter...
I know your right and I hate it.
bothered.
Funny you should say that, because I had typed but deleted the words, "you're gonna hate to hear this, but....."
Ya, even though I have spent most of my life in advertising related fields, I hate being inundated with it all the time myself. But fighting it is kind of like....:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Oh, and I stand corrected on my earlier statment:
I hadn't seen the videos, but as my colleagues pointed out when I showed it to
Funny you should say that, because I had typed but deleted the words, "you're gonna hate to hear this, but....."
Ya, even though I have spent most of my life in advertising related fields, I hate being inundated with it all the time myself. But fighting it is kind of like....:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Oh, and I stand corrected on my earlier statment:
I hadn't seen the videos, but as my colleagues pointed out when I showed it to them, you can walk right through the damn thing...amazing