Developed by Japan’s Burton, Inc., and based on technologies from AIST and Keio University, this 3D display can display images not just in the air, but underwater too. The system uses “by focusing laser light to produce plasma excitation from the oxygen and nitrogen in the air.” It’s capable of producing about 50,000 dots per second at a frame rate of somewhere around 10-15 fps. While their demonstration uses simple geometric shapes and words, I think they should replace the image with Princess Leia.

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I wonder if this technology would fit inside an astromech droid.

[via DigInfo.TV]

As you can see it is needlessly, freakishly thin. I don’t think even Apple, the company that made the anemic MacBook Air, would want to create a device this skinny, never mind if it’s even possible with today’s technology. Some of you may find it nice to look at, but personally if I had any device this thin I’d be worried about damaging it all the time. But I like the other features that Aatma Studio made up:

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The holographic display is really sweet. Combine that with the laser keyboard and this is practically a tablet. I think Aatma Studio made this to ride on Apple’s bandwagon and use it to show off their 3D animation skills. If so, consider it a job well done.

[via Into Mobile]

For starters, Tommaso envisions the MacBook 2020 as being the first “molecularly manufactured laptop.” That is, the machine would be made out of “scalable micro-lattice nanomaterials” which would literally allow you to shrink the MacBook to fit into your pocket when you want to.

At full-size, the MacBook 2020 would offer a design which breaks into two separate tablet surfaces. This would be achieved thanks to magnetic hinges and a wireless connection between its two halves. Maybe you and a friend can share the same computer with this unusual split-component design, or you could use one screen for input and the other one for displaying content on the other side of the room.

That’s not all. The tablet-like surfaces would include a complex set of layers which provide 3D image viewing and capture, tactile feedback and unlimited power through a photovoltaic panel too. It even would have a “shapeshifter” coating on top which would allow the MacBook to change finishes from matte to glossy or from metal to plastic. Sweet. Sign me up! Can I get that for my car, too?

Instead of today’s LCD or LED displays, the MacBook 2020 would have holographic screen surfaces, capable of both displaying and scanning 3D objects.

You could then manipulate and interact with 3D objects in real time using a Kinect-like gesture control system.

While this all sounds pretty far-fetched, one only has to think back to how primitive computers and mobile phones looked 10 to 20 years ago to realize how far and how quickly technological breakthroughs occur. And Tommaso is quick to point out how many of his ideas are grounded in technologies which are currently in development, or in their early stages in the consumer market already. While I’m not certain we’ll move quite as fast as 2020, I think most of the technologies seen here will eventually find their way to market in one form or another. Except maybe the shape-shifter part – but I’m hoping I’ll be proven wrong.

[via coroflot]

As is the case with all 3D tech, HoloADs work by fooling the brain into thinking it’s seeing something that doesn’t really exist. HoloAD displays work by using a set of three independent images, projected onto the trapezoidal sides of a see-through glass pyramid (the back side is flat), so you can walk 180-degrees around the projection. The result is an image that looks like an animated, full-color hologram. In addition, the display units can hold an actual object under the glass, and can be made to look like that object is the originating source of the 3D projection. Just load up the  properly prepared FLV video footage onto a USB flash disk, and the HoloAD unit does the rest.

While the brief shakycam videos I shot below give you a little sense of how HoloADs work, the effect is nothing short of spectacular when you see it up close and personal.

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And here’s an “official” video from Innovision that shows off a couple more 3D objects:

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While the demos I saw at CES included such mundane things like an iPhone and a silly looking pufferfish, I really want one of these loaded up a tiny R2-D2 projecting a repeated graphic of Carrie Fisher saying “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

By using a high-speed video projector, a spinning platform with a holographic diffuser and special decoding hardware, the display can crank out up to 5,000 real-time images per second. Once the display spins up to speed, it creates a fully 3D image that you can walk all the way around.

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While I’m not sure that you’d want to get hit by this thing when it’s zipping around at full speed, the end result is pretty spectacular. As a matter of fact, the technology was the recipient of this SIGGRAPH’s Best Emerging Technology award for 2007.

[CGSociety via Geekologie]