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Intel will shut down its New Devices Group, spelling an end to the company's Vaunt smartglasses project:
When Intel showed off its Vaunt smart glasses (aka "Superlight" internally) back in February, we had high hopes for a new wave of wearable tech that wouldn't turn us into Borgs. Alas, according to The Information's source, word has it that the chip maker is closing the group responsible for wearable devices which, sadly, included the Vaunt. This was later confirmed by Intel in a statement, which hinted at a lack of investment due to "market dynamics." Indeed, Bloomberg had earlier reported that Intel was looking to sell a majority stake in this division, which had about 200 employees and was valued at $350 million.
To avoid the awkwardness that doomed the Google Glass, Intel took the subtle approach by cramming a retinal laser projector -- along with all the other electronic bits, somehow -- into the Vaunt's ordinary-looking spectacle frame; plus there was no camera on it. The low-power projector would beam a red, monochrome 400 x 150 pixel image into the lower right corner of one's visual field, thus eliminating the need of a protruding display medium.
Vaunt is what you get when your committee is too scared of the "Glasshole" fiasco to make a useful product. People on camera could easily identify Google Glass because of its protruding head-mounted display and hardware, as well as the camera indicator light. Build the SoC and any flat buttons directly into a black frame, put small camera lenses at the hinges and/or center, use retinal laser projection or make the lenses into full field of view displays, and remove the indicator light. Then the wearer doesn't have a "Glasshole" problem (but those being viewed might still end up with a "Glasshole.")
Also at The Verge, ZDNet, and AppleInsider.
Previously: Intel Unveils "Vaunt" Smartglasses
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:46PM
Yeah, but the lower right hand corner thing is stupid. It should come in two different flavors to accommodate your dominant eye, or even better, do both eyes at the same time. Although, I can see that being a problem if all the pixels turned on at the same time. I don't understand the level of transparency yet either.
The first thing that struck me was that they're using this all wrong. It's supposed to be augmented reality, and the one thing I've been waiting for is guidance by a nice blue line. In this case it's red, but use the entire field of view and overlay a line. That way we get exceptionally close to the Terminator OS featured in the first two movies. Remember when Arnold responded that he could see everything? This would be like that, with the road outlined into the horizon, or until you see it go around a corner.
I know we have tech to determine where an eye is focusing, so it should be possible for all of the lines to disappear until you try to go cross-eyed or something, or persistently look into your peripheral vision. In top of all that, I dunno where we are with miniaturizing night vision, but a monochrome overlay of pixels would allow you to project a monochrome video of your surroundings.
If Terminator taught us anything, there was an impressive amount you could do with just red text and lines.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.