Tech News
Future Apple computers may be capable of displaying images in 3D, without requiring polarized glasses. Apple has filed a patent application for a three-dimensional display system.
"Recent developments in computers and computer graphics have made spatial 3-D images more practical and accessible," the patent application explains. "The computational power now exists, for example, for desktop workstations to generate stereoscopic image pairs quickly enough for interactive display."
The patent application goes on to assert that two-dimensional projections of 3-D scenes are inadequate. "Without the benefit of 3-D rendering, even high quality images that have excellent perspective depictions still appear unrealistic and flat," it says.
It identifies the shortcomings of existing 3-D display techniques, noting that they may require a viewer to remain in a fixed position, to wear polarized glasses, or may fail to render shapes so that they appear to have the same volume and density at different viewing angles.
The patent application goes on to describe a projection display system that renders images in three dimensions while still allowing viewers freedom of movement. It proposes to achieve this effect by tracking the position of the viewer(s).
"No headgear needs to be worn by the observer," the patent application explains. "In one embodiment, the system of the present invention provides a stereoscopic 3-D display and viewing experience; in another, it delivers a realistic holographic 3-D display experience."
As is the case with any patent application, there's no guarantee Apple will ever commercialize this technology. Before it does, graphics cards will have to incorporate a stereoscopic rendering engine.
Microsoft is going to enter the digital space with an App called "Cortana" The code is reported to be offered with Windows phone 8.1 They are blending the best of Siri and Google to
keep pace with Android and iOS. Cortana will replace the standard Bing search and feature a circular icon. Movable about your screen it will also have a Siri-like personality. It can also greet you by name.
Data storage
Holography can be put to a variety of uses other than recording images. Holographic data storage is a technique that can store information at high density inside crystals or photopolymers. The ability to store large amounts of information in some kind of media is of great importance, as many electronic products incorporate storage devices. As current storage techniques such as Blu-ray Disc reach the limit of possible data density (due to the diffraction-limited size of the writing beams), holographic storage has the potential to become the next generation of popular storage media.The advantage of this type of data storage is that the volume of the recording media is used instead of just the surface.
Currently available SLMs can produce about 1000 different images a second at 1024×1024-bit resolution. With the right type of media (probably polymers rather than something like LiNbO3), this would result in about 1 gigabit per second writing speed. Read speeds can surpass this and experts believe 1-terabit per second readout is possible.
In 2005, companies such as Optware and Maxell have produced a 120 mm disc that uses a holographic layer to store data to a potential 3.9 TB (terabyte), which they plan to market under the name Holographic Versatile Disc. Another company, InPhase Technologies, is developing a competing format.
While many holographic data storage models have used "page-based" storage, where each recorded hologram holds a large amount of data, more recent research into using submicrometre-sized "microholograms" has resulted in several potential 3D optical data storage solutions. While this approach to data storage can not attain the high data rates of page-based storage, the tolerances, technological hurdles, and cost of producing a commercial product are significantly lower.
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