Finally! 3D without the glasses

3D has come a long way in the last 50 years. With the mega success of Avatar at the box office, and at leasttwo 3D channels in the works, the rush is on to bring dimensionality to the small screen.

But one thing has stayed remarkably consistent: the eyewear. Those pesky, disposable 3D glasses look just as awkward as they feel perched on the bridge of your nose. (And some people think that 3D vision might actually be bad for you.)

Good thing researchers in Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group have developed a new type of lens to make 3D displays more practical and eyewear-free.

According to this report from Technology Review, the prototype 3D display has a camera that's able to track a viewer's eyes and a very thin lens that steers the light to the viewer's eyes. Light-emitting diodes along the bottom edge of the lens switch on and off, presenting different images to the viewer's left and right eye, which creates the 3D illusion.

And not only is it possible to send a different image to each eye, but technically, completely different images could be sent to different people at the same time. Imagine advertising personalized to individual viewers. Or perhaps you and your partner could watch television together but view two completely different program.

Television is a social activity, and since most people prefer to watch television in a group rather than alone, the more viewers that can see a 3D show, the better. Microsoft's lens is still only able to depict 3D action for two people at one time, but researchers say that will get better with time.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/finally-3-d-without-the-glasses.html