covering the week's top textbooks like
Linux bias Facebook has created a
virtual reality headset that's not much
larger than a chunky pair of sunglasses
the futuristic shades use a specially
designed holographic film to miniaturize
the lens conventional VR displays tend
to be bulky as the refractive lenses
inside of them need a couple of engine
inches to focus the display for its
wearer's eyes the result is a pair of
glasses that are most at most only 9
millimeters thick
according to the researchers and way
only 17.8 grams images from the glasses
green and black display are frankly
extremely cyberpunk the glasses can
provide an approximately 90 degree
horizontal field of view according to
testing detailed in a paper published by
Facebook research the design also does
away with the traditional LCD panels
used in conventional VR headsets and
uses lasers instead to create an image
that means pixel counting isn't really
an option it's still an early prototype
with plenty of limitations this light
rays from the backlight fan out
significantly before they are focused by
the holographic beam splitter surface
large reason regions of the display do
not contribute to the displays field of
view the researchers write in the paper
the glasses are also still not capable
of producing a full color image and
exhibit ghosting around the edges of the
field of view caused by optical surfaces
reflecting light the team already has a
plan to reduce weight even further by
switching to plastic substrates the
researchers expect to bring total weight
to just 6.6 grams about the weight of a
pair of large aviator style sunglasses
this news comes at the same time as
Google's acquisition of Canadian smart
glasses startup North who develop
lightweight focal smart glasses designed
with a holographic display that only the
user can see it would appear augmented
reality is still in the sights of these
two big players
which could mean some interesting tech
in the coming years
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