Kris Abel has been sharing his delight for the wildest gadgets and newest technologies with CTV audiences since signing on as Canada AM's tech expert in 2002. On top of his Canada AM commitments, Kris runs this popular blog on CTV.ca, with daily updates

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January 08, 2009 17:45  by Kris Abel
Following the success of High Definition, the home entertainment industry is quickly gearing up to deliver a new generation of televisions and components that will bring 3D movies and television shows to your living room. At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, many big players including Panasonic and Toshiba are demonstrating new 3D televisions that they hope to have available within the next few years, but in the immediate future there’s Toronto-based Spatial View who has unveiled a new line of products that will launch in the coming months that can add 3D capability to your existing screens, including Apple’s iPhone.

”Wazabee

The Wazabee 3DeeFlector is a screen that snaps onto the display of a 13.3 “ laptop. It uses a lenticular screen, similar to the billboards and the little picture cards included in Cracker Jack boxes that seem to animate and move when you walk past them or move them in your hands. Ridges in the screen separate the different angled images that make up the video feed and, in this case, work to deliver one set of imagery to your left eye and the other set to your right eye. In this way, you can see the video play in 3D without the need for any special glasses.

The overlay is paired with special software that taps into your laptop’s webcam to use eye-tracking technology to detect viewers in front of the screen and determine their position in front of the laptop. The software then adjusts the playback of the 3D video to display its stereoscopic video feed to meet the precise angle of the viewer in front of the display.

The resulting experience is that a movie will at first seem a little fuzzy, the 3D effect is there, but not sharp, and then in mere seconds as the laptop detects you and adjusts, the movie suddenly clears up and the 3D effects pops into place.

You can use the screen with different types of content including movies with Power Player media software which works with any kind of stereoscopic 3D DVDs, the Wazabee Games Driver which allows you to use the screen with video games including World of Warcraft, and a plug-in for Second Life that will apply the 3D effects to virtual worlds.

The 3DeeFlector is due out later this year and expected to sell for less than $300.

The Wazabee 3DeeShell for iPhone and iPod Touch is a special protective case that includes a miniature lenticular lens overlay. When you want to watch 3D content on your iPhone, you can slide the lens into the case and over the screen, and then slide it off when you want to return to normal content or access the touchscreen controls. The best part is that the case will sell for under $40, the same price as buying a regular iPhone case.

”Wazabee

For content, the company has released a series of iPhone Apps to make it easy to both play and create 3D content. There are three Apps currently available through the iTunes Store: 3DeeVUsion which is for iPod Touch users to view 3D content, 3Deeloadr offers access to more than 500,000 stock 3D images available through Flickr and allows users to also upload their own, and 3DeeCamera which allows users to generate their own stereoscopic images, both for Spatial View’s 3D technology and the traditional 3D glasses system.

”Wazabee

The 3DeeShell is set to launch this March.

Wazabee 19” Gaming Display

This computer monitor comes with the Spatial View technology built-in, delivering a 3D experience tailored to video games. It includes a special software driver that splits the generated 3D imagery of the game so that it can be displayed in different angles through the screen’s optical ridges, delivering a different video feed to each eye. The Gaming Display will be launching some time in the second quarter of this year.

”Wazabee

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