Screens of the future...

Clearly displays for devices are going to develop substantially in the coming years.  While the gesture based touch screens of Apple and Microsoft have had a great deal of publicity in recent times, others are also developing ideas in this space.  The second item (SEN) in this video of Sony concepts shows how they have been exploring elegant ways to include flexible screens on any surface.  The example shown is a screen incorporated into a glass wall.

Along with this we see Konica Minolta prototyping screens built into spectacles.  It is a lightweight wearable display which could be used in applications such as providing instruction manuals to those working on equipment and also movie watching when commuting for example.  I have seen this prototype myself when at the CEATEC Japanese consumer electronics show and was very impressed with the image quality.  I suspect that such developments will spawn new regulations, just as the mobile phone has, in respect of where these devices may be used.  Watching a movie with displays built into spectacles may be acceptable when travelling by train but not when driving a car!   Such new laws may be very difficult to enforce and to prove wrong-doing.  What people do with the new technology may well be more difficult to deal with than the development of the technology itself!