
Consumer electronics go from magical to muggle
October 15, 2003 at 11:35 AM ET
Cheeser
HPANA (via The Inquirer)
Electronics giant LG Philips at Display Forum 2003
in Holland unveiled a mirror that can detect who is in front of it and display personalized information, says the Inquirer. Philips Research
calls the technology "intelligent ambience" and has been developing several "living" appliances:
Harry Potter sees his dead parents speaking to him from a mirror and this, says Philips, is possible by combining a polarised light source in an LCD display and a polarising mirror to control display brightness (as well as rigging up a webcam to Heaven).
They predict the magical world of Harry Potter in which pictures move on the wall in Hogwarts Castle or on the page of a wizard's newspaper will soon move out of the realms of magic and become reality as an example of "ambient intelligence".
Click the picture at right for a larger version, and see some more pictures here
.
Thanks to Emily for the tip!