Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

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Students soon could learn with handheld 3-D devices

DS systems will be used in elementary and junior high classrooms in Japan (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)
Nintendo DS systems will be used in elementary and junior high classrooms in Japan.

Thanks to new developments in handheld technology, students soon could have glasses-free 3-D displays in the palms of their hands.

Sharp recently announced its latest in 3-D displays that work without the cumbersome glasses commonly associated with 3-D video, though as of press time the technology worked only on a three-inch screen held a foot away from the viewer’s face. These smaller screens are intended for mobile devices such as cell phones, game machines, and digital cameras, Sharp said.

According to one reviewer, the 3-D animation on the handheld screen is like a miniature version of the 3-D animation viewers are used to seeing on larger TV screens, though images were less convincing than those seen in a darkened cinema.…Read More

Sharp shows 3-D displays for mobile devices

Sharp’s latest 3-D displays deliver bright, clear imagery without the cumbersome glasses usually required for such technology—but they only work on a 3-inch screen held a foot from the viewer’s face, reports the Associated Press. Sharp on April 2 demonstrated liquid crystal screens for mobile devices that showed 3-D animation, touch-panel screens that switched from one 3-D photo to another, and a display connected to a 3-D video camera. Movies and TVs in 3-D are no longer surprising. Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. of Japan, as well as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics, already sell or are planning to sell 3-D TVs. The drawback until now has been the need for special glasses, which show different images to the right eye and the left eye. Sharp’s 3-D technology doesn’t require special glasses, however, because the displays are designed to shoot different images to each eye. The technology might be applied to TVs in the future, said Executive Managing Officer Yoshisuke Hasegawa. But he acknowledged it now works better when the distance between the viewer and the screen is fixed. The smaller displays for now are intended for mobile devices such as cell phones, game machines, and digital cameras…

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