In a land where what you see is what you get, those who can see more – even with one eye – are kings.
Kijin Shin from Yanko design believes in it and makes a point with this interesting concept design. He calls it the “Third Eye concept designed is for travelers.”
See something interesting? Just place the Third Eye up to your eyes like a monocle and the device pulls all relevant historical, travel, shopping, and tourist information.
Augmented reality lends itself well to touristic applications. When people explore new places – extra (augmented) information in context is highly sought after.
Multiple concepts focused on tourism have been thought of and implemented before: Museums apps, Wikitude, YDreams Sightseeing, Archeoguide, and many others.
What’s interesting in this one – is the form factor and the user interface.
Sometimes you have to reduce features (one eye only) to achieve simplicity. That has the potential to drive massive adoption.
If you are into the pros and cons, check out the interesting discussion on the site featuring the usual supporters vs. skeptics. One commenter compared it to the Celestron SkyScout:
We’ll see if Kijin’s design raises interest among hardware manufacturers. By then we’ll realize if the one eyed man becomes king – or whether he’ll be facing a land populated with 2 eyed specs.
Filed under: AR Devices, AR User Experience | Tagged: Kijin Shin, SkyScout, Third Eye, Yanko Design |
Games Alfresco 
Two things: first, in the video game Far Cry 2, when you are on foot and holding your map, you can pull up a scope like this and locate key things from a distance and mark them (which adds them to your map)… it’s a good virtual virtuality that I enjoy using. Would love a real one.
Secondly, I’m totally getting the SkyScout. And I can justify it because of my kids. They ADORE this kind of stuff (since they think it’s basically NORMAL heh), and yes, it’s educational as well. So no guilt in augmenting my life :)
hmz..Interesting design indeed.
Certainly has some advantages;
1. Obviously cheaper to make then full specs, while still being a dedicated device to the specific purpose.
2. Because your only using 1 eye, and only occasionally, issues such as comfort become nearly a non-issue. Eyestrain, focus etc.
The disadvantages are obviously, like phones, you will always have to pull it out your pocket and hold it up while viewing information.
Could be a good bit of transitional AR tech I think.
Showing the benefits of AR to the mass-market, and get them used to “needing” AR, while other technology is still being refined.
[…] game device looks awfully like Yanko’s Monocle (who’s […]