The thing I'd love to see, which to the best of my knowledge isn't possible with normal HDMI/DP/etc, is an opaque monitor that allows rendering an alpha channel as actual transparency. That would allow things like setting your desktop background to transparent, so that when you have one non-fullscreen window, the rest of the screen is transparent.
Are there any display technologies or protocols for sending RGBA to a monitor, and letting the monitor handle the alpha?
I just tried to search for some examples, but I can't find any. Maybe the displays can't be made thin enough to eliminate parallax between the two images?
For displayport you could use MST
I mean, it looks pretty cool but I think their marketing department is not aiming it at my cynical self
But we haven’t seen the actual product yet.
You can experience this with a window with dry erase markers. Focus at a far off point and the dry erase is illegible and may not even disturb your far vision. Focus at the glass and you can read whatever you wrote (subject to penmanship).
Heads up displays often have optics to project onto a medium distance focal plane, otherwise your eyes have to work harder and you're not really able to see the scene and the display at the same time.
Is there any science behind this or is it just a "sounds about right" claim?
I intentionally arrange my desk so that I can look past my monitor. On days where I can't refocus my eyes on something long-distance, I have difficulty focusing my vision after spending 1/3 of the day looking at computer screens. On days where I can refocus my eyes, I can go up to 2/3 of the day without issue.
I don't see any reason to believe that making the screen transparent rather than looking to the side of it is a better way to look out a window for a break.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergence-accommodation_conflic...
And it is only one of many. For example:
From that publication:
The results of the study indicated that the visual acuity of employees who work with data glasses generally did not change over the course of a shift and over a period of six months. Nevertheless, there were groups that had an increased chance of deterioration. Eye strain was frequently reported after working with the data glasses. Our study pointed out that employees aged 40 years and older are at risk for deteriorations of visual acuity, which is consistent with the findings of Yeow et al. (1991), who examined computer users.
When you want to see something at different distances, you not only change focus but also pivot eyes at a certain angle (towards the nose or not).
This angle is fucked with near-displays. And that inconsistency persists for hours.
It’s like you would use walking sim and your foot starts bending at not usual angles to accommodate some sick-built walking surface of the sim.
Basically, focus on the dot for 10 seconds, then on the back. Rinse and repeat several times, 2-3 times a day.
I was given this exercise over 30 years ago and its goal was to stop the worsening of the eyesight. Fwiw, in my case, it seemed to have worked.
And i work 8 hours in front of a computer
When you look at a thing you will have two mechanisms at work: (1) the imagined view line of both your eyes will cross over at that focal point, (2) your eye muscles and irises will shift the focus of each individual eye to the distance of that convergence point. Meaning the stuff you concentrate on will be in focus and on a screen that is the screen, even if it is transparent.
The target being 99% transparent doesn't magically shift your focus point backwards just because you can see the background. You would still have to look at it.
You can easily try this at home. Take a sharpie, write on the window and try reading the text while focusing on some object on the outside. You will find the closer you are to the writing, the harder it will be to still read without shifting the focus back to the front.
If anything you will find that reading on a non-uniform and potentially moving background will make it harder for your brain to focus on the text, not easier. The fact that they make a claim like this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in their ethics.
It is healthy to not stare at the same focal plane for hours, but that just means heavy screen workers should make it a habit to occasionally let their gaze wander offscreen and potentially out of the window. The eyes are muscles, give them some movement.
The product packaging itself doesn't look that great IMO.
Want to protect your eyesight when viewing a computer monitor? Increase your ambient lighting levels, sit farther back, and take frequent breaks.
Would the same occur with dark mode on a transparent background? While I am not saying that it would negatively effect the eyes, I am skeptical of this claim of letting the eyes relax, it seems like marketing.
[0] Wagner, S., Strasser, T. Impact of text contrast polarity on the retinal activity in myopes and emmetropes using modified pattern ERG. Sci Rep 13, 11101 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38192-9
And, the focal plane is the same as a regular monitor because it appears to lack optics to create a larger virtual image several meters away.
The same thing could be done with a portable helmet-mounted display with proper optics, take up zero dedicated desk space, and not require external lighting to operate. A smaller/lighter AR HMD might be more useful, practical, and robust than solutions emphasizing all-in-one VR or are static displays. I think the Quest and Vision VR all-in-ones are doomed because VR is a cursed category that's not practical enough by itself without also being in a very lightweight AR form-factor for everyday other uses.
I don't see who wants to buy this except someone who has a Balans chair and a DataHand Pro II in Dvorak layout. No offense, but that's a tiny, tiny market. I think underground and geodesic homes are cool too, but these are hard to square with zoning and permitting requirements.
Really appreciate the comments.
My story is I’ve been obsessed with my eye health for years. I have high myopia and was a software engineer and often get blurry vision after a long work day. It’s very frustrating that there are no good solutions out there for digital eye strain. Doctors will tell you “just take more breaks” but that doesn’t feel sustainable when I have to spend half of my waking hours or more in front of a screen every single day for work. I feel that screens are the root cause - a technology problem that deserves a technology solution. I wanted to do everything possible to prevent eye strain on the day to day, and worsening vision in the long term, while still using a computer.
We’ve worked with Stanford ophthalmologists to bring clinically grounded perspectives to our first product.
Our goal is to help you use a computer for hours without eye strain, and for kids, to maybe even prevent myopia progression. For those curious I have more details below. If you have any questions feel free to drop your email on the bottom of this link and I’ll reach out https://www.visualinstruments.co/phantom/display.
——————
More details:
On digital eye strain
- If you go to an eye doctor complaining of digital eye strain they’ll tell you to do the 20/20/20 rule - look 20 feet away every 20 minutes.
- The point of the 20/20/20 rule is switching your depth of focus, which exercises your focusing (ciliary) muscle through its full range of motion.
- Our display helps you switch your depth of focus much more frequently because you can look through it.
- Looking through a screen is much easier than moving your head and eyes away from a regular screen.
- Frequent focus switching prevents accommodative spasm (a big component of eye strain)
On myopia progression
- Mostly a problem for kids, but adult myopia progression is more common now
- Research suggests that increasing ambient light exposure is protective against myopia progression in children (see ref).
- Our screen helps you get more ambient light to your eyes because it can be pointed out a window or even used outside. Most screens can’t be comfortably viewed outside, but ours is an order of magnitude brighter than most screens (several thousand nits peak brightness)
Everyone’s eye health is basically getting put through the meat grinder because of screen time nowadays - we want to change that. Down the line we hope to add in a bunch of software + eye tracking to track your eye health and intervene on your behalf to protect your vision.
Ref: https://www.myopiaprofile.com/articles/the-visual-environmen...
> Each Founders Edition Phantom is individually configured to your preferences. Pricing varies based on your custom configuration but is generally comparable to an Apple Studio Display.
PaulHoule•3mo ago