Contact lenses that enhance normal vision with megapixel 3D panoramic images are being designed by scientists using military funding.

….

Innovega’s contact lenses could effectively generate displays with a screen size “equivalent to a 240-inch television, viewed at a distance of 10 feet.”

Moreover, by projecting slightly different pictures to each eye, the display can generate the illusion of 3D. “You get full 3D, full HD, fully panoramic images,” Willey said.

Although some might balk at using contact lenses, “100 million people already do, including 20 percent of the key target group of 18- to 34-year-olds, those involved in gaming and using smartphones,”

Source: Virtual Reality Contact Lenses Could Be Available by 2014

Eliminates the VR helmet and 3D glasses, apparently.

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Creator says they have a new secret sauce for 2D to 3D conversion, and when used on your iPhone with their glasses, will add a 3D effect to your existing 2D videos.

But of course, the obligatory 3D quote:

Remember 3D TV? It flopped. Turns out nobody wants to wear silly glasses while watching prime-time sitcoms. Who woulda thunk?

Source: These $50 Glasses Bring Anything On Your Phone To Life In 3D | Co.Design | business + design

Of course, the same author thinks VR helmets are cool but then also said that “people in VR look dorky“.

I do not understand this bias – ordinary glasses used in 3D are  called “silly” or “goggles”- yet Virtual Reality helmets are not a problem at all. If 3D died because of “silly” “goggles”, then VR is dead on arrival due to having to wear helmet headsets!

In the real world, 3D died not because of glasses but because there was almost no 3D content for consumers to watch on their new 3D TVs. But for some reason, the media perpetuate the myth about “3D goggles” halting 3D sales. (Meanwhile, cinema 3D, which also requires glasses, continues to thrive…. hmmmm.)

• Reading never caught on because you have to wear silly, uncomfortable reading glasses
• Reporters go gaga over virtual reality helmets
• You can now attach your iPad directly to your face