The Apple Of My iEye: iVision

With all the hype about Google Glass and Pebble watches, it would appear that Apple has been left far behind in the innovation game. Nothing of this caliber seems to be coming from the magical workshops of Cupertino.

Until today, that is. Secret documents leaked from Apple's headquarters indicate something quite revolutionary, a product that will firmly plant Apple back at the top of the heap for years to come.

If it were up to me, I would want something that would encompass everything I want and need to do during the day into one neat package. It seems that Steve Job's ghost has heard me, and the result is to be called iVision.

PatentlyApple.com, a site that monitors Apple patents, strangely enough, documents some of the technology behind the new miracle:

This image from the patent application shows us the optical projection approach to delivering images to both eyes. The technology can be modified such that the screen transparency can be modified, and thus the display can either be projected over reality, or seen as the exclusive image, creating a virtual-reality experience for 3D movies, games, and the like.

Processing for this first version will have to be off-board, as the power and communication ability required for this ambitious product is too great to be contained in any headset that might possibly be acceptable to Apple's hipster customers. Thus, a souped up iPhone, tentatively labeled the iPhone5V, will connect to iVision via Bluetooth. Control will be via an advanced version of Siri that actually recognizes your commands.

It is, of course, the superimposition of virtual on top of real that will be iVision's big selling point. Various functions will be controllable by iPhone5V apps. Pedestrians and tourists will of course want the site-labeling that Google Glass already offers, and certainly iVision will outdo this:

I'm assuming that the iPlace app will have extended capabilities, perhaps connecting with the appropriate databases to provide local information:

iVision will have tremendous applications in the medical realm. A virtual display of PACS, called iPACS, assuming Apple can buy back that trademark, will free us from our workstations. For the surgeons, iOperate will provide step-by-step assistance:

The most exciting app of all, to those (over 18 years old, please) with no lives, will be iStrip:

Simulation courtesy of oskarlewis.com

What? You were expecting more of a surface view? We'll have to adjust the settings....

Of course, Apple won't stop with iVision. The logical progression of all this is something more personal, more internal...iSight!

Image courtesy cnet.com

Based on the ground-breaking work on artificial vision at MIT, iSight will indeed be an implanted optic replacement, able to interface directly with the user's brain, bypassing Siri. Expect a version for early (and brave) adopters sometime in 2015.

Oh, yes...I completely forgot to show you the iVision wearable device.  Here it is!

This glimpse of the future is available only on this particular day. Have a good one.