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Here at Impact Geek, we try to be the most balanced RSS style feed we can. Lightly touching the big topics everyone already knows about, and a heavy hit on the things overlooked. Our other main focus is bringing the realistic of the futuristic our viewers. The latest advancements that the average joe can get their hands on, that even the slightly above average joe has a use for. That's why we love the Vufine so much. The way we see it, you took the $1300 Google Glass that no one knew what to do with, and made it simple, versatile, and affordable.
We'd like our viewers to learn about you and and your smart glass.
Here is our product overview:
Vufine is a high definition, wearable display that allows users to enjoy the convenience of their current technology in a hands-free environment. With its ability to connect to anything capable of outputting a 720P HDMI signal (like action cameras, smartphones, tablets, etc), Vufine delivers real life picture-in-picture from a variety of devices. Vufine promotes a variety of use cases including a hands-free tool for drones, maps, monitors, cooking, workouts, speeches, computing, playing music and more. Vufine boasts a magnetic docking station that allows the display to connect to almost any pair of glasses and gives users a choice of adjustable sight lines.
What was your inspiration for the Vufine and was it common to hear something along the lines of "If Google can't do it affordably, what makes you think you can?"
Our CEO Goro Kosaka, along with other members of the Vufine team, all worked together at a company that developed a wearable glasses display product. After this company did not work out, Kosaka recognized the strengths and weaknesses of the product and went on to develop his own unique wearable display.
Although Vufine is often compared to GoogleGlass, Vufine offers different benefits to users, primarily that it simply acts as a display instead of a fully formed facial computer. Vufine has been distilled down to the simplest form we could imagine, and as such functions very effectively and remains financially accessible. Because the device is simply a display it doesn’t require and app integration or knowledge of a new operating system allowing it to seamlessly integrate with existing devices.
As I'm sure you already have a few prototypes to play around with, what are your favorite uses of the Vufine?
We love using it to operate our DJI Phantom 2 and any other drones we can get out hands on. It really enhances the drone flying experience as it allows you to view the live digital feed that the drone is capturing while simultaneously maintaining line of sight with the drone. In fact, the FAA highly recommends that those flying drones must maintain line of sight with the machine they are operating. Vufine provides a great solution to this issue that does away with sometimes cumbersome and expensive full-face goggles.
In this section as long as it does not infringe on any copyrights to intellectual property, or seem rude, we'd like to look at some things people interested in the Vufine are wondering about.
Are you looking forward to a model 2 in the future?
We have had great conversations with people interested in our product and have collected very insightful feedback which we will take into account as we start to plan for a second model. Not to try and give too much away but we’re hopeful that Vufine will grow and expand to a variety of products with different capabilities for different uses. In the meantime, we’re collecting as much user feedback as possible to help shape future products. Since Google Glass came out it has really defined the conversation about wearables and we’re hoping that the industry will grow into itself and help shed many of the stigmas around Google Glass.
What are your thoughts on wireless? And does the hdmi cable keep a higher frame rate at an affordable cost for both you and your customers?
Exactly. Because most of our big use cases involve video feeds it’s incredibly important that Vufine add no additional latency to the signal chain. We also know how frustrating it can be to get a lot of different wireless products to communicate correctly with each other so Vufine essentially makes the connection process plug and play. Aside from these benefits, the cable keeps the battery life up and the cost down. In the future wireless will probably be the biggest change to come Vufine’s way -- however we will only implement it if we can do so within our product vision.
As the large trend and battle over Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality wages, do you encourage developers to design attachment via software or hardware, to make the Vufine VR/AR compatible?
We find ourselves at a very interesting crossroads between the two as we are technically neither AR or VR but simply a micro monitor attached to glasses. We tend to lean closer towards AR as the information displayed on Vufine allows you to enjoy your reality in a new way even though it doesn’t literally augment it. We like to think of it as real life picture-in-picture. But we’re very curious about exploring the possibilities of both realms to see which is a better fit for us and what are users are looking to get from us. It’s a very exciting time at the company because after our Kickstarter success we could really branch out in a million different directions.
For example possibly adding a gyro and accelerometer to control home or business security cameras. Turn your head wearing the Vufine and turn the camera. Which could be extended to control drones.
Also, what is your opinion on a sensory strip such as the Xbox Kinect shrunk down for hand gesture commands.
The addition of sensors as a form of user interface has definitely occurred to us however I doubt we’ll be seeing a fully formed gesture controlled Vufine in the near future. The best control methods for handsfree technology are still being passed around and worked on by a ton of different companies. For now we’ll be keeping Vufine as simple as possible, but as these system become more sophisticated and accessible we will continue to examine their potential benefits to our product.
Would this infringe on your concerns on smart glass security?
Part of the reason we stripped all of the sensors and cameras off Vufine was to avoid the Big Brother-esque fears attached to Glass by many of its critics. Our intention was to create a tool to increase the functionality of your current technology instead of a creating a brand new all in one device for the user. We think people are comfortable with the tech they currently own and really only need new ways of getting all the utility out of it as possible. It’s a bit too early to say when or if we will be wading into waters involving Vufine and privacy/security concerns.
If you were to try these things, would it oppose your idea of adding housed software to the Vufine?
For now we’re looking to keep Vufine as simple as possible and avoid giving the devices a dedicated operating system. Perhaps apps or software developed for current devices that takes advantage of the Vufine screen (for example a FPS with the HUD sent to Vufine to keep the screen fully cinematic) would be a first step. At this time we’re a dedicated display company.
Thank you for taking the time to work with Impact Geek. We look forward to hearing back from you and sharing your product with all of the viewers enjoying our custom RSS news service.
With a shared love for all things tech, Jacob Anderson at Impact Geek
Thanks for reaching out Jacob! Some great questions in there -- let me know if there is any other information you need or anything you need clarification on.
-Daniel
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