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CNN Sunday Morning

Eye-Catching Technology

Aired September 29, 2002 - 07:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, all you couch potatoes out there, listen up. Don't get up. Don't worry. Just listen. You can now leave your comfy seat while watching your favorite movie. Yes, it's true. CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg is here to show us how.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Anderson.

COOPER: Some pretty cool gadgets, here?

SIEBERG: We do. We have some fairly eye-catching technology, I just had to throw that in there.

COOPER: This looks like a cell phone.

SIEBERG: Right, that's the very first question that just about everybody asks me, is this a cell phone? It's called the flipster. It's made by Pogo products. You can see why it's called the flipster, as it flips open. And the idea behind it is it's meant to play video and audio images on the go. A lot of people were familiar with MP-3 players. You can fit even 1,000 songs in your pocket these days. We're going to turn this one here. It's got little miniature screens you can see.

Again, it's not a cell phone, of course, but it does play different types of media files. And you go into the menu here, there's a video and audio choice. It also plays games, I should point out. It's got a little bit of an organizer.

If we go in here, we're going to choose this blink 182 music video. It's going to load it in. It's meant to play Windows Media files. It also does support MP3, as I say. It's got about 64 megabytes of flash memory in order to play all these different files, which of course are often fairly large in size.

COOPER: So what does that mean? How many minutes of play time does it have?

SIEBERG: Well, it depends on the rate of compression. And it's a very technical term, but it depends on how bit the file is when you actually create it. That's how many files you can fit onto here, ranges.

It also depends on how many audio files you've got on here. You can use it to play MP3 files as well. COOPER: Is this the kind of thing you could use if you're on a treadmill, rather than just listening to music, you could watch the videos?

SIEBERG: Right, it does come with audio that plays out of the top of it. You can use headphones if you prefer to use that. If you're trying to keep some privacy when you're perhaps on a plane or something like that.

COOPER: But can you watch a movie on it?

SIEBERG: You can't -- well, you can in some cases, if you've compressed the file enough. There are slots here where you can expand the memory that's on it. And if you've got enough expanded memory, you might be able to squeeze one movie onto it. But at this point, it's rather limited for that.

COOPER: OK. Now this thing, which you showed me just before we came, I think is the coolest thing ever.

SIEBERG: Yes, I know people were pretty excited.

COOPER: I'm obsessed with this.

SIEBERG: Yes. People (UNINTELLIGIBLE), this is called the "Eye Trek" from Olympus. And one should point out this goes for about $400.

COOPER: $400?

SIEBERG: Yes.

COOPER: Now why do people have a -- basically, you're seeing a movie.

SIEBERG: Right, and you look a little bit sort of cyber high tech when you put this on. And people wonder what you're doing, but you're actually seeing, right now, you're watching "Dracula." We're seeing some images from it now.

COOPER: Now we're showing people the movie that I'm watching now.

SIEBERG: Right, but the idea behind these, they're called "Eye Trek" from Olympus, the idea is it recreates a wide screen TV in a 16 by 9 ratio as though you're sitting six feet away from it. So instead of having to have a big screen TV, it's literally projecting this image into your eyes and what you're looking at right now.

COOPER: It's just amazing. I mean, it's -- you can do away with like a television. It's -- I mean, it should be great for you. You're on a plane or...

SIEBERG: Right, if you're on a plane or something -- we had mixed reaction when we were putting this on people around the office and they were trying it out. Some people said, you know, it's amazing. It's really cool. Other people were saying well, I get a little bit dizzy when you're looking around. It's actually not recommended for kids.

COOPER: I spend most of my day dizzy. So this is nothing new to me.

SIEBERG: Right, there you go.

COOPER: How much is this?

SIEBERG: That goes for $900. And we should point out that for that cost of $900, it doesn't come with a DVD player or anything else to play something with you. You would have to have a source, like a VCR, a DVD, a TV, or something like that to play it from, of course, before you, you know, use this. So there's an additional cost there for people.

COOPER: So this is the DVD player. Basically, this thing's $900. And it's hooked up to some sort of portable DVD.

SIEBERG: Right, we've got a Sony DVC player here that's playing the movie for us. And then you'd run it into that. And you could have it on the go. It is possible to carry it with you. There are little headphones that are actually attached to it, so that you can have some privacy when you're listening to it.

COOPER: So the next step would basically be to have your TV in one of these things?

SIEBERG: Right.

COOPER: I would assume -- I would imagine there's going to be TVs in these?

SIEBERG: Sure, and you know, you've probably heard your mom say something like, don't sit too close to the TV.

COOPER: Right.

SIEBERG: You know, my mom always used to tell me that. You get square eyes. And this, it literally is recreating that six feet away from a wide screen TV, about a 62 inch TV. There are a few different versions of this from Olympus, that range in price, there's a slightly lower cost one, and the higher end ones.

You're paying for the difference in the resolution, the way it -- different types of things it can do. So they go up to, you know, this...

COOPER: The resolution is excellent. I mean, it looks like you're looking at sort of a plasma screen almost.

SIEBERG: Right, and that's an important point for people is if you've got an older VCR, for example, you're only going to get as good a quality as your source. So if you've got a brand new DVD player, of course, you're going to have better quality coming out of it than you would if you would if you had an older product, where you're getting the source of video from that.

So it's, you know, it has a few applications people, you know, might see it as fairly limited in terms of, you know, what it can use.

COOPER: Right.

SIEBERG: I think it's the type of technology that was created because they could. I mean, it's not like there's probably a huge demand out there for this type of thing. But you know, it is...

COOPER: I can't get over it. I just...

SIEBERG: And everyone, of course, wonders what you're doing when you're wearing it, of course. So it's more of a curiosity technology. People want to get in there and have a look at what you're looking at.

COOPER: Wow. Well, I mean, just to describe to people. I mean, it basically looks like you are, as you said, sitting six feet away from a plasma TV screen in you're watching.

SIEBERG: It's a bit like looking through binoculars, except that the image is, of course, square.

COOPER: But it's also -- yes, it's not -- it doesn't have that difficult thing. And you're basically just looking.

SIEBERG: Right.

COOPER: That's what's so cool about it.

SIEBERG: Right, exactly, yes.

COOPER: All right.

SIEBERG: It is pretty amazing. So -- and that's from Olympus. And it is $900. And it also meant to fit over glasses as well. You were trying it on, but you know, I've got glasses on, and it's intended to be able to go over your glasses, because that might be a question a lot of people have whether it's going to be comfortable when you're wearing it all the time.

COOPER: Cool, cool stuff.

SIEBERG: Face mounted display is what it's called.

COOPER: That's what it's called?

SIEBERG: Yes.

COOPER: All right, thanks, Daniel.

SIEBERG: All right.

COOPER: Thanks. All right. That's about it for right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 29, 2002 - 07:54   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, all you couch potatoes out there, listen up. Don't get up. Don't worry. Just listen. You can now leave your comfy seat while watching your favorite movie. Yes, it's true. CNN technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg is here to show us how.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Anderson.

COOPER: Some pretty cool gadgets, here?

SIEBERG: We do. We have some fairly eye-catching technology, I just had to throw that in there.

COOPER: This looks like a cell phone.

SIEBERG: Right, that's the very first question that just about everybody asks me, is this a cell phone? It's called the flipster. It's made by Pogo products. You can see why it's called the flipster, as it flips open. And the idea behind it is it's meant to play video and audio images on the go. A lot of people were familiar with MP-3 players. You can fit even 1,000 songs in your pocket these days. We're going to turn this one here. It's got little miniature screens you can see.

Again, it's not a cell phone, of course, but it does play different types of media files. And you go into the menu here, there's a video and audio choice. It also plays games, I should point out. It's got a little bit of an organizer.

If we go in here, we're going to choose this blink 182 music video. It's going to load it in. It's meant to play Windows Media files. It also does support MP3, as I say. It's got about 64 megabytes of flash memory in order to play all these different files, which of course are often fairly large in size.

COOPER: So what does that mean? How many minutes of play time does it have?

SIEBERG: Well, it depends on the rate of compression. And it's a very technical term, but it depends on how bit the file is when you actually create it. That's how many files you can fit onto here, ranges.

It also depends on how many audio files you've got on here. You can use it to play MP3 files as well. COOPER: Is this the kind of thing you could use if you're on a treadmill, rather than just listening to music, you could watch the videos?

SIEBERG: Right, it does come with audio that plays out of the top of it. You can use headphones if you prefer to use that. If you're trying to keep some privacy when you're perhaps on a plane or something like that.

COOPER: But can you watch a movie on it?

SIEBERG: You can't -- well, you can in some cases, if you've compressed the file enough. There are slots here where you can expand the memory that's on it. And if you've got enough expanded memory, you might be able to squeeze one movie onto it. But at this point, it's rather limited for that.

COOPER: OK. Now this thing, which you showed me just before we came, I think is the coolest thing ever.

SIEBERG: Yes, I know people were pretty excited.

COOPER: I'm obsessed with this.

SIEBERG: Yes. People (UNINTELLIGIBLE), this is called the "Eye Trek" from Olympus. And one should point out this goes for about $400.

COOPER: $400?

SIEBERG: Yes.

COOPER: Now why do people have a -- basically, you're seeing a movie.

SIEBERG: Right, and you look a little bit sort of cyber high tech when you put this on. And people wonder what you're doing, but you're actually seeing, right now, you're watching "Dracula." We're seeing some images from it now.

COOPER: Now we're showing people the movie that I'm watching now.

SIEBERG: Right, but the idea behind these, they're called "Eye Trek" from Olympus, the idea is it recreates a wide screen TV in a 16 by 9 ratio as though you're sitting six feet away from it. So instead of having to have a big screen TV, it's literally projecting this image into your eyes and what you're looking at right now.

COOPER: It's just amazing. I mean, it's -- you can do away with like a television. It's -- I mean, it should be great for you. You're on a plane or...

SIEBERG: Right, if you're on a plane or something -- we had mixed reaction when we were putting this on people around the office and they were trying it out. Some people said, you know, it's amazing. It's really cool. Other people were saying well, I get a little bit dizzy when you're looking around. It's actually not recommended for kids.

COOPER: I spend most of my day dizzy. So this is nothing new to me.

SIEBERG: Right, there you go.

COOPER: How much is this?

SIEBERG: That goes for $900. And we should point out that for that cost of $900, it doesn't come with a DVD player or anything else to play something with you. You would have to have a source, like a VCR, a DVD, a TV, or something like that to play it from, of course, before you, you know, use this. So there's an additional cost there for people.

COOPER: So this is the DVD player. Basically, this thing's $900. And it's hooked up to some sort of portable DVD.

SIEBERG: Right, we've got a Sony DVC player here that's playing the movie for us. And then you'd run it into that. And you could have it on the go. It is possible to carry it with you. There are little headphones that are actually attached to it, so that you can have some privacy when you're listening to it.

COOPER: So the next step would basically be to have your TV in one of these things?

SIEBERG: Right.

COOPER: I would assume -- I would imagine there's going to be TVs in these?

SIEBERG: Sure, and you know, you've probably heard your mom say something like, don't sit too close to the TV.

COOPER: Right.

SIEBERG: You know, my mom always used to tell me that. You get square eyes. And this, it literally is recreating that six feet away from a wide screen TV, about a 62 inch TV. There are a few different versions of this from Olympus, that range in price, there's a slightly lower cost one, and the higher end ones.

You're paying for the difference in the resolution, the way it -- different types of things it can do. So they go up to, you know, this...

COOPER: The resolution is excellent. I mean, it looks like you're looking at sort of a plasma screen almost.

SIEBERG: Right, and that's an important point for people is if you've got an older VCR, for example, you're only going to get as good a quality as your source. So if you've got a brand new DVD player, of course, you're going to have better quality coming out of it than you would if you would if you had an older product, where you're getting the source of video from that.

So it's, you know, it has a few applications people, you know, might see it as fairly limited in terms of, you know, what it can use.

COOPER: Right.

SIEBERG: I think it's the type of technology that was created because they could. I mean, it's not like there's probably a huge demand out there for this type of thing. But you know, it is...

COOPER: I can't get over it. I just...

SIEBERG: And everyone, of course, wonders what you're doing when you're wearing it, of course. So it's more of a curiosity technology. People want to get in there and have a look at what you're looking at.

COOPER: Wow. Well, I mean, just to describe to people. I mean, it basically looks like you are, as you said, sitting six feet away from a plasma TV screen in you're watching.

SIEBERG: It's a bit like looking through binoculars, except that the image is, of course, square.

COOPER: But it's also -- yes, it's not -- it doesn't have that difficult thing. And you're basically just looking.

SIEBERG: Right.

COOPER: That's what's so cool about it.

SIEBERG: Right, exactly, yes.

COOPER: All right.

SIEBERG: It is pretty amazing. So -- and that's from Olympus. And it is $900. And it also meant to fit over glasses as well. You were trying it on, but you know, I've got glasses on, and it's intended to be able to go over your glasses, because that might be a question a lot of people have whether it's going to be comfortable when you're wearing it all the time.

COOPER: Cool, cool stuff.

SIEBERG: Face mounted display is what it's called.

COOPER: That's what it's called?

SIEBERG: Yes.

COOPER: All right, thanks, Daniel.

SIEBERG: All right.

COOPER: Thanks. All right. That's about it for right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com