Posted 10/05/09 at 05:10:23 PM by Jason Barry

The folks over at 3M’s Optical Systems Division are excited to announce a new field sequential 3D optical film for handheld devices. They are crazy about their films over there at 3M and are hoping to change the mobile market with this latest development.

The new film should help motivate manufacturers to create new 3D mobile devices, applications and gaming products around the technology. “Our 3D optical film solution is designed to enhance communication and interaction by providing an immersive, compelling visual 3D experience for mobile devices” said Jim Bauman, VP of 3M’s Optical Systems.

3M Optical also managed to make the new film easy to integrate into the assembly process. It only requires the modification or upgrade of a couple layers in the optical film stack to produce the extra sensory experience they hope to achieve.

If you happen to be in Korea next week, they’ll be demoing the product at the Korea International Exhibition Center.

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Posted 07/31/08 at 07:10:33 PM by Norman Chan

In his QuakeCon 2008 keynote today, John Carmack stated that he thinks the iPhone developer's kit is much better than the ones for Java or Brew-based phones. In terms of pure graphics, the iPhone is roughly the equivalent of a Dreamcast, said Carmack. It's feature set and horsepower can deliver what gamers saw on the PS2 or original Xbox, especially since it has a lot of RAM.

Originally, Carmack contemplated porting Orcs and Elves for the iPhone, but he didn't want to devote 3 man-months to make it happen, when he wasn't sure the company could make the money back (Carmack estimated that only about 15% of the QuakeCon audience had iPhones). Instead, id has plans for two new iPhone games. One will be an RPG syle game, and the other a "graphical tour de force." This second game will be beyond anything you've seen on the PSP or Nintendo DS. No release date was announced for these tiles, only that they were in early development. 

Carmack's enthusiasm for for mobile gaming was readily apparent in his keynote. He's excited by the success of iPhone game sales, and hopes that the iPhone will drive other providers into making better hardware. 

For more QuakeCon coverage, check our keynote liveblog!

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