Nowadays, wearable technologies have become the norm as smartwatches , VR goggles and other portable gadgets are widely used. Even bef...
Nowadays, wearable technologies have become the norm as smartwatches, VR goggles and other portable gadgets are widely used. Even before Google started conceptualizing and developing their Google Glass in 2012, a forgotten technology first appeared in 1963. There were unique television glasses that look like old transistor radios worn by "Amazing Stories" editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback.
An avid inventor, Gernsback also developed other gadgets that included an electric hair brush/comb, a battery-powered illuminated handheld mirror and a waxed fabric strip for excess hair removal. It was his tele-eyeglasses that gain public attention as his profile appeared in the July 1963 issue of "Life" magazine. His invention was described as: "...a device for which he feels millions yearn—constitute a case in point. When the idea for this handy, pocket-size portable TV set occurred to him in 1936, he was forced to dismiss it as impractical. But a few weeks ago, feeling that the electronics industry was catching up with his New Deal-era concepts, he orders some of his employees to build a mock-up."
Weighing about 140 grams, heavier than today's Google Glass, the tele-eyeglass was built around small cathode-ray tubes running on low-voltage current from batteries. There is a separate stereoscopic screen for each eye that is basically like today's 3D VR glasses. The massive V-type antennas are just for aesthetics common during that time.
Interestingly, a lasting legacy for Gernsback is the Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy which was named after him.
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