LEIA Display System

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/07/interactive-holograms-leia-display-system/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=gravity&ncid=gravityppc

 

It's 2014 and while we don't have flying cars just yet it looks like interactive holographic displays could be a reality rather soon. The not-so-cleverly-named Leia Display System(LDS) uses a combination of light, water-vapor and air to provide a transparent canvas for projected images while sensors track movement and touch inputs from users. The videos we've embedded below show all manner of poking and prodding by users, a bit of Minority Report-style pinching and zooming things in mid-air and even using gestures to rotate and flick stuff out of the way. There's even a sample with a Mercedes sedan driving through the curtain and it "shattering" around the vehicle as it passes through.

As of now, the screens come in 95cm x 65cm (roughly 37 inches by 25 inches) and 3m x 2.5m (around 10 foot by 8 foot) versions, with the latter able to be linked with other displays for an even bigger installation. The tech's Polish creator says that the LDS mostly has been requested for use in digital signage and advertising so far, but that it gets "non-standard" use requests pretty regularly. Here's to hoping that we see it used for more than just shilling products in the near future -- let's save that for Michael Jackson, okay?