"Sharing Cyberspace"

WiReD 2.07 (July 1994)

Cyberspace, one of my friends writes, is where no one can hear you 
type.  And that's the trouble - it's lonely out (in?) there.  Virtual 
reality represents the ultimate extension of that separateness: don 
data glove and head-mount (if you dare), and you're inside a 
universe built for one, all by yourself.  Sure, the computer may slap 
together a cheap representation of another human being, but let's 
face it, even that's not _company_.

There _is_ another way; rather than injecting yourself into the 
synthetic world, why not place it around you, like wallpaper, and 
create a space that's more than just between _your_ ears.  It's possible, 
finally, thanks to the U.S. Military (who funded development), and 
the very clever folks at VRex.  The VR-1000 allows you to put 
cyberspace anywhere; anywhere, that is, you can cast an overhead 
projection.  The VR-1000 projects a full-color, full-motion 3-
dimensional image, an illusion so compelling it must be seen to be 
believed.  As in all 3-D systems, special viewing glasses are required; 
unlike others, these are cheap "passive" glasses (no flicker shudders 
to cause headaches), so an entire room full of people can cruise 
around cyberspace _together_, for the price of a single head-mounted 
display.

VR-1000 is intended to be a complete 3-D display system, and can 
accommodate a live video image as easily as computer-generated 
data.  A 3-D stereoscopic video camera can be connected to the 
system to provide live telepresence, or the display can playback 
from a stereo video source; this could prove invaluable to surveyors, 
or architects, or anyone who needs to get a feel for the shape of the 
landscape, real or simulated.

It doesn't end there - if you're one of the cyber-elite, who has to 
have a portal into the synthetic world everywhere, all the time, 
VRex's CyberBook upgrade is the cure for what ails.  A replacement 
screen for the LCD panel in your DOS Laptop or Macintosh 
Powerbook, the CyberBook brings 3D to your laptop and puts space 
in your screen.  Like VR-1000, CyberBook is full color, and with VRex 
SMUX software, you can create presentations which really have some 
_depth_.

VR-1000 3-D Stereoscopic Projection Panel: US$8,995.  Cyber-
Upgrade 3-D Upgrade for Color Active-Matrix Notebook Computers: 
US$1500.  CAM-3000 3-D Stereoscopic Video Camera: US$7,925.  
SMUX 3-D Spatial Multiplexing Software: US$295-395.  VRex, Inc.  8 
Skyline Drive, Hawthorne, NY 10532. +1 (914) 345-8877.