Rick Merritt

8/24/2010 2:00 AM EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Intel and Nokia are jointly investing in a small academic research lab to study future 3-D user interfaces and experiences for mobile devices. The Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center will be based at the University of Oulu in Finland which will hire about two dozen undergraduate and graduate students to staff it.

Intel and Nokia are each contributing an undisclosed sum to fund the center. They also hope to get support from the European Union’s Framework R&D program.

The idea of the new center is to imagine what a 3-D graphical user interface might look and act like if you could create it from a clean sheet of paper, said Vida Ilderem, an Intel labs researcher who oversees Intel’s participation in the effort. The labs work will include investigations into areas such as stereo 3-D and holographic interfaces.

“Many people project today’s 2-D interfaces into the 3-D realm, but how do you interact with it, make it immersive and exciting,” Ilderem asked.

The lab is the latest step in a broad collaboration agreement struck in June 2009between Intel and Nokia. To date the biggest outcome of that collaboration has been a decision in February to merge separate mobile Linux efforts from the two companies into the new MeeGo environment.

Intel hops the collaboration leads to Nokia being a lead user in a next-generation mobile SoC based on its Atom processor. Intel is also seeking expertise in baseband technology.

Analysts had expected Intel to acquire the cellular chip group of Infineon for its baseband expertise. But in the wake of Intel’s $7.8 billion acquisition of security software company McAfee, some believe that acquisition is now less likely.

link to original post at EE Times

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Nokia, Intel Team on 3D Holographic Phone Tech

Research project will focus on 3D interfaces and virtual reality for existing display technology.

ared Newman, PC World

Aug 24, 2010 8:19 am

Remember when Princess Leia’s holographic distress call blew you away? Nokia and Intel announced that they’ll try to put similar 3D technology on mobile phones.

Over the next three years, the companies will perform research together at Finland’s University of Oulu. While the primary goal is to develop 3D interfaces and virtual reality for existing display technology (more on that here), the more interesting possibility is holographic 3D for smartphones.

“Another potential area of research could look into technologies that allow displaying a 3D hologram of the person you are talking to on the phone,” Intel’s press statement says, “a capability only found in science fiction movies today.”

Heikki Huomo, director of the university’s Center for Internet Excellence, told Computerworld that developing fully-interactive holograms would be a “stretch,” but researchers haven’t ruled it out. Still, they’re more likely to develop non-interactive images. Huomo says researchers “are trying to go for a truly immersive 3D hologram.”

Now, I’ll admit that holographic 3D isn’t the most practical technology to work on right now. I have a hard time picturing scenarios where disembodied head would be more useful to look at than a video of a person in his or her current surroundings. That’s probably why Intel and Nokia’s research project is primarily interested in using existing display technology to create virtual worlds for Meego, the mobile operating system Intel and Nokia are building together.

But having a hologram in pocket form is right up there with hoverboards, flying cars and other fake future tech I’d like to see. May the Force be with Intel and Nokia over the next few years.

link to original post at pcworld.com