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Here’s a warning to your eyes: Watching television in a dark room might not be a great idea. You might think this sounds crazy, and it could be. But don’t tell that to Woodenshark, a trio of open-source designers and engineers, which has recently launched a crowd-funded product on Kickstater called Lightpack. It’s a simple device consisting of a mountable box and RGB LEDs that project color changing light against the wall behind your television or computer monitor.
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The science behind the technology is quite simple. As light from your TV rapidly brightens and darkens, your pupils are constantly reacting by changing size. This process can take a matter of seconds (when the pupil gets smaller) to minutes (when the pupil gets larger). This constant flux and change can create muscular tension, says Woodenshark, potentially leading to vision problems. The solution is to raise the level of ambient room light. The addition of a Lightpack unit creates an environment that is brighter making drastic changes in display brightness less profound, thus reducing the amount of rapid change required by your pupils.
Beyond reducing eye strain, Woodenshark claims that Lightpack makes your brain perceive a display to be larger than it is. This is achieved through simple trickery. Human eyes have a relatively small focal area, with objects outside of this area blurred or out of focus. Lightpack’s LED lights shine light, matching the colors appearing around the boarder of an image, onto the wall. This extends the out-of-focus field beyond a display’s boundries. Woodenshark says this extension can make a 40 inch display appear to be as large as 50 inches.
Does any of this sound familiar? Actually, it should. Quite a few years ago Philips released a line of plasma displays with a proprietary technology called Ambilight. This technology was also premised and sold on the foundation of reducing eye strain. Like Lightpack, Ambilight bathed the wall behind a display with color changing light. A major benefit of Philips’ Ambilight technology was full integration into the television. It didn’t require external software, additional equipment, or lengthy user set-up.
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Other products, similar to Ambilight, have found their way to the market. One example is the Adafruit Adalight project kit. However this kit is not a plug and play experience and that’s what essentially separates Lightpack from its non-Ambilight competition. The only set-up required is attachment of a box and lighting to the back of a display followed by tethering the unit to a computer (PC or Mac) via USB. Open-source software called Prismatik will need to be loaded onto the computer, and, after some set-up procedures, the unit is operational and ready to perform. Due to potential patent and licensing potholes, Lightpack cannot be connected to a TV through HDMI. An external computer is essential and needed.
Sound interesting? If so, join the crowd. As of today, the project has approximately 3,770 backers who have willingly pledged $294,000 which exceeds the necessary pledge goal by 33,000 dollars. The project will officially be funded on May 31, 2013. You can back the project or find out more information on Woodenshark’s Kickstarter Lightpack page.
Image Credit: Woodenshark/Lightpack
The science behind the technology is quite simple. As light from your TV rapidly brightens and darkens, your pupils are constantly reacting by changing size. This process can take a matter of seconds (when the pupil gets smaller) to minutes (when the pupil gets larger). This constant flux and change can create muscular tension, says Woodenshark, potentially leading to vision problems. The solution is to raise the level of ambient room light. The addition of a Lightpack unit creates an environment that is brighter making drastic changes in display brightness less profound, thus reducing the amount of rapid change required by your pupils.
Beyond reducing eye strain, Woodenshark claims that Lightpack makes your brain perceive a display to be larger than it is. This is achieved through simple trickery. Human eyes have a relatively small focal area, with objects outside of this area blurred or out of focus. Lightpack’s LED lights shine light, matching the colors appearing around the boarder of an image, onto the wall. This extends the out-of-focus field beyond a display’s boundries. Woodenshark says this extension can make a 40 inch display appear to be as large as 50 inches.
Does any of this sound familiar? Actually, it should. Quite a few years ago Philips released a line of plasma displays with a proprietary technology called Ambilight. This technology was also premised and sold on the foundation of reducing eye strain. Like Lightpack, Ambilight bathed the wall behind a display with color changing light. A major benefit of Philips’ Ambilight technology was full integration into the television. It didn’t require external software, additional equipment, or lengthy user set-up.
Other products, similar to Ambilight, have found their way to the market. One example is the Adafruit Adalight project kit. However this kit is not a plug and play experience and that’s what essentially separates Lightpack from its non-Ambilight competition. The only set-up required is attachment of a box and lighting to the back of a display followed by tethering the unit to a computer (PC or Mac) via USB. Open-source software called Prismatik will need to be loaded onto the computer, and, after some set-up procedures, the unit is operational and ready to perform. Due to potential patent and licensing potholes, Lightpack cannot be connected to a TV through HDMI. An external computer is essential and needed.
Sound interesting? If so, join the crowd. As of today, the project has approximately 3,770 backers who have willingly pledged $294,000 which exceeds the necessary pledge goal by 33,000 dollars. The project will officially be funded on May 31, 2013. You can back the project or find out more information on Woodenshark’s Kickstarter Lightpack page.
Image Credit: Woodenshark/Lightpack
