Wearables

Ashkelon Visor: US$20 heads-up display straps a phone to your forehead

Ashkelon Visor: US$20 heads-up display straps a phone to your forehead
The Ashkelon Visor is a budget HUD screen that leverages the power of your smartphone
The Ashkelon Visor is a budget HUD screen that leverages the power of your smartphone
View 7 Images
The Ashkelon Visor is just like a tennis visor with an eyepiece
1/7
The Ashkelon Visor is just like a tennis visor with an eyepiece
2/7
The Ashkelon Visor could easily be adapted for bicycle helmets
3/7
The Ashkelon Visor could easily be adapted for bicycle helmets
The Ashkelon Visor's focusing eyepiece
4/7
The Ashkelon Visor's focusing eyepiece
The Ashkelon Visor works with a companion app
5/7
The Ashkelon Visor works with a companion app
Ashkelon Visor inventor Benny Goldstein
6/7
Ashkelon Visor inventor Benny Goldstein
The Ashkelon Visor is a budget HUD screen that leverages the power of your smartphone
7/7
The Ashkelon Visor is a budget HUD screen that leverages the power of your smartphone
View gallery - 7 images

Augmented reality and heads-up displays are popping up all over the place lately with a seemingly endless trail of companies trying to find ways to put more information in front of us in ever more situations. Most of these technologies are complicated and expensive, but here's one that'll cost just 20 bucks.

Ashkelon Visor inventor Benny Goldstein has certainly lived a colorful life, from being a patent law specialist, to appearing on the Big Brother reality TV show, to founding a political party and making a run at the Knesset, the legislative branch of the Israeli parliament.

While playing around with Lego one day, Goldstein hit upon an idea. Since a smartphone can do pretty much everything you expect from a heads-up display apart from put it right in front of your eyes, why not get a user's smartphone to do the hard work, and just build a new way to look at it?

The Ashkelon Visor looks just like a tennis visor with an eyepiece. In reality, it's a little shelf that hangs your smartphone off your forehead. A fold-out, perspex focusing element sits in front of your eye and reflects a portion of the phone's screen directly into your view.

The Ashkelon Visor's focusing eyepiece
The Ashkelon Visor's focusing eyepiece

An Ashkelon app can then be called up that replaces your phone's screen with a simple, small quarter-size window that displays phone and message information, music controls, maps and other functions. The interface is simplified so that you can control it by just swiping across the phone's touchscreen in one of four directions to input a command. Goldstein says the app will also take camera and mic data and be able to recognize hand gestures and voice commands.

It looks a bit goofy, as you'll witness in the video below, and we're not sure how many people will love the idea of walking around with a phone strapped to their forehead, but it could be a simple and cheap way of putting information in front of your eyes – and one that makes full use of the supercomputer you're already carrying in your pocket.

The Ashkelon Visor is launching on Kickstarter on January 1st, 2015 and is set to retail at US$20.

Source: Ashkelon Visor.

Ashkelon Visor - Low Cost Wearable Heads Up Display (HUD) coming to kickstarter!

View gallery - 7 images
10 comments
10 comments
VoiceofReason
Should add a solar panel as the phone will use more battery.
Brian M
If you can get past Benny's irritating character( he was a patent specialist so guess have to make allowances....) then there is very little to love about this device, the idea of having a mobile phone strapped on to your head seems about as comical as it can get and for no real benefits.
Tuppe
Hattrick Wear already tried this and it's obviously an idiotic idea. Why would you strap a phone to your head?
Bob Rmr
Actually, I think it is kinda cool. Depending on their app, this thing could be a novel way to interact with your phone and the world around you. It might look a little dorky, but what new wearable tech similar to this doesn't? iGlasses, Rift...dork city.
For $20.00, I'm willing to give it shot.
Once again, this whole thing rides on their app. If the app is cool, this thing just might surprise a few people. But they assuredly need to get a different spokesperson. Even given his former patent job, this guy is screaming Geek-Dork in an octave that will cause the extinction of whales and dolphins the world over.
Clay Jones
Where's the little propeller on top? Come on; if you're gonna be a dork, do it right.
windykites
This is a very neat idea. The price is amazing, so give the guys a chance!
f8lee
But will it fit my iPhone 6 Plus?
And how fast will I get a brain tumor if I wear my phone next to my skull full time?
At least it will keep the girls away...
the.other.will
I don't think the dorkiness factor is nearly as big a deal as the practical problems. This will tend to tilt down from back to front from the weight of the phone. And there's no way to manipulate the buttons on the sides.
Dave Andrews
I'd rather keep my phone in my pocket and have a bluetooth heads up display. Much lighter for the neck to hold up.
Greg Zeng
Many commenters here do not know what a smartphone is. I'd like to see a HUD (head up display) of my phone's screen please: bluetooth engine-computer readings, real-time GPS street directory, traffic "radar" (yet-to-be-developed technology) ... when I'm driving, jogging, walking, underwater, aircraft, boating, etc. The "engine" could be the mechanical-vehicle (revs, fuel-consumption, fuel efficiencies, speeds, distances, etc), and/ or could be the human-body-vehicle (blood O2, sugar-levels, pressures, temperatures, etc).
When I'm indoors, smartphone notifications (SMS, email, weather, diary, webcams, door-bell, etc), & screen readings (news, books, magazines, etc).
If I have audio links as well (ear pieces, headphones, room speakers, etc), then I'd do the usual computer use, with my one usable hand controlling via the smartphone. This can be done anywhere indoors: treadmill, shower, restroom, bed, dining table, etc.