Aircord Labs' N-3D System Takes iPad Into 3rd Dimension

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You’ve got to love the sheer rush to get 3D displays into the marketplace, comprised of most anything on hand. And the folks out at Aircord Labs have developed an interesting idea, the N-3D system, that will actually look a bit familiar.

Yes, that looks like a huge glass pyramid parked over an iPad, and with good reason–that’s most of what it is. Basically, the iPad separately shows three sides of an object. This separation is then reflected off the semi-reflective sides of the pyramid, and the next thing you know, you’ve got what looks like an image floating in the center of the pyramid.

Less a full-on device than an optical illusion, this technology is actually wildly similar to that of mid-nineties arcade classic Time Traveler (and speaking as somebody who actually tried to play that quarter-sucking behemoth I was almost glad when my area arcade closed down so it could take Time Traveler into the abyss with it). But still, all the greats have to start somewhere, and this is a pretty good one by the simple virtue that it actually works. Not to mention, of course, that it works without glasses.

There’s no word on when we’ll be able to convert our iPads into full-on holography machines, sadly.