Commentary

Contact: Emancipating the Digital World

Upon viewing IO2 Technology's Heliodisplays, which project images onto thin air, one's first impulse is to liken them to futuristic tchotchkes seen in sci-fi flicks like "Minority Report." But IO2 CEO Chad Dyner has a considerably more modest goal for his product: to prove to those in the advertising and trade-show-display arenas that it works.

The Heliodisplay technology allows users to display any type of video in full color and with a high resolution. IO2 is currently offering 22- and 42-inch displays that cost between $18,000 and $28,000.

Dyner, a former MIT student, admits that the technology hasn't yet been refined to the extent he'd like. "What we're doing now is the equivalent of man's first flight," he quips. "We've got a long, long way to go before we're able to go to the moon." He expects images to be brighter and steadier in the future. So far, the Heliodisplays have garnered a sizable amount of interest from companies hoping to make a splash at trade shows. Commercial use by companies in the media space, Dyner promises, isn't too far in the future.

"Right now, you can access information anywhere via personal digital assistants or phones. Where you fall short is in the ability to display that information just as easily," he says

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