William Gibson’s novel Virtual Light turns around the theft of a pair of high-tech spectacles, which plunge the wearer into a virtual scene. I’ve always been struck by the image of the lonely Japanese killer, in his darkened hotel room, picking up these magical spectacles to comfort himself in his loneliness.

It’s a scene of austere depression and luxury sterility, brilliantly capturing the pornographic sense of technology used as a substitute for intimacy: turn on, tune in, check out. So you can only imagine my delight to hear that the good people of Myvu, wanted to send along the latest edition of their Personal Media Viewer for me to check out. These won’t turn you into a highly paid contract killer, and they don’t use virtual light. What they do create is a virtual television that only you can see – a “portable big-screen…the sweetest oxymoron you’ve ever heard,” in the company’s memorable slogan. (Kudos for using the word ‘oxymoron’ in ad copy, by the way.)

The unit is a pair of dark plastic spectacles. You plug them into a portable video player, such as an iPod, or an Archos portable media player, and pop them on like glasses, plugging in some attached ear buds. They display a virtual TV screen, which hovers in space in front of you. It’s not exactly a high-definition, wall-mounted plasma, so don’t let the “portable big screen” line fool you. By walking around and mapping the sense of space created by the unit on to real space, for me it creates the illusion that you’re watching really quite a small TV, about a foot across, about two feet away from your eyes. It’s like the kind of small telly people sometimes have in their kitchen when they’re cooking. However, that is huge compared to an iPod screen.

It doesn’t look bad, and the earphones give a strong sense of immediacy – I don’t usually watch television with earphones and the sound does create a strong sense of presence. However, I don’t think you should rush out and buy one. There’s something a bit cumbersome and invasive about plugging yourselves into them, and the pressure on the bridge of your nose and from the ear plugs feels wrong to me. I couldn’t think what using them reminded me of and then I realised: getting your eyes tested. Also, I personally experienced a strong sense of visual discomfort after wearing them for only a few minutes, and found myself blinking and feeling tired in the way you do when you’ve been squinting at a movie on a plane. Of course, your mileage may vary.

To be honest, the product felt like a prototype more than anything else – it’s clearly early days. The design cleverly allows you to use your peripheral vision while still being able to focus on the screen. This stops you from groping your way around and feeling blinded by them. It also means that they are only half an inch deep, and the narrow band around your eyes makes everyone who sees you think of Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I had planned to use them on the Tube, but found myself physically incapable of taking them out of my bag and putting them on, because I knew how much of an idiot I’d look.

However, I couldn’t help thinking that one day a product like this will work. It will be wireless, and it will be indistinguishable from a pair of sunglasses. It will have a wireless remote. You’ll take them out of your jacket pocket, pop them on, dial up the news on your iPod, and be able to watch television while travelling. This will address one of the vexing problems when strap hanging on a train or bus: the lack of a third hand. I already watch quite a bit of video when travelling. That means one hand for the bus or train, one hand to hold the iPod Video screen up to your eyes – and no third hand for your coffee. With a pair of next-generation MyVu spectacles, I should be able to strap-hang and watch television in comfort, while sipping a cappuccino. This tragic vision of the future life of the commuter reminds me very much of that lonely Japanese killer in his darkened hotel room, so I reckon they’re on to something.

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Michael Parsons, now editor of CNET.co.uk, was once European correspondent for The Red Herring magazine, and spent five years working in Silicon Valley and worrying about technology. He can be reached at michael.parsons@cnet.co.uk

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