I know what you’re thinking, “I just bought my HDTV, what’s all this 3D business?” 3D is expected to be the next monumental breakthrough in the history of television. In this Tech Tip, I’ll cover the basics of 3D TV, including some of the different technologies and how they work.

How it works: three dimensional television (3D TV) uses a method known as stereoscopy to display two different images to your eyes so that they appear as one image. As your brain interprets what your eyes are seeing, it combines the two images while your eyes are still focusing on the source of the images behind them. This creates an illusion of depth to the viewer. The phrase, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” holds true for fooling your brain, too. Long viewing sessions of stereoscopic images or video strains your eyes and can result in headaches. Worse yet, a small minority of people can’t see stereoscopic images or video at all due to any number of medical conditions that prevent their brains from being fooled.

Most of us are probably familiar with our first type of stereoscopy, the anaglyph lenses. Anaglyph lenses use contrasting colors (usually red and blue) to achieve the effect of stereoscopy by blocking the images colored to match the lenses so that each eye can only see one of set of images. With red and blue anaglyph glasses, your left eye sees only the blue light that doesn’t reflect off the red lens in front of you, and your right eye only sees the red light coming through the blue lens. The obvious drawback to the viewing experience provided by anaglyph lenses is that the image is tinted with both colors of the anaglyph lenses.

The second type of lenses used are much more modern and have even enjoyed moderate success in movie theaters: polarized lenses. Polarized lenses achieve the same effect as anaglyph glasses by restricting the images each eye gets to see using polarized filters. Half the images are allowed to get to one eye, half to the other, and they meet in 3D glory somewhere in the middle.

Our next type of 3D TV is the active method, as opposed to the passive method employed by anaglyph polarized lenses. Active lenses are more expensive than their passive cousins and get their name from the fact that they actively shut on and off at extremely high rates of speed to create the stereoscopic depth effect. However, they cannot work on their own and require a display capable of syncing with the glasses, and since they’re sitting on your face, they have to be wireless, which is accomplished via infrared technology. With active glasses synced to a 3D-ready television, your eyes are shown only the images they are supposed to see, using a method known as alternate-frame sequencing, to achieve a stereoscopic effect.

Only recently have LCD TVs and plasma displays been capable of flickering enough images at you per second to make this work. To be a 3D-ready TV, a display must be capable of display at least 120 frames per second (120 Hz) and needs a set-top-box that syncs with the glasses. The first requirement is satisfied rather easily these days, you can find 240 Hz displays in the wild already. The second requirement is what’s held 3D TV back so far; not many people are running out to purchase a set-top-box and a bunch of pairs of special glasses. Add the fact that there hasn’t been an industry standard, so manufacturers have their own stereoscopy methods that often are incompatible with each other.

The last kind of stereoscopy, and really, it’s the best kind, is known as autostereoscopy or Auto 3D. There are two major methods of accomplishing stereoscopy without glasses. The first is the parallax barrier. The parallax barrier is basically a filter that lays over the screen that tricks your eyes into focusing in front of the actual screen to create the same illusion of depth. You can see parallax barriers at work in Nintendo’s latest portable console, the 3DS.

The other autostereoscopic technology is the lenticular lens method that works by laying tiny magnifying lenses over a particular set of images. Lenticular printing has been around for quite awhile and is the method using to make printed images appear to change as you turn them back and forth.

Unfortunately, technological limitations prevent both of these methods from being implemented in large screens at this time.

A number of things need to go right for 3D TV to take off, but chief among them is the fact that the glasses have to go. Nobody wants to buy a set of glasses just in case their friends come over. The next obstacle is standardization: just like we saw consumers holding off on HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray until there was only one, they will do the same for 3D TV. It’s also worth noting that more 3D content has to be created for people to watch it, so the chicken and egg causality dilemma stands in the way. Content producers won’t be rushing to create 3D content if there’s only a small install base of 3D-capable living rooms. One thing is for sure, television manufacturers are very inclined to get you to buy a new TV and they are focused on enticing you by wowing your pants off with fantastic 3D technology. I’m prepared to allow them, but without glasses!

For the Geek on the go, there are essentials that you need! Last year Tech Tips covered some of these essentials with “Must-Have Tech Gear To Maximize Productivity Outside The Office”. In this week’s Tech Tip, we are going to cover some of the essentials to carry in your laptop bag as well as offering some guidance for picking the right laptop bag for your life on the go.

The most basic essential

Choosing just the right laptop carrying case could be called getting the most basic essential accessory for your laptop. While there is a wide array to choose from, you can narrow down your search by thinking about how you’ll use your bag. If you a student, then perhaps a laptop backpack would be your style. Is it essential to protect your laptop from unforeseen accidents, then maybe an aluminum notebook case would be your style. Do you just need your laptop lightly protected but easy to carry? Then look at one of the sleeve options. There is also the basic laptop bag – inexpensive, easy to carry and stow away, but that gives your laptop good protection. These come in a variety of materials, from simple nylon to nicely appointed leather. For the traveling set, there are upgraded luggage type bags – complete with wheels and travel handle as well as TSA approved bags for the jet setting Geek.

Whatever bag you get, be sure that it fits your needs. Is it large enough for your laptop (or perhaps too big?). Will it fit all the extra goodies that you want to bring along? If you have an eBook reader or tablet, does it have a special compartment that can easily accommodate and protect this device as well? Does it include accessories such as a shoulder strap, or it is lockable? All these need to be considered for getting “just the right bag.”

Some more obvious essentials

Some of the more obvious essentials to have include three mentioned in the Must-Have Tech Tip as well as a few others:

1. Mouse with nano receiver.
2. USB flash drive.
3. Power strip.

In addition to those essentials, some others would be:

1. Presentation pointer (some mice, such as HP Bluetooth credit card mouse, have a built in presenter).
2. Mini Bluetooth module (if your laptop doesn’t already have Bluetooth).
3. 3G or 4G modem (if your laptop doesn’t have built in 3G) or in lieu of that:
4. A cell phone device that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot (such as Verizon’s MiFi service). This is a great service to have on long road trips where there may be multiple devices that can connect to the Internet.
5. Noise canceling headphones – be sure that you get one that easily folds down for traveling.

Some less obvious essentials Less obvious essentials to have in your laptop bag are:

1. Identification (like a business card) in case your bag is lost.
2. Some kind of tracking software on your laptop (much like BlackBerry’s Protect or Apple’s Location services for iPhone/iPad). There are software options that can be used to help locate a misplaced or stolen laptop (such as Lojack for Laptops).
3. Spare battery (but not if you are planning to fly).
4. Automobile cigarette lighter DC power cable for laptops or automobile power inverter (also great for long trips).
5. Laptop travel mat – some kind of surface that allows the laptop to stay put but keep the fans clear and the heat away from you.
6. Essential cables. Think how you are going to use your laptop – are you going to need a cable to connect to a projector or HDTV. Will you need a cable to connect your camcorder or cell phone? Will you be staying at a hotel that only offers wired Internet, and need an Ethernet cable? All things to think about when looking for items to include in your case.
7. Cleaning cloth for the screen (even if it is not a touchscreen). Be sure that you get one that is safe for LCD screens.

In conclusion

There are a myriad of essentials and must-haves that you can get for your laptop bag. With this Tech Tip we have looked at the bag itself, some of the must-have essentials to the not so obvious essentials. We encourage you to plan ahead when traveling with it and we hope that this Tech Tip helps gives you some good ideas on what essentials you’d most like to have in your laptop bag