Sick of colliding with lampposts and the elderly whilst walking and texting? A new Apple patent for ‘Transparent Texting’ might be right up your alley, using your iPhone’s video camera to pipe through a live feed of what’s happening in the real world behind your Messages window.
Here is the abstract of the patent:
An electronic communication device’s camera can continuously capture and present video images as a background within a text messaging session currently being displayed by the device. The camera can be a rear-facing camera on the device, so that the video images represent the views that the device’s user would see if the device’s display were transparent. The camera can continuously capture and present the video images as the background in the text messaging session, so that the device’s user continuously can be aware of the environment beyond the device’s display while still focusing on the text messages being communicated.
This wouldn’t be hard to do from a tech standpoint, and it’s worth pointing out that there are actually already third-party apps that already do the same thing, such as Type ‘N’ Walk.
My only issue with this technology is that when you’re texting and walking, your phone is point at the ground, not in front of you. His tech seems like it might be better, then, at helping you avoid stepping in things, not colliding with them to begin with.
Via: Fast Co. Design
