Ok, one really simple question for ya....

Have you ever eaten 11 servings of bread and NOT woken up in a coma or 10 lbs heavier?

That's the equivalent of 3 slices of pizza, 2 sandwiches and a big bowl of pasta. And this is what the USDA would like you to eat... every day? And we wonder why the US has an obesity problem?

Here's what the real food pyramid looks like... 

You can read more here (the first part is available for preview)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Food-Diet-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B004XN04FQ/ref=tmm_kin_title_popover

The truth of course lies in the fact that Wheat (especially refined) is metabolized by your body as sugar.

So... as far as your body's concerned, bread is cake.

It's not "like" cake... it's the same damn thing.

Then, realize that sugar is highly addictive.

Lab rats prefer sugar to cocaine.

http://www.conncoll.edu/news/news-archive/2013/student-faculty-research-suggests-oreos-can-be-compared-to-drugs-of-abuse-in-lab-rats.htm

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/16/oreos-as-addictive-as-cocaine-in-lab-rat-study/

Think about that for a second, then look at the world from the viewpoint of sugar as being addictive.

Things start making a whole lot more sense and it gets really obvious how hopelessly addicted we are.

Am I going cold turkey? Am I advocating that you do?

No.

I live in the real world too.

But it's a hell of a perspective and I've certainly greatly cut down on my sugar intake.

Ok, so here's where it all started.
The idea was to take one of these Hasbro 3d viewers and use it to like a poor man's version of the Oculus Rift.

Why not just get a Rift?
Because you can't. All you can get right now are the development kits and the next one doesn't ship till July (at least). I've got one on order of course.

In the mean time, you can cobble together a lesser version of the oculus for a whopping $7.

If you just get the Hasbro Viewer, it all just works. No fiddling around.
Slap your phone in it... download the software and away you go.
http://www.durovis.com/getstarted.html

I suggest the rollercoaster game for starters.
The downside is that you have to hold the viewer. This gives you the idea of what's going on, but it's not the same as just looking around. For that, I strapped everything to the headstrap for a welding shield....

Crude, but effective.

Well, that was fun and wonderful and extremely non-work-intensive. Proof of concept->done.
Time for refinements.

First thing's first.... ditch the headband and lose some weight. A big honkin cellphone hanging off a big case on your face is less than comfortable.

So, I disassembled the Hasbro Viewer. Lo and behold, they've got the focal length completely wrong. The thing's like twice as long as it needs to be! No wonder's everything's blurry as hell. Ok, cool... so shorter viewbox = less pressure on face. Good. I also ditched the extended battery on my phone and put the much lighter stock one back in.

I took a small box I had lying around and cut a few holes in it, added some velcro and dropped the lenses from the Hasbro Viewer in it. I took a GoPro headstrap and mounted it to that. Insto Presto, V2....

Now this one's usable.
It's not polished, but I can hand it to friends and they can use it, no fuss, no muss.

Here's a few better pics

Next Steps?
Get it running Oculus Software

Better optics.

Ok, my 3d display thing is getting a bit long winded for FB, so I'm going to post it up here.

It's actually really simple and effective. I was expecting a much higher hill to climb.
If you want to see what I'm talking about and have $7 to throw at something neat, you can pick up this 3d viewer. I know, "Hasbro?"... but it works.
The focal length is off, but it doesn't need any tweaking to use.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004T7VIPG/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Go Here and pick up a game (sorry, there's only 2 for iPhones)
http://www.divegames.com/games.html

This will give you an idea of what this stuff is all about.
You'll see first hand what I mean by "true 3d". It's not a gimick, it works.
The kicker though is the head tracking. It's not as intuitive when you have to hold the display, but you'll get the idea. I suggest a dark room as well since this has no blinders and light from the sides kinda wrecks the effect. Oh, and sit down. Preferably in a swivel chair, but standing can be problematic.

If that peaks your interest, it's not far to go to have a full headset. There's a commercial one that you can just buy and they're stupid-simple to make.

The stuff I'm going to do goes beyond this point, but even just having the display that works with a few games on a cellphone is pretty stinking impressive.

Beyond that, it gets interactive and that's where the real fun starts.
Jim