[throwawaybbqed]

You mentioned CES prep .. are you presenting or at a booth? Or just packing? :) I went for the first time last year and didn't get to see to much stuff in optics (the big wow for me was seeing Kopin modules). Would love to get your thoughts on what is worth checking out at the show this year.

[kguttag]

I'm there as "press" and a consultant. I have been juggling my calendar (I'm almost fully booked from before 9AM past 6PM the first 3 days) and getting back to people I am meeting with. In-between I am studying up (prepping) on the companies I am going to be meeting with.

I can't say who I am going to see as a lot of it is private. I will be spending a LOT of time in the Main Convention center South Hall with the AR and VR companies. The special section for AR and VR has moved from the back of South Hall to near the front this year. Then you have to look for the more established companies that booths elsewhere.

The CES tools for finding booths and vendors have improved dramatically form where they were a few years back. You can search based on what you are trying to find. They also have a smartphone ap that comes in handy at the show.

[throwawaybbqed]

Thank you for the info. I noticed that AR/VR seem to have a bigger presence this year .. very excited for that! I'm an early-career professional scientist (on the SW side) .. I must say, I learned a lot about the capabilities of current hardware by talking to engineers at CES. I'm reading up on LCOS, waveguides, combiners, etc. so I can have meaningful conversations! I am a big believer in wearables (still have my Google Glasses!) ... it would be a dream if we had high quality wearable AR in the market. The main barrier to experimentation is that it is pretty hard to source and integrate the necessary optical systems. I read your older articles on LCOS with combiners. Are there specific modules you'd suggest a "hacker" to try out? (i.e. hobby-level resources as opposed to corporate-level).