Japan-based Brother Industries has created a wearable, portable version of its retinal imaging display (RID) technology, which gives people the chance to see things Terminator-style. How is this different than other HUD glasses we've seen? The new RID prototype attaches to a basic set of spectacles and works by focusing light onto the retina, moving it at high speeds to generate images that look like they exist right in front of the user. Too bad the source box is freaking enormous.

The RID is composed of three parts: the light source, the light scanner and the eyepiece module. The new prototype of the light scanner is roughly the size of a bulky bluetooth headset, about 1000 times smaller than a version Brother showed at EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Again, the only thing stopping regular users from calling up stats and checking documents only they can see while strolling around town is the size of the light box:

Brother said it's planning on a public launch of the device in 2010. By that point in time, it's hoping to have gotten the light box down to the size of a portable hard drive.

With these glasses, that crazy 3-D camera, and the news that we can make stuff hover it's like all my science fiction fantasies are coming true this week! [Newlaunches.com]