Here comes the future of virtual entertainment. Portable, instant 3-D mapping!
First, check out this video of the Laser/Camera Backpack device.
I think the possibilities for this go waaaay beyond having Google 'street view' for everything around us. Imagine a fragile cave, or an Egyptian tomb, or some sacred place you might never get to see, because it's in a place that won't allow visitors from your country. One person, equipped with this device, would not damage Roman mosaics with thousands of visiting feet every year, or soften the neolithic cave drawings with the many exhalations of their breath.
The virtual travel industry better buy up a ton of these. Based solely on how much airline travel resembles grueling torture now, I would happily pay to wander (virtually) through the catacombs of Rome. I'd be willing to bet many, many more people would line up behind me as well.
This technology could be easily merged with already developed virtual worlds like Second Life or Blue Mars. But I think that this device will help bring the 'real' revolition to virtual entertainment. We've already got augmented reality apps, and video games are about to get really interactive (see Kinect). And, yes, there are now computer/brain interfaces. Soon we wont be able to tell digital from reality. The Matrix is nearly here.
More info about the UC Berkeley project here
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