It seems the iPhone really tickles the fancy of some Japanese gadget freaks. Following the DIY iPhone digital signage system bag, Tokyo-based Ubiquitous Entertainment now gives us something even cooler: The “iPhone ARider”, a futuristic, portable navigation system. The ARider, an experimental project, mainly consists of an iPhone 3GS and a retractable head-mounted display (model T3-A by Scalar Corporation).
It can be attached to a helmet and be used when biking around the city for example. Users can also make hands-free calls while wearing the equipment (via Bluetooth) and connect to Twitter via TwitBird Pro [iTunes link], a paid Twitter client for the iPhone, to get push notifications.
As the 3GS features a compass and is GPS-enabled, all you need to do in order find your way is to move your head (the map app you need to run on the iPhone will rotate accordingly). Obviously, the main point of the ARider is there’s no need to look at the iPhone screen as the map is projected onto the HMD (more information on Ubiquitous Entertainment’s project can be found here).
This video shows the iPhone ARider in action in the city of Tokyo:
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