Microsoft will soon unveil its latest and possibly most ambitious project in years - the HoloLens.  According to Wired, Kinect inventor Alex Kipman has been working on the holographic goggle design for over five years, and thinks its release will blow everything else out of the water.

There are many unknowns about the device, including its price and release date. However, that hasn't stopped it from becoming one of the most talked-about devices this month. Kipman himself has predicted that the next era of computing will be about the analog universe, and has stated, "The analog universe has a fundamentally different rule set."

The difference with cyberspace and the original digital universe is that cyberspace will allow you to compute in the physical world. ABC News describes the HoloLens: "Imagine holographic Skype calls, playing a holographic video game in a world you're a part of, or using the glasses to virtually design a new product."

 Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, stated, "It could succeed where others have failed because Microsoft doesn't intend it to be worn all the time and do everything... I see HoloLens as a workplace tool first, a home enthusiast device second."

Wired's Jessi Hempel describes the HoloLens as amplifying the special powers that Kinect introduced, using a small fraction of the energy. Sensors work hard to flood the device with terabytes of data every second, all managed with an onboard CPU, GPU and first-of-its-kind HPU (holographic processing unit).

Supposedly, the HoloLens could take you almost anywhere you want to be. In fact, Microsoft's demo showed NASA researchers using it to explore Mars. Kipman actually developed a Mars landscape for future use in close collaboration with NASA rocket scientist Jeff Norris.

However, there are some potential roadblocks for the device - since it doesn't have a keyboard, its voice and gesture controls must work perfectly in order for consumers to be happy.

Are you excited about the Microsoft HoloLens?