This is where I see it all going. Many think I am mad (and maybe I am!) but what I do know is that we are surrounded by data, and it is only a matter of time that we will want (and demand) to interact with it through means such as AR glasses.
Furthermore, we’ll grow frustrated having to take our phones our of our pockets to look at it. We’ll want the ease of viewing data through glasses, be able to ask it questions, make better & faster decisions and ultimately be more productive and creative as human beings…
…it’s called evolution.
10 years ago, I stood on stage and delivered my TEDX Talk on “Why do we need to buy TVs when we can just draw one”. Well, guess what – we’re starting to draw them. I don’t want to tell you I told you so! With technologies such as the Apple Vision Pro now enabling you to stream Netflix, why do we need to buy TVs? Soon, I think society will start to seriously question the tech junk that piles up at hard waste dumps. Akin to the paradigm shift observed with electric cars, society will soon be making the shift to AR glasses and virtual screens that hover in space.
Mapping the Future
Niantic Lounger piqued my interest through their 8th Wall Studio and Scaniverse App. I also enjoyed learning about their Geospatial Browser.
The big takeaways included 3D scanning an iPhone, and processing the scan offline on my phone. I highly recommend trying out the Scaniverse App.
AR Glasses
Apple Vision Pro was a hot topic. I tried them on and was very impressed with the clarity. AVP uses video passthrough to view digital content in the real world, and in my opinion is the best immersive way to view digital content currently. However, I forsee optical AR (utilising glasses and light wave guides) eventually taking over video passthrough when the tech is advanced enough.
I tried on many of the optical AR glasses that only had a 20-30 degree FOV and currently the image quality isn’t as great as passthrough. Optical AR glasses aren’t efficient either – the batteries are the killers! They are good enough but have limitations, but give them time. We’ve had a shift in culture in terms people filming on their phones, and glasses tend to have cameras so we still need to be aware of that. I can’t wait until we combine AI / AR glasses, say “assistant glasses”, head outside and see and interact with people and objects.
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