Comments on: Who Needs Virtual Reality? Give me Augmented Reality

By: Josh Klein

Josh Klein — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:09:09 +0000

@Stuart – Thanks for the recommendation. The book currently on my bed stand is Gibson’s “Pattern Recognition”.

I think it’s funny that I read fiction in order to get my mind to stop racing about web stuff before trying to sleep … yet the fiction I’m reading is pretty much about exactly that :)

But I’ll definitely check out Bruce Stirling next!

By: Stuart Steel

Stuart Steel — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:52:14 +0000

If you are interested in this sort of thing, and cyberpunk I think you should read “Maneki Neko”, a short story by Bruce Stirling (William Gibson’s peer and co-creator of the whole cyberpunk movement).

Its about a favour network mediated through mobile phones. And all the technology needed to run it is really already available
- GPS enabled mobile phones
- credit chips in mobile phones
- the web and social networks

By: Josh Klein

Josh Klein — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:56:04 +0000

@Darkflame – thanks for the comment. Tp get this kind of stuff, it needs to be commercially viable… so you’re right that it makes more sense for glasses vs lenses, decent res displays, etc. There isn’t anything technical preventing it, just no businesses that have decided (or maybe tried?) it works as a product.

I’m most interested in the technology for technology’s sake in this case, hence my somewhat pie-in-the-sky discussion. It’s funny how much I wanted video chat with a dick tracy-style watch when I was a little kid, and now that tech is widespread. So, it’s fascinating to imagine… now what?

By: Darkflame

Darkflame — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:17:24 +0000

AR is great, but why does everyone keep going on about Contact lens, when glass’s could be made TODAY ? It seems such a bezire oversite by both speculators and the industary. We can do decent res displays now, or even side-eye projection.

Theres nothing technicaly stopping slimline glass’s with everything needed. GPS/Gallio,Gryos, GPRS/3G/WiFiMax, TOLED displays…everythings here already. We can do it *right now*
We just need to put it together.
It needs investiment and refinement, but no big new tech.
===

Also, I strongly recomend the series “Denno Coil” that anyone wants a very realistic near-future where AR has become the norm.

By: Josh Klein

Josh Klein — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:46:04 +0000

@Jon Moss – Thanks. We most certainly will get it in our lifetimes. It’s almost there already, and things move faster than we think.

@John Mark – You’re so right, that video gives a much better demonstration. I didn’t realize that you could even get “behind” objects in the environment. That is some serious stuff!

By: John Mark Engle

John Mark Engle — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:13:31 +0000

Nice article! You know I lurves me some cyberpunk. In fact, I think it was your copy of Snowcrash that I read…

Anyway, here’s another Johnny Lee video demonstrating the head tracking thing… I think the recording gives you a better 3d effect than the ted one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

By: Next Generation GPS | theappleofmyi.com

Next Generation GPS | theappleofmyi.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:48:12 +0000

[...] you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Josh has a great post today on augmented VR vs virtual VR. The latter is great for games, but not so much for real life. [...]

By: Jon Moss

Jon Moss — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:43:27 +0000

Josh, this is a great! VR for games, AG for real life – I so hope we get this in our lifetimes.

That TED video is just superb :-)

By: Josh Klein

Josh Klein — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:26:37 +0000

Thanks for the links, Noah. I’d seen the intra-body communication thing before, but not the windshield nav.

By: Noah

Noah — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:20:22 +0000

The windshield navigation display is almost here: http://mvs.net/index.html. But this takes the cake: Intra Body Communication