Early adopters or people who were always pushing boundaries then bought a webcam and in the late 90s a whole host of websites sprang up using cameras to show a virtual peep-hole into another users world (actually webcam sites were among the first things I was turned on by on the internet back in 90/91 when the web was little more than an academic network - in those days it was all weather cams and vending machines). I had lunch with a friend of mine last week and he told me he'd still got the webcam on a stick that we used to set up our first rooftop cam site in 1997.. fond memories..
Then came the rise of the notebook and portable was everything.
Then mobile cellphones appeared and data was inside them too, directions to the nearest pizza takeaway beamed direct into our hands wherever we may be.
And then we get to Augmented Reality, AR, a concept that started out in high end research in the early 90s, mostly engineering applications - overlaying data onto schematic drawings or photographs to label up parts, explore design adjustments, etc
These days augmented reality is fast becoming part of real reality, so much that most people haven't stopped to think about this. Layers of data and information are where it's at on mobile phones, Google Earth applications and even on adverts where computer generated images blend seamlessly with real world car adverts or children playing alongside animated characters on ads for crisps or drinks. In my business we could overlay data onto property development photos in an interactive format - now there's an idea! Kids know all this stuff already of course. Playstation and Wii cameras allow them to drop into the game as if their middle name was Tron (not that they know who he was!)
Eat your heart out Roger Rabbit!
So, where is it going? The marketing field is all over augmented reality, launching Doritos packs in Latin America with codes to a website where you upload your image and choose a Chilli Lover that then plays around on the image, gets stored on the website and even interacts with other's uploaded photos (click here). Car ads are liberally splattered with animated sections of cars, cut-away computer generated engine parts. In this world a company called Total Immersion are the undisputed kings - click here and take a look at an example if interested.. You'll be 'seeing' a lot more of them.
The best development I've seen (and best is a very very subjective word in this blog - see my final comments) is this: Mattel is using the same type of 3-D imaging augmented reality in “i-Tag” action figures for James Cameron’s new movie Avatar. The toy includes a card containing a marker, which is projected as a 3-D action figure on a computer. This way, children can battle each other’s virtual characters on a computer screen.
And look out for AR in your mobile phone soon. Apparently, “In 2010 every blockbuster movie is going to have a mobile AR campaign tied to it.” Mobile treasure hunts linked to the latest movie when walking around a city?
Future? Glasses or mobile phones that constantly alert you to your surroundings by using pre-loaded data or downloading augmented data as you move through real reality. Go shopping, wander past people and see their facebook profile as you pass them, have animations spring to life and alert you to offers as you pass that aisle, the uses are endless. (Here's a great youtube app demo - available now. if you live in Amsterdam that is)
I have only one question.
Will our brains be able to take this level of overload? For years we have been feeding ourselves an abusive mixture of pesticide and additives in our food and we wonder why kids are larger, why cancer and other invasive disease rates are higher, why stress levels and associated medical conditions are costing us our future. Crime rates on the person higher than ever before.
While all this technology is leaping forward and we 'interact' with it in ever newer ways I can't help but notice that as a society we now interact with each other less than ever before. We love our technology and twitter and facebook away to lots of online contacts daily, but how many of us really take time out to be with other humans, to interact with people rather than 'contacts'. If we did more of that it's my belief that we'd be a better society for it.
And the ultimate question must be: What is Augmented Reality going to do to the one most important thing that regulates our body and health?
Asylum anyone?
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