LyteShot - augmented reality gaming platform

I've come across interesting project called LyteShot. It is a new gaming platform based on augmented reality. I often write about how AR or VR can change the entertainment area of our lives. This is very good example of it.

The basics

The whole concept is very simple. You use:

1. mobile app that is the game you're playing

2. a special device on you that register actions performed on you

3. a Lyter that allows to perform actions

4. you can also use special augmented reality glasses that are showing to you all informations that you need to have, for example other player stats or your helth

The data layer of app is held in the cloud, the devices are working using infrared. Everything is as simple as possible. This allows to move gaming from your room and pc or console to real world. 

Real world is always better

The concept of moving games to real world is one of my favourite in augmented reality gaming. Why ? Because real world is just better :) The same game, played in the sae place can always be a bit different. This is hard to reproduce in standard games. You can always have a bit more traffic on streets, their can be more people passing you, their can be some new obstacles. Every game can be a bit more different. Simillar philosophy is applied by Microsoft in their X-Ray project. This is the new path, new branch of this sector.

IoT as part of augmented reality

Wait, this looks familiar. Ohhhh I already wrote about that here :) This project is great example of using many different elements to extend our world and transform it to something bigger. Informations from cloud, from external devices, from mobile device, all this is combined to create extended, more flexible reality, to change our perception. And effects can be really fascinating. 

Funny thing is that projects like this are good for society. It creates new reason to move more, to get up from comfrotable chairs and increase our activities. Our current problem is that we don't move to much, most of us works 8 hourse in front of a monitor, this is not good for us. So I keep my fingers crossed for every project like this. 

I hope LyteShot will success and will be an inspiration for other, this sector has a great potential and I thing that it will become bigger and bigger during time. Especially that this platform allows external developers to create their own application and this can create a really big variation of games and health applications. Go go !

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Cancer glasses - virtual reality helps medicine !

Virtual reality is very usefull technology and when I read about projects like this, I like it more and more. Cancer glasses aren't yet official device that can't be use in medicine, but I really do hope it will become one.

What it is about ?

Cancer glasses is a device that allow surgeons to better see cancer cells during the operation. Why is it needed ? Because it is very hard to distinguish normal, healthy cells from the cancer one. 

How does it work ? Before the operation, a special dye is injected into patient. Surgeon wears special blind googles with two cameras, one normal and one workin with infrared. The infrared camera is able to see the cancer cells that are marked with dye. It is combined with the image from normal camera and displayed on screen inside the googles. That way, surgeon is able to see and recognize the sick cells.

This technology allows to increse the quality of the operation, it allows to cut out all of cancer cells that prevent recurrence of the illness. Isn't this a great usage of virtual reality?

Why I'm talking about this ?

It is important to spread informations about projects like this. It is fantastic when technology can help us and can make our life better and more safe. I hope that this project will pass all tests and receive every needed acceptance.

We need to talk about ideas like this, we need to think about what can we do better. Only people with passion, with calling can pull us forward. Thanks to people like this, we can see projects simillar to cancer glasses than literally can save someones life and every effort that will save even life of one person is worth it.

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Project "Comradre"

What stands behinind this codename ? It is a project on which researchers in the Microsoft lab of Jaron Lanier are working on. It is focused on multiperson virtual reality. Sounds good.

What is all about ?

As I've mentioned, project is focused on possibility to interact with same virtual object by many persons during one session. It opens many different possibilities for VR as a technology. I'm not talking about gaming - but to be honest this is the first one I thought about - but about training software or for the first time business usage.

Virtual reality is getting more and more popular, the technology allows us to achive really great things using it and one of the biggest limitation is that you can do all this fantastic things only by yourself. Of course you can show the results on the screen but you can't invite anybody into your virtual world. 

Think how military training can change if there would be a possibility to render whole world for whole team. What about architecture ? Design a building, or bridge and show it to potential investor, invite him for a virtual walk and show everything what you will be able to achive if he will fund it. 

Natural step ?

Probably yes. As I've mentioned, we can currently do a lot of great stuff using VR, our technology allows us to build whole new worlds, VR devices are getting more handy and comfortable in usage. It was a matter of time when someone would want to get something more. This may be it. 

In this article I've mentioned that virtual reality already lost the "wow" effect. It is with us for so long time and that made it not as fascinating as before. If we achive multiperson interaction it may change, it can be an impuls for VR reborn.

I hope they will do it. I know that we need to wait for true effect of their work but current progress is very promissing.

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Microsoft and HoloLens

As most of you already know, recently Microsoft announced that on start of 2016 there will be available a developer version of HoloLens. That is a good news because know we can be sure that this project won't be hidden in closet.

HoloLens - what is it ?

HoloLens is an example of special googles that changes our reality. It is a computer that brings high-definition holograms into our world. You can see them like they were real, you can fully interact with them. This is really a good job done by Microsoft. 

HoloLens is not a project related with our every day life, at least not now. This is not the kind of device that you'll wear on your way to work but there is a chance that in near future you will wear them to do your work. Even now, on this early stage, everyone can see how big potential is hidden in HoloLens. If you now, can design and build something in Minecraft - using HoloLens - why won't you be able to design a real building and decompose it ?

Project X-Ray

I was watching last Microsoft conference and when I saw project X-Ray I was stunned. This is really something that we can call "future". The way how HoloLens work with the envoirment is fantastic. I never saw anything simillar to that. Currently - in my opinion - Microsoft is years in front of the competition. If someone didn'nt watch please take a look below, you won't regret it.

First of all I really love the way how HoloLens understands your envoirment, that it can use it to select a path, to change the logic of movement. This is really something. This is the path that should be taken by the gaming business. The game is never boring because you can change it by changing elements in the room. This is example of true mixing realities. This is a step beyond standard augmented reality !

Wow, yeah, fantastic, awsome...is worth it ?

I know that there is a lot of "big" words, I know that this is just a prototype and it still can be a big fail but it is not all about HoloLens only. It is about a way, path that we can see. This is a promise of better future related with augmented reality.

I trully belive that HoloLens - or different project simillar to it - will be a device that will be as popular as a simple PC nowadays. I belive that this will be a next, big revolution related with technology of every human. This is sci-fi ovie in our home, in our hands. A wearable hologram - I love this term - it is really something !

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IoT as part of augmented reality

Augmented reality allows to extend our perception using external devices. We link this technology with elements like mobile phones, tablets, googles. But is this all ? Ain't there any other things that can extend our reality and perception ?

The next step

Can we think about internet of things as a next step of augmented reality ? I think that yes, it is a natural path of AR. IoT allows us to extend the synergy of us with envoirment. It allows us to see world in new and more interesting way. IoT as part of AR may be a variety for all of users and even a support for some of them. 

We should stop thinking in schematic and narrow way. Augmented reality creates many new paths, many new possibilities. It open doors for many new inventions than can make our life better. Let us get out of the pattern: camera, gps, display. Someone, sometime will add something like accelerometer or something like that. Look at most popular apps, over 90% of them are almoust the same, they use same idea, same pattern to achive different goals. This isn't anything bad. IT often is about reusing. But in my opinion, augmented reality is more then IT, it is a new way of life, new way of our evolution. We can't block potential of AR, we need to go further, and IoT can help with that.

AR + IoT = More informations

In time when almoust everything can be connected to the internet, amount of informations that we can gain about the user is getting huge. We also have much more methods of receiving this informations. We can understand how user is thinking, what he likes to do, what are his habits. We can now describe person in digital way. Why this is important ? Because it changes everything !

Look at Google, look at Facebook, this are companies that created their power by getting and using enormous ammount of informations.

External devices set in home, in your workplace can gain this informations for you that will allow to extend your reality, that will allow to help in every day tasks. It can create a totally new branch of business.

Augmented reality is something more than technology. It is a way of thinking, a goal that should be step on our path. It is a philosophy of thinking about new things.

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Why VR is getting more and more popular ?

Recently we can observer increased interest in virtual reality. We can find a lot of articles related with new devices, companies investing in new project/startups etc. All of this forced me to ask this question...why ?

It isn't anything new

Let`s be honest, virtual reality is not a new idea, it isn't even a new technology. Virtual reality was with us for a long time now. So why now ?

Well first of all it is caused by evolution of technology. We have better software and better hardware. Miniaturization is one of the keys that is responsible for growth of virtual reality. It is just much better than in the past.

Is it all about technology ?

I think not. I think that this change is related with change of our perception, of our need for consumption content in newer, better (?) way. We can see that increased interest with virtual reality is strongly related with a much bigger consumption of video content. Internet TV (Netflix), Facebook (more video on the wall, idea of using video instead of profile picture), video blogs, increased role of sites like youtube, twitch.

We evolved from text, through images to video and we won't stop now. Images were a better way to represent our thoughts. Video is better way to present what we wanted to show on couple of images. We always want more, we always want something better, there will be always someone that will want to see something more. So how can we go further ? Yes ! Using virtual reality. Virtual reality will allow us to show more and to interact with the things that are represented.

Welcome to the future

To be honest, we`re already between video and VR by using more often 360 videos. It already allows us to see the same thing from different point of view, to see more. Same movie can be seen a couple of times, and every time we'll see something that wasn't seen before. It increase our interest, it increase our involvement, and it pumps a bit our imagination. The next natural step is to interact with elements of the content, to become part of this, to get into it.
Probably we'll se more and more projects related with virtual reality and this will be probably a next big revolution if our lives. Prices of headsets are getting chipper. More projects and more possible clients and new technologies will probably lower them even more. VR will be something standard in our lives and this will change a lot in the way how we interact with our computers, how interact with content. This will a new chapter.

Virtual reality and augmented reality ?

Interesting is that augmented reality is not using the same pattern. The differences (you can read more about them HERE) are too big. Usage of both technologies are on the opposite ends of the stick. Augmented reality will not be able to increase our perception of the video and even if than probably the quality of this will be too low so it will be still a waste of time. Augmented reality is focused too much on the useable part of ur live. Is that bad ? I don't think so.

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