Why Augmented Reality needs Apple ?

Probably most of you will think that Apple is so great and fantastic that no one else can do something good for augmented reality. If you think that way, I have 3 words for you:
1. no
2. No
3. NO !

Apple is a great company

No doubt that Apple is one of the biggest company in the world. They achieved so much, that it is hard to count the biggest achievements. They created fantastic products, but also - as every company - some of them were very bad. But the number one of all this, is the power of influence on the masses and this is the true reason why augmented reality needs Apple

Talk and talk and talk and...

Lately almost every day I see headline about how Tim Cook is talking about power of the augmented reality, how it is better than virtual reality, or how the augmented reality is the future and so on and so on. Unfortunately nothing is happening, no action taken. The action that we - all the fans of AR - need so much.

Some can say that we have Pokemon GO. Sure ! But as I wrote here, I don't think that friendly creatures will change anything. Augmented reality needs a true breakthrough. We need something, or maybe I should say someone, that will lead, that will show the way, that will inspire the masses. We need a true influencer.

Look at Google, Microsoft. We are talking here about largest companies in the world. They created Google glasses, HoloLens. Those are two fantastic products and nothing! People don't care about them. Of course I'm not talking here about geeks or AR enthusiasts but about masses that will by such products, people that don't care about low level technology. They want to see the effect.

"How does somebody know what they need if they haven't even seen it?"

Do you remember when Steve Jobs said that ? Those words are still very important. People don't know that they need augmented reality because most of the do not understand it. They can't even imagine how powerful tool it is and what they can achieve with that. So please Apple, please Mr. Cook, do something with this ! Prove the world that Apple is really the greatest company in the world. Stop playing with new colors of iPhone, stop destroying your devices by removing parts, stop making wires to Bluetooth headsets. Please, do the one thing that a long time ago was your trademark. Be innovative again, inspire people, lead them, show them the way, show them what they can achieve having such powerful tool like augmented reality ! Please !

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No body cares about augmented reality in Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO, Pokemon GO, Pokemon GO, Pokemon GO.....I feel exactly the same when I'm reading news related with augmented reality. Is it boring ? Yes, a bit, because I can't find any new interesting content. A lot of people thinks that this is a breakthrough for augmented reality, but it isn't and we need to remember about that.

NO BODY*, I repeat NO BODY cares about AR in Pokemon GO

By "no body" I refer to people that are not related with augmented reality. I think that 99% of them don't care about AR behind all of this. They are hyped because they can go and just catch some pokemons !! Big part of users turned of the AR mode in the game because it is easier to catch`em all. Of course there is always an interactive map based on Google maps that extends (augment) our world. Don't you think that this is just not enough to scream AUGMENTED REALTY FOR THE WIN ? When I think about AR I can see much more advanced examples in my head like: HoloLens, Daqri, hands free systems in logistic, Google glass. Running around with smartphone looking at virtual map is just not enough in my opinion. 

Someone will be interested

Of course there is a very small part of people whom will ask a question "what is augmented reality" and even some of them will like to search more information about it, maybe even they will read this post and maybe they will study AR in future like I do. That would be cool. Unfortunately Pokemon GO is not a game changer. There is a big chance that in near future there will be some new applications based on similar mechanic. Do you remember Ingress ? This game was way much more advanced from the gameplay point of view, it had same mechanic and it was not even near as popular as Pokemon GO. Here and there you can say that this is an augmented reality game but as I said...it is not about AR. This app is a social phenomenon and we will see a lot of papers describing it but unfortunately this is not an augmented reality revolution.  

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HoloLens - the true augmented reality milestone

Build 2016 is over. We have seen a true kickoff of HoloLens, now everybody can buy a developer edition to build and test own apps. Of course they need to have....3000 USD. That is a lot, but the cost is not the main topic on which I want to focus today. After the presentation we can read a lot of comments that say that this is still a clumsy technology, that this is not so exciting as everybody thinks. So what is all about ?

HoloLens is not a everyday technology

Let us start from this statement. HoloLens is not something you would call an everyday augmented reality headset. Of course, you can have at your home and play with it, you can take it to your work and use it for that. So there is a way to use it everyday in your life BUT you won't wear it during your trip to work, you won't go with it to the shop. To be honest, you won't wear it anywhere outside your home or office.

First of all they are simply too big. Yes, the current version is much better than the prototype that was shown year ago, it is much easier to wear it, use it, adjust to the user, they are more comfortable but still they are just too big. It is hard to say that nobody will notice that you are wearing them.

Secondly we have the main problem of every mobile device, battery. According to Microsoft we`re talking here about 2-3 hours of constant work. It's not even a half of standard work day, that means you always need to be close of something that will be able to charge your HoloLens. Hard to say that this is a comfortable situation.

And last but not least...the cost. We can assume that user edition will be cheaper than current developer version but let us be real, there is no chance that the difference will be significant, and 3000 USD is a lot of money. There won't be many people that will be able to afford it just to wear it around and use it for Cortana`s reminders. 

It is not important !

Should we care about above problems ? No, not now. HoloLens is a big step forward for augmented reality. I think that it is even more than one step. It is a milestone. Microsoft made something fantastic for propagation AR. Thanks to that device we can get a bit closer to understanding of true potential of augmented reality in our lifes.

This device is something similar to first laptop, pda or tablet. It is something big, expensive, without well defined usage. It sounds horrible but it something fantastic. It allows to understand the technology, to experiment with it, to show something great, cool and fantastic to people, to move forward, to look further. HoloLens is like a key that will open augmented reality on masses. I can't tell will the device built by Microsoft will be the best one, but I know that this is the one of biggest and most important moment for augmented reality at our time. Now we need to wait for ideas, for prototypes and different approaches. This will show us in which way augmented reality will go in near future. 

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About augmented reality - new way

This time something new. I want to evolve with my blog. That is why this post is the first in new form...cast. My goal is to make it more interactive, more interesting, easier to get. I hope you all will like and I'm sorry for the sound problems, I will imporeve that next time.

Abstract

This presentation is about true basics of augmented reality. I'm talking about what it is, how it works, what are the main problems and challenges. To be honest this informations are preatty hard to find in a simple form so I hope it will be usefull for many in near future.

I'm also attaching presentation that I used. Just click here

You can watch my cast below or go directly to my channel on youtube. Subscribe and comment !!

Go directly to movie: click here

Go directly to my NEW youtube channel: click here

>> DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION <<

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Varia Vision - new possibilities

When I saw information about this project I truly had to take my jaw from the ground. This is the type of projects that - in my opinion - are the essence of the future augmented reality. Very strong every day usage, helps in popular activities, make them more safe.

About...

What is Varia Vision ? It is a device (augmented reality vision) that can be attached on our sunglasses. Its main goal is to make everything for us easier and safer. Varia Vision bring every important information on the line of our vision, thanks to that we have full access to every important information without the need of looking somewhere else (for example on our handlebar). This might not sound as something very big, but trust me, when you`re in heavy trafic or for the first time in a new place it may save your life or at least time.

A true milestone

Why am I so hyped with that ? Because this the type of projects that will help augmented reality evolve, and become something recognized by masses. This is a device for a true, everyday usage and if you think wider you`ll see that you don't need to be on your bike to use it. I think that it will be a very usefull tool in much more different situations.
The onI hope that in near future we`ll see much more devices like that, I truly do. Garmin showed us that augmetned reality is not only a industry type devices or laboratory experiments. A high five for Garmin !!

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