Industry, business, transparency -future of true augmented reality

Augmented reality is still evolving. There are a lot of great ideas and projects that are getting real and true usage of this technology. But we need to remember that there is a lot of work in front of us. There are a lot of obstacles that we need to overcome. We also want to make augmented reality fully transparent, as a natural augmentation of our perception.

Transparency

Imagine situation where group of people is walking with a smartphone in front of their face. Moving around looking everywhere using camera in phone and screen of the phone. It doesn't sound convenient. Now let us take same group of people and change their smartphones to glasses on their faces. Normal glasses that look same like the ones on my nose. Suddenly the whole situations looks much more natural, you don't look on those people like on some weirdos. That is why transparency and comfort of usage are so important for the future of augmented reality.

We all know that this technology is nothing new, it is with us for quite some time now. But to be honest I think, that we still didn't find the proper and fully accepted way of using augmented reality. Firstly because it is still evolving. With that, new ideas are born and old concepts keep changing. It is good in wider perspective but for us here and now, not so much. Secondly we`re not sure how to treat it in every day life. Let me remind me the legal problems with Google Glass, when everyone was afraid that will be recorded by someone with out his knowledge and this was only tip of the iceberg. 

Industry - thank you !

Industry and business have a special place in my heart. Why ? Because all the problems that I've mentioned has no place there. This is a very good place for augmented reality evolution, a place where all legal problems are pushed aside. It is much easier to find a good usage for it and work on future device. You can find a quick example here. As always in this context, the main goal is to make people more productive. Is it bad ? No, because thanks to augmented reality the whole work can be easier and the effect can be better.  

This sector has a very interesting feature. People try to use things that were intended to do A, to make B. In most cases it is a major failure but from time to time something great is happening. Sometimes they are trying to gather some small existing blocks and build from them something bigger, you can call it a technological Lego :) It is a perfect environment for augmented reality (for virtual reality also !) for its evolution, for creating a new paths. Of course there will be more failures than successes but lets be honest, this is how great ideas are born. Under fire of criticism, but especially under fire of real and true usage.

I never was a fan of theoretical software that was created just because someone could if it had no meaningful usage. For me, we should always try to build something that has a purpose and we should check if we`re able to achieve our goal. Maybe it is impossible, maybe we need to change our methods, but we always should have a goal. I'm not sure abut the idea and concept of VW, I'm not sure that it will work, maybe it is just another experiment that will be forgotten in some time. But it still have a very good impact on augmented reality. If it will fail than we will know that we need to change something if we want to achieve similar goal, or we should change something in the result that we want to achieve. If it will work than we will know that we can make it better. Thanks to industry augmented reality can evolve and in some time come to us in much more transparent and usable way.

Read More

Augmented reality and sport....no no no

Some time ago I've wrote that I don't want to see augmented reality in sport. Today I've watched a very good TEDTalk of Chris Kluwe and I'm only more sure that augmented reality should stay out of this part of our lives. 

Revolution is always welcomed

Let us start from the talk:

Augmented reality is a fantastic technology and we can be sure that it will change every part of our live wherein it will be available. Ideas presented by Chris are fascinating but are bad for sport. Of course - as he has mentioned - they can be very profit but they will kill the true spirit of it. If me move a big part of discipline to a computer that will display everything on a HUD than what will be left? The part of the sport, that we love most will be dead. The random element that sometimes occures in a blink of the eye is the true essence and we should not take it away.

Not every technogy should change everything, not every technology should be placed everywhere. If we will think only by prism of money, than sooner or later we'll get into a dead end

Read More

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.

Read More

Technology in school is great, but is there a limit ?

According to OECD and theirs latest report there is a limit. Everybody will agree that new technologies are very helpful in education but according to mentioned report, if there is too much of computers and technologies, results of students are getting lower.

New technologies are important

Recently I wrote about role and possibilities related with new technologies - like augmented reality (Technology in education is the future) - in education. As for, education system is one of parts of our lives where we need to think and talk about computers, gadgets, new ideas. Lets be honest, education of young minds is very important for all of us, our future often depends on them.

But we can't substitute all of "old school" elements like books, paper, hand writing with new technologies. I love augmented reality, it gives a lot of new possibilities, but we can't limit kids only to virtual presentations like we can't limit them only to books and lecture. We need to find a point in perfect position between this two, very different options.

System need to evolve

Education system need to evolve like we all do, it need to adapt to current possibilities, current needs and trends. But it also need to remember about basic - not so simple - skills like hand writing or books. Nowadays I often see that young people have no idea what standard, paper encyclopedia is and how to use it. As for me, this is disaster.

New technology is not a threat, it should not be banned from schools, but as the report shown, it should be used with care. The only possible solution is to rethink everything and try to find out how to connect the old part, with the new part.



Read More

Sport...probably only place where I don't want see augmented reality

I love augmented reality, I think it is part of our future. Future that is in progress. It will be a thing that will be part of our every day life. But there is a place, part of our society, where I don`t want to see augmented reality. I mean sport.

Battle of skill

Why sport ? In this terms I'm an idealist. I want to think, I want to believe, I believe that sport is battle of skills, battle of characters, battle people. I don't care is it football, soccer, volleyball, tennis, running, F1 races.

I don't see there any place for any technological gadgets. For example, there was an attempt in swimming. Swimmers were equipped in special swimming costume similar to shark skins. There was great increase in their results, but after quite short time, this costumes were banned. Why ? Because results where built not by swimmers but by costumes. 

People want to see true and epic battles. They want to know - or even they want to be sure - that not everyone can do this on same level. They want to have their idols.

 Augmented reality - The Destroyer

Augmented reality - in my opinion - will destroy the most beautiful part of the sport. It will change everything, it can allow less skilled to be one of the best, it will reduce the importance of true talent and true, hard and long training. Even now, there is a very strong opposition to implement more technological gadgets in sport.

Think about F1 racers or skiers. What if they will able to see the best route on their goggles ? What if they will receive informations that are counted on computer ? They will not need to know, to learn that, to even ignore that.

Simpler is better

Augmented reality is a beautiful and great technology. I'm sure that it will help us. I'm sure that it will make our life easier, better and more productive. But everything has its place, and place of augmented reality is outside of the sport.

Read More

Augmented reality, virtual reality...are we ready for it ?

We`re constantly talking about new technologies, smartphones, augmented reality, virtual reality, smartwatches, wearable technologies, IoT and what ever you can think about. But are we ready for all of this as a society ? For us - people related with IT - the answer is very simple: "Yes", but what with people from little towns, what with people that are technologically excluded ?

I live in capital, things like bus ticket machine aren't anything strange for me, I don't have a problem with buying a ticket in a bus using pay wave technology, getting my money from cash machine, paying over the internet. It is as simple as breathing. But recently I spoke a lot with my mechanic (yes yes it's true, I can`t fix everything by myself !) that lives about 30km outside the town. He didn't use public transport for about 10 years so when he recently had to buy a ticket in a simple - for me - machine he was stunned, he didn't know what to do.

Simple ? Maybe not so simple

During my studies I had a lot of subjects related to user interfaces, user experience, designing. Funny thing that in most cases we talked about ticket machines. Something that is common and - at first glance - very easy to do with out any problems, but when you think about it there is a lot of traps. You need to think about lot of variables and one of them is the user himself. Most of the machines should be - but often their not - as simple as possible. You should look at it and you should know what to do. For people constantly connected to technology is hard to think like a person who didn't ever see something like that. It creates problems in their every day routine. Of course we`re not living in a cities full of robots so you can say that they don't need to use it, but to be honest, I think we want to live in city like this. Maybe we will faster than we think, so this problem is really on time.

Progress, progress everywhere...

As a society we're doing progress every day also in technology. We're constantly changing but we're not doing this evenly. And this can become a problem. Technology enters in more every day tasks, you can find it in health service, in post offices, city departments. Technology evolves faster than most of people can adapt. This is a fact that and we can't change it.

So are we ready as a society for even bigger jump like augmented reality in every day life? I think no, at least not yet.

Did you watch "Her"? It is a good example of society that created a strong bound with a augmented reality. It shows a perfect - from technological point of view - city, where everyone is connected. It's impossible. This perfect vision will never have place. We want to see it like this, but if we will have a choice - as a single unit - there will always be someone that will not go with main stream or won't be able and I think that is good.

Solution anywhere ?

I don't think so. Probably we have couple of possible routes but there is no option do decide which one is better. We can force the less educated by putting more and more machines everywhere where it is possible and force them to learn. They will learn or they will have problems.

We can wait and do it slowly. Society may adapt or may not.

We can wait for new generation that will grow up surrounded with machines even more than now. It will be easier for them.

Non of this will solve the main cause, there will be always some opportunists, people that just won't want to change, to adapt. There always be someone that just don't like technology or because of some reason will be excluded.

The only thing we can do is to make it as simple as possible and try to reach as many people as possible.

Read More

We work more and more, and we won't stop it

If you think about past, how do you see every day in work in your imagination ? Probably in the same way as most of the people. Work starts at 8:00, ends at 17:00. Good bye. That is all for today. It was hard to be reached with out tablet, laptop and mobile phone in your bag/pocket.

Than it started: pagers, mobile phones, laptop, mobile internet, smartphones etc. Everything to make our live easier, everything to have more free time for ourselves.

What changed ?

What was the result ? People have changed, thinking about job and responsibilities changed. Result is that we have less time and we work more and more. Every mentioned device is like a leach that ties as to our desk in our office. It is hard to say "sorry I don't have tool to do it". Why ? Because now you can have your office everywhere with you.

As I've mentioned before, everything was done for us, to make our live easier so we can have more time. For example, you don't write a letter, than go to post office and send it, now you send an email. Much faster isn't it ? Ok but now you write 30 ? 40 ? 50 ? more ? email per day, you receive probably as much or even more. That consume more time than you think. In result you have less time than before.

Work around the clock

Now people often work 24/7. Some of them must - lets be serious, their are jobs that requires that. Some of them "must" because their working in a toxic company or they have robot as boss. Very big part of them work around the clock because they're never leave the office. I think this is my category. Every little leach is holding me there. Email, SMS, facebook reminder, calendar...there is always something related to work in range of my hand. Funny thing that we're still looking for new leash. Smartwatch ? Why not, everybody will like to have a next reminder about email from client !

It's harder to rest nowadays

Now it's much harder to rest. Recently I've took some time off. It took my a lot of effort to turn off everything related with my job only for few days. There is always something related to it and I know that this is not only my problem. This is just a very hard thing, especially in a dynamic business like for example IT. I think that best way to rest is just hide in some kind of cave on a desert island in center of ocean :) Nobody will find you there ! But think what will you do with your free time. If you're constantly working on 110% and suddenly you stop, what will you do ? The biggest problem if this situation is that you often want to do soooooo much that you're ending absolutly nothing. Sad, sad, sad....and I know what I'm talking about, I've been there.

How to change it ?

I don't think we can change it. This is what we've become, this is how we evolved. I don't see any chance to make a turn around from that. We will do what we're good in...we'll adapt. There will be new kind of jobs, probably more elastic, but I think that 24/7 syndrom will increase by absorbing more and new areas of our lives.

Read More