The Bewilderness

Still walking the digital paradigm

A further examination of the augmented reality market provides indicators for when the technology will hit the market. Unsurprisingly, the military is a follower of head up displays and DARPA has contracted with Innovega for 'AR' contact lenses to be available by 2014. Innovega is viewed as providing the tools for enhancing the information available in training and on the battlefield, allowing soldiers to focus on objects both near and far to the viewer.

The marketplace is being worked upon. The aim is to achieve a seamless marriage of data and reality with constant updates, tagging and manipulation serving the needs of the fyborg. Such a transition, with the attendant wearables, remains some years away:

Today we update our status, favorite a tweet, check into a place we like and really are out to set or make any preferences that make our life more enjoyable. The day of tomorrow will be when our experiences will be more embedded into the real world rather than in this digital life form as they are now.

Why an augmented reality? Our usage of the Internet and these apps will reach a breaking point, and before or right when that happens, we will want all of these technology to be in the background — or at least these major technology companies will want augmented reality to truly be a reality.

Until we see these come to market, we remain focused on tablets, smartphones, apps and the current digital paradigm.

Will I be a fyborg by fifty?

Wearables, 'mediated reality', 'augmented reality' or whatever phrase is used is beginning to move swiftly from activist experimentation to commercial reality. The path has taken thirty years, from bulky headsets to slim glasses. Even if available, it is not clear if people will don a visual complement to their smartphones:

With technology finally catching up to mainstream ambitions, the next challenge is convincing the public that wearables are something they might want to, well, wear. 

When and if they do arrive, such devices will enrich the accessible platform that people utilise through their communications medium. Possibilities will be rapidly enhanced by the strong network of developers, applications and software enhancement. If wearables proves popular, one could foresee a rapid fyborgisation amongst certain communities.

And it will be cool to wear glasses again 

The connecting of things is a forthcoming matter

Wi-fi was not taken up universally due to conflicts over standards. This impeded the gradual adoption of the technology. Such a history has provided strong incentives for the industry to agree universal standards to enhance its adoption. New speeds of 1gps and 7gps hold the promise of video streaming and direct communication between all enabled devices.

It is a stepping stone on the way to augmented reality and the 'net of things. Becoming more visible from next year.

World of sensors

What will RFID mean? Is it a wave of machine to machine communication, though this is discounted as too expensive, especially in the short-term. The alternative is machine to object communication, according to Mark Roberti, editor of RFID Journal: 

The costs associated with requiring machine devices to actively transmit data about their status back to another machine (power, broadcast, etc.) will likely limit the deployment of that type of communication to contexts where fluctuations in data are extremely valuable in-and-of themselves. Using low-cost transponders to passively monitor changes in the status of objects will become far more common and important, Roberti argues.

This is all part of the internet of things, though on this plan, we will live in a world of sensors.

Augmented reality remains flat for now

Augmented reality has gradually crept across the world of smartphone applications, with a flatland overlay of the real world in its current form. The Independent is reporting that LG is shifting to a three dimensional browser for augmented reality. You look through the display of your phone as if the camera function is switched on and information overlays the view. 

The technology is slowly maturing. 

More powerful handsets and faster wireless connections will make AR apps far more useful and flexible, providing relevant information about whatever -- or whoever -- is in front of the user. From there, it's not much of a leap to glasses that keep a display in front of our eyes all the time with data superimposed directly on the real world rather than a camera feed.

The technique of squinting through the world via your phone, not even the hold up and click ease of taking a photo leaves this venture in early adopter territory. No doubt the LG application will soon migrate from the phone to a heads up display, built in to your glasses or portable lens. Perhaps this means a comeback for pince-nez?