The user interface will move from a screen you tap to computer-generated images that you actually touch and feel.
The Fourth Transformation is all about virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (MR)
VR glasses such Sony PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets immerse users in artificial worlds.
Mixed reality, such as what Microsoft HoloLens and Meta 2 offer, integrates computer-generated images with what is really there so well that it is hard to tell them apart. With AR, you can tell what is real and what is not.
The lenses of smart glasses will look a lot like simple eyeglasses
Point clouds power nearly everything in enhanced reality.
Spatial computing is the concept that computers can learn the contextual implications of location and the relationships of objects to each other through point clouds.
Technology is driving people to video because it communicates more information more easily. The tools have gotten better and cheaper; bandwidth and storage may remain an irritant, but they are no longer a major barrier.
VR has been likened to LSD, except what you see is created by studios, not chemicals
The HTC Vive, the most expensive of the VR devices released so far, sold 15,000 headsets in its first ten minutes of availability, closing its first day of sales with a significant backlog
By the year 2025, we believe there will be several hundred million people with either VR headsets or the mixed reality smart glasses
Children can acquire one, two or more languages and speak them like natives—providing they learn them before reaching puberty
Games drive innovation. They helped drive adoption of the mouse, computer graphics, PC sound, chat and online communities.
The lines of truth and illusion are blurring. People express concern about this phenomenon, perhaps rightfully so, but humans have been blurring truth and illusion for thousands of years. Now we have a cooler, more immersive, entertaining and memorable way of doing it.
The Academy Awards will have new categories for VR films as well as the traditional style
In a massive undertaking, WDI used VR to design the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland which opened in September 2016. Also in the works are Avatar Land for Orlando and a new Hong Kong Disneyland, as well as Star Wars for multiple properties.
VR has already enabled a new form of spectator sport: drone racing. Players race unmanned drones at speeds up to 200 mph. The devices zoom over, around and through obstacles set up in athletic stadiums and shopping malls.
Virtual events have some advantages over real events: Virtual attendance space is unlimited, so a big-name rock group could perform on AltSpace and sell tickets to fans worldwide
Mark Zuckerberg, whose company invested $2 billion for Oculus Rift VR headsets, has declared that AR will go mainstream on phones before glasses.
Pokemon Go is a good example of AR
Pinpoint marketing is the ability for brands to make offers to people based on their location, time of day, personal profiles and buying patterns.
Snapchat’s acquisition of Obvious Engineering will enable Snapchatters to take 3D selfies.
There are at least 10 AR headset brands today
AR has increased value in industrial and niche environments, where appearance is not an issue and the objective is for employees to have hands-free access to relevant data
Chris Capossela, Microsoft CMO, declared in April 2016, two months after HoloLens started shipping, “We totally underestimated the commercial interest in this thing.”
Two issues with AR headsets:
- Self-containment. The CPU, GPU (graphics processing unit), Wi-Fi, power, wiring, sensors, cameras, 3D screens, stereoscopic sounds and other componentry all need to be contained in a single, hands-free wearable device
- Software: the emergence of productivity and communications software
Magic Leap creates a visual effect in which those wearing the devices can barely tell what is real and what is not, because the lens optics are vastly superior to those contained in earlier headsets.
Apple has more cash reserves than the United Kingdom. It keeps cash reserves of over $200 billion
With Eyefluence, instead of just watching a user’s eye, and taking cues from winks, blinks, nods or taps, the technology understands user intent and then acts without gesture or voice cues.
Eyefluence was developing a visual keyboard. In the near future, you can write an entire book by just looking at keys, and it would be far faster than typing.
Eyefluence can spot dyslexia, autism and other serious health-related issues in minutes.
Google announced on Oct. 30, 2016, that it would acquire the company for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock.