Visions of a technology-enhanced future

Chinese technology giant Baidu, Samsung, and Microsoft produced interesting conceptual videos of what the near future might look like.


Shih-Ting Hung | Baidu : Beyond Technology from Shih-Ting Hung on Vimeo.




Samsung predicts this kind of future:


The tech companies’ visions share a lot in common, including:

• Augmented reality as a part of everyday life

• Big touchscreen surfaces everywhere

• Real-time speech and text translation

• Tablets

• Remote health monitoring, especially of the elderly

Additionally, it is interesting that some other predictions were not included in the videos, such as self-driving cars, drones, VR headsets (such as Microsoft's HoloLens).
You might also be interested in Corning's video of near-future technology and Microsoft's vision of the future (2011).

Augmented reality for vocational education and practice

Google announced that one area of application for Glass will be vocational education/practice (NY Times article). Google Glass could be used to access information in the field (hands-free, voice controlled), for example checklists or patient information, and streamline communication. Such applications could be useful for on-the-job training by showing handbook information and tutorial videos as needed.
The company Wearable Intelligence developed two Glass applications, one for healthcare and one for pipeline maintenance.

Here is the pipeline maintenance video:
Another company, Daqri, is proposing a helmet with integrated augmented realty functionality - particularly for industrial workplaces.

Microsoft Hololens for professional training

NASA will send two Microsoft virtual reality headsets 'Hololens' to the International Space Station.

The devices will be used in two ways. First, it will show a crew member's view back to experts on the ground, who will be able to coach them through operations such as repairs, and "draw" on top of the astronaut's view to help them.

Secondly, augmented reality software will put holographic pictures on top of an astronaut's field of vision, which Nasa says will speed up training.

Video: Nasa equips astronauts with Microsoft's virtual reality headset - Telegraph

This projects is similar to work by the company 'Wearable Intelligence' which proposed using augmented reality through Google Glass to support professional training. See post here.

Spatial storytelling using tablets and Oculus rift

Interactive spatial storytelling with iDNA app
[Picture by Apelab]

Swiss startup company Apelab focuses on innovative ways of using digital media for storytelling. One particularly interesting project is iDNA.

Using an tablet or Oculus Rift, the user sees an interactive animation movie. The user can explore 360 degrees of each scene by moving the device around. Depending on which element in the scene the user focuses on, the story seamlessly takes a different path. The viewer gets the illusion of being right in the middle of each scene.



The paper book might be on the decline, but storytelling will find interesting new ways.

A scary vision of augmented reality and gamification

A somewhat scary vision of what augmented reality and gamification of our lives might look like in the future.

The dark side of augmented reality

Augmented Reality (Source: http://extensiveideas.com/)

Augmented reality, for example by wearing google googles, adds a digital layer to your surroundings. You can see superimposed information about buildings, people, shopping, directions, news, etc.

This New Scientist article (see below) discusses the possible dark sides of augmented reality: Digital graffiti, cyber-bullying, digital political demonstrations, or cyber-stalking.

Law makers need to catch up to regulate the use of augmented reality information - and hopefully find a sensible balance between giving users creative freedom and protecting them.

Augmented reality offers a new layer of intrigue - opinion - 25 May 2012 - New Scientist:

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