3 ms·

I'm still not seeing the usefulness of AR in the near term.(Disclosure: I think VR is here and ready with lots of useful possibilities). I see AR being useful

I'm still not seeing the usefulness of AR in the near term.(Disclosure: I think VR is here and ready with lots of useful possibilities). I see AR being useful in verticals ie "pipe fitter" or "nurse". As a general tool for everyone what is the problem solved? "It's like an iWatch but in your vision all the time" "you can enhance X with digital information" "you can play games that somehow make sense in your ambient environment?" I have not heard very many use cases that don't just sound like visual clutter for little benefit. Balance that against what is likely to be more then putting on a pair of Raybans ie the battery pack and display bits. What's the not-awkward input method that's even plausible? edit: Gestures have some serious downsides.

nwatson 11y ago
What's the first supposed application of any technology? I'm not really in favor of this idea, but here's a shot at what someone will do with AR: "what do people shopping with me and eating the free samples here at Costco look like when they're naked?"
- WhatIsDukkha 11y ago
  I'll point out that your example requires some pretty significant amounts of image capture, processing and ui that doesn't exist :) Also you'll be really sorry when you look at the wrong person.
  - nwatson 11y ago
    Slap a depth-sensing thing (like Project Tango https://www.google.com/atap/project-tango/ https://www.google.com/atap/project-tango/) onto the AR stuff, you can probably get a Kinect-like algorithm to sense peoples' limbs, bodies, etc., and come up with a hypothetical-location-in-3d-space. Then the hilarity will start with projecting cartoon body overlays. Successive versions of the app will do better recognition and fitting and come up with more realistic images. Eventually you can have AR "beer goggles" or whatever effect you want.
    - WhatIsDukkha 11y ago
      Adding a psychedelic overlay to reality would be a pretty cool use, but I don't see that being compelling in the near to medium term.
monk_e_boy 11y ago
> I see AR being useful in verticals ie "pipe fitter" or "nurse". I do think IT folks forget just how many nurses, doctors, pipe fitters, car mechanics, telephone engineers, etc etc etc are out there. Literally millions. Hook these glasses up with google maps and other online databases will be neat.
- mattmanser 11y ago
  I know someone who worked on a heads up display for paramedics. People have been trying to make these for a few years. Just think how complicated it actually is for a nurse: - it's got to supply actually useful information that isn't fairly trivial to get by picking up a chart - it'll have to hook up with some sort of input device - are they carrying around the AR device and the input device at all times? - it's got to be wearable for 8 hours or it's completely pointless (you can't use it half the time if it's essential) - it's got to be light and durable - for almost every hospital it'll have to have specialized software written to integrate - an amazing UI to use it without touching anything as they can't keep cleaning their hands to use it - there's got to be total network coverage in every hospital room, it can't cut out in wi-fi deadspots (I have no idea how good this usually is) And those are the easy problems I can think of without any particular domain experience. I imagine it will get a lot more complicated when you know what they actually do.
com2kid 11y ago
Give me hover text over everyone I talk to that shows their name and I'll gladly pay a couple thousand for that one feature. Heck make it only for people I've met before, that's fine.
AndrewKemendo 11y ago
Well, we are doing it for visual commerce: www.pair3d.com

nwatson 11y ago

What's the first supposed application of any technology? I'm not really in favor of this idea, but here's a shot at what someone will do with AR: "what do people shopping with me and eating the free samples here at Costco look like when they're naked?"

WhatIsDukkha 11y ago
I'll point out that your example requires some pretty significant amounts of image capture, processing and ui that doesn't exist :) Also you'll be really sorry when you look at the wrong person.
- nwatson 11y ago
  Slap a depth-sensing thing (like Project Tango https://www.google.com/atap/project-tango/ https://www.google.com/atap/project-tango/) onto the AR stuff, you can probably get a Kinect-like algorithm to sense peoples' limbs, bodies, etc., and come up with a hypothetical-location-in-3d-space. Then the hilarity will start with projecting cartoon body overlays. Successive versions of the app will do better recognition and fitting and come up with more realistic images. Eventually you can have AR "beer goggles" or whatever effect you want.
  - WhatIsDukkha 11y ago
    Adding a psychedelic overlay to reality would be a pretty cool use, but I don't see that being compelling in the near to medium term.

monk_e_boy 11y ago

> I see AR being useful in verticals ie "pipe fitter" or "nurse". I do think IT folks forget just how many nurses, doctors, pipe fitters, car mechanics, telephone engineers, etc etc etc are out there. Literally millions. Hook these glasses up with google maps and other online databases will be neat.

mattmanser 11y ago
I know someone who worked on a heads up display for paramedics. People have been trying to make these for a few years. Just think how complicated it actually is for a nurse: - it's got to supply actually useful information that isn't fairly trivial to get by picking up a chart - it'll have to hook up with some sort of input device - are they carrying around the AR device and the input device at all times? - it's got to be wearable for 8 hours or it's completely pointless (you can't use it half the time if it's essential) - it's got to be light and durable - for almost every hospital it'll have to have specialized software written to integrate - an amazing UI to use it without touching anything as they can't keep cleaning their hands to use it - there's got to be total network coverage in every hospital room, it can't cut out in wi-fi deadspots (I have no idea how good this usually is) And those are the easy problems I can think of without any particular domain experience. I imagine it will get a lot more complicated when you know what they actually do.

com2kid 11y ago

Give me hover text over everyone I talk to that shows their name and I'll gladly pay a couple thousand for that one feature. Heck make it only for people I've met before, that's fine.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago

Well, we are doing it for visual commerce: www.pair3d.com