3 ms·

I think before AR glasses show up, we may end up modeling the world like this. If your local supermarket created a virtual version of the store, you could just

I think before AR glasses show up, we may end up modeling the world like this. If your local supermarket created a virtual version of the store, you could just hold up your iPhone and see the the store through the AR camera. Instead of asking a human for help, you’d simply hold the phone up to something and some virtual 3D store worker would come and give you answers. The metaverse will most likely have to be built this way until we get real AR. The old jobs will go away, of course.

ilaksh 5y ago
AR glasses do exist. They just aren't comfortable or popular and inexpensive.
TeMPOraL 5y ago
> If your local supermarket created a virtual version of the store, you could just hold up your iPhone and see the the store through the AR camera. Instead of asking a human for help, you’d simply hold the phone up to something and some virtual 3D store worker would come and give you answers. Honestly, at that point, why not have the phone identify and/or guide you to the products directly? Adding virtual 3D store workers seems like useless inefficiency[0]. I've been bouncing ideas in my head over the past weeks, about an app that would highlight the products you're searching for on a camera view of your phone, as you walk around the store (and over time building a database, allowing to navigate you to them). But when shopping last week, as I was walking back and forth between shelves while asking my wife over IM about some weird foodstuff she wants me to buy, I got accosted by the store manager, who sternly told me that making photos in the store was not allowed[1]. I wasn't making any, and he backed down, but this shows there are definitely social hurdles to overcome with this idea. -- [0] - The virtual worker will likely be operated by someone in company's central (or, more likely, outsourced to cheap labor in some far part of the world), so the answers to all the questions they can answer come from some computers, which means they can be displayed to you without the pointless faux-human interaction. For all other questions you may have, you really want to talk to an actual human working in the very store you're in. [1] - I asked "why" in a polite and roundabout way, and all I got was "some customers are making photos and we want them not to, because it ... er .... goes against store policy". No further explanation, and I don't know where I could find the "store policy" anyway.
- crate_barre 5y ago
  I can understand your point, but I mainly approached the concept as prototype 1 to ready for prototype 2 with AR. I fully expect to eventually see 3D models projected into the world on every aisle (like Pokémon Go). Couple of use cases for this might be for the not so tech savvy (elderly). The other main use case would be sharing your view of the virtual world with another person without sharing privacy defying live video. Your wife would see the virtual aisle (metaverse), and the virtual product(s). The hope is she might be able to even just say ‘actually you know what, just get the other thing on the top shelf to the right’. Virtual projections could also say ‘follow me, I’ll take to you to the right aisle’. That would be even better for finding locations on the street where right now we rely on a compass essentially.

ilaksh 5y ago

AR glasses do exist. They just aren't comfortable or popular and inexpensive.

TeMPOraL 5y ago

> If your local supermarket created a virtual version of the store, you could just hold up your iPhone and see the the store through the AR camera. Instead of asking a human for help, you’d simply hold the phone up to something and some virtual 3D store worker would come and give you answers. Honestly, at that point, why not have the phone identify and/or guide you to the products directly? Adding virtual 3D store workers seems like useless inefficiency[0]. I've been bouncing ideas in my head over the past weeks, about an app that would highlight the products you're searching for on a camera view of your phone, as you walk around the store (and over time building a database, allowing to navigate you to them). But when shopping last week, as I was walking back and forth between shelves while asking my wife over IM about some weird foodstuff she wants me to buy, I got accosted by the store manager, who sternly told me that making photos in the store was not allowed[1]. I wasn't making any, and he backed down, but this shows there are definitely social hurdles to overcome with this idea. -- [0] - The virtual worker will likely be operated by someone in company's central (or, more likely, outsourced to cheap labor in some far part of the world), so the answers to all the questions they can answer come from some computers, which means they can be displayed to you without the pointless faux-human interaction. For all other questions you may have, you really want to talk to an actual human working in the very store you're in. [1] - I asked "why" in a polite and roundabout way, and all I got was "some customers are making photos and we want them not to, because it ... er .... goes against store policy". No further explanation, and I don't know where I could find the "store policy" anyway.

crate_barre 5y ago
I can understand your point, but I mainly approached the concept as prototype 1 to ready for prototype 2 with AR. I fully expect to eventually see 3D models projected into the world on every aisle (like Pokémon Go). Couple of use cases for this might be for the not so tech savvy (elderly). The other main use case would be sharing your view of the virtual world with another person without sharing privacy defying live video. Your wife would see the virtual aisle (metaverse), and the virtual product(s). The hope is she might be able to even just say ‘actually you know what, just get the other thing on the top shelf to the right’. Virtual projections could also say ‘follow me, I’ll take to you to the right aisle’. That would be even better for finding locations on the street where right now we rely on a compass essentially.