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Augmented Reality: Enhanced Perception
Webratta writes: "Can you imagine wearing glasses or goggles that, when looking at a person, a built-in display would tell you everything you wanted to know about that person? According to an article in Popular Science the day of cyborg-like enhanced perception could be closer than we imagined. Just imagine the privacy concerns stemming from this..."
While doing laundry no less
No security through obscurity: my password is goatse. Stop me before I troll again.
A technology that may actually HURT the porn industry!
The privacy concerns depend on where the information comes from. If it comes from a centralized database, then yes. But, if the user (the owner of the goggles) chooses the information to assign to a person then there aren't any big concerns. For instance, I could choose to display their name, birthday, wedding anniversary, and their favorite restaurant. It would be information that I already know, this would just allow me to access it more readily. In a way, it would act like a face-recognizing entry in my PDA, brining up all of the information I've already collected about that person.
That could make dating so much more reliable for us geeks. Just think what it would be like if you already knew that she shared the same interests, etc. You could probably have built in web access to these things too and check out her online profile. Oh wait... we're probably already sitting in front of our computers looking at her profile before we attempt dating anyway :-)
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Will Slashdot post this story, or pretend it doesn't exist? What would they do if this was a Microsoft problem?
Flaw weakens Linux security
Programmers have found a vulnerability in Linux (news - web sites) that could allow protective firewall software to grant malicious computer users access to protected networks.
The flaw, which affects versions 2.4.14 through 2.4.18-pre9 of the Linux kernel, is in a component of the Netfilter firewall software. The component is involved when two computer users chat directly with each other using the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) system.
Information sent across the Internet is broken up into tiny "packets," each with "from" and "to" addresses, indicating who's sent the information and where it's intended to go. So-called firewall software transmits or screens out these packets based on the address of the sender.
Netfilter, among the new aspects of the 2.4 version of the Linux kernel, is software that runs within the kernel to filter out unwanted packets. But its IRC helper component configures firewall settings too broadly, potentially allowing communication from IP (Internet Protocol) addresses that should be blocked.
Programmers working on the Netfilter firewall software project reported the problem Monday.
Versions 7.1 and 7.2 of leading Linux seller Red Hat's product are vulnerable. The Durham, N.C.-based company issued a patch Thursday that corrects the problem. The flawed software isn't installed by default on the Red Hat versions, the company said, but some users may have added it.
Security is a nagging concern for the computer industry, which must juggle new features with the risk that they open up new problems. While the firewall problem the Netfilter programmers discovered is limited to a few versions of Linux, a more serious problem emerged earlier this month affecting numerous operating systems using standard network management software.
From the annals of the Troll Library .
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
Walk down the street, look at the world. This is reality.
You've lost me.. what is this thing? Is it new? </geek>
http://twitter.com/onion2k
Awwww yeah, I gotz da skillz dat pay da billz.
WERD UP HOMESLICES.
MIT has been doing this for years.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Mayor McPenisman regrets to inform you all that he did not get first post.
[[Ay fukkand lyke ane furious Fornicatour]]
I will get to see the "scarlet letter" on the neighbors wife :)
I have this image of a dark and cold future, where you can simply look at a friend, a co-worker, a stranger. Then by merely making a certain microgesture with your eyes, can instantly bring up a list of what kind of porn they download.
I pray I don't live to see it.
Personally I think it would be more of a social intrusion, as in "ugh...it's that white faced geek again". Sorta like when wireless ethernet hit my old college campus (cmu.edu) and people started checking email in the middle of a movie (as in, an annoyingly bright view of someone's window manager).
Nonetheless it has its cool factor, although I would look at some of the more productive applications.
You *know* that one of the first things that they'll do if this stuff ever becomes popular is to sell virtual advertising space. Adverts won't just be static billboards. They'll jump out at you.
Deleted
In case it's slashdotted. Sorry, it's so stupid I had to try it myself as well :>
Walk down the street, look at the world. This is reality. Now repeat, but wearing an odd-looking, bulky pair of glasses that place into your line of vision selective, relevant bits of data about the world; the data hovers in sight like virtual Post-it Notes, annotating your view. This is augmented reality. Glasses on, you glance to the right, at a vaguely familiar restaurant, and click a small button in your hand. Up pops text reminding you that Tom's Restaurant was the model for the diner on "Seinfeld"; not only that, but -- according to the glasses, at least -- the Morningside salad is worth ordering.
When the technology for augmented reality (AR) is fully developed, the gear won't amount to much more than glasses and some sort of small unit like a PDA. Right now, though, it consists of about 26 pounds of equipment that gets strapped to the back and to the head, along with a shoulder-perching flying saucer-shaped antenna. The Mobile Augmented Reality System (MARS), developed at Columbia University (not far from Tom's Restaurant), has been assembled from off-the-shelf technology, including a 1GHz Dell laptop with a graphics accelerator chip and soap-bar-sized batteries to power the display glasses and the critical positioning and orientation technologies. Strap on this rig and you look like a robothief on the lam from CompUSA.
But if you do strap on this rig, as I have, you begin to understand the profound possibilities of an AR system, which can superimpose computer-generated text, graphics, 3-D animation, sound, or any other digitized data on the real world. Think of what digital detail can accomplish when it pops up at your beck and call, to identify faces, or buildings, or the parts of an engine being repaired, or the flight number of a plane in the air, or the schedule of a train in a station.
Already, AR is providing real-time battlefield data for soldiers and giving physicians the equivalent of X-ray vision during delicate operations. Data is power, and AR promises to be a powerful way to insert data into the seen world.
Much of this will have to wait until later in this decade: The MARS system I wore, the first to take AR outdoors, cannot be comfortably used for much more than a few minutes at a time, even if you don't mind the gawking of passersby. And the coordination between the wearer and the data-display system needs to be better synchronized. But the principles of AR are well demonstrated, and better-working technology is on the way.
Anyone remember Snow Crash? Seriously, there are loads of uses for this though, not just for secirity officers, tourists etc. I'd be well up for using it just walking around town.
If everyone is carrying wirless devices, pumping out whatever info they want to passers by... this could remove the need to *talk* to strangers!
It would be pretty cool though - all the advantages of meeting and chatting online, but with the advantage of being in the *real* world.
One of the more interesting uses was allowing someone else to temporarily take control of your display - no more damn powerpoint slides at meetings!
And imagine the military uses - targeting computers built into your field of vision, zoom in with enhanced vision, etc.
Someone should change these into the Simpson's beer goggles. That way when I look at someone, I see everything I want, not everything I need to know.
I really hate Dan Patrick.
Is anyone else sick of reading sentences like "the day of could be closer than we imagined"? When does it actually work out in the end that the technology is available shortly after one of these statements?
It's kinda like back in 1990 hearing "the days of high-definition television are closer than you imagined!". In reality, they're working out to be farther than I imagined...
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What you really want is for the other person's head up display to be monitoring their iris. If they look at you and their pupil dilates, when it adds an entry into their database to this effect. If you then look at them, your head up display displays a set of red cross-hairs for a possible target...
Thinking about it, this could create something of a Cupid's Arrow Effect. Say you are looking at someone in a room and the lights go out - instantly you end up targetted in their display.
Maybe a more reliable system would be needed, but it sure would be interesting.
otoh, how attractive can a person be wearing goggles?
TJ
Owl tried to think of something wise to say, but couldn't.
Reminded me of HUD technologies (with AWACS support), where when a plane's radar picks up another plane, the HUD shows its location with a square, and various other information appears, generated from the AWACS feed, or other embedded signals in the radar (for friend/foe recognition etc.)
There's an interesting article in New Scientist about similar technology, used to "supplement" what your eyes can see. A guy from the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics in Rostock has come up with a "Virtual Showcase" that has the target artefact in, and then with the aid of special goggles the wearer sees a superimposed image, with a likely representation of what the artefact may have looked like originally.
You can find the link herei cl e.jsp?id=99991959&sub=Hot%20Stories)
(http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/tech/art
jer
We may be human, but we're still animals
- Steve Vai
XRay Glasses? Sure, they cost a couple bucks in the back of old comic books
Seriously, I wear beer goggles when I need corrected vision, though after last night, I fear I'll need the beer to quell a broken heart. And by the way, I'm already imagining how this could lead to the great-granddaddy of all time Invasion of Privacy, or just plain old You Sick Pervert tiffs.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...Damn! I missed!
But she could also find out that you're a geek and run for her life.
Oh, wait. They can spot that easily already now...
You would be walking around town all slack-jawed thinking to yourself "wow, I didn't you know Patrick Duffy stayed at this hotel!" and then you'd get side swiped by a truck.
No thats your breath.
I paid the rent already.
The dog ate it.
#@(| You!
The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
Has any of their "super spy blimps" or "nuclear pogo-stick cameras" rumors come true? These people are almost as bad as the tabloids.
Very, very seldom do they offer any quality, well researched documentation or speculation on anything.
My dad keeps getting me a subscription to this rag every Christmas even though I tell him not to. Every other issue has some kind of new blimp or derigible on the cover, or something about the military training squirrels to fly fighter planes...
This magazine is about as bad as the Weekly World News.
Golly
OMG BIG PENIS ATE MY SOUP
Of course, I'm also still waiting for video phones. The best part of that scene? At the end when the show the AT&T logo and say something like "This call brought to you by AT&T". By 2015, it'll probably be "This call brought to you by AOL Time Warner Sony Viacom Verizon".
He's almost completely the father of wearable computing. He wore a pair of glasses and a "keyboard" interface everywhere he goes, and worked for MIT media lab. People who have met him say he seemed more intelligent than he actually is, because his vision sensors send information back to the lab which he can route to others for aid in identification, and he asked questions on the LAN IRC (I don't think they actually use that protocol) and got the answers from the minds of MIT. Its as though he can answer any question.
His page is at the University of Toronto now, and those glasses he's wearing are exactly the ones that I mentioned - at least, they're the fourth draft of the ones I mentioned.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
I've been able to buy these glasses from Marvel Comics for decades now.
--Lawrence Lessig for Congress!
I just want glasses where I can see people naked.
Ah, another great idea in science-fiction coming to life in front of my eyes.
I love when this happens, and it seems to happen more and more often.
Paul K.
...to be a gargoyle.
--trb
they are redo those x-ray glasses...!
Identify: Principal Skinner
Pros: Nerdy, has a Job
Cons: Possible homersexual
-tid242
With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. --Carl Sagan
Can you imagine wearing glasses or goggles that, when looking at a person, a built-in display would tell you everything you wanted to know about that person?
What about the stuff you don't want to know? Here are some things I wouldn't like to know about someone I walk by in the local mall:
Bisexual, but won't admit it
Enjoys viewing squirrel porn scenes
Works for Microsoft
Has severe case of explosive diarrhea
Etc...
The speed of time is one second per second.
This is basically what Gibson's glasses did in _Virtual Light_. Not really a new idea. jim
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com
Not to be negative, but one of the reasons I stopped subscribing to Popular Science was exactly because of articles like this. After many years of seeing them sensationalize technologies that never really took off, or after careful examination never even seemed to have had the ability to, I think I started to realize that they're almost like a techie tabloid. Flying cars, humans on Mars, universal vaccines - these items shouldn't be cover page news despite being interesting and worthwhile. On one hand, I realize you need to sell the magazine, but on the other, I prefer Wired a little more which has plenty of tech stories but seems to be a little more grounded despite the occassional "computers will rule us" or "cyborgs on the loose tomorrow" stories.
Please subscribe to see the more insightful version of th
Every other damn story on here ends with, "but what about the privacy concerns?". Is that all people have to worry about now? Yeah, the Microsoft thing is done with, they're bad, we know it, lets move on to whining about something else. Oh yeah, privacy, that'll keep us going for a year or two. Sheesh.
As several people have mentioned, such goggles/glasses were featured in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age. Certainly, this technology could have many benefits. Think about the advantages of swift access to personal data in the courtroom and for police, or about how quick access to lab procedures, online resources, and other data would help scientists. Of course, if this technology is developed, however, it will not be possible to confine it to scientists, lawyers, policemen, and such. Others - spammers, perverts, criminals, etc - will get their hands on the technology, and the result will be intrusion on our privacy ranging from the merely annoying to the outright dangerous. Certainly, the technology is cool, and potentially very useful to many people, but there is, unfortunately, also a great potential for abuse.
Can't you just ask the person for such details ?
The problem, IMHO, is that this may reduce the communication between people.
Also, how exhaustive is the collected info ?
Maybe this could be useful for some guardians willing to authentify incoming visitors but else, well, I don't perceive this invention, however breathtaking, technically speaking, as a step toward the right direction which is making people happy to co-exist.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
I've had an eye (pardon the pun) on his work for years. I always wondered if I'd be able to build a wearable and use it on a daily basis; now that I'm working in .edu land again, there's more potential for this to happen.
:)
http://www.wearcam.org is (or at least, was) a good place to start looking for information on his projects. (Look here for an interesting screen shot of his view of the world, text interface and all.) There's also http://eyetap.org- a site actually described on wearcam as "a more organized and more desktop computer friendly site". Mann's older sites are not very "prettified" with nice tables and formatting; they're a fairly random pile of information, which probably woul;dn't look bad in a text-only browser, like what he'd have been using
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
...to get chicks. Geeks unite!
Not only could it augment reality but it could skew it! One of these could add humor to your whole day through variations of x-ray vision. You program it to generate 3d renderings of what people look like without their clothes. (e.g. your boss could have certain shortcomings or the checkout clerk could be wilder than you imagined) Or it could generate Rube-Goldbergesque renderings of the inner workings of various pieces of equipment. The squirrel powered copy machine would be a hoot.
Wow. On a related note, just imagine if x-ray goggles become publicly available.
Just imagine the privacy concerns stemming from this...
...the z80 assembly listings appearing in the Terminator's sights...
How will they make such information compact enough to be useful and not dangerous (I don't want to have 2KB oftext to read while driving) ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
...can you imagine a technology that will never happen and invade everyone's privacy and cost a little more than a cup of tea? Well it might be closer than you think!
I am so sick of these damn "closer than you think" Technological "breakthroughs" that NEVER happen.
Slashdot of course has to post every one of them!
An addition to Megan's Law would provide the info that a particular person was a convicted sex offender. With such a technology, it would allow me to decide whether to let my kid run randomly through the park on a Sunday afternoon... or maybe I should move onto another park?
i bet youd have figured this out by yourself, but a link is always nice ;-)
So check out the
official page
I'm doing this anonymously so that the sys. admin. guys don't get pissed at me for the extra traffic.
That said, here are a few pointers to the MARS project itself (the main system being discussed in the article):
I've worn this thing myself once or twice... its big and clunky.
Motorists could put these things to especially good use. A Heads-up display like in fighter planes could point out road hazards and relative vehicle speeds. Instead of a rear-view mirror, a semi-transparent projection of the view from the rear could be called up with a little press on the steering wheel. In conditions of low-visibility, the HUD could enhance the lane dividing lines and point out other traffic indicators. Of course, maybe we'll just have cars that drive themselves before we get that far.
Shockwave Flash movies are the greatest thing to happen to non-sequitur humor since Japan.
Boeing has been using augmented reality for some time now to help the people who are wiring up the new airplanes. The glasses project the relevant portion of the wiring diagram over the section that the worker is looking at.
All of the various privacy concerns are unfounded at the moment. The large challenge with any AR system is to figure out what you're looking at. For it to work with people you would either need some kind of facial recognition system built-in or the person would have to be willingly broadcasting a location AND identity signal to be used by such a system.
Personally, I think the best Sci Fi example of this stuff is in California Vodoo Game. In this case Niven and Barnes used AR to deal with the fact that the previously expected Star Trek hologram technology hasn't been able to catch up to "reality" yet. The neat thing about that was that you had the combination of AR and MMORPG technology blended together to make LARP'ing really fun. (If you couldn't decipher all of those acronyms than you probably wouldn't be interested anyway.)
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
We (LockMart Advanced Tech Labs) have been doing research on augcog (Augmented Cognition) for a few years now. We have mostly been addressing the ubiquitous computing side of the problem - how to make mobile intelligent agents go out and gather information for a user. We had a project last year to also try to discern the users context. Very cool stuff - superimposed displays of instructions and such.
A R Baboon
P.S. http://www.atl.lmco.com
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It's already here:
You are all fucking losers.
I Imagine that the interface would have to be something familiar that most geeks can deal with.
I suggest a gaming interface like Doom. There was that admin tool for killing off zombie processes. Something similar could be used to symbolically represent the people you meet. Bill Gates As Satan, for Example.
Of course, you would have different patches depending on your tastes and opinions.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
:] Hey. Wear our hoodies. Suck my dick.
This has been a popular thing in cyberpunk fiction. Gibson's Virtual Light was centered around just such a set of glasses... and I remember the gargoyles in Stephenson's Snow Crash had the same things... laser would scan your retina from a distance, reference all your information from a database...
Wow, am I a geek or what...
Unless I'm totally off, there'll be an option to add a rating to everyone... based on "personal preferences" or, more likely, on magazines|peers.
Interesting people which are considered dull will remain so -- you'll just have a neon caption above them.
We really aren't looking at the right metrics for measuring availability of information. Now we kind of lump things into Private, For Sale, and Public. But one of the most important things is how easy it is to get information.
For example, in our City, the Newspaper web site loaded up property information into a searchable database, and people (including me!) got upset -- yet this information was always available at city hall. So what changed? It has always been public, but now it is easy to get. I think that more factors need to be standardized and brought into play for controlling access to information.
Things like time to search, cost to search, number of unique keys, need to be brought together into some metric so people can say
Just my AM 0.02USD-- ac at work
- Honey, what's this?
- My "augmented reality", babe.
I've been laughing at Popular Science since I was a kid at the barber shop (and this was over 25 years ago, kids). Without fail, every article has an "artists conception" of some outrageous new technological innovation that's just around the corner! -- super vaccines, military of the future, cruise ships the size of cities, rocket planes, and so on. The only thing they seem to leave out is ESP.
I'm sure many of the stories really do represent new applications for halfway-grounded-in-reality technology, but they extend it so far beyond reality. It'd be amusing to take 20 year old popular science cover stories and see what percentage even remotely resemble developed technologies.
This device could certainly put a new spin on the old addage "undressing someone with your eyes".
Seriously though, I do have to wonder how long it would take before someone ends up making an analyzer to do just that considering the porn industry in this country.
(I have also been suspicious about those little mini-cameras. My paranoia says that 25% are probably ending up in places noone would ever want them.)
When you're walking down the street, an arrow shows you how to get to your destination. No need to pull out your PDA when you get lost! It could also be a way to do 3d videoconferencing...
Ugh. Thats the truth.
Death to all women!
Can you make it scroll some commodore 64 assembler code to complement that information.
on the last page where it says this stuff can replace ads and billboards with waterfalls and stuff... Im going to replace everything with naked women....
We might get an escalation of the spyware-adblocker war.
You should visit Nooface as you'd be interested by this article which is about Augmented reality Quake
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Surely the enhanced-reality users will be able to customize their accounts. What happens when everyone experiences a different reality?
"Look straight into the retinal scanner to log in to MyReality...Welcome, Bob! It's been 36 hours since you last logged in to Bob's Reality"
And I can't wait for the pop-up ads...
Privacy concerns in general, it's a losing battle. Personally I don't really care if you can find out what my preferences are, what I really want though is for the SPAM etc that comes my way be truly worth it. Could you imagine if little stories popped into your display that you actually wanted to read. Who would be annoyed if slashdot-esque information came and found you?
"Can you imagine wearing glasses or goggles that, when looking at a person, a built-in display would tell you everything you wanted to know about that person?"
They're called " beer goggles"....7 or 8 pints of Hefeweizen and I know all I ever need to know about that woman. All I don't know is "why I never realized she was hot before".
Now, if only they could invent something to avoid the Coyote Ugly Syndrome of the next morning...like some sort of shoe-horn or spatula. I'm sick of having to gnaw my arm off to escape the bear trap.
(Score -5. Chauvanistic Jackcass)
I think AR stuff is pretty cool. Those sunglasses in Virtual Light, Gargoyles in Snow Crash, it's a pretty darn useful information tool, as long as the information is useful and trustworthy. To that end, I feel that corporations should be kept as far away from this as possible. Otherwise AR will be a mass of ads, spam and lies.
I think a link to a personal datasource is the way to go, with various connections to trusted information providers. If the map company decides to put ads in its building descriptions, disconnect from their service and join with one who doesn't. You should be able to put on your goggles and see NOTHING AT ALL, and add only the stuff you want.
Personal datasources might link to other people's sources, in a kind of collaberative system that allows feedback ("you liked that bar? It SUCKED!") and filtering (browsing the world at +5 to avoid the trolls and goatse.cx).
In order to further clean up the datastream, rocksolid specs for different types of data should be established, probably using XML. No executables either, that way people can't stick Flash animations or viruses in their location descriptions.
I wonder if use of these kind of info-tools will result in weakened memory, sense of direction, etc... not to mention the social awkwardness of people staring off into space while they process the latest blip.
Oh, kinda off-topic: I googled and found what looks to be the full text of Virtual Light by William Gibson.
X-Ray glasses won't work, unless you get your jollies at looking at peoples skeleton (oohhh ahhh, she has a nice set of ribs. She's just shaggadelic.)
On the other hand, people noticed that personal video cameras also record infrared. Only problem is, is that infrared is not filtered very well by clothing. The IR goes straight through. So until the manufacturers added a IR filter or something, people realized they could see through peoples cloths with their video camera. Cool huh?
Privacy concerns aside, isn't there another concern to the story.... safety.
Think about it: You're walking down the street, too distracted by all the information popping up in your display to pay attention to your immediate surroundings. You accidentally step out into the crosswalk, not noticing the traffic heading towards you at a high rate of speed.....
How about wearing this contraption while driving? Cell phones, passengers, radio controls, etc, are enough distraction for the driver, do we really need another distraction?
Think For Yourself. Question Authority.
(Much older than Gibson)... there was a device people would wear on their foreheads... I think the first version showed whether you were lying or telling the truth... then a second version also showed whether or not you were attracted to the person you were talking to...
I don't remember the plot device that explained why people voluntarily wore the things.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
New Scientist is a great magazine for summing up the current science and technology issues. For a more in depth magazine, try Scientific American (they have a website too. use google to find it).
Personally, I subscribe to both.
They predicted flying cars for years, too.
I had to, I just had to..
.. well, it takes some input
searches for something based on that input
displays some results from the search
hmmmmmmm
Googles anyone?
i'll shut up now.
Toward Ultimate Reality
Electronic LSD, Virtual Theater, Roll Your Own AR.
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How long before someone writes a plugin that removes clothing for selected women?
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
didn't require any hardware, but only lasted about 10 hours.
My second sentence should be "...then it adds and entry..."
Sorry. I did preview, honest.
Owl tried to think of something wise to say, but couldn't.
I turn my head when a knockout enters the room and am presented with:
Age: 23
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 120lbs
Measurements: 38-24-36
Status: Single - 3 months
Favorite Drink: Anything with kick
Residence: 1 bdr apt - 3 blocks away
Warning : Syphillis!!!
Shoot... well, it was a good daydream while it lasted...
~ now you know
Of my paper...
Toward Ultimate Reality
By Jason Christie
Date added ~ 25/04/1999
A study on the uses of virtual reality goggles in consumer items.
Section ~ Technology
Abstract: This study explores various uses of virtual reality goggles in conjunction with consumer level items: color cameras, video effects, luminance keying and videotape, in an effort to ascertain what is feasible at the present time regarding consumer and industrial applications. As a measure toward eventual home theater display prospects, the viability of keying video into a see-through head-mounted display to form a virtual, wall-sized television will be determined. Another portion of the research will attempt to communicate aspects of the psychedelic experience into electronic form.
"When we apply the power of networking to the VR world, the potential for stretching the limits of human abilities becomes very powerful." --Jaron Lanier
Introduction
Virtual Reality (VR), its "newer" cousin Augmented Reality (AR), Enhanced Reality (ER), Simulated Environments (SE), Myron Krueger's Artificial Reality and other terms each attempt to describe unique sets of experiences and phenomenon that promise to radically alter the process of human communication. It is my belief that these various disciplines will continue evolving parallel with related technologies until a critical mass is achieved, resulting in a coalescence of unprecedented magnitude, which I have termed Ultimate Reality, in deference to Ivan Sutherland's pioneering efforts described in The Ultimate Display.
Mr. Sutherland's first head-mounted display (HMD) was in fact a see-through design. Through clever use of half-bright mirrors, a video display was mapped over the user's field of vision. This was the first implementation of what is now known as Augmented Reality. I contend that this original incarnation will ultimately prove to be more useful to mankind.
Few fields have shown as much promise, while failing to deliver in the way of actual product, as Virtual Reality, thus thwarting the potential for rapid advances in human communication. While proving to be invaluable in the fields of science, medicine, and computing, what was once seen as a marketplace panacea has proven to be a commercial black hole. Various attempts to penetrate the U.S. consumer market have inevitably resulted in withdrawals and bankruptcies. From the fall of the pioneering VPL Research to the 1997 bankruptcy filing of Virtual I-O, VR has failed to attain a sizable niche in the marketplace beyond industrial and medical applications. Despite VR's inability to gain a foothold in the consumer realm, the industry is still estimated to gross $1,000,000,000 in 1998 alone.
There has yet to be a compelling use for VR/AR in daily life. Games apparently are not driving factors in moving this technology into homes. In true paradoxical fashion, we won't have better displays until there is a large demand, and we won't have a demand until we have better displays.
Japan, however, has a healthy market for VR, and relies heavily on American research and development, primarily importing foreign gear for various consumer uses. As far back as 1993, the National Trade Data Bank Market Report painted a bright future for VR in Japan, somewhere in the neighborhood of $174-$435 million in projected sales and revenue from VR related fields, entirely within the realm of entertainment. It could be that the Japanese are culturally more ready for artificial reality experiences because of their preferred television viewing distance being half that of Western preferences. In other words, there is less reluctance to having a display near the eyes. While VR theme parks are a burgeoning industry in Japan, they have not caught on well in the United States, with few exceptions (Virtuality's early success with Dactyl Nightmare and Chicago's BattleTech center.)
In the 1980's, time base correctors (TBCs) averaged a minimum cost of about $5000 each. With the advent of desktop video, in particular, Newtek's Video Toaster, the demand for TBCs increased to such a level as to lower prices to the extent that today you can you can easily equip a computer with four TBCs, not to mention a video switcher, for less than $5000. If industry, by way of consumers, creates a demand for luminance and chromanance-based solutions, this pricing shift could occur with AR systems at a much higher rate, resulting in a product that remains affordable, but offers high quality images.
The ultimate artificial reality experience would be a direct mind link. Scientists are now able to view brain wave activity patterns as they occur. As the neuromagnetometers that perform this task become more sensitive, and the computers that interpret the data more sophisticated, it will be possible to think "apple," and cause the representation of an apple to appear in virtual or augmented reality. Thus, I posit that it will one day be possible to record actual thoughts and dreams. It is at this point that things begin to get interesting, in the sense that we will be able to create other realities through our own thoughts.
Stereolithography is the process whereby 3-D objects are made into physical objects through the use of "object printers," machines that convert the 3-D data into solid objects by treating a volume of resin with lasers to harden it into specific shapes. The future promises us a world in which solid objects can be transmitted via a 3-D "fax machine," eminently useful in design and prototyping work. Coupling this process with MRI "mind-reading" could result in the ability of humankind to create solid objects out of pure thought. While not exactly "deus ex machina," it is a seductive prospect.
The technology that will tie these many disparate processes together into a unified whole comes from both academia and Hollywood. Engineers seeking to increase flexibility in film editing have developed a process whereby each element in a frame of film is digitized separately and is thereafter treated as a fully editable object. The coming technological convergence will utilize such processes, operating at faster than real time speeds, to provide an experience that is visually indistinguishable from actual reality.
Literally, anything will be possible. The real and "other" worlds will begin to blur together, and form a synthesis that I refer to as Ultimate Reality. With ultra high-resolution cameras, a full field of vision (180 degrees) and a very high-resolution display (at least 9600 x 9600 pixel resolution), combined with accurate tracking and motion prediction, the interface will become transparent. It will then be possible to trick the human mind into believing that the virtual is actual. Indeed, it will become very difficult to distinguish between the two. In a realm worthy of Disney, broomsticks will dance across the room, you will converse with Alice in the tea room, and have the ability to instantly transport yourself to another point in time or space, whether across the country, or to a place that exists only in the ether. If the medium is indeed the message, we're in for a wild ride.
LITERATURE REVIEW
While there is a wealth of information about Virtual Reality on library shelves, Augmented Reality has scarcely been given any attention there. It would seem the speed and immediacy of the World Wide Web has outpaced that of library database maintenance. The best data on the subject comes from the individuals who are developing these technologies on a daily basis. The Web offers a close cadre of AR researchers making their findings available via University servers.
Virtual Reality - Scientific and Technological Challenges, from the National Research Council, is an in-depth examination of a wealth of issues related to the topic at hand. A weighty and technical tome, it is not directed towards the layman. Their recommendations, particularly in the area of promoting networked simulated reality development. are heartening. They seek to actively encourage research and development in the area of networked VR applications.
A look at current trade journals indicates a growing interest in AR applications. E-Library retrieved some 20 popular press articles regarding augmented reality applications. Various sources for background include from The L.A. Times, and many trade journals in the field of video and 3-D animation. Metacrawler and Dogpile are meta-search engines, returning results from all of the other major search engines.
Best results were obtained with the University of Southwestern Louisiana's licensed site access via the library's homepage. A few academic search engines worthy of mention includes Lexis-Nexis, which didn't have as many article references as I would have expected, given the sites weighty credentials. Web of Science is a research paper archive that provided a great deal of in-depth studies.
In 1995, Michihiro Uenohara and Takeo Kanade achieved real-time registration in AR at 30hz via a method of computer vision. These researchers, as well as the scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, have initiated invaluable studies regarding the medical applications of augmented reality. X-ray vision is at hand, as physicians will one day soon be enable to peer within your various internal organs and systems, with the ability to view specific aspects such as the circulatory or respiratory systems alone.
One book I found invaluable was The Virtual Reality Casebook, a collection of writings from a number of theorists, engineers, artists and other Artificial Reality denizens. Diverse and well rounded, the text was possibly the single-most consulted book in my research. It gives keen insight into the minds of the researchers and theorists that move the state of the art forward.
Despite a slight amount of product placement (the book is published in part by microprocessor giant Intel), Virtual Reality - Through the New Looking Glass (2nd edition), is a great starting point for anyone interested in the wide world of alternate realities. In all fairness, the authors are conscious of the possibility of perceived bias, and seem to go out of their way to be inclusive of the role of Apple's Macintosh and even Commodore's Amiga in the development of these technologies.
Virtual Reality Applications, edited by R.A. Earnshaw, J.A. Vince, and H. Jones, all from the U.K., also provides a well rounded perspective on the field, in a detailed manner that goes well beyond most American VR textbooks. Myron Krueger, speaking of idealized hardware to come and the necessity of real-time interaction in an interview with Jas. Morgan, said: "Ultimately, a low-cost head-mounted display with the resolution of an OmniMax theater will be irresistible--if it's as unencumbering as VIDEOPLACE. It is my expectation that the two approaches will merge. The lightweight goggles will fit within ordinary eyeglasses. They will superimpose graphics on the real world. They won't cut you off from your colleagues--you'll be able to make eye contact with them."
This is the crucial communication element that is missing from VR and, ironically, one that many people are currently working at adding to the experience. Until we reach the point of networked VR experiences, immersion equals isolation. Will we come full circle and try to accurately represent our facial expressions using models? If the purpose is realism, then it becomes logical, and more efficient, to use one's actual face via video. As video manipulation becomes more prevalent, we will gain the ability to alter our appearance slightly or dramatically, and do it in a photo-real environment.
In a more abstract or representational framework, akin to today's chat, non-realistic presentations of the self can be advantageous. I expect in the interim to see polygon-based avatar chat capturing the subtleties of facial expression available in the next few years. In the same way object scanners have slowly migrated down to the desktop, technology that is now used for producing real-time cartoon actors for Saturday morning will be integrated into the coming networked virtual reality experience. The levels of interaction will be such that the future of entertainment as we know it may be headed the way of the drive-in movie. In the same respect, I fully believe that the future of mass and interpersonal communication will make television and the Internet seem like radio and black and white movies in comparison.
Augmented reality is approached in two diverse fashions: a digital display superimposed over clear glass, allowing a literally see-through display, and by use of various combinations of video cameras and HMDs. Each has proven to be tremendously empowering to the individual, and to a similar extent, the corporate entity.
NASA's work in correcting corneal defects via AR is a good example of what advantages the individual may gain. Telescopic sight, night vision, microscopic vision, and even more specialized abilities will eventually be commonplace, and currently exist on the market. How long before the technology becomes available in implant form?
Already, there is a growing gap between the computer literate and non-literate. As technology increases exponentially, so increases the disparity between the rich and poor. Are we to become superhuman, able to exist in and see worlds the less fortunate cannot fathom? It would make the idea of "class warfare" outlandishly one-sided.
Boeing Corporation in particular has been the first major corporation to wholeheartedly embrace the concept of augmented reality, applying it to the field of aircraft production, which is imaginably a complex process. AR allows the Boeing worker to consult a vast array of manuals and documentation without having to leave the work area, or indeed, stop what he or she is doing at the time. The fuselage of the plane is located and tracked by the computer, allowing for the superimposition of construction details, such as the type that can tell a mechanic where to drill a hole, or an electrician how to wire a section.
Idealized AR/VR is transparent, seamless. Integrating the power of computers with real-world displays presents us with a future reality in which all the world's knowledge will be available to each of us, and delivered in such a fashion as to integrate into our lives as painlessly as a new cable box. Moore's law being what it is, the day of the "VR Man" will soon be upon us. Are you prepared for the cultural shifts ahead? Already, your computer can be considered an extension of your brain, or your self. Ongoing advances will soon empower you to actually augment your own mind through wearable computing. Do you think the Internet is useful? Can you imagine having it on a contact lens?
While the advantages seem obvious, the pitfalls remain hidden. Imagine if you will an age when such devices become ubiquitous as wristwatches, or at least laptop computers. The possibility that your very location could be tracked at all times has alarming implications, as does the concept of torture induced via AR/VR pseudo hallucinations. This type of application, perhaps administered along with conventional mind control techniques (drugs, sleep deprivation, etc.) could very well be the sort of re programmer sought by the CIA project group MK-Ultra, and the "virtual torture" ominously predicted by George Orwell in 1984.
Another fact that we must resign ourselves to is that VR and AR offer as much to the military and police as they do to industry, science, and consumers. The earliest research into telepresence, as in driving a vehicle remotely, began in the 1940's. Remote viewing and telepresence will be one day result in persons being killed via a tank operated by a crew who remain removed from the actual battlefield. Janez Strehovec; characterizes an experience such as viewing the impact of a laser-guided, camera-equipped missile as "A paradigm of genuine techno-druggedness, caused by the identification with smart eyes' view, and obsession with the success of a seductive action, fascinating also to the senses."
Even when we examine alternate realities in less metaphysical detail, a number of inevitable problems arise. The potential for not only viewing material others may deem offensively for a variety of reasons, but to actually become immersed in, will no doubt one day cause a furor, much in the way rock and roll, horror movies, and the Internet have in the past. The potential to now record experiences for others to view is a vast frontier for future friction between groups who would presumably restrict what others may experience immersively. Clearly another existential argument, ironically derived from what is in its simplest form, a hopped-up television set.
The exciting notion that William Gibson's Cyberspace is here, or around the corner, is one that I find to be demonstrably true. The science of data visualization allows for the graphic manipulation of large amounts of complex data in intuitive fashion, rendering the operator theoretically in charge of vast tokenized empires. Whether sensitive data should ever actually be open to manipulation via such methods is questionable, but remains a probability. In the end, there is little difference whether data is altered via a spreadsheet or a VR interface, each method maintains weak points open to malicious alteration. The programming interface offered by tradition data entry would likely never fully be replaced, but VR and AR offer an extremely favorable ratio between power and intuitiveness.
Some research that I feel will have a great deal of impact is occurring at Stanford University. There, researchers have created a virtual workbench area that is superimposed over the room they are in, allowing them to interact in 3-D space with different objects of their choosing, such as the architecture of a building, or the construction of a molecule. By locking the virtual and actual displays together and tracking them effectively, the result is one that can truly be considered approaching "Holodeck"-type reality. It is inevitable that we will one day view Shakespeare's plays as they unfold around us, projected into the room. The obvious step beyond that would be interaction.
By combining this approach with the concept of telepresence, individuals will have the ability to "project" themselves to almost anywhere in the world. This branch of teleconferencing, still in its infancy, will one day make problems of time and distance largely irrelevant.
When augmented reality merges with artificial intelligence, computers will be able to solve problems in the real world on their own. A plant supervisor could survey a job-site while reviewing data overlaid onto their field of vision, while a computer working in conjunction with that person could potentially recognize patterns or phenomenon that might escape their own attention.
By augmenting our own minds, and automating the augmentation process, we will be in a sense behaving as the brain itself does while learning. That is to say, when the brain learns a new task, the basal ganglia portion is utilized in this process. At some point, dependent upon the complexity of the concept to be learned, this knowledge is transferred into another part of the brain, the motor cortex, where it becomes more or less an automatic function, a learned response to a given situation. By one day using a computer as an extension of our own bodies, we will be able to solve and automate tasks by simply looking at them; Inventories controlled, factory floors monitored, and security operations supervised, by the electronic extensions of actual people.
One ongoing set of problems in all approaches remains that of display. Eyestrain, lack of resolution and field of vision, disorientation and other technical impediments to truly free flowing other reality immersion plague researchers the world over. While great strides have been made in identifying and overcoming potential health risks, a great deal of details remain to be worked out. Nevertheless, as technology reporter Karen Kaplan points out, "those obstacles don't stop hard-core augmented reality fans from envisioning a wide range of applications."
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS
In 1991, I became convinced that the video approach to AR offered much more in the way of practical applications than did the heavily hyped field of VR. With all of the complexity inherent in the real world, why then would you try to re-create such splendor using polygons? Even with the hundred fold advances in processor power, VR either remains at the Nintendo level of consumer usefulness, or stunningly cost prohibitive. As Simon Penny reminds us: "A criticism leveled at computer graphics...was that it was a cold space unable to persuasively represent the natural world."
While both approaches to AR offer solutions to specific problems, for the purposes of my study I postulate that a video approach is best suited for this research. Indeed, much of what I propose to investigate cannot be achieved via see-through optical displays. As is stated in Ronald T. Azuma's "A Survey of Augmented Reality": "Since both the real and virtual are available in digital form, video see-through compositors can, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, take the real, or the virtual, or some blend between the two to simulate transparency. Because of this flexibility, video see-through may ultimately produce more compelling environments than optical see-through approaches." The same survey shows us that predictive motion algorithms must be employed to overcome the effect of system-induced delays inherent in both systems.
One attractive aspect of some forms of AR is real-time updating. Superimposing textual data over your field of vision imposes no unnerving delays or lags, if it does not require registration. Registration error continues to be one of the biggest problems facing AR researchers. A millisecond of delay in updating the display can result in up to a millimeter of visual error.
RESEARCH QUESTION #1: Can an affordable AR system utilizing luminance keying deliver a satisfying experience to consumers in regards to Virtual Theater displays? While I recognize that at least one potential problem results from video's full-frame nature, I feel this approach has merit mainly for the fact that it is affordable enough to be incorporated into consumer electronics in the near future.
While chromakeying provides a sharper key, its reliance on color is disadvantageous in the home setting. The somewhat cruder method of brightness based mapping allows for much more flexibility in regards to where video can be mapped, and to what extent. I do recognize the inherent value of chroma keyed video, however, and simply view it as a price/performance issue. This study will attempt to determine the value of mapped video as a form of mass communication delivery, as well as for use in industrial applications
RESEARCH QUESTION #2: Through the use of simple visual devices, can AR deliver an experience not unlike the hallucinations associated with psychotropic drugs such as LSD and DMT? While it remains a touchy subject, the concept of electronic drugs, or electronics that mimic the effect of drugs, has established value in the field of psychotherapy. There is an interest in certain segments of society in bringing such devices to fruition, but driven by two entirely different imperatives: the need to eliminate drug use versus the desire to share the psychedelic experience with others. Indeed, theorist Terrence McKenna has stated in an interview with Mondo 2000, "The VR researchers have it all wrong. I want virtual DMT trips!"
The study of perspective video (video filmed at human's eye view), has been initiated by research such as the original work of Ivan Sutherland and NYNEX's Intelligent Interface Group's Empathy Training. There is unquestionably a huge number of potential applications for video capture and playback utilizing HMDs. Education, training, not to mention entertainment, will soon be experienced via such methods. Given the eventuality, I submit that a see-through display will generally be preferred by end users. An example I use often: "Would you want your child's babysitter wearing a helmet and being unable to see anything else?"
The added dimension offered by immersion, such as full peripheral vision (resulting in much more realistic feelings of motion) and enhanced feelings of identification with the camera/protagonist, will enable us to communicate experiences and emotional viewpoints in entirely new ways. Unfortunately, time constraints did not allow me to explore this usage of HMDs. Nevertheless, video is the language of AR/VR and its hybrids, and will become a chief focus when these products finally reach the consumer level.
METHODOLOGY
The hardware involved in these experiments was as follows. The HMD for display was a Virtual Research VR4 operating at the relatively modest resolution of 742 x 230, displaying an S-VHS video signal. The input device was a Panasonic color video camera, small enough to sit comfortably on the head, or easily be held in the hand without fatigue. In this trial run, the camera was simply held in the user's hand. The video signal from this camera, as well as a signal from video tape, was fed into a Amiga 2500/Video Toaster configuration, and the resultant signals sent out to the HMD for viewing.
The Video Toaster is a video card capable of luminance keying and numerous real-time digital video effects, allowing for the blending of four time base corrected video signals (videotape or camera). By manipulating the various effects, an array of possibilities becomes apparent. It is not my intention to demonstrate an end product, but rather a proof of concept for further research.
The video camera served as the subject's eyes, and the signal was fed into a TBC I from Digital Processing Systems in conjunction with the videotape signal. These synchronized elements were then fed into the Video Toaster inputs one and two. The program out from the Toaster was then fed into a Panasonic S-VHS deck to provide the signal necessary to drive the VR goggles' Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). Once this configuration is wired, it is simply a matter of turning on the luminance keyer or digital effects to generate the desired effect.
Eight test subjects were brought in to demo the various applications, ranging in age from nineteen to sixty-five, six males and two females. A simple survey was conducted among them regarding the quality of the experience, the usefulness of the device, and their comments on the project.
RESULTS
Generally, the findings were encouraging. If nothing more, my research confirmed my beliefs that both virtual theater and electronic LSD are viable using essentially consumer gear. The VR4 goggle input being S-VHS or RGB was the biggest contributing factor regarding cost, requiring the use of an S-VHS deck that was otherwise unnecessary. A realistic estimation of the cost of the equipment involved (assuming the substitution of affordable goggles with composite inputs) would be $1500.
Several factors that detracted from the experience were derived from the nature of HMDs. Because of the size of the screens involved, and their distance from the eyes, an impression is given of having your eyes located four to six inches in front of your face. The relatively low resolution coupled with the pixilated nature of LCDs diminishes the sense of realism necessary for an effective display. The participant's criticisms of the HMD itself included a sense of isolation, the resolution/display problems, and an overall dissatisfaction with the bulkiness of the device.
Regarding the luminance keying portion of the research, the video signal was mapped onto several closed sets of black venetian blinds. With very little adjustment being required, a more than adequate display was achieved. The users saw their own hands in front of them, a desk with a workstation, and behind the desk, the video-mapped window shades. As stated, several factors detracted from the overall effect, but the desired result was attained.
As this technology migrates downward in price, it will be implemented more commonly in an industrial training capacity, such as the assembly of complex parts. There exists an immediate market regarding turnkey installation of AR stations to aid in the inspection of circuit boards for the oilfield industry. When inspecting circuit boards using traditional analog tools (magnifying glasses), eye strain and failure are problems. By tightly focusing a camera from above onto a workbench area, problems of magnification are eliminated.
Contrary to my expectations, there was more interest regarding the psychedelic effects than there was in the television display, in both sexes and all age groups. Of the seven who participated in that portion of the research, all would consider wearing such a device on occasion, were it less obtrusive. This research has led to new theories on improving the experiences, in large part due to the response of participants. The next iteration of electronic LSD will be stereo 3D, the most common request, with the ability to combine digital trail and color effects. Enhanced Reality?
Likewise, the virtual theater display could be improved immensely by using two cameras to provide a stereo view, as well as by having a higher resolution display device. As one of the participants pointed out, the content displayed on the device plays a crucial role in determining the amount of immersion the user feels.
DISCUSSION
There currently seems to be a race between three competing technologies as the next-generation display device: Projectors and liquid crystal shutter glasses, VR/AR, and flat panel displays. New nanotube technology has the potential to make some virtual theater applications largely irrelevant. Perfectly formed glass crystals can now be quickly grown in arrays that are proving to be ideal for creating high-performance video displays. The race is on, and we as human beings will ultimately win, regardless of the standards of delivery that arise.
Essentially, I see no reason for a lack of a VR "underground." Currently the realm of researchers, VR has been an unassailable ivory tower to the public. Referred to in hushed tones but never experienced by most, it is the stuff of science fiction.
Indeed, the C.A.V.E. of Chicago's is the realization of Star Trek's Holodeck, but is cost prohibitive for consumer use, apart from theme parks and theaters. C.A.V.E. immerses participants in a "room without walls," using LCD shutter glasses and projected displays to achieve an experience unequaled elsewhere. If this system can be cost-reduced and used in conjunction with AR, we would be well on our way toward ultimate reality.
As always, bandwidth and processor power determines the parameters of the experience. Considering the ongoing trend towards faster-than-real time video rendering, it would seem that the power of video-based AR systems could soon surpass that of polygon rendering VR. When you consider that the two disciplines will one day be unified, such distinctions lose their relevance.
I seek to destroy the barrier that stands before the hobbyist and these new vistas of human communication. It is discouraging to consider waiting another ten years for such products to begin to appear on store shelves. Using a video camera, a VCR, and a HMD, people could begin trading experiences on tape for others to enjoy in the present term. Considering the potential benefits we may reap in the fields of entertainment, mass communication, interpersonal communication, education, medicine, and industry, I am curious as to why VR/AR research seems to be so localized in the U.S.
There is an enormous amount of basic research waiting to be done by adventurous researchers and hobbyists. HMDs have applications in each division of college, and must cease being thought of as solely the domain of computer scientists. I believe the industry would advance much more quickly with more input from visual artists, videographers, and end users. With the goals so clearly defined as to what VR/AR should ultimately resemble, I feel it is urgent to redouble our efforts to find workable solutions to the many problems facing this potential-laden, but under-utilized hardware setup.
Get my free Hitchhiker's Guide Tribute Novella:
Just this once. For science.
There's no mention of what I consider to be the most interesting possibility: the ability to "see" the non-visible parts of the spectrum. With something like this you could have sensors to detect infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, etc., and display it as an overlay. Depending on what you were doing you could adjust what parts of the spectrum were shown in your display. That would so totally rock. I can think of tons of uses for it, and technically is seems more feasible than most of the apps described in the article.
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
There was this exact concept in Virtual Light, a pair of glasses that could identify items and places, and tell you all about them.
Personally, I'd be worried that someone was tracking where I was going and what I was doing, and receiving spam because of it.
As corny as it may have been, I think you must be some sort of marketing genius. Of course the royalties paid to Google might add up on that one...
~ now you know
According to an article in Popular Science
/. be a little above that?
Does anyone really need to read further than that to know that the technology is all pie-in-the-sky bullshit?
Quoting from Popular Science is like quoting from The Enquirer. Shouldn't
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
Ah, so next time I get caught staring at a cow-orker's tits, I can just say "hey, I was just checking my schedule!"
Or even better:
[mind control]computer, record visual
ULTRA CLOSEUUUUPP WOOOOAAAAAHHHHHH.
end recording, save for later.
combine this, the mechanized exoskeletons that the military is working on, and their spider-silk armor and suddenly all our Marines become Robocops. The REALLY amazing thing is that ALL those pieces are being worked on and have ALL been demonstrated at some level... The marines are talking AR for special forces by 2003 and all troups by 2005. I wonder if they'll have their exoskeletons working by then... A soldier equipped like that could probably take on "normal" soldiers 100-to-1 or 1000-to-1 and win hands down.
More info than we can work with. We have already seen this with the internet. It is how the information is filtered and structured that is truly important. If I want to know your age knowing your blood sugar level and your eye color isn't going to help me.
That's indeed interesting, but alcohol companies would probaly lobby against since any girl could look like Cindy Crawford, even when you wake up.
Buy a Nintendo DS Lite
remember the scenes showing Arnold's augmented-reality HUD?
I'm sure this idea was bandied about long before that even, it's just the earliest one I thought of off the top of my head.
..when a script kiddie h4x0rs youre wearable?
me : hey there, fancy going for a drink
her : sure, just wait a sec..
BEEP BEEP
her : OH MY GOD, THATS DISGUSTING **runs away**
finally, someone to blame for low pulling power!
I'll just grab my fake beard and wig, and then no computer'll be able to recognize me at all.
If you want to see enahnced perception in action, take one of your friends out to a club. Keep giving him well liquor until the enhanced perception kicks in. You will know it has arrived when he says "Dude, I think that stripper likes me."
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball(TM)
A bunch of people are concerned about privacy. OK, fine. But what about the potential for annoying pop-up ads? Pop-up and banner ads are bad enough on the web - I sure as hell don't need them popping up 18 hours a day while I walk around in my daily (real) life.
Read my keyboard review.
I want Filtered Reality!
Think about it. Why should only those who are willing to suffer the effects of shrooms for days, or LSD for years, be the ones who get to see bleeding walls or leaking phones?! With a helmet around your head that filters your video and audio input (err, vision and hearing), you could have all the trippy hallucinations you wanted, when you wanted! Is that girl really wearing a purple elephant on her necklace, or would she be offended if you tried to feed it a peanut? Are there really bugs crawling into your skin? Better ask the piano!
What a time to be alive!
Man, I don't know about the people you see driving, but the LAST thing I want is a heads up display to be giving them more blinky things to focus on.
Hell, and out of state license plate can draw enough attention with some of the people I ride with to create a road hazard.
"Look, what state is that license plate from. On that that big Explorer over there..." {{Sound of loud explosion and screaming}}
7. What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.
playing "6 degrees from Kevin Bacon" would be a whole lot different...
Instead of just Equifax and the IRS getting complete knowledge about our daily lives, everyday citizens would regain some of that control.
Hi,
Steve Mann, I shouldn't say anymore, teaches at the University of Tronto, also the inventor of the "Wearable Computer" did his doctoral thesis on Image synsethsis and commpression for commnuications, now teaches augmented reality and Image analasys courses at UofT. To what he calls "Cyborgs".
Doesn't this come as a pair of horn-rimmed glasses with black & white spirals painted on the lenses? And it lets you see under women's clothing, right?
How many boxtops do I need to send in for that these days?
Jono
Now if you see a tease you can have a computer validate that she is a tease.
Whoa, I didn't realize that U of T got itself an .edu domain. It always used to be utoronto.ca
Does anyone remember Third Voice, the product that let people add their own editorials to web pages? Then others who had the Third Voice add-on in their browser could see your comments?
Think of what that would be like with the glasses:
You look over at the attractive brunette at the end of the bar. Your glasses show you messages left by strangers, ex-boyfriends, or who knows:
"Gold Digger"
"AIDS"
"bad tipper"
"great in the sack"
"Wouldn't give me the time of day"
Eventually they will come out with one that will not only tell you about someone, but it will also give you selected responses based on someone's personal preferences. "Hey buddy, you got a dead cat in there?" -Yes/No- -Go Away- -Fuck you- *Fuck you asshole* "Fuck you asshole"
I mean, haven't you ever watched VH1's "Pop-Up Video" program before ? hehehe... sounds like fun !
Imagine
EP User looking at potential employee at interview, pop-up reveals...
"According to DoubleClick Sam here surfs pron 3-4 hours a days since he was layed off"
"His hobbies include knitting, Linux, reading SlashDot..."
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."--Benjamin Franklin
The more you read into motives/ethic/philosophy, the more you understand what someone's goals and actions will be. Its really simple, and its sad when you find that most people in the world live in their own secluded mind. I'm good at reading people, but I haven't perfected manipulating people... Mainly due to that its against my current ethics.
I can easily imagine someone walking into a lamp-post because their vision is blocked by a "blue screen of death"... talk about adding insult to injury
IIRC, Boeing used (or tried out) an AR system several years back for the purpose of wiring the electrical systems of their planes. The wiring harnesses in the planes consist of several miles of wiring - all over the place.
From what I understood, the idea was to get the tech to the point where a worker could simply look at the connection points, and the AR system would show what wires went where, via an overlay. I suppose some kind of tracking system would have been needed, to position the overlay properly (and from what I have been following lately, that problem is still unsolved in general AR/VR applications - but getting there rapidly). The whole idea was to eliminate the need for a worker to stop what he is doing, exit the frame, pick up the book of diagrams, leaf through them, and figure out what goes where "abstractly". With such an AR system, production and install times would be lowered - I am sure it could be applied to a number of other areas as well (including repair after the plane is built).
Not sure where they went with it - if it was a limited trial, how well it worked, whether the equipment was up to task (I tend to think it wasn't), how workers liked it, etc. By the lack of talk on it, I tend to think it wasn't too successful - but the idea gives an example of what really can be done with AR.
What is funny about all of this is that the first "real" VR style system (ie, the "Sword of Damaecles" (sp) by Ivan Sutherland in the late 1960's) was an AR system, complete with see-through optics and "wire-frame" virtual objects...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Hmmm? ;-)
Next, please!
8==8 Bones 8==8
Wow, another platform for 1-2-1 marketing!
free the mallocs!
am i the only one who find it a bit...strange and unnerving that the handful of people mentioned at the end of the article who wear wearables 100% of the time are called "borg"?
suddenly thos wires popping out of the head don't seem quite so sci-fi anymore...
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Please stop digging up your nose and scratching your ass while you post on
Also- don't shave your privates in the same sink where you brush your teeth.
How did I know that? Don't worry about it.
THAT'S what's with all this privacy stuff.
TLJones: "He suffers from paranoid delusions that the FBI and CIA are keeping tabs on him."
WSmith: How do you know that?
TLJones: From files the FBI and CIA have on him.
--from the movie MIB
... I just want to be able to type stuff into 2 databses just by thinking the words -- IMDB and Google.
:-)
-- oh and page up & down. Is that too hard ? Can I have it embedded please?
Let me know when its in beta
Winton
http://www.headmap.com
I found out about this page while reading one of their awesome little magazines (I think they call them books) at some hippy's house party.
Great stuff ... worth a read
our written thoughts are gifts to our future selves
Its ok, i don't need any special equipment to look at someone and know everything about them, i am phsyco, i mean psychic... i can read people's minds... comes in handy with the women ;-)
--JonnyBlog
I already wear glasses that, when looking at a person tell me everything I want to know about that person.
That's right- nothing.
Maybe I'm not a people person.
graspee
This is an interesting question, because I'm just now reading "Technogenesis" by Syne Mitchell. It's all about the future world (2100's) where everyone is "connected" to the Net by devices that interact directly with the body's central nervous system. It's a chilling tale of what happens when everyone can know anything instantly. Lying is pretty much history, but so is any semblance of privacy. Have a look. It's a good book. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451458648/ qid=1015040214/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0878689-76113 19
this is some bomb future stuff, it will be brought to you by jahshaka soon... www.jahshaka.com
A pair of glasses like these were the central item of William Gibson's novel Virtual Light, which is kinda bizzare cause I read it last week.
I personally would be extremely worried about something like this, for example someone posted somthing about dating how she(he) could know so much about you just by the sight of you (althoug for most geeks she wouldn't really need the glasses IMHO) and so could corporations, etc. However if it's possible to pull it off efficiently I really think it would be done, and fast considering many major corporations would be very interested in somthing like this, not to mention the goverment and law enforcement agencies...
"Uhhh... yeah... that's it..." ilsundalX lenparr@yahoo.com
Yuck. Can't read it, can't resize it, and print doesn't work. To: feedback@popsci.com, webmaster@popsci.com1 2543,190327-1,00.html, was very difficult to get through. The type in the main text was too small and I was unable to change it with my browser settings. The "print this" option, unlike format-for-print options on other newspaper and magazine sites (e.g., http://www.sciam.com) did not format the whole article, just the page I was on.
Nor was I able to find a feedback email on the site. I'm guessing at feedback@popsci.com and webmaster@popsci.com, and if those bounce, I'll try something less appropriate (subscription services, etc.).
If I were visually challenged, less computer literate, or even less interested in the particular article, you would have lost me on the first screen. The web is about accessibility: I would have thought a magazine about innovation would recognize that.
Best regards,
Subject: Web site feedback I normally don't bother with web site feedback, but I had such a difficult time navigating one of your articles that I felt I had to say something. The article on Augmented Reality, http://www.popsci.com/popsci/computers/article/0,