* Copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film & Dreamworks SKG
At the end of November 2013, official news came out that Apple acquired the 3D sensor company Primesense. Primesense technology was the cornerstone for the original Kinect sensor which could tell how many people were there in a room, where they were and tracking their movements enabling them to interact with the Xbox game console.
Most of the reports speculate that Apple would use the sensor to look at the user such as in an Apple Television Set/ Set-top box, in a retail environment where the sensor can "see" where you are and how you interact with a product and even gesture control (ala Leap Motion) and 3D user object scanning from an iOS device. You can read more about it here, here and here.
What if....
What if the device Apple envisions does not look at the user but is embedded in a wearable that "sees" what the user is looking at.
Imagine the Oakley Airwave but maybe in something simpler like a pair of glasses.
* Copyright Marvel & Paramount Pictures
Holographic projections in air for an audience to view is at the moment not practical much less mobile.
However imagine if this holographic projection is for the benefit of the user alone.
Imagine full screen projection on the lens of the glasses instead of a small screen to the side.
Imagine that this encompasses the full field of view of the user.
Imagine the projection is in full 3D space so that it objects does not obscure the user's sight of real objects.
The Primesense sensor can detect your hands in real-space in front of you. You can now manipulate icons, menus, objects in real-space in front of you - like Tony Stark. With Bluetooth LE connection to your iPhone or Mac, you now have powerful computational power at the backend.
The Primesense sensor can also map objects in front of you. Your iPhone is constantly connected to the world (Internet), already knows where you are (GPS), your orientation (Compass), your movement (Accelerometer) and has context-aware ears (Microphone + Siri). Now it can have context-aware eyes (Primesense sensor). With enhanced Apple Maps or Google Streetview, you can now have metadata projected 3D on the objects in front of you.
Which brings us too the Daemon future.
Daniel Suarez authored a thrilling book titled Daemon and its sequel FreedomTM. What is more fascinating to me is the technology described is very plausible with what we have today. With respect to the eyewear, it is a combination of the glasses described above + social media + MMORPG (World of Warcraft, The Sims, Second Life).
The user is able to use it for:
- viewing, listening and interacting with virtual objects/ characters projected over real-space. Think Google Ingress game (Link, Wiki), virtual tours in Museums and cities etc. The book describes it as “Temporal Offset Projection, an interactive 3-D avatar projected over the GPS grid. It's only visible and audible in your HUD glasses.”
Imagine the presentation is being virtually projected on your glasses in 3D space on top of your real view of a real world beach and real world audience.
Layar is halfway there using the camera's in our phones.
Imagine the presentation is being virtually projected on your glasses in 3D space on top of your real view of a real world beach and real world audience.
Layar is halfway there using the camera's in our phones.
*photo source
- navigation with turn by turn directions projected in virtual-3D space in front of you.
- navigation with turn by turn directions projected in virtual-3D space in front of you.
- full iPhone functionality, instead of touching a screen you use voice-control and multi-touch objects in the "air" as the Primesense sensor accurately tracks your hands and fingers.
- Internet connection so the user is able to retrieve information, navigate websites, use Apps and in the story conduct malicious hacking.
What interest me more was the social media + MMORPG aspect integrated with the wearable glasses technology.
In the book, the massive online community is connected to each other via a "Darknet"
In the book, the massive online community is connected to each other via a "Darknet"
The Darknet is an encrypted, distributed, and resilient network that Daemon operatives use to communicate. The operatives on the Darknet are able to "see" into d-space through a heads up display that maps objects onto the GPS grid. Communication is primarily wireless and uses ultra-wideband and WiMax to transmit information. Logging into the Darknet requires biometric authentication and all communications are secured using high quality encryption.
Members of the Darknet have an occupation which dictates their level of advancement. Members are able to rate each other using a five star reputation system which is visible to anyone on the Darknet. The rank is a simple average of the number of stars and the base is the total number of people who have ranked an individual.
Darknet Classes - Fighter, Sorcerer, Shaman, Rogue, Scout, Fabricator, Journalist.
Today there are virtually 2 billion active users among the various social media services.
Whenever we want to look up a product review, movie review, news, commentary - we scour the internet. Popular blogs, websites, commentary already get promoted and pushed to the surface via Likes, Shares, Retweets, Pins, Follows, Friends etc. Like-wise insightful writers have their reputations enhanced similarly. What if reputations can only be promoted by verified genuine users? Youtube comments already take this first step by requiring only Google+ comments which require real ID. What if we can expand further this reputation system to create classes in all fields of expertise to make our world a better place - educators, scientist, sportsman, governance etc.
Currently this reputation system is siloed within each proprietary service. What if like the Darknet, we can gamify life? Via the glasses we can instantly request for the name call out of the person we are interacting with either standing right in front of us or remotely, what are his expertise, what is his particular reputation/ rank. The glasses could instantly recognize and present the name call out for someone talking on the news. Who is he? What is his reputation? And in real time the public can up-vote or down-vote the message his is conveying.
Or with business, we can see the name call out of a business in a particular building? What offers are on? In real-time, what the public think of that offer?
Value of a person, object or message could transcend propaganda, censorship, bias advertising, falsehoods etc.
* photo source
Think of it as an extension of a game like Second Life but with real people and projected in virtual 3D Space over Real World GPS grid.
Today there are virtually 2 billion active users among the various social media services.
Whenever we want to look up a product review, movie review, news, commentary - we scour the internet. Popular blogs, websites, commentary already get promoted and pushed to the surface via Likes, Shares, Retweets, Pins, Follows, Friends etc. Like-wise insightful writers have their reputations enhanced similarly. What if reputations can only be promoted by verified genuine users? Youtube comments already take this first step by requiring only Google+ comments which require real ID. What if we can expand further this reputation system to create classes in all fields of expertise to make our world a better place - educators, scientist, sportsman, governance etc.
Currently this reputation system is siloed within each proprietary service. What if like the Darknet, we can gamify life? Via the glasses we can instantly request for the name call out of the person we are interacting with either standing right in front of us or remotely, what are his expertise, what is his particular reputation/ rank. The glasses could instantly recognize and present the name call out for someone talking on the news. Who is he? What is his reputation? And in real time the public can up-vote or down-vote the message his is conveying.
Or with business, we can see the name call out of a business in a particular building? What offers are on? In real-time, what the public think of that offer?
Value of a person, object or message could transcend propaganda, censorship, bias advertising, falsehoods etc.
Think of it as an extension of a game like Second Life but with real people and projected in virtual 3D Space over Real World GPS grid.
Now if only they could incorporate the eye-tracking technology Apache Helicopter pilots use to aim their weapons into these glasses..... oh and also an awesome Daemon & Darknet :D
And a Haptic Vest would be real interesting too.
And a Haptic Vest would be real interesting too.
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