Augmented Reality fail.

When I first became excited about Augmented Reality, I saw it to be useful like the way Metaio was allowing you to interact objects in the real world in a different way. (video at the bottom)

Then popped out Foursquare. Who did nothing but clog up my twitter feed. Something that seemed like a cute social app, all of a sudden was annoying, and you just wanted those people stop telling me where they were. I don't care where you are all of the time. It's neurotic. Especially people I don't know just because I searched on a particular city feed for example. I'm not surprised at all that company is struggling.

Then I start seeing QR codes start pop up everywhere, only to be disappointed that these codes only took me to their websites. So, I never even download an app to read them because I have a smart phone. Have you ever tried to use one of these QR codes at a show like Maker Faire, or something with a lot of people? It will make you lose your mind. Everyone is hogging bandwidth. It's impossible enough that you usually give up.

So as you can imagine I started to have low expectations on the sector. Until I saw Metaio at AWE2013. I became excited again. I didn't think you guys were ever going to get adopted - I said to them. They responded by telling me they were in Lego stores now.

I thought to myself - how did I not know this? I still watch the sector regularly enough. So I asked them which stores. I wanted to finally go see the kiosk in person. They replied that all of the Lego stores have them, and there is one in Valley Faire Shopping center.

So.....guess what I did yesterday? I went to the Valley Fair Lego store in San Jose. No Kiosk. The kid working the store only vaguely knew what Mr S. was asking him about.

Augmented Reality can teach you to weld?

I have actually tried welding once. My first long term boyfriend was a welder. So I can spot a good weld from a bad one but not much more. There is actually a lot of skill involved which I didn't have. Probably because it takes a long time to become a really good welder, and as a girl I wasn't invested in putting in the time.

So when I walked up to this booth I the first thing I asked was - why do you have all these heavy cables? What he told me got completely fascinated. This machine is made to look exactly like a welding machine and is weighted like a welding machine.

To be sure... I was pretty skeptical that you could become a journeyman welder with this simulator, but they were convincing enough that they might have changed my mind. The software goes in and analyzes your weld and tells you if it's good or not. Apparently it simulates both MIG and TIG. I didn't ask about ARC welding because I forgot about it. The company is called Seabery Soluciones.

This is your future.

I've been wanting to make a post about augmented reality for a while. The problem is - it's really freaking hard to describe. Which is why some of these vids are longer than they need to be. Yet, this technology is coming folks. I'm even holding off getting a cell phone until I know it does augmented reality.



Every week, I see more and more mainstream companies adopting it. There was a small augmented reality clip in Star Trek. Which you will have to discover yourself.

Lego is starting to use it. I'm sure you've seen the GE augmented reality push. Even Doritos.

This vid is probably the best I've seen in describing how it works. Enjoy!

Summary.

Some of this things I found most interesting about the show was....the 3D stuff.

Sure. They have been promising us 3D since the 70's. It is one of those things you thought would have taken off years ago - but never did. So you stop paying attention to any of the fantastical claims. I blame the glasses. Which begs the question - how much does it suck for people who wear glasses to then have to put on 3D glasses over them? I've never found the 3D glasses fit well.. and I don't even wear glasses.

Anyway.. this is why I was completely caught off guard when they showed some 3D demos that made me think 3D is getting back on track. I was barely paying attention - almost in a full eye roll, when I stopped in my tracks and became fully engaged. The first such item was a 3D game demo. Which of course I can't show you. It's impossible to take 3D photo's.

At any rate - you must take my word for it...it was actually pretty great. It was a very simple war game. Not one of those goofy 3D driving games. But to see the mortars being fired into the air in 3D was actually very intriguing. It was one of those things that if you would have told me a 3d game would be interesting I would have called bullshit. But - it wasn't.

The other thing was this on day 3. Again.. me - not paying attention. So my shots aren't that great...and I don't even know who it is. Note.. this demo did not need 3D glasses. It started out with what looked like a flat sheet of paper, and as the guy moved the paper - mountains started rising from the paper. Then a waterfall cascaded off the paper. At one point he even brushed his hand through what looked like water cascading off the paper. Very neat.