RSS
Twitter
Gimmicky Augmented Reality Videos Popping Up In Music Videos And Magazines
from the not-quite-there-yet dept
If you haven't been paying attention, over the last couple of months, the "buzz" over "augmented reality" has been building. It seems likely that it's going to be one of those topics you hear a lot about in 2010, so get ready for it now. The basic concept is that you'll be able to overlay digital information on the real world, and conceptually, it could be really cool. If you had heads-up displays or a contact lens, it could actually be quite useful. The concept itself isn't new. This video from five years ago shows that people have been working on the concept for quite some time:
But that isn't stopping some folks from trying to get ahead of the curve in jumping on the augmented reality bandwagon. Unfortunately, the end result seems kinda gimmicky and useless -- more for show, rather than to do anything useful. Last week, all the buzz was about singer John Mayer releasing an augmented reality video, but if you watch the following video, you might wonder what the point is:
And, now, Esquire magazine is trying to do the same thing. An image in the magazine, when held up to a computer webcam and lined up correctly, and Robert Downey Jr. will apparently show up on your screen and say stuff. I give Esquire some credit for trying, and making the paper magazine have something different that might attract some buyers, but it doesn't seem like they're using the augmented reality for anything useful.
My guess is that we'll be seeing a lot more of these useless augmented reality experiments, combined with lots of press coverage and hype -- and most people won't even bother, because it's not that useful. Perhaps, then, the hype can die down and some really useful augmented reality apps can start to show up.
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
who framed roger rabbit
'augmented' reality has been around a long time...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
My favorite augmented reality is VH1's Pop-Up Video. That is the info I have *got* to have.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Ahhh, I love living in a world where potentially culture changing technology is used to 'rotate a screen.' Awesome!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
this one is waaay better.... and came out pre- john mayer.
http://www.lostvalentinos.com/
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
US Priority Mail Simulator
I thought the US Priority Mail Package Simulator was a pretty useful and creative use of Augmented Reality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCcZX8qGAX0
You use it to create a virtual box and decide how much stuff will fit in said box.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Input device?
Maybe I just can't see the video very clearly, but this does not look like augmented reality to me. Using a web cam to track motion and display results in a 3d model (granted a moving model) seems like an input method.
Augmented reality would be using the web cam to show YOUR living room on the screen and have John Mayer dance around in it. Right?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Input device?
I completely agree. There's no part of your reality that it incorporates. At one point, the kid says you can see him in the background, but that was either just glare, or a very low intensity projection of the webcam's view which didn't move.
As for early examples, Terminator and RoboCop both had augmented reality heads-up displays. I'm sure there are older examples too.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
The people who SHOULD be worried? Industrial Light and Magic!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Shouldn't you be happy they are trying to give people a reason to buy?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re:
"I give Esquire some credit for trying, and making the paper magazine have something different that might attract some buyers...."
At least read the whole article before trolling.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re:
I dunno, the whole article comes across to me as rather scathing of the whole effort. With the general tone, and the wording, I'm not entirely sure he IS happy about it...
Anything that gets Augmented Reality more attention is good in my books. The more people thinking about it, the better the chance someone hits that Eureka moment. And if all there are is 'useless' experiments at the moment, that's just a spur for someone to make something better.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re:
trolls are so damn lazy now a days. Back in my day we researched a subject and made the most absurd comments possible. Uphill both ways in the snow.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
My favorite is actually
My favorite VR head set is actually the Vuzix Wrap 920. What I can picture as apps are things like navigation aids, Virtual teachers, cool little pixies, dragons and the like to entertain kids, groupware allowing people to mix Virtual/augmented realities ....
... also like when blue tooth came out, people thinking that you are nuts for talking to things that aren't there, "oh what a cute little kitten you are play with that ball of yarn" .... GRIN
Kids with VR googles pestering their parents over the next cool thing....
kid - Mom I want Mikey the poo flinging VR Monkey
mom - no thats disgusting
kid - please!!!
mom - no
Virtual adware that try’s to sell you Viagra, penis enlargement, tells you have inherited 10 million dollars from your dead Nigerian oil tycoon uncle... etc
On the Legal side... Laws against Virtual/augmented reality while driving, Laws against hacking other peoples Virtual/augmented realities, banning of porno pals to protect the children of course.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Gibson puts this issue in the middle of his book Spook Country.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
The mentality behind these kind of reminds me of how CD video games (back in the early 90's) were supposed to merge with movies by allowing the player/viewer to "choose" how the story went. Gimmicky and awful.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
im sure this will be every bit as revolutionary as holograms were in the 80s
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
I see nothing but good from this. Augmented Reality HUDs are a very reall possibility in the future as mentioned in the story and videos. The more people are exposed to it and become "used" to the technology, the easier it will be to integrate it into society as a common tool.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Augmented Reality is for sad bastards
...who deck themselves out with virtual reality crap, and act retarded because they they are not paying attention to real life. See the "Gargoyles" in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
I know there are some who think this technology is cool, and I agree that it makes for great party games. But I still think that individuals who walk along, talking to thin air - let alone interact with imaginary objects - look like loonies.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
One use I wish for...
Combine a head mounted display, with facial recognition technology, and a translucent screen. Then when you look at someone, you can see if you can pull up face and name information. And since your seeing both images, a human error check can be performed at the same time. Solving the problem of false positives, while letting the system be used in the field.
One use I wish for, since I am so bad with names and faces.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Has anyone else played Shadowrun 4e?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
plenty more AR where that came from
This Esquire thing is just the latest in a long line of soon-to-be-forgotten AR gimmicks. Seems like it might be one of the better mainstream efforts though ... and publishers need all the tricks they can muster ... but I'm keeping my expectations in check.
We ran down 40 good and not so good AR projects readers here might be into:
40 Augmented Reality Projects Sure To Blow Your Mind ... Or Just Blow (http://www.jawbone.tv/featured/2-featured/119-40-augmented-reality-projects-that-will-blow-your-min d-or-just-blow.html)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Technology Review augmented reality aritcle
"A new AR system developed at Columbia University starts to do just this, and testing performed by Marine mechanics suggests that it can help users find and begin a maintenance task in almost half the usual time." Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23800/
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment