The iPhone 4 features a gyroscope for the first time (which is much more sensitive than the old accelerometer based motion sensor). This leads not only to much improved gaming but also a less jerky augmented reality experience.
The iPhone apps, however, have to be rewritten to take advantage of the new sensor. AcrossAir has done just that and posted a comparison video of the new improved AR experience.
How well does the gyroscope work for gaming? Take a look at the first iPhone 4 gyroscope game. Another video of “Gun Range” here.
Augmented reality has been a popular topic for the iPhone as well as computers or game consoles. Now it appears that next year we are going to see more compelling products from the AR field outside of just iPhone applications, sales materials, and PC/console games:
Recon Instruments is getting ready to launch ski googles with build-in heads-up display. Utilizing various sensors to display real-time information on speed, slope angle, weather, altitude, and more, the googles also use a GPS to show you your friends’ locations on the slope! All this technology takes up space but since ski goggles are naturally pretty bulky, it’s not as intrusive. I can’t wait for similar technology to make it into sunglasses in the next decade.
Augmented Reality Ski Googles
I found this on a friend’s twitter posting:
An Interview With Wolfram|Alpha.
In case you live under a rock, Wolfram|Alpha is
[...] a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links.
So basically you ask it normal questions and it tries to give you a real answer (unlike a search engine that just spits links to other Web pages at you). The above ‘conversation’ is amusing and a little frightening. Is Wolfram|Alpha turning into an intelligent computer? Probably not. For me, however, it raises the question what intelligence is &emdash; isn’t it the ability to process a wide variety of knowledge? I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years it can successfully pass the Turing Test.
Taken together with my post about augmented reality, I am sure we are in for a very exciting decade.
Augmented Reality – for now it’s mostly a buzzword – but I believe in a few years augmented reality will fundamentally alter the way we interact with almost every aspect of our lives: restaurants (image ordering off an interactive menu), shopping, evaluating businesses, furniture assembly, repairs, military operations, games and entertainment, and probably even sexuality (we all know that pornography leads more technology revolutions).
I recently was made aware of this interesting article and compilation of YouTube Videos about augmented reality: 16 Top Augmented Reality Business Models. Most of this stuff ranges from amazing (if you are geeky like me) to pretty silly – the last video is particularly frightening.
Microsoft in particular has taken up the idea in the entertainment world with it’s upcoming Project Natal. Microsoft describes it like this:
Introducing Project Natal, a revolutionary new way to play: no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak you and your friends can jump into the fun — the only experience needed is life experience.
That description barely does it justice; the promotional videos are truly mind blowing. Of course they are just that – promotional videos. The first generation augmented experience on XBox 360 will certainly be far less glamorous. Nonetheless, this will shape our lives in the next decades in ways we cannot even imagine.
Augmented reality is also coming to the iPhone, with capabilities provided to apps by the Layar reality browser platform. I presume Yelp’s iPhone app uses Layar’s API for its augmented reality implementation.
P.S. Another interesting article about augmented reality and Yelp’s iPhone app: Augmented Reality Is Both a Fad and the Future — Here’s Why
