When Dreams Come True

It has been about five years since I started pondering on the impact a virtual reality or augmented reality headset would have, and it's about two years ago since I started this blog. When I did I felt that the technology had caught up with the dream, and all these incredible things we've wanted since childhood were possible and would come within the next three to five years.

Then Google arrived and told me that my predictions were true, though not yet fully realized with their augmented reality glasses.  After that Team Oculus had their kickstarter for the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset that let's users enter virtual worlds and immerse themselves in a way not previously possible.

Though the virtual reality aspect are for many the most intriguing at this time, mostly because gamers are getting their hands on it first, which represent the audience of a billion dollar industry, which has remained constantly viral. We will find that augmented reality will become an even bigger part of our daily lives, and will surpass the video game industry's great wealth within just a few years. Simply because everyone will start using it as it improves and becomes as popular as any smartphone or app currently on top of the charts today. Augmented reality apps will be taken for granted in just a few years, which tends to happen with mass produced technologies which everyone "needs". Many augmented reality apps are already in use on smart phones, and I have witnessed first hand that consumers won't give a crap about how it's made, how it works, how amazing it really is, as long as it entertains them and works on their favorite gadget.

Our predictions and advances will be merely used as tool to sell a product: "The future is here, holograms are real, anything is possible" etc, and the most popular uses will be probably involve mundane activities and games, not unlike apps like Snapchat or games like Candy Crush, Angry Birds and sports. Only it will be in stereoscopic 3D. But of course these things can't be avoided, and they do sell products. Which in turn will drive the price down, motivate competition which will improve the products every generation.

So, back to why I started this blog. This is why I started this blog:

I have seen Meta SpaceGlasses before, but they were still in early development, and their official prototypes weren't at a point where it impressed me, honestly. But now they have a product, which looks great, and they're first to have a somewhat fashionable set of AR glasses, which let's a user have a holographic interface before them, using anything from a virtual computer, to their cellphones, in 3D with gestures of their hands.

Pretty much exactly how I envisioned it, but even more "Iron Man".(Which I also have written about). But I'm not trying to portray myself as the only one or even the first one to predict these things, but rather a part of a community who saw the potential of our current technology and nailed it. Michio Kaku predicted this would appear around 2030 something, but again the exponential power of technological advances in computing proved a physicist wrong in his prediction. But I wouldn't exactly say he didn't know what he was talking about. Many of these concepts came from his mouth, which I listened to back in 2009(Which he had probably written about years before that). I just like to...rub it in. But cheers to these guys for making it happen! Check them out at https://www.spaceglasses.com/

In other news, back to the virtual reality aspect, apparently Valve showed off their own Virtual Reality headset in a closed session at Steam Dev Days. Some who were lucky enough to try it, described it as even better than the Chrystal Cove prototype from Oculus, which was revealed at CES 2014. You can read one of their experiences here: http://www.3delement.com/?p=332 Though the Steam VR headset has QR code tracking plastered around the room, which helped track the perspective of the user, as well as the monitor inside the headset was of a superior resolution than Oculus have currently presented.

But Steam have currently no plans to compete with Oculus Rift by releasing their own headset. It was meant as a sneak peek at what the future holds. Steam has actually collaborated with Team Oculus to improve the headset, which led to the prototype Chrystal Cove we saw at CES 2014 a few weeks ago.

Using multiple QR codes for tracking is something I have also considered, but it was in an augmented reality aspect. Today it is used mostly for advertisement, discounts and some AR apps. It is also cool to create hidden messages using QR generators, which you can find online.

This was just a quick concept I made in 2012 for how QR codes could be used for AR glasses. I had forgot I even had hand gestures in here.Don't mind the Matrix quotes. They still hold true, but nobody was supposed to see this.

Soon I hope to buy an Oculus Devkit, but then I heard about the possibility of a second devkit being released which should have at least 1080p native resolution. So I have no idea what to do at this point. I find it important that I take part in the Virtual Reality community, but I can't wait too long and end up like ol' Michio Kaku, rambling on about the distant future, which is actually right around the corner.(That was a joke).