CTO Blog
If you have been reading my blog for long enough you will remember that during the Second Life boom, I was supportive of the principle that media would be changed by new capabilities around ‘virtual’ or ‘reality’, even if Second Life might or might not turn out to be ‘next big thing’ in quite the way some of its supporters believed.
My new HP laptop features a built in web cam and 3G card, (it has even got a rather cute keyboard light that on transatlantic flights has been useful when they darken the cabin!). So though its form factor is large, it’s a perfectly capable full communication and interaction device at every level from connected to wireless, sound to video. In other words a decent PC today is a fully functional multimedia device.
It’s a bit like the broadband issue. When it becomes relatively ubiquitous then we get a shift in thinking and new ways to use the bandwidth. Just as in turn in past times we saw the web, and Wi-Fi, all driving significant new uses. So with this in mind I find the decision by Esquire Magazine, (and yes the name puzzled me as previously I thought this was a kind of Playboy style magazine but this seems to not be the case today at least) to be the first provider of augmented reality very interesting.
Esquire is a magazine, currently only on sale in the USA I think, that if you hold up any article in the magazine to a web cam it will automatically bring up a 3D interactive extension of the article. Neat eh? You can see a full demo on their website even if you can’t actually get the magazine to try it out for real. Hats off to Esquire for what I believe is the first example of a general commercial magazine bringing this to a mainstream audience.
Now this blog is all about getting you to systematically go to all the links that I have provided and get to really experience what can be done with augmented reality, and at the same time keep thinking about just what you could apply this technology to. Start off with instruction manuals, as a thought, and then really go for it!
The topic and the techniques have been quietly developing for some time and you can get a really good flavour of what can be done on Chris Lake’s blog featuring ten mind-blowing augmented reality apps and videos. You really have to follow this link and look at the GE and business card demonstrations as both are quite literally, as the title says, ‘mind blowing’!
Of course there are certain routes for advanced technology to get to market fast and one of those is the iPhone, which now has its first augmented reality app, and another is Twitter. These are not particularly good, the Esquire magazine example is much more interesting, and is of a good enough quality to make it a success.
Do some hunting around and you will find a few more examples including companies at TechCrunch starting to look at bringing products or development kits to market. Now here comes your opportunity to post back the uses you came up with!!
About the author
Capgemini Global Chief Technology Officer, Andy is a member of the Capgemini Group management board and advises on all aspects of technology-driven market changes, together with being a member of the Policy Board for the British Computer Society. Andy is the author of many white papers, and the co-author three books that have charted the current changes in technology and its use by business starting in 2006 with ‘Mashup Corporations’ detailing how enterprises could make use of Web 2.0 to develop new go to market propositions. This was followed in May 2008 by Mesh Collaboration focussing on the impact of Web 2.0 on the enterprise front office and its working techniques, then in 2010 “Enterprise Cloud Computing: A Strategy Guide for Business and Technology leaders” co-authored with well-known academic Peter Fingar and one of the leading authorities on business process, John Pyke. The book describes the wider business implications of Cloud Computing with the promise of on-demand business innovation. It looks at how businesses trade differently on the web using mash-ups but also the challenges in managing more frequent change through social tools, and what happens when cloud comes into play in fully fledged operations. Andy was voted one of the top 25 most influential CTOs in the world in 2009 by InfoWorld and is grateful to readers of Computing Weekly who voted the Capgemini CTOblog the best Blog for Business Managers and CIOs each year for the last three years.
Andy – one of my favourites is the use of AR in Lego stores – Google ‘Lego stores augemented reality’ – both useful info and fun animations. My four-year-old son and I were agog in the Brighton store.
I just love the way Lego on the web has just got better and better in the way you can enjoy their products. I confess to having even modelled my wife’s kitchen using virtual lego some years back! Gives some ideas of the number of uses and how a ‘services’ use of lego could develop over and above the children’s market for the physical product too.
Hi Andy, – I’ve been using WorkSnug on the iphone for a while – (it works well in central London). It is limited (in terms of what you can seach for) but having used it I can see that this is definitely an area for substantial growth.
Would be interesting for a blind date app!
Hi Nick
thats what i like about technologists – the ability to come up with an innovative use of technology – augmented reality and blind dating !!
good one!
Andy,
I’ve been extremely excited about AR. However, unfortunately there are hardly any products available in the context of India.
I will definitely check out the Esquire Magazine example you pointed out.
Andy, loved the Esquire example – I had not seen this before.
I really like AR, one of the examples I use to show what it is to friends is wwww.worksnug.com (as per Nick Russell’s comment) – a good review from the guardian here too – http://bit.ly/5bVsGh as well as some further use cases here – http://bit.ly/b916jm
As my son grows up – I’m looking forward to trying out the Lego Example. I have fond memories as a kid and even the bricks still in my parents loft! Apart from this, Lego are really demonstrating innovation & re-invention with new tools to attract an ever demanding and growing audience.
As for AR – I have never found reason to use it yet, other than show others the realm of the possible.
I think it will evolve, its just a case of time and the right killer app.
Cheers
Nigel
Hi Harshal
do you have access to an iPhone – seems there is a great app on there from other posts?
andy
Hi Andy – One thing I am really looking forward to is Layar for the Google Android phones.
I believe though alternative control mechanisms would be the next big thing from sci-fi to change the way we work. With the success of the wii and various other gaming platforms taking this in stride, applying these technologies for everyday use will definitely become more practical.
My poersonal view is that Moore’s law is now more valauble in the developement of small mobile devices than in the PC or Server world. The result of huge increases in the capabilities in these devices will be an equally huge rise in the personal customisation by users. In fact the idea of a shift to customisation of products in the long tail arguement floated some years back in connection with the internet missed this key point. Standardisation of the ‘hardware’ with massive capacity and online connectivity supports an increasing personalisation and customisation in the software.
the end result is as you say we will see elements combining in new ways. BTW next mondays peice is around some aspects of this in relation to last weeks Mobile World Congress and how the emphasis is moving from the device being the highlight to the content channel.