“The point of this excursion into tech history is that a technology often produces its best results just when it’s ready to be replaced — it’s the best it’s ever been, but it’s also the best it could ever be.”
Category: augmented reality – Page 62
Nice
WASHINGTON — NASA is aiming to send astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s, but a new technology could help scientists explore the surface of the Red Planet — from its sprawling craters to its enormous volcanoes — from right here on Earth.
Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, partnered with Microsoft to develop software that uses the tech giant’s HoloLens headsets to allow scientists to virtually explore and conduct scientific research on Mars.
The HoloLens is an augmented reality platform that “allows us to overlay imagery on top of the world and integrate it into that world as I’m looking at it,” Tony Valderrama, a software engineer at JPL, said Sunday (April 24) in a demonstration of the technology here at the Smithsonian magazine’s “Future Is Here” festival. [Photos: Microsoft’s HoloLens Transforms Surroundings with Holographic Tech].
Read more
We’re in an exploding evolution state for technology across all industry sectors and consumer markets.
3 to next 5 years — we see IoT, Smartphones, Wearables, AI (bots, drones, smart devices and machines), 3D printing, commercialization of space, CRISPR, Liq Biopsies, and VR & AR tech.
5 to next 8 years — we will see more BMI technology, smart body parts, QC & other Quantum Tech, Humanoid AI tech, bio-computing, early stage space colonization and mining expansion in space, smart medical tech., and an early convergence of human & animals with technology. 1st expansion of EPA in space exploration due to mining and over mining risks as well as space colonization. New laws around Humanoids and other technologies. Smartphones no longer is mass use due to AR and BMI technology and communications.
Beyond 10 years, Singularity (all things connected) and immortality is offered.
Read more
Now, that is a concept to consider. Could we see theme parks like Disney be completely operated by robots and leverage other AI technology as well as VR/ AR technology?
A Nagasaki amusement park is turning the fears of a robot-run world into a family friendly attraction. Huis Ten Bosch is set to feature more than 200 androids in its ‘robot kingdom’ to serve guests.
Read more
Cool
Shipments of augmented reality hardware, which combine real-world and virtual images in the user’s field of view, are forecast by market research firm IDC to ramp up over the next few years. Unlike virtual reality hardware, which tends to be more geared toward gaming, AR hardware is particularly suited for enterprise use, such as architecture, equipment repair and maintenance,
Product design and medical procedures, to name a few. IDC predicted that VR hardware will take off first, but AR will catch up, with combined devices markets seeing hardware shipments exceeding.
110 million units in 2020.
Read more
Nice
The consumer version of Google Glass smart wearable probably won’t be coming to the market anytime soon, but it seems like the project is far from dead. Namely, one of the startups which came to being after Google originally revealed its hi-tech headset several years ago is now raising new capital in order to bring Google’s optical head-mounted display into more hospitals and other health care facilities. The company in question is Augmedix, one of the ten official “Google Glass for Work” partners. Its main activity is developing software for wearable devices utilized in the medical industry, i.e. co-developing inventions which should make doctors’ lives easier. As Augmedix’s CEO Ian Shakil puts it, the doctors are “engaging with patients in front of them” while his company’s inventions are taking care of the “burdensome work in the background”.
Augmedix managed to raise $17 million of strategic investment capital from five institutions: TriHealth Inc., Sutter Health, Catholic Health Initiatives, Dignity Health, and a fifth, yet unnamed entity. This is the second round of funding the Silicon Valley company managed to secure in just over a year after raising $16 million in 2015. In total, the groups which financed Augmedix’s endeavors represent more than 100,000 health care providers. Naturally, the company can’t yet aim to deliver 100,000 of smart wearables designed for the medical industry, but it’s slowly getting there. Specifically, it’s currently providing equipment and services to hundreds of physicians and surgeons and is hoping to do the same with “thousands” more by 2017. No concrete figures have been provided by Augmedix, though the startup did confirm that it’s currently achieving a “multi-million dollar revenue” on a yearly basis.
What does this all mean for Google Glass? Well, despite the plans for the consumer version of the headset being momentarily dropped by Google, the Work program designed to deliver the said piece of hardware to various industries around the world is still going strong, and Augmedix is one of Google’s key partners in this business endeavor. Google Glass 2.0, officially called Project Aura is currently in development for enterprise applications and it seems like it has a very bright future in the medical industry as Augmedix claims its internal study concluded that close to 100 percent of patients are completely fine with their doctors using augmented reality (AR) headsets. In addition to that, it’s worth noting that Glass is the dominant platform Augmedix sells its services on, so it makes sense that this latest round of funding will see it end up in more heath care facilities in the very near future.
Read more
Over the past few days, Wired has published some articles that give us the closest look yet at the ambitious, enigmatic augmented reality company called Magic Leap. They’ve left us with both a lot of fascinating possibilities and a lot of questions, because most of Magic Leap’s technological explanations are couched in the language of either science fiction or, well, magic. As poetic as “[talking] to the GPU of the brain” and “dreaming with your eyes open” sounds, this is probably the clearest and most interesting description of Magic Leap’s work in the piece:
Read more
VERY nifty!
Wired just published a giant feature on Magic Leap, the lavishly-funded, and very secretive mixed reality startup that we know almost nothing about. Professional thoughtfluencer Kevin Kelly got impressive access to the startup and reveals some new details about what the hell they’re doing. There’s a headset! And it is capable of what you see in the video above, which is like tripping, if LSD made you hallucinate your calendar.
The demo, which Magic Leap just posted to YouTube, is a look at what your morning might be like if you’re living in the company’s mixed reality future. It’s not a very lofty future, but I daresay it’s a useful one. Though I’ve never had a morning in which I intensely study topographical maps of Everest or ethereal jellyfish, it is nice to have a clean heads-up display in front of your face, full of notifications and information. The graphics are very high fidelity—especially compared to Magic Leap’s mixed reality cousin, Microsoft HoloLens.
Read more