I am gavin

Diminished Reality

Ok if you haven’t seen the concept of “diminished reality” it’s using Augmented Reality to purposely remove or obscure things from our view. The main example is the ability to blank out billboards and replace them with images from a personal album for example.

The video above is from 2010 however there are other great examples of diminished reality which I’ve just found.

This video focuses on using diminished reality (And in a related video Augmented Reality) aiding someone to check the health of a small aircraft. Instead of overlaying commands and highlighting the object the non-relevant objects are taken away by the diminished reality device ( In this case a dial )

If removing elements or highlighting elements is more useful to a learner seems to be an interesting study someone should do.

Another video worth mentioning is the EyeTap device and the working demonstrated ability to remove advertisements as shown here. Although it’s not as refined as other examples it is something to check out.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/google-begins-testing-its-augmented-reality-glasses/

Google slowly lets out these amazing bursts of technology from the ominously named “Google X” offices where the self driving cars they’d secretly been testing were developed.

The thing of note however is the minimalist overlay for the AG (Augmented Reality) which differs slightly from a lot of other visions. The UI is the opposite of the recurring dystopian story of information addiction with constant information on screen where we turn off our devices to escape.

A video looking at extensions of our current UI and devices. Much more about the idea of disposable technology from what I can see but still nice to see a slick video.

http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/ is where I found the video and the critique of it is actually spot on.

The concept of flat devices beneath a pane of glass isn’t revolutionary it’s refinement of design. Our hands can do a lot more than point and poke.

Second of two short films by Keiichi Matsuda dealing with Augmented Reality and UI.

This one is about the interfaces in the work world and the city or further environment.

 

First of two short films by Keiichi Matsuda dealing with Augmented Reality and UI.

This one is about the interfaces in a domestic setting.

Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense

I remember watching this back in 2009 when the ideas were a lot fresher however there’s still something to take from the “SixthSense” device.

Really SixthSense is an alternative to AG (Augmented Reality) using a projector that sits on your chest. This allows for a much cheaper device ($350 for the prototype) that doesn’t need to process 3d and overlay it on monitors in front of the eyes. The projector simply projects the data towards the item and the surface handles the displaying of it.

Now this is very limited compared to AG where you can of course display data wherever in the physical world however SixthSense is cheaper and working. Now of course with cloud computing you can offload all the processing so that advantage will dwindle in time.

DICE 2010: “Design Outside the Box” Presentation - Jesse Schell

A stupidly interesting talk where he starts off discussing the the methods of monetising games and revolutionising gaming models. The example of being able to collect currency for free but to spend what you’ve collected you must deposit real money is mind blowingly simple.

He then touches on the idea that we are craving authenticity bouncing off the idea of the experience economy (http://goo.gl/uumUO) and how we can use technology, which traditionally cut us from reality, to penetrate back into reality.

18 minutes in is where he discusses the way games are invading reality already.

21 minutes starts his discussion on the future of small rewards for doing chores / doing things that help your health. Although this idea already exists in apps / websites where you track your chores and level up (http://www.rexbox.co.uk/epicwin/) he takes it a little further ideologically.

The idea of the government having points that you can gain by doing things that save society / your health / the evironment (riding the bus, eating healthy) which would be in a different class than other points is intriguing; especially the part about trading them in for tax breaks. Opt-in, fun, social control.

The second idea of corporate reinforcement through games and point manipulation I’ve read or seen about before. Augmented reality interfaced rewards while shopping and how each company would tailor create achievements and rewards for you regarding their products is so feasible and only centimetres from our grasp. Although I can’t say I’d be a fan.

With reflection on my recent post discussing the addictive quality of porn because of novelty I do wonder if we would quickly grow tired of these point systems because of the lack of novelty. Would it just grow into an automatic tracker of the “Buy 5 coffees, get 1 free” cards? 

The Future of Gaming - Tim Sweeney (Epic) DICE 2012 Session

Great video which uses gaming as its thread but touches on the future of graphics and general computer technology.

Covers quantum computing, the limits of the human eye (retina displays), augmented reality.

 

Avalon (2001)

Just finished watching this film and although the styling will tickle any steampunk fans fancy there aren’t too many interesting points beyond the styling. No real interesting VR concepts or real handling of the idea of an underground virtual reality game in a society.

Fun but not groundbreaking.