Airdrafts — Issue #3
We’re celebrating 100 users (and counting) who have joined the waitlist for Airgift. Read about Airgift’s mission, potential co-founder searches, and our progress so far. This is Airdrafts Issue #3.
Greetings Internet People!
I’m so happy to celebrate this milestone with you but yesterday, Airgift cross 100 users on the waitlist. With that tongue in cheek tweet above, it was a moment to celebrate with everyone online. I know, it’s not even 1% if you look at the number of users other startups have, but simply through tweets and word-of-mouth marketing, I think this is a great milestone to reach. It’s celebrating the small victories that keeps Airgift going.
And in case you haven’t signed up yet, here’s the link below! As I’m writing this, I checked and we’re at 105 users on the waitlist who have reserved their handle so go ahead and join before it’s too late!
Also, if you’re new to Airdrafts, first off, welcome! Airdrafts is a weekly publication where I talk about AR and update all those users on the progress of Airgift. You’re signing up for an application so you deserve to know what’s happening with the app you signed up for. Open communication and transparency is just a few of the values I believe in (looking at you Basecamp).
To celebrate 100+ users, in this issue of Airdrafts, I’ll talk about the long-term mission for Airgift, update you on the development so far, and talk about potential roles at Airgift.
The Problems with AR
Before I share Airgift’s mission, I want to talk about the problems with any AR app. Right now, there are three main problems with any given augmented reality application.
As we advance to a future that is more reliant on mixed reality, it’s crucial that these three problems have to be solved in order to convert and sell the general public on MR’s potential. While all three of these problems overlap with one another, I’ll do my best to explain them separately.
Content
For years, our only AR “content” was a library of filters on apps like Snapchat and Instagram. And yes, these filters are crazy impressive, especially with the LiDAR sensor on some iPhones, but this is really a tip of the iceberg, nay, a glacier.
While there are tools like Lens Studio and Spark AR that are trying to get people into developing their own AR content, this will ultimately fail in the long run. Why? Take a look at today’s video apps. TikTok. YouTube. Instagram, themselves. These apps were all about giving the general public full creative control. We’ve transitioned from the use of expensive equipment and large studios to people’s smartphones and homes.
And that’s how content needs to be collected and created. Full creative control at the tap of your finger. Airgift’s gift sharing feature is just a trial run of this experiment as we let users select and create digital content from their smartphone, and we do the advanced work of converting this into an AR experience.
Interaction
Vidy Thatte, an awesome friend of mine who’s working on a really cool music production app, understands this concept about how the lines between consumer and creator are blurring. Here’s one of his tweets that resounded with me.
And I couldn’t agree more. When I say the future of mixed reality is mobile, I don’t mean my smartphone. As technology shrinks into holographic displays and AR glasses, we need to get better at interacting with technology wherever we go. And what better way to do this than with the best pointing device we already have: our own fingers.
This foundational idea was the rock upon which the AIR technology was built. Augmented Intelligent Reality, or AIR, is a beta feature coming to Airgift that will take a few years to achieve 100% perfect accuracy. Using advanced computer vision techniques, Airgift utilizes AIR to detect and recognize your hand gestures as a way to interact with virtual objects.
Sure, we can tap away on our devices but that leaves us hooked to our devices. The AIR technology gives us the opportunity to push forward the needle of mixed reality interaction. It’s one of our goals that AR shouldn’t create more hooked digital creatures, but should allow us to admire our physical and virtual worlds as we seamlessly navigate between them.
Experience
The last problem is experience. Right now, AR is in a very fickle state where it either works great or it simply doesn’t. While big companies are making huge strides in making sure we solve problems like plane detecting and tracking, there’s still a lot of work to be done on their part.
However, I’m more interested in the actual consumer’s side of the app. One popular TikTok feature is the “stitch” feature. Why? Collaboration. Collaboration. Collaboration. A social networking app is only as good as the amount of collaboration features we see.
Surprisingly, collaborative AR isn’t anything revolutionary. It’s a technology that has exists since at least 2018. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen many feature with it apart from a few Snapchat filters.
This is why Airgift draws upon geospatial technology. It’s a rewarding experience to connect with someone from around the globe. By dropping digital gifts inside the Airgift app, it’s much like leaving a permanent mark in the world that someone will discover. But there’s still a lot more we can do with collaborative AR that I haven’t even shared yet so I can’t wait until I do.
Our Mission
And so with that, this is Airgift’s mission:
Airgift’s mission is to connect the world through a secure platform providing seamless AR features while continuously innovating in mixed reality experiences
And that’s it! With the future gravitating towards mixed reality tech and apps, our mission makes sure that we focus on the latest technologies to solve the problems above.
Are we hiring?
I’ve gotten this question several times and while I’d love to hire more people to exponentially increase the development and innovation at Airgift, unfortunately, it’s still a one-man operation.
However, I am working on pitches to potential investors. The previous section was just a fraction of the pitch I’m incrementally working on.
Once we do get funding though, there’s definitely a lot to do here. If you’re a 3D designer, Android or web developer, or have experience with AR development (augmentors, as i like to call them), then keep your eyes peeled as I’ll announce these roles as soon as I can afford to hire new people.
As for potential co-founders (because who doesn’t want to work on an awesome AR social media app of the future), send me a DM on Twitter and let’s talk!
Progress on Airgift
I’m still grinding away on Airchats (read last week’s issue to learn more about them). This week, I’m hoping to finish the messaging platform and even have a video demo for all the readers next week.
That’s all I have to say! Follow Airgift and me on Twitter to see my progress throughout the week or simply subscribe to this publication!
Thanks for reading,
Sai from The Airgift Crew
