The Next Face of Tech

Augmented Reality

In order to understand why new technologies are so important to the advancement in our civilization we have to look at the past and theorize on the future. This will give us the ability to visualize the possibilities soon to come.

At the new age of radio and television, media theorist Marshal McLuhan wrote:

“modern media [is an] extension of ourselves”

Technology increases our efficiency just as a hammer, exerts more power and precision to an object than our hand. Technologies are what make us who we are and what we are capable of.

It is not yet recognized that virtual reality(VR) and augmented reality(AR) will be a major form of communication that is most efficient in the future. It will be one of the next great advancements in the optimization of human communication as you will see patterns to this bellow.

The Current Virtual Internet

Currently, it seems that VR web browsing is very limited. However, soon we will start seeing great advances in virtual reality web browsing that will create a facilitation in using the Internet in a much more dynamic way. This will create a great foundation to augmented reality web browsing after VR has been established because similar technology is used.

Below are some examples of dynamic 3D web spaces.

virtual-realityShopify

VRMap

Meetup VR

Augmented Reality as of Now

Going back a few years to 2013, Google released Google Glass, which from what I have read and have seen of the product, it could process incredible commands. This product was unfortunately discontinued in 2015 though there have been rumors of the possibility of a Google Glass 2.

Apple has shown and interest in AR. And HaloLens seems to be very promising.

When talking about virtual reality and augmented reality, Apple CEO Tim Cooks said:

“My own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far, because this gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present talking to each other, but also have other things visually for both of us to see,” Cook said. “Maybe it’s something we’re talking about, maybe it’s someone else here that is not here, present, but could be made to appear to be present with us. So there’s a lot of really cool things there.”

Below is an example of web surfing with the Google Glass and the HaloLens.

As you can see, web browsing with AR has been evolving and there are hopes that we will soon have a standard for web browsing in VR and AR.

Below is a conceptual design of what someone using an augmented reality browser at a beach could look like if logged into Facebook. In a AR Meet-up, I asked a question of whether a company who is working with eye tracking and augmented reality would allow for different companies to develop their own browsers to which I received the answer “Everyone will be competing for the most dynamic and user friendly browser.” It seems that the more people who patent great UI/UX as Apple has done will be the next leaders in tech.

CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has said:

“In Five to Ten Years AR Will Be Where VR is Today”

Coding for the 3D Internet (WebVR)

Currently, Facebook has been working to develop ReactVr(a javaScript framework), which could be one of the leading coding frameworks to manipulate the web in 3D. They are also working on a browser called Carmel, which could lead to a standard of web. The future of Oculus and Facebook is very promising and exciting to think about the routes that virtual Facebook will take.

Some Possible Steps to Creating a new Standard for Web in Terms of AR/VR

1. Virtual reality check hardware must improve.

• This means that VR will have to be able to be a self-contained model that has plenty of RAM and processing speed. It will also need to have wifi-compatibility to have the necessary hardware for the applications being processed while allowing for 3d graphics do be played simultaneously in a anywhere.

2. VR Internet Browsing languages have to have a standard just as web browsing does now.

• There will be top languages used, frameworks, libraries, and compatibility with current responsive websites and virtual websites.

3. Companies will have to produce specialized Augmented Reality products and continue to evolve current technology.

• With many companies competing against one another, the AR market will continue to grow rapidly including the advancement of what this technology has to offer.
• It will also create competition between companies that produce hardware, browsers, and applications as we have seen with Android/Google Maps and Apple iPhone/IOS maps for example.

4. AR Internet Browsing languages will also have a standard

• By this time, a new Apple, Facebook, or Google may have appeared, which could take over major areas of the AR market and create an enterprise that creates trends in the new web.

VR Coding Resources bellow:

Developer Center | Oculus

Academy

Samples and Demos | Glass | Google Developers

three.js - Javascript 3D library

A-Frame - Make WebVR

From seen in the examples featured in this article, web browsing with augmented reality is very much alive with Google Glass and the HaloLens, yet there could be a major improvement in the use of 3D graphics implemented into them when browsing the Internet (a new user interface specific to augmented reality or virtual reality.

The mixture of virtual reality and augmented reality is a connection that will increase the information available on screen, and therefore allow for the use of the z-index in a flat type display and surroundings to hold more information. Ultimately, augmented reality, though currently at its very early stage, will be the next jump into the efficiency of our communication.