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Martin, a robotics researcher friend of mine, showed me this video at the weekend:
Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.
It certainly got us talking about where augmented reality may be headed, particularly for advertising. While the video is perhaps a little over exaggerated, the technology is rapidly getting there. Take, for example, the new augmented-reality mapping from Microsoft:
Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are gaining credibility as a buzzword in the interweb playground right now and there’s a new kid in class.
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MS Photosynth is an app or a Firefox plugin (and yes – this is a Microsoft product!) that connects to geo-coded photo sites like Flickr and enables you to browse through similar pictures in 3D. The tech preview is visually very impressive but I’ve not yet seen a real-life demo so the verdict is still open. The video of the demo does look good though.
In my mind, this represents an interesting step forward in the cross-overs between web 2.0 apps and 3d browsing. It also raises interesting questions about where Microsoft might be headed in the 3d browsing space (aka “3pointD”). Particularly considering the rumours around Google’s developments in this field – where Google Earth and SketchUp could be brought together to create a “Google Planet” – a virtual-real-world Second Life, if you will. As has been suggested – maybe, in the not-to-distant future, “every Google Account [will] include a plot of land on Google Planet?”
In relation to my previous post, I’ve just found an article from the man that started whole Web 2.0 buzz – he’s saying much the same as me. Only better.
In the wake of Bill Gate’s media spin last week, Microsoft announces a “strategic shift”. The new services will be called Windows Live and Office Live, and Mr Gates said they were “a revolution in how we think about software”.
Hmm. Forgive me but haven’t we all been using applications “online and on demand” for a while now? To unashamedly use a meme that’s been bashed about for the last year or so – it’s all about this “Web 2.0” stuff, innit?
Web services like Flickr, Writely, inetWord and even MSExchange all offer feature rich applications as “online and on demand” software. And with broadband use becoming increasingly prolific, the thin-client model is now a feasible direction for certain applications. I can see that embedded advertising within these applications is a way to make money – particularly for the likes of Microsoft. But I guarantee the developer community will quickly find a way to outrun the displaying of these embedded adverts.
Either way – is this the beginning of the end for CD installed software? Maybe one day even our operating systems will be online…