Twelfth lecture
For this last lecture, I will imagine three applications that would be most downloaded in a world where smartphone and MR HMD would be equally sold.
Context
To my mind, such a world inherit hypothesis of how things will be. First of all, I don’t think people would wear heavy headset like the current oculus for instance. However, we can imagine glasses.
I think that because, to my mind, the purpose would be to improve current habits or uses. Of course MR will create new opportunities. I still do think that new evolution will stay on communication and games, like today.
First killer app, a game of course !
The most downloaded games on phone are very simple, and often addictive ! Imagine one you can play almost all day while you keep living ? You can walk in the street and have a small part of your attention on this game. This is actually what more and more people do now, they send a message and all in the street. But most time you look like a zombie doing so ! It could be a simple platformer game you can play by moving your head for instance. That way you keep seeing the world around you. Such a game might be a killer app as it will entertain and keep you safe !
Second : a social network in MR ?
In the same field, sending a message without speaking or texting with your hands seem to me a great evolution. You are stuck in the transports, you don’t want to take your phone because you simply don’t have enough room, your glasses work by themselves. You would be able to film you reaction or the world around you without any complex intervention. With the current need to share a life, it would be simple and efficient I think.
It could work with a glove that takes small movements of your fingers in your pocket, or with movements of the eyes. It would be like what Stephen Hawking used to do. Of course, it could have to be efficient, to stay discrete (image the scene in the street otherwise), and to enable you to keep seeing your world.
Here is a technology of laser in the eye that could be used for such application.
Something new ?
It is hard to imagine something that still does not exist, however we can imagine an application of something useful that our technology simply does not enable yet.
Something I am thinking about is a modification of the reality. Movies like Ready Player One are like ‘ok our world is not great, let’s live somewhere else’. What if the solution was more : let’s change the perception we have of it ! Indeed, you love minecraft and want to live an a 64*64 cube world, our only with steampunk textures : AR could alter the reality. Indeed, it could in real time change the textures of walls, ground and object, thanks to object recognition and most particularly AI. Actually, such algorithms already exist and give amazing performances on pictures. For instance, any photo can be made with a Van Gogh style easily and with great accuracy. At different levels, small modification of your daily life reality could be very fun as an app and make your day in public transport much more fun !