Playbox AR game test
There’s a push to bring augmented reality projects to smartphones.
AR is a natural here, since it combines geographic data with the gear’s integral capabilities–hi-res LCD or OLED screens, GPS tracking, and tilt detectors–overlaying interactive graphics over your phone’s screen. You might see a wireframe overlaying data about, for example, the history of the building you are looking at in Lower Manhattan.
To get a sense of some of the other attractions of AR–the fictive potential–check out this promo for a proposed AR game to get a simple example (but don’t try this on crowded NYC streets, please). If you expect to be involved in digital media production in some form or another over the next decade or so, I’d recommend getting up to speed on AR. Just walk down a city street to see its precedents, the multiplying many who live via their smartphones in public, if you don’t get run over by someone already in an alternate reality.
Any device or technology that can tap into this and takes it to the next level could turn into a media production market. Anyway, we’re late on this, as it isn’t news to cellphone customers in Asia and parts of Europe, who already use AR apps.
If you want a sense of all the commotion, excitement, and rapid developments in this area, you might want to visit the Future Digital Life site. Written by Thomas Carpenter, a blogger and science fiction author (he also calls himself a proud employee of Toyota for 14 years) his site highlights issues of real interest, not just the bling. Worth checking out.
