Following up the morning session on purely virtual worlds, Mitch Kapor (Kapor Enterprises), Mike Liebhold (Institute for the Future), Trevor Smith (Transmutable) led the discussion on augmented reality. Discussions ranged from how to make virtual worlds easier to use (3D cameras), looking at the world through our phones, and integrating the Web with virtual worlds.
Making Virtual Worlds Easier
Mitch Kapor started off the discussion on augmented reality. While he was an early investor in Second Life, that’s not the direction he wanted to discuss. His question was what it takes to get to a disruptive technology. He admitted that the discussion of how hard Second Life is to use is certainly prevalent, he was interested in what would make these things easier to use.
The answer for him, the mouse of virtual worlds, is 3D cameras. Kapor Enterprises is working on an evolution of the Web cam to add full, 3D depth. They should be hitting the market in 10-12 months. The models out now are expensive, but with Moore’s law and manufacturing commitments, the prices should hit 2D camera prices.
“The fundamental idea of using a mouse and a keyboard to navigate a 3D world stops making sense when you really think about it,” Kapor said. “We just haven’t stopped to think about it because we don’t have alternatives—except in science fiction. I’m here to say that’s going to be real in the next few years, and it will be built in to virtual worlds so intensely because it’s working so intuitively.”
Kapor Enterprises has done a Hello, World application, he said. The next step is to post on YouTube. Controls will be similar to a Segway. You lean forward to go forward, raise your arms to fly, look to the left to make your avatar look to the left, smile to smile, and gesture for controls. “There’ll be about a 30-second learning curve,” he said. “I think we’ll see an amazing jump in presence as people learn how to do this well.”
It should be easier to move, but also create objects, model, edit, and more. Look for a series of YouTube videos in the next few months showing the devices off.
The form it’ll take? Kapor held up a Macbook air and pointed to the camera. At least that’s the goal for eventual models.
The Future is on Your Phone
Liebhold followed up with a thought exercise: “Let’s pretend it’s the future. Put on our glasses and I can see all the invisible information in the room. The problem with glasses is that augmented reality blocks my view of the real world.”
He then invited everyone to look at their camera phones’ (mostly iPhones around here) viewfinders. “This is the new browser.”
In the future he predicts that we’ll see news stories, USGS data, sensor data from the hallway.
“This is a big step, but the data to date is only two dimensions,” he said. “We in the mapping community have realized we’ve been living in flatland. We’re popping up in 3D.”
The future phones will show models from CAD software for a 3D model to hang hyperlinks on.
“There’s no reason why in this real physical world we’re restricted to truth,” he said. The viewfinder could show French curtains in the Stanford lecture hall or the deck of the Starship Enterprise. But to drape a virtual world on the mirror world, phones will need better technology than simple triangulation for location-based technologies.
Unfortunately, the technology for clicking on hyperlinks through a viewfinder has already been patented.
“If anyone has an idea for prior art, I know some companies starting with ‘G’ and ‘Y’ that would love to hear about it,” Liebhold said. “In order to have a true, 3D, connected mirror world, they know we need that technology.”
Those interested in geohacking along can register at wherecampcrowdvine.com. [I think.]
Watching the Web Eat Worlds
Trevor Smith introduced the world to Tomorrow Space. (see our previous coverage)
The Web has eaten virtual worlds. It’s consumed social platforms, video, chat, and 2D worlds. 3D worlds are next, said Smith.
Based on Java, the world should be easily open to developers.
“The things people think about now about what the Web can and can’t do are pretty much wrong,” said Smith. Every niche—games, conferences, etc.—will be filled by nimble companies. “The big question is how we let that out into the world by making it open source or so cheap that it’s affordable.”
To clarify, I don't believe that client side Java is the answer. It's just what we're using until Adobe ships accelerated 3D in Flash Player.
Posted by: Trevor F. Smith | February 17, 2008 at 02:16 PM
Thanks, Trevor. Sorry for the misstep in my notes.
Posted by: Joey Seiler | February 17, 2008 at 02:36 PM
Java is a buggy, obsolete, slow, inefficient environment with a clear deficiency of development tools and the lack of 'ecosystem'.
Please flash the toilet when you are done.
Posted by: Alex | March 30, 2008 at 09:33 PM