Damin Sahni

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There are many out there including renowned people like Mark Zuckerburg who believe virtual reality will be the next major computing platform. We all know where we want virtual to eventually get – to create the feeling of real presence. By analyzing the Oculus rift (the most advanced virtual reality technology we have today) we will briefly look at where virtual reality is today and more importantly focus on what is expected in the coming years.

Genesis

There are full feature headsets like the rift and mobile headsets like the Gear VR. The mobile headsets mostly work with apps and their capabilities are limited. The full feature headsets are more advanced and provide a far more enriched experience. Notably video games have reaped the most benefits from full feature virtual reality technology, though the illusion remains incomplete because not all senses and natural human interactions are catered for. You can see and hear but not feel, experience, touch, smell or interact with.

So whats next?

People First

A key element that is missing in VR is the ability to interact with real people within the virtual space. Oculus rift in collaboration with Facebook addressed this very issue during the Oculus Rift connect 3 keynote. During the live demo Mark Zuckerberg illustrated interacting with the live avatars of his friends, playing games or watching videos together and going to places together or even checking up on things in their own homes or offices together. They also merging reality with the virtual world by picking up a video call from the real world in the virtual world and taking a selfie in the virtual world and posting it on Facebook in the real world. Even though this is the tip of the iceberg, this further grey’s the lines between what’s real and what’s virtual. How amazing would it to chat with your friends in the virtual world and being able to see their facial or body expressions and do things together in this other world where you can bring in any kind of experience that you want?

It doesn’t stop there, there are plans for mixed reality which is coined augmented reality. You will be in control of every pixel in the scene and anything could be virtual or real. Virtual work spaces with virtual people is among the many possibilities of this sort of idea.

Revolution

Not only that, we have all heard about The MOOC Revolution that Wasn’t. With over 8 million students that enrolled in online courses of which only half of those who signed up watched even one lecture and only 4% actually stayed long enough to complete the course, MOOC’s failed to disrupt higher education. The Rift promises to dedicate an entire section of the Oculus store entirely to educational content and has dedicated 10M into an educational fund to support developers creating educational content for VR. Could this revolutionize higher education as we were promised many years ago?

References:

https://www.facebook.com/oculusvr/videos/886145024820346/

https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/11/the-mooc-revolution-that-wasnt/

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As we dive deeper into a world of over 50 billion connected devices (Gartner 2015) we as creators are faced with several choices. The challenges and opportunities this vast technological change will bring is unprecedented in history. Some call it the 4th Industrial Revolution for a good reason. In recent years, we have all heard the buzz around the Internet of Things; connecting everyday objects to the network which enables them to collect and share data. Examples from the failure of the Google Glass to the successful launch of the Apple Watch 2 to Amazon Echo and Nest are well known. What does this mean in reality? Let us take two existing examples to illustrate some of the benefits and more importantly the issues brought about by the IoT:

The Snap Spectacles are designed to be fun and capture short form video content on the move to share with your friends and community. This friction-less life sharing device however raises the age old question of privacy and security that shut down the Google Glass. There is an indicator light that signals bystanders that they are being filmed. Privacy seems to be an ongoing concern in nearly every new tech start-up and as we move into an extremely connected age privacy by design could become a key selling point of innovative technologies. An example of this is Apple refusing to create a back door software into the iPhone for the FBI which leaves everyone vulnerable. Apple’s strong privacy and security policies continue to be a key factor in its success.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqkOFLBSJR8&feature=youtu.be
The Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 sometimes coined the ‘flying car of footwear’ becomes alive by shaping itself to your foot and autolacing. With the athlete and design in mind the HyperAdapt is at the beginning stage of a line of similar everyday products that weren’t previously embedded with technology to be embedded with technology even if they are not connect to the internet at first. Needless to say, the HyperAdapt is destined to join the IoT class to change and adapt and become more useful not only for performance but also data oriented results.

These two diverse examples have at least one underlying concern: privacy of big data. Data obtained from connected devices is high in quality, quantity and sensitivity and thus should be regarded as personal data. To be successful companies will need to consider data anonymization, security and encryption (as demonstrated by the recent Nest Thermostat data breach), be transparent about what data is collected and the purpose of collection.

Sources:

Snapchat’s Wild New Specs Won’t Share Google Glass’s Fate

The Secret Lab Where Nike Invented the Power-Lacing Shoe of Our Dreams

Don’t trust the Internet of Things: when smart devices leak data

Oculus / Conn3ct

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My Other Computer Is Your Computer

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