Recently two concept designs illustrating the use of augmented reality in order to enhance the plain old tv set, had come to my attention.
The first is a prototype from KDDI lab, presented at the NAB 2010 conference a couple of months ago. I couldn’t dig much information about it (here is some), though it seems to have the goal of personalizing advertisements in mind.
The other design is no where near reaching a prototype stage. Called the Meta-Mirror and imagined by Irish design studio Notion, it has less commercial agenda than the one by KDDI. It really strives to improve television. And with all the reality-tv shows out there, maybe augmented reality is the best way to do so. See more images of Meta-Mirror on Yanko Design.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Futuristic Visions, KDDI |
Games Alfresco 
Thing is…doesn’t this just raise the question; why not have a dongle you plug into your tv (between the Ariel/cable and the set) that adds the extra information straight onto the screen?
I can, however, see simple QR codes being usefull in broadcasts right now though for giving the viewer direct links they can use on their phone.
Also, I am a little depressed about all these iPad concepts. Isn’t there any tablet pc’s actualy with cameras?
It seems that the push for interactive TV is going to look like a link tag bubble on a YouTube video. Kinda reminds me of the “media broadcasts” for Paul Verhoven’s “Starship Troopers” where we’re always being asked “Would you like to know more?”