Augmented Reality and the Future of Social Interactiona

Jessica Lamb, a student at Georgetown University pursuing a Master’s degree in Communication, Culture & Technology asks:

If we are more easily able to find information about things and people around us — how do you think that might change the way we interact with people when we rely more and more on computers to deliver information we used to rely on people for?

Do you think that easier access to information will help or hinder meaningful social interactions? Will it create a bigger gap between people who can leverage virtual communications to widen their social network and those who are more reclusive? Do you think AR is more likely to expand or shrink the majority of people’s social networks?

Like many other technologies, scifi grade augmented reality can have both a positive and negative effect on one’s social life. Reclusive people will find the loss of anonymity a real threat, making them even more reclusive. On the other hand, friendly people will find more people to befriended with, and common interests with strangers.
Some will think of AR as a wonderful technology that transfers all the advantages of cyberspace to the real world, and for others, it will bring the dangers.

And yet, Jessica (and yours truly) are interested in your opinion on the subject. Be a science fiction author for a day and share your thoughts in the comments.

Future of Social Networking and Games

As you may have noticed, I took some days off blogging. Can’t get myself to blog about yet another AR browser (YAARB™) or some run of the mill augmented reality campaign.

However, futuristic concepts still excite me. Check out Matthew Buckland’s latest post. With the help of designer Philip Langley, Buckland has conjured a series of illustrations giving us a peak into social network turbo-charged with augmented reality. Below is one such illustration, showing you what’s going on in the neighborhood.

Can be quite useful when looking for a new home. You can find the other illustrations (and this one in far higher resolution) here.

Another interesting concept that popped today is PlayboxAR, which is a glimpse to what can become the future of augmented reality games:

This is actually a new video of a rather old concept by one Soho Marky.

The disparity between these concepts and reality reminds us that we are still at the very beginning of a long road. Maybe AR is hot right now, but in the future it’s going to be fabulous.

(via @abc3d and The Future Digital Life)

TAT Augmented ID is Beautiful/Creepy

One of the oldest concepts in the mobile AR community is using augmented reality to match a person with his/her identity. The Swedish software and design company TAT just unveiled their own take on this “augmented id” with the aptly named Augmented ID. Using face recognition and tracking technology from Polar Rose, TAT enables you to check up one’s web identity by looking at him through your mobile’s camera, as the following concept shows:

It’s very pretty, but just be sure that before pointing your mobile at some beautiful girl on the street, you could out-run her boyfriend. (via engadget)