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Tag: augmented reality

Improve Your Odds! What If That Goal Wasn’t Just a Pipe Dream Anymore?

Improve Your Odds! What If That Goal Wasn’t Just a Pipe Dream Anymore?

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daydream

looking-at-the-wall

hard

dreams-become-reality

well-done

Does the uncertainty of the future keep you from taking steps towards achieving your dreams? What if you had a tool that told you the statistical likelihood of your dreams becoming reality and gave you tips, ideas and actions you could take to improve those odds? Would it help you get started, or could it keep you motivated during frustrating moments?

Or would knowing that the odds are against you stop you from starting, leading you to fall into a funk and give up entirely? Or, alternatively, what if your goals weren’t all that noble, would it still help you anyway?

Maybe there is something to be said for uncertainty.

– H.F.G.

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What If We Could Record Those Moments Between Wakefulness and Dreaming?

What If We Could Record Those Moments Between Wakefulness and Dreaming?

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between-sleep-and-wake

adding-dreams-to-holmes

reading-the-next-day

tracking-dreams

freak

How weird is it when you realise that you’ve been reading your dreams? Apparently that moment between wakefulness and sleep is called hypnagogia. Would you want to be able to hang on to those moments so that you could explore them the next day?

Maybe the reason those moments are so exciting and strange is because they are so hard to grasp!

– H.F.G.

Would Augmented Reality Enabled Cigarettes Get You to Quit Smoking?

Would Augmented Reality Enabled Cigarettes Get You to Quit Smoking?

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There are all sorts of strategies used to convince people that smoking is bad for you, laws, advertisements and confronting cigarette packaging, but what if the cigarettes themselves were the things that finally convinced you to quit?

Picture yourself buying some ciggies (forking over an exorbitant amount in the process), pulling one out and lighting up.

Buying cigarettes and lighting one up

But there’s something different about this cigarette (and all the other ones in the pack). There’s a little device on each of them…

something is weird about the cigarette, there's a small projector on it

You might think it a bit weird but you start puffing away anyway…

taking the first puff

As you breathe take that next drag something strange happens… a projection appears before your eyes. You find yourself looking into a version of you, an older, haggard, and quite frankly, ill looking version of you. And as you continue smoking the projected version of you slowly becomes more decrepit and unwell.

smoking cigarette and seeing projection of face

You get to the end of your cigarette and your projected ‘future’ self does something really disturbing… it dies.

You stub it out.

stubbing out cigarette

And find yourself feeling a little strange, unsettled, disturbed even. Is that what you really want for your future?

reflecting on life

What do you think? Would cigarettes that project your potential future health back at you make you want to quit smoking, or is the constant nagging of your special someone enough to make you pack it in?

– H.F.G.

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Can I Get Some Privacy? Here’s One Way We Might Protect Our Identities in the Future

Can I Get Some Privacy? Here’s One Way We Might Protect Our Identities in the Future

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taking a photo on the phone

Cameras are everywhere. They’ve got a home on both sides of our smart phones, they peer down on us silently from storefronts, ‘protecting’ buildings and the people in them, and sometimes we even wear cameras, strapping them onto our bodies to record our activities and experiences. Yes, we’ve adopted cameras in many shapes and forms wholeheartedly, we are the compliant subject of their gaze and we share what they see with everyone we know… and those who we don’t. We make every embarrassing drunk selfie, stupid prank video and ‘private’ confession public property online.

This is the way things are now, but imagine a future where the majority of the population does not want their every move caught on camera.

Lots of cameras and someone being upset by them

How might people go about protecting their public identity from the pervasive camera? Enter the ‘e-skin’…

The University of Tokyo has developed a method for creating ultra-light electronic ‘skin’ that conforms to the wearer’s body in comfortable and subtle manner. Could this imperceptible wearable technology be the future of public identity protection?

Imagine being able to obscure defining facial features in photos and recordings without even having to think about it. Being able to choose whether or not you would like to be featured in a cute video or photo without all the awkward interactions that come with denying someone their ‘right to record’. All those famous faces wouldn’t have to fight with those pesky paparazzi anymore, just pop some of that e-skin on your face and know that when a lens is detected, your face is protected!

Protected identity when getting photographed by paparazzi

Our culture is one that currently enjoys publicly shaming those who have engaged in stupid or unpleasant behaviour, but imagine if you could save yourself the embarrassment of being the public face of a sloppy night out. It would be a world where you could truly let your hair down! Not to mention that you wouldn’t have to suffer those random fools who decide to photobomb your cute couple snaps and adorable tourist moments.

Drunkies at a party, two with their faces obscured by the device

And best of all, all those times you’ve ended up awkward third wheel in those party pics would finally be over! You’d never find yourself cringing over those tagged photos on Facebook again. What a dream world!

The third wheel at a party with their identity protected

So, e-skin could be the antidote to all those horrible moments when you really don’t want to be on camera, or, it could enable a whole new wave of criminality… hold tight, time will tell.

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Augmented Reality and The Future of Fashion

Augmented Reality and The Future of Fashion

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Imagine being able to completely change your look on the go without actually having to change your clothes. With augmented reality fashion, people would be able to alter the appearance of their outfits without the need for an enormous wardrobe! AR technology and fashion have already met and produced some interesting results; from AR fashion shows to holographic nails we’re starting to see the potential of AR fashion.

AR could revolutionary! Pop on your tracksuit; you’ll want it to be comfy for this one…

Wearing a blue tracksuit

Imagine putting on your AR glasses (or contacts) and looking out onto a world full of people wearing fashion that has been specifically tailored for them.

Wearing pink augmented reality glasses

AR glasses on next to AR glasses off

AR fashion has the potential to disrupt the fashion industry. With basic garments serving as the canvas for interactive and responsive virtual fashions there would be no need for mass production of fast fashion items. Nor would there be the associated textile waste, all anyone would need to buy would be the basics. Not to mention that there would be less pressure to buy into trends. People could simply imagine their dream outfits and create them quickly on their own!

Looking through the lenses of augmented reality glasses

AR could lead to a world full of inclusive fashion that can change trends in the blink of an eye without the environmental cost of our current fast-fash culture. Or it could just lead you to a crippling decision-making nightmare. How are you meant to choose what to wear when the options truly are endless?

What would your custom AR outfit look like?

– H.F.G.

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