Progess in AN and ANW

At the moment there's a perception amongst some people that theAR ANW is going to be a gimmick. The same potential risk existed with the first internet. Back then few but the visionaries and early adopters could see the potential of an interconnected world wide computer network but even they couldn't dream of what it would become a decade after the internet boom hit the public consciousness.

The ANW requires a shift in thinking and many do not have the imagination to take that leap. The big brands like Microsoft and Qualcomm are out buying all the imagination they can, and in Qualcomm's case they've actually bought an Austria R&D company called Imagination, because creativity doesn't grow in these levianth organisations. They will take the ideas from the true innovators and mass produce them, and that's how the ANW will succeed. Most modern smartphones are already equipped with the basic featureset for AR applications and by the end of the year more products will meet the requirements for the ANW.

The big companies have already seen the potential for AR applications and they're starting to hear about AN and the ANW. Microsoft is poaching Oxford AR researchers, Google's beta-testing basic AR software and Apple have patented an AR headset. Each one is looking to get their hands on the expertise, patents and market share. Its basic business sense:
they're looking for the cash cow of their future and its AR.

The real innovation is happening elsewhere. Leading the pack is QderoPateo. They're introducing a range of smartphones designed to make the reality of the Articulated Naturality Web happen today. Its being launched with a series of signature applications, a new chip and new AN software at the Shanghai Technology Expo 2010.

What do people think of AR?

I spoke about augmented reality and Articulated Naturality to a friend of mine who works at a major gaming company. He said "All the AR stuff is very interesting - very curious to see how it
evolves... It's all a bit niche so far but I can see how there could be some really useful and fun applications."

Its a good summary of the general attitude to AR outside the fanboy culture.

Those in the industry can see the possibilities and some people can see the potential but perhaps a generation burned by the dotcom boom and bust are more cynical about new technology.

To the uninformed public consciousness augmented reality is an iceberg with a tiny tip they can see. The huge mass of research and specialised product development that's been going on for the last 30 years and has accelerated in the last decade as the realisation of virtual continuum
consumer technology quickened represents the unseen mass. Those who can see the whole iceberg can see a positive collision with the Titanic that will create a wealth of "really useful and fun applications."

The state of play today is "a bit niche" for the majority of AR applications and most of the world outside the US. For many reasons they've been the earliest mass-adopters of AR technology. The UK is far behind as it was with the dotcom revolution which is why my friend's
view may be different from a Californian's.

The development of the Articulated Naturality Web

The Articulated Naturality Web (ANW) is slowly coming into existance however its only a tiny percentage of the population that have experienced the potential of location-relevant online information let alone the extraordinary new experience of a virtual world of information
overlaid on real. The speed of uptake of the ANW will be moderatedby the speed at which useful applications are developed, the speed with which the necessary hardware becomes pervasive (and usually cheap) and the unpredictable development of a "killer application" that will take
the market by storm. Like any technological revolution it requires advances in a wide range of engineering, from software to hardware through to manufacturing technology and intelligent algorithms capable of applying the new data usefully.

The certainty of uptake, in my opinion, is without doubt. Its inexorable.

The pieces to the Articulated Naturality (AN) revolution are already in place. Smartphones will continue to improve on the basic features required for augmented reality and they will soon have the specification for accessing the ANW. AN will mean users will be closer to the information they want, when they want it and that's a strong selling point for people living in a the modern, information-empowered environment. AR navigation is a simple, useful way to get around though it will take a change in user behaviour to see people walking around viewing the world through their phone. Its likely that an audio-AR browser such as Toozla will be successful with people who prefer to be discrete or are sensitive to the risk of theft. The browser wars are really hotting up in early 2010. Layar is the most popular and is now preinstalled on Samsung's latest smartphone and other Android devices. Sites like Wikitude are offering geotagging to the mass market. Consumer digital cameras have GPS built in. The modern smartphone is capable of basic AR.

Its an exciting time for early adopters. Its an exciting time for businesses ready to access the new medium of AR and ANW marketing. Entertainment and social venues are likely to benefit from the potential of proximity-based electronic marketing. Magazines like Esquire have
already produced AR editions. New AR games are being released and it won't belong before the market sees releases from major games manufacturers. Slowly the industry behind AR and eventually behind the ANW will grow and the AN-capable phones will become the next must-have consumer gadget.

There is no immediate threat to the new augmented reality market and ANW other than a totally unheard of technology being developed that rapidly achieves the benefits and uptake. The consumer consciousness is fickle as always looks for the next fad and its likely that this factor may divert its attention away from the new ANW however it is merely a blank canvas for the architects and artists to create exciting and innovative ways to apply the potential of the invisible information world to every day life.

Does the ANW mean the death of the business card?

A business card represents the brand and provides basic information about the business. The cards are an expression of individuality as much as a way to create leads to new business.

Last year saw a lot of hype around a marker-based AR business card which when viewed with a smartphone brings up business details, runs an 3D animation and offers new opportunities to add content from social network platforms.

http://jamesalliban.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/ironic-business-card-becomes-accidental-viral/

But in the Articulated Naturality Web the need for a physical representation of contact details disappears. Two people meeting can swap virtual business cards. This is already possible with Bluetooth on many phones so no real revolution. The ANW will make it easier by the user simply being able to hold up their phone and click on an icon above the users head either on the touchscreen or hand gestures. A physical business card becomes a superfluous throwback and one that doesn't integrate with electronic systems without an OCR program to make the
data electronic.

There are still many possibilities for the virtual business card in the ANW. The brand identity can be communicated through the icon with animations and virtual art, with demure subtly or vibrant creativity depending on the desired image.

Negative applications of AR and AN: Warfare

The military are usually leaders in applying advanced technology from the jet engine to the internet right through to the modern day and 3D printers. Killing people is now a fine art from thanks to the electronic age but its also helped reduce civilian casualties through smart munitions. It was the Heads Up Display (HUD) pioneered in military aircraft in the mid-20th century that was a very early practical implementation of AR.

Augmented reality is a technology that comes at a time when technology is empowering the world superpowers' ability to wage wars. Information is the new gunpowder. Radar provides early warning but stealth technologies make the weapons of war invisible. Precision weapons allow targeting of important installations with a handful of munitions instead of a sending hundreds of bombers as in WWII and assists the media war with images of bombs destroying military targets without harming civilians. Remote controlled reconnasiance drones provide real-time video and complement high resolution satellite imagery that can see through cloud. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is the latest toy and could mean the end of the human bomber pilot.

The possibility for Soldier 2.0 upgraded with overlay of information upon their senses is a clear opportunity for the application of AR and AN technology. The other arms of the military will benefit from improved targeting and navigation but its the army that will benefit the most. War is ultimately about conquest of land and this means troops on the ground. No technological solution in our lifetimes is going to change that paradigm as its changing on the sea, in the air and in space to teleoperated robots that developed from Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile research.

The foot soldier has always faced the harshest conditions with the greatest risk to life. UN peacekeepers have it worse because they are often under orders not to return fire unless absolutely necessary. The potential for information generated by micro-reconnassance drones is
already being explored. Robocop-esque visual interfaces and headmounted devices are offer potential for the ordinary troops and specialists to be safer with lookahead-type vision, automated threat recognition and display, intuitive GPS interface, knowledge of friend or foe idenitfication, visualisation of machinegun fire spread, troop orders visually displayed, comrade camera view and a multitude of other lifeprotecting advantages.

The advantage of informatiuon is too much for the human brain much like the data from the senses is too much for the conscious mind. The brain has an important part where sense information is preprocessed and vast amounts removed to allow the realtime processing of the real world and application of conscious decisions to respond to stimuli. The preprocessing function reduces sensory saturation and overload and is a vital part of any augmentation of human sensory systems with digital information. Presenting the right information in the right way at the right time will be the advances in military technology that provide the
true leap for military and civilian applications.

The huge military funding budgets and the resulting research that permeates into the commerical world will inject leaps of technology and reductions in price that would otherwise be decades away as has happened with so much of the technological revolution seen in the 20th century as much as centuries before. It is perhaps better this way rather than as in Alfred Nobel's case where research aimed at bettering mining science ended up with making the bomb better and wracked by the guilt of the misuse of TNT he started the Nobel Prize. The advantage of AR and AN has undoubtably already benefited from the military and it a technology that
has clear benefits for their purposes so it is an inevitability, though not one I can say I'm happy with.

an insight into what an AN first person shooter game might be like

http://www.visbox.com/caveQuake/
This is actually a VR game but it shows the simplicity with which AN technologies could be realised in the Quake-type game.

Its just an example of what's to come. The mobile phone of the future becomes the new games platform. Modern smartphones have the GPS sensors required for basic location data and as new systems increase the accuracy the opportunity for new FPS AN games is obvious.

The small phone screen is a poor interface for gaming compared to a VR or AN headset. Sadly the commerical AN headset is a way off in the future with consumer demands of size, looks and price being major obstacles.

An early useful AR app

https://www.prioritymail.com/simulator.asp

From UPS. Its not sexy or cool but its a useful, successful early implementation marker-based augmented reality.