Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Things to never do...

For my friend who doubted me about this segment of AR... 


Never bet against Warren Buffett

Never bet against the Fed (although there will be one time... )

Never bet against a better delivery method for porn 

In the early 1980's when video rentals became popular there was a "format war." The big players were VHS and Betamax.. 

Betamax was clearly a superior technology, but it lost the war. Turns out that the porn that was available to rent was almost exclusively on VHS.

Fast forward to the early 2000's, there were two formats for High Definition video disks Blu-ray and HD-DVD. To figure out which one to purchase, I asked one question at several retail establishments to figure out which one to purchase: "which one has the most porn made for it." The answer was BluRay, and BluRay won the day.

I'm not a porn promoter, and it's not why I'm interested in AR, but a lot of people will be... Never Bet against it.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Hololens, improvement in a basic trade

The applications are endless, and it can make all of us better at what we want to do.

This may trigger a huge new interest in trades. 



FastCompany


Fologram Talks: Holographic Brickwork from Fologram on Vimeo.

Laying a brick wall–a normal, straight one–is fairly easy and inexpensive. But building complex shapes using bricks is extremely difficult, since it requires an extraordinarily minute level of control and consistency. Only very experienced construction crews can realize them, at a prohibitively expensive and time-intensive price. That’s one reason most architects resist the temptation of going all Antoni Gaudí in their work.

This AR software is changing that. As ArchDaily reports, software developer Fologram has created a way for builders to quickly replicate complex, organic designs in brick–with the help of an augmented reality headset.

A True Rival to Apple's Face ID

As I read this, it reminds me a lot of how a smart home was described in a Microvision conference call...

As predicted.... watch the developers.

Tom's Guide - Google making a true rival to Apple Face ID

There’s also an option for multiple profiles, so several users could be detected by a single device and get their own personalized searches and recommendations, once they’d set themselves up on the device, if Google’s existing Voice Match technology is anything to go by.
On a similar note, code divers examining Android Q, the successor to Android Pie that’s currently released to developers on a limited basis, found code relating to scanning faces. (XDA, via Engadget).
Much like Apple’s FaceID, this would give Android devices the ability to use face recognition for multiple security uses, like unlocking the phone, or authorizing purchases via apps.

The presence of relevant code in the Google app also means this will apply to smart home technology as well, whether you’re using a phone or a smart hub with a camera as your control method. We should know more come Google I/O 2019, which kicks off May 7.

Monday, January 28, 2019

Various smart items...

A projected display would be desirable anywhere here....

It doesn't really matter if you think that we wouldn't want these particular devices; there is an enormous amount of effort going into figuring out how to use smart devices -- remember the iPad and the smart speaker all were thought to be unimpressive when they first appeared. (Now they're the pioneers in entirely new device categories.)

And clearly a projected image here...

Home Devices that look like home Decor - Gadget Flow Blog





Sunday, January 27, 2019

VR used for training is saving lives and money.

It's been a ridiculously busy couple of weeks....

It looks like Hololens will get an announcement at MWC. 

...and Hololens... Augmented reality is going to be much more useful than VR, will make training better, and improve human performance in obvious and measurable ways. 

I think it will take people out of their phones and put them back with each other -- and make them better at doing actual things.

It will also have unintended negative consequences -- and positive outcome.

thx Joe.

(Things should be fairly calm around here for a couple of weeks.)

Fast forward to about 4:00 for good stuff about Hololens, but the whole video is worth your time.




Virtual reality training by companies like Microsoft is saving lives, millions of dollars, and ensuring the future of mixed reality from CNBC.


CNBC -- Use of AR & VR for industry and business

Now, VR is widely used to train employees at major companies like Walmart and Chevron. At Tyson Foods, VR safety training reduced injuries and illnesses by 20 percent.


It's also saving these companies millions of dollars, and bringing profits back to creators of VR headsets and software.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Hololens cheaper and lighter and...

Go find any other instance of depth sensing within an image generation optical system.

MVIS's system is that.


I believe this is very powerful evidence MVIS is inside....

...and the evidence suggests that Hololens functionality will be included in everyone's Windows 10 installation in April or so.


Techradar

As the patent explains: “The disclosed optical system thus eliminates the need for both a dedicated image-generation optical system and a dedicated terrain-mapping optical system within a device that requires these dual functionalities…the disclosed optical system represents a substantial advance toward producing compact and lightweight NED devices.”

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

LiDAR for Border Security?

Maybe a border security system that recognizes who is crossing the border?


France24.com

The same technology used in self-driving cars is being touted as a potential high-tech solution to the US border wall conundrum -- with some added benefits.

At least one startup at the Consumer Electronics show is showcasing how Lidar, a laser-based detection system widely used in autonomous vehicles, could be deployed along the US-Mexico border at a far lower cost than a physical wall or fence, and with fewer environmental impacts.

Quanergy Systems, among a handful of tech firms working on Lidar border security, is showing to CES attendees its technology being deployed in pilot projects on the India-Pakistan frontier as well as a small section of the southern US border.

"We offer a solution that is more capable than a physical wall," said Louay Eldada, chief executive and co-founder of the Silicon Valley startup.

"It can see day and night in any weather and can automatically track intruders, and give the GPS coordinates in real time to patrol officers."

Eldada said such a system would cost "about two to three percent" of the price of a physical barrier for the entire US-Mexico border.

Economist biggest stories of the year

Good find by Ben
AR up first.

Monday, January 7, 2019

Hololens and Bricks and Mortar

Retail is struggling. But a lot of people miss it. Mixing the two could create some interesting and profitable efficiencies.



WinBuzzer

Microsoft has shown it is not quite ready to give up on the physical shopping experience just yet. For example, last year we discussed the company’s efforts to compete with Amazon Go. Microsoft is reportedly working on bringing an automated shopping experience to bricks and mortar locations.
As the company pushes more into retail, it could be Mixed Reality that changes the physical shopping experience. Of course, Microsoft has done more than most to develop Mixed Reality and make it viable in real-world scenarios.
A recent Microsoft Patent shows a method for placing shopping buttons within a virtual reality render. As you may know, Mixed Reality blends the virtual with the real, so this shopping button would interact with real world environments and objects.
"“Disclosed is a system and method for mixed reality that includes a holographic button (eg, a 3D object) that can be downloaded from a provider’s website. The holographic button allows a user in the mixed reality world to order the article by interacting with the holographic button. The user in the mixed reality world can place the holographic button near a relevant real object. Whenever the user interacts with the real object through its mixed reality (ie virtual interaction with the real object), the holographic button may appear so that the user can order the element associated with the holographic button.”"

Friday, January 4, 2019

Hololens Support DLLs

I'll give my best shot at explaining DLLs. (Dynamic Link Libraries) (I have just enough programming knowledge to be dangerous.)

There's a lot of functionality built into MS Windows. That functionality in terms of software are lists of instructions.

While being used, they're in the working memory of the computer (not on the hard drive). If your computer had to have all of it loaded into memory all the time, your computer's memory would be cluttered with a bunch of stuff it doesn't need. (For example, instructions to print on all the printers you don't have, as well as the one you do.)

So, Microsoft created Dynamic Link Libraries, so only the things that you're actually going to use are stored in memory - helps things run smoothly. If the programmer is good, they'll be put away when the computer is done using them, to keep things running smoothly.

Quora

Wikipedia

Developers get access to new DLLs before everyone else. They have to be able to develop software and find bugs in the new build of Windows before everyone gets it. When windows updates, they sometimes load new functions into your version of the software.

That background in necessary to understand this: The DLLs to drive Hololens 2 will be in the next build of Microsoft Windows 10.

The developers already have this, (that's how they found it) So, this will be equipping everyone who uses Windows 10 to use Hololens, sometime this spring.

I'm pretty confident that Hololens is going to make a huge splash, and that MVIS is in the display.


DLLS

Windows Report
WalkingCat posted what he has spotted in HologramCompositor.dlls on his Twitter page. There WalkingCat states: “Now this in HologramCompositor.dll in 19H1: Output: Dummy, Output: Indirect, Output: Hololens and Output: Sydney.” Thus, that DLL contains a reference to Sydney, which is reputedly the codename for the upcoming HoloLens 2.
Microsoft HoloLens 2 is slated for release in April 2019. So that might mean Windows 10 build version 1903 will support HoloLens 2 after Microsoft rolls out the 19H1 update. The Windows 10 19H1 Update will roll out sometime in spring 2019. April is the usual starting month for Microsoft’s springtime build updates.

WalkingCat