Augmented Reality

So have you heard of the book, "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez? If not, read it after you finish reading this. It is a wonderful story in so many ways.

One of the concepts in the book is augmented reality (AR), where a virtual layer is added on top of what we see normally. It is similar to the idea of a HUD in flight simulator games. A more detailed explanation from How Stuff Works is here.

- Imagine being able to do mobile search by taking a picture of a pair of shoes that someone on the street is wearing and have the information about cost and where to buy immediately layered on top of the picture of the shoe.

- Or imagine being able to know when it’s time to put milk on the grocery list by just looking at the fridge through eye glasses.

- Or imagine being able to identify a plant in nature by seeing its name on top of it and whether it is poisonous through a contact lens.

I’m somewhat iffy about sticking anything in my eye. However, the possibilities of this type of technology are tempting.

Recently we’ve taken another step in making Augmented Reality more ubiquitous. A New York Times article, “Augmented Reality Comes Closer to Reality” touched upon the subject.

The article summarized some of the advertiser opportunities for this type of technology via Google or Apple. One of the early players, Autonomy, is “hoping it can create something similar to Google’s AdWords network in which it is possible for potential advertisers to buy particular objects and have an advertisement displayed whenever that object is recognized.”

While very exciting for advertisers, I do have a word of caution.

I suffer from ad blindness, and I’m not alone. When I’m online, I know exactly where not to look to avoid looking at ads. I know exactly how to time 30 seconds to avoid the video ads before I watch something online. I also use a DVR to avoid commercials on TV. (Yes, I timeshift the way I watch TV.)

As a consumer, I see the potential of Augmented Reality as a means for providing more information about the world I experience. I see it very much as a tool for more information first.

There can be cool entertainment or gaming applications, (how about a scavenger hunt that uses AR?), but I think they are secondary.

If I’ve learned where to not look to avoid seeing ads, what happens when every object I see potentially has an ad attached to it? I would prefer to not to have to blind myself to avoid seeing ads, but I understand it is a little extreme. I could just take out the contact lenses.

But the allure of what can be is too exciting. So I kindly ask advertisers to put some reason into their campaigns while the technology is still being adopted.

I’ll promise to learn to stick something in my eye.