Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/2624
31 www.hplusmagazine.com aR second life project http://arsecondlife.gvu.gatech.edu/ games alfresco http://gamesalfresco.com/ Fanta (Virtual Tennis) http://fanta.eu/ aRToolKit http://www.hitl.washington.edu/artoolkit / Total immersion software http://www.totimm.com/ eye of Judgment http://www.eyeofjudgment.com/ project natal http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/ Vuzix wrap 920aV http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_ wrap920av.html Rainbows end by Vernor Vinge http://www.amazon.com/Rainbows-End-Vernor- Vinge/dp/0812536363 ResouRces Vuzix Wrap 920AV, recently revealed at 2009 CES in Las Vegas, engineers and maintenance technicians might be able to "look inside" machines without ever taking them apart, allowing for better analysis of complex systems and faster repair. Combined with microsensors, augmented reality could provide an intuitive way to analyze the features of systems that are not immediately obvious through visual scrutiny alone. In the further future, augmented reality instruction manuals could replace paper manuals entirely, giving the user all the information they need without even requiring them to take their eyes off the product. The most awe-inspiring visualizations and presentations of augmented reality are completely fictional. Generation x was introduced to augmented reality by shows and movies like Star Trek, Terminator, and Robocop while Generation Y often associates the technology with the "scouters" in Dragon Ball Z. In Dragon Ball Z, digital eyewear with augmented reality is used for communication, mapping, object tracking, even evaluating the strength of opponents. Augmented reality has been a staple in Japanese animation for decades, appearing in series including Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Voices of a Distant Star and Martian Successor Nadesico. Augmented reality plays a central role in the award-winning series DennÅ Coil, which the major Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun said could impact future technology in the same way that the book Snow Crash helped inspire the development of Second Life. One of the most extensive fictional portrayals of augmented reality appears in Vernor Vinge's book Rainbows End (2006). The world in the book includes a ubiquitous augmented reality that has replaced conventional screens as the primary medium for accessing the Internet and communicating with others remotely. The characters in the story use contact lenses to view augmented reality, removing them only to sleep. By combining augmented reality graphic overlays with haptic feedback and robots, the story presents a world where the line between the virtual and the real is thoroughly blurred. Numerous AR worlds are available for any user, but the most popular are built in collaborative units called "belief circles." In the novel, entire parks are used exclusively as augmented reality playgrounds. Perhaps the most exciting potential of augmented reality is that it has the ability to bring people back together after modern technologies have done so much to break us apart, spatially if not socially. Using augmented reality to surf the web and do computer work without having to remain seated in a chair could improve the public health by leaps and bounds and save hundreds of billions of dollars in health care costs. Despite the best efforts of pro-exercise government programs and kids' TV shows like LazyTown, obesity is more of a problem than ever. Thirty-two percent of the children in the United States are overweight or obese. Digital eyepiece- enabled augmented reality seems like a way we can have our cake and eat it too: benefit from the entertainment and educational abilities of computers while also experiencing the sunlight and physical activity of outdoors. Michael Anissimov is a writer and futurist in San Francisco. He writes a blog, Accelerating Future, on artificial intelligence, transhumanism, extinction risk, and other areas.