Augmented Reality  

Microsoft's Hololens has been in the hands of developers for four months now, and already some impressive demonstrations of the augmented reality headset's potential have been shown off. 

Microsoft's HoloLens is one of the upcoming headset devices that promises an exciting future of augmented and mixed reality. The headset displays 3D "holograms" right before a user's eyes, which you they interact with by reaching out and touching them as if they're actually in front of their own face. HoloLens has been in developers hands for a while now, and the platform is consolidating and expanding this activity.

With more developers and designers getting their hands on the technology, HoloLens demonstrations are starting to show off the technology. Soon, along with HoloLens, Google's Magic Leap and Meta will be showing off near-to-release candidates of their augmented reality headsets.

Microsoft has created an page to show off some of the early HoloLens apps, like Skype for HoloLens; HoloStudio, where users can create their own holograms and even send them to a 3D printer; Actiongram, that combines holograms with storytelling; HoloTour, which lets users tour Rome or Machu Picchu virtually; and games like RoboRaid and Young Conker.

So far the demonstrations for all of the systems  have been impressive, if limited.

What may be the most transformative effect with technologies like Hololens in the future may be the way we use computers in general. Currently most work applications have a user sitting in front of one or two monitors, typing on a keyboard and using a mouse. Headset mounted wearables like Hololens effectively allow a user to put as many displays as they like anywhere in their environment. 

Such displays can be can be any size and adjustable. Moreover, like a smartphone, they can follow you wherever you are.

One thing that the HoloLens videos below do not really demonstrate is the immersive quality of the experience. While some early users like James Mackie say the experience with the headset is incredible for the clarity of the display and tangibility of the holograms, others point out that the field of view is not as wide as they might have expected.

Another part a YouTube video doesn't capture is the audio experience a user has while wearing the device. HoloLens' spatial sound works through two speakers that are positioned just above the user's ears. Games and apps use this to make sounds seem to come from specific locations, even behind the user. It sounds like you’re wearing headphones, but you’re not.

The HoloLens optical system is made of see-through holographic lenses that use an optical projection system to beam holograms into your eyes.

These bright and immersive holograms are projected and bounced around as particles of light (photons) through the waveguides and into your eyes. "I’ve used the HoloLens three times now, and I’m convinced this latest version has sharper text rendering," writes Tom Warren from The Verge, "the combination of hardware and software tweaks have definitely made holograms crisper."

Gaming could be a huge application for the technology, as the demo using Minecraft shows. Competing upcoming VR technology like Oculus Rift fully immerses a user, while HoloLens augments the actual physical environment.

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In one interesting demo, shown below, Alex Kipman, the technical lead on Microsoft's HoloLens project shows an app that maps his office and presents augmented reality as a Matrix-style world. Kipman, a Microsoft veteran, was the brains behind Microsoft's Kinect system, and the HoloLens essentially incorporates the sensor into the head-mounted display instead of being a separate system over your television.

The really curious part of the demo though is the device's integration with Cortana. Using Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant, Kipman is able to control the recording he makes and control other elements of the experience.

"Software is the only art form in existence that is not bound by the confines of physics," Kipman told Fast Company when asked about his inspirations a few years ago. "You are only ever bound and constrained by lack of imagination."

Mackie predicts that, "In the next 5 years we will not be using mobile phones, as we know. We will instead wear AR glasses / soft cell contacts / similar (holographic) and have a stream of texts, emails (in whatever form), applications and real-time holographic interactions instead of phone calls."

I looks like that experience with technology is about to soon be more widely available in the form of HoloLens and other augmented reality headset technology. Moreover, Magic Leap, Meta and HoloLens are still early generations of the technology, so in the next few years the experience improvements could be substantial.

By 33rd Square

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Videos  

Explore a speculative digital world without screens in this fanciful demo, a mix of near reality and far-future possibility. Wearing the HoloLens headset, Alex Kipman demos his vision for bringing 3D holograms into the real world, enhancing our perceptions so that we can touch and feel digital content. Featuring Q&A with TED's Helen Walters.

SOURCE  TED

By 33rd Square

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 Augmented Reality  

In a real surprise, Microsoft has announced is getting into holograms, and have built working augmented reality hologram hardware, called HoloLens.

Microsoft surprised everyone yesterday during their preview of Windows 10 in Redmond.  Windows HoloLens is an augmented reality wearable computer that is different than Oculus Rift and Google Glass—the system adds holograms to the world users see. The HoloLens headset is described as "the most advanced holographic computer the world has ever seen."

No cords, no phones, no wires, no tethers.  HoloLens is a true wearable, and uses brand new technology built to process the holograms.

Through the device's transparent lens, users can see the physical world and advanced sensors map it so that you can interact with digital media and physical reality in new ways.

The HoloLens also has spatial 3D sound that lets users to hear holograms and built-in spatial sound lets them hear holograms wherever they are in the room with pinpoint precision.

"As holograms, your digital content will be as real as physical objects in the room. For the first time, holograms will become practical tools of daily life," Microsoft claims.

The device is powered by Windows 10, and will be "available in the Windows 10 timeframe."

HoloLens is a fully functional wearable computer, that is very likely to be close to what the much talked about start-up Magic Leap is developing.  The headset is in the form of glasses, but unlike Google Glass, these glasses map the world around you, and make 3D models appear in your vision—even tracking your hands and voice as they interact with those virtual objects. Microsoft calls this mixed reality.

According to Microsoft, HoloLens intelligently maps the room you’re in, blending holograms with the environment around you. With the device, you can pin holograms to physical locations you choose so that your room becomes the canvas for your holographic projects and games. Depending on which users were in a building, for instance, they might each see different digital hologram art on the walls, or interact with them completely differently.

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With HoloLens, users can drag content off the screens of their devices so that they appear to float in space. A floating 3D cursor is used to click the space in front of you, can then be used to control and interact with the digital asset.

HoloLens is the brainchild of Microsoft's Alex Kipman, who also help invent the Kinect. What Kipman has done is to strap the Kinect sensors to your head, so that your environment can be tracked and the data used in a personalized interactive environment. The prototypes users tested has a field of vision that spans 120 by 120 degrees, which is much greater than the original Kinect, and this allows for sensing of users' hands as well.

The sensors flood the on-board computer, GPU and new, first-of-its-kind HPU (holographic processing unit) with terabytes of data every second. "This is everything that we need to step into the holographic landscape," Kipman said at the official unveiling. On the right side of the HoloLens, buttons allow users to adjust the volume and to control the contrast of the hologram. The device's electronics are vented out the sides, keeping the unit from feeling hot on users' heads.

Encompassing other Microsoft technologies, HoloLens is also integrating Skype calls, as was shown in a demonstration where a remote plumber helps a woman fix her sink.

"I don’t want to remove the headset, which has provided a glimpse of a combination of computing tools that make the unimaginable feel real."

In one of the demonstrations of the HoloLens, users can explore Mars with NASA scientist, Jeff Norris. "After exploring Mars, I don’t want to remove the headset, which has provided a glimpse of a combination of computing tools that make the unimaginable feel real," writes Jessi Hempel in Wired. NASA is also enthusiastic. Norris will showcase Project HoloLens this summer for agency scientists to use for collaborating on a mission.

Developers will be getting HoloLens this spring, and when that happens, we should expect some very interesting application ideas and models. As the video at the top of this post shows, developers are very excited about HoloLens (it is promotional content from Microsoft, but it is worth looking at.)

By 33rd Square

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