Stray Dog Strut

Dreams do come true.

I’ve been neglecting my news reading lately so this one came as a bit of a shock this morning. Apple has finally unveiled it’s multi-touch tablet, the iPad. Oh my god!

While some are already criticising the iPad for what it isn’t – in some cases dismissing it as a glorified iPod – I think what Apple has come up with is truly unbelievable. We’re so spoiled these days with iPhones and Blackberrys that I think we forget just how far we’ve come in the last two or three decades. In my lifetime, portable music has meant lugging around a walkman, then a portable cd-player, briefly minidiscs, and now mp3 players. The iPhone/iPod changed everything and I think that sometimes we expect everything on a plate because of that. For me, the iPad is as close to a real life, reach out and touch me, sci-fi tablet as you can get, and this is just the first version, i’m sure it’ll only improve with time.

Personally, browsing the web, the iWork apps, showing photos, and reading ebooks are the features that sell it for me. Add to that the cheap pricing (hopefully the UK will get a similar deal) and it’s incredible. While many of the features have already debuted on the iPhone, on the tablet they’ll be so much more, and we shouldn’t forget how recent good multi-touch is.

I suggest everyone (even the Apple haters) take a look at the Keynote presentation (no subtitles, bad Apple, but there’s plenty of imagery and live demos). If you can swallow all the typical Mac fanboy gushing at the start and the sugary sales-speak, it’s worth it to watch the whole presentation. I’m blown away by how good the iWork apps are, especially Keynote (slideshows) and Numbers (spreadsheets).

I’m sure it won’t be perfect (what is?), but good job Apple for taking a serious stab at it. The future has arrived;-)

Image from the Augmented Reality article on HowStuffWorks.com

Several of the newsletters I have delivered to my inbox each day cover the latest technological and scientific advances from around the world. The other week I got one about another example of augmented reality in practice. Augmented reality is the combination of the real and the virtual, with the major focus on realtime videos of the real world overlaid (augmented) by computer generated graphics.

Turns out I’ve lost the vid, but it wasn’t that impressive (It featured a virtual keypad of some sort that ran at a sluggish 12 fps). What is impressive is the report by Think Artificial on work on an AR app for the Google Android mobile phone. The app takes the form of a travel guide, identifying and displaying information of points of interest in the local vicinity in real time as the camera’s viewfinder passes them. Check out the vid on the Mobilizy website. Think Artificial briefly mentioned a similar app called Enkin, and their website is also worth a look.

This is all interesting stuff but it’s all the more fascinating when you consider the real possibilities. Apart from having artificial implants, I look forward to the day when AR is close to the complex systems explored in my favourite sci-fi novels. Notable examples include the “wetware” or “cyberware” evident in Ken MacLeod’s ‘Engines of Light’ trilogy, and Peter F. Hamilton’s ‘Commonwealth Saga’.

Imagine being able to walk down the street and invisibly pull up information on your surroundings such as reviews and additional information on products in shops. Or a Google maps like route finder that waypoints directions right in front of you as you walk about.

Even more exciting is the possibilities for games. I found a few vids on YouTube that really wet your appetite. One of the projects in production before the Gizmondo went under shows a cool catapult game – notice the ‘damage’ being done to the table – imagine AR Starcraft played on any surface=) This vid show cases the control of virtual radio controlled cars, while really cool is the physics on show in this vid. While, the vids here showcase an AR version of Quake, and here the modelling and manipulation of virtual objects in real time. Imagine being able to try out virtual furniture and decoration in your home before purchase, and if your device or implant is online you could order your new sofa there and then=)

With this kind of technology, virtually any surface or space could become the playing field and as technology improves, I think we will see smaller and smaller devices capable of accessing these experiences. With the addition of some kind of glove device or sensors placed in or on the body, we could most likely simulate feedback from the object and then there would be no limit to how we interact with these augmentations. Cool eh?

Some (rather fuzzy, sorry) pics of my now well-thumbed PSP. Shots include Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, my Mac OS X scheme for the front end (I forget where from, sorry) and my recent addition: the Metal Gear Solid Graphic Novel. Enjoy=)