John Lyle's new brand thinking » augmented reality

Gaming takes on a new dimension

John Lyle — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:00:30 +0000

This is a tough one to call. Is it a fake, is it a spoiler or is it the face of things to come in the future?

It’s almost like a usable version of augmented reality.

My belief is that it is a demo to see the public reaction to a new gaming format. This takes what the Eye Toy first delivered on the PS2, which was then picked up by the Nintendo Wii and delivers it in a far more seamless and intuitve fashion.

Whilst I’m not a gamer and can’t be bothered with any of the formats really (although I do like a bit of Tiger Woods golf on the Wii) what this does deliver (if you have an enormous house with no furniture to kick over as in this demo) is a gaming format that forces you to expend some calories whilst you play. Anything that gets kid playing properly and physically has to be a good thing, so i’ll watch with interest.

How Augmented Reality can begin to shape the way people are trained

John Lyle — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:29 +0000

If this video is to be believed, then BMW are beginning to use Augmented Reality in training their mechanics to repair and maintain their cars. I think this undermines the skill of a good time served technician and effectively ‘deskills’ the entire role to be one putting of your magic glasses and doing what you’re told. You can see it being used in wage negotiations to have an excuse to take on younger, less experienced operatives. It can turn a reasonable fitter into a master mechanic at a stroke. It even tells them what size spanner to take out of the toolbox and where that tricky screw you can never find is located.

Until something goes wrong that is, at which point the experienced person would be called straight back in to sort out the computer.

There is no doubt that it is very clever though and you can imagine it starting to be introduced into more mainstream training over the next few years. If you need to show someone how to do something, why not show them exactly, whilst they are actually on the job itself.

A brilliant Augmented reality demo by GE

John Lyle — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:39:16 +0000

I am in no way sure that I understand the point of this demo at all, but it’s very clever technology and the biggest companies in the world are starting to experiment with it.

Why not have a look at the GE page and try it for yourself. I did and it is amazing. Print the grid out here and then open the browser here. You’ll need to allow it to access your webcam. For me it worked perfectly in Firefox, but wouldn’t fire up in safari.

My very own GE wind farm created in my very own office - amazing

If the likes of GE are finding ways to embrace the power that is coming from augmented reality, I say again, as I did here and here, you’d better start thinking about how it fits into your brand.

Here comes reality – augmented reality

John Lyle — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:16:33 +0000

if this isn’t the future of how we look for and buy houses, I’m a Dutchman. Oh, this is a Dutch company, but with great technology and one that is sure to translate somehow into our augmented reality future.

The key question for a branding agency and one that we should all be considering is how do we make our brands not only look good, but feel good (and on brand) in this augmented reality environment?

And then to prove it’s going to be as much about meeting and engaging with others, here’s even more proof from the people at Layar.