"I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle." This is not a dream. We are scarily close to becoming Terminators. Google are preparing to launch it's optical head-mounted display "Glass" on the world; but that's merely the tip of the iceberg where virtual reality is concerned. While the world has been focusing on Google Glass, a lesser known player has been quietly working on iOptik - an augmented reality system which projects a heads-up display onto special contact lenses. Basically, whatever runs on your smartphone, will run over your eyes. You'll have two separate images: one of the real life environment, and one with the augmented reality display. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7OvoHzL8I The uses for such technology is potentially brilliant: surgeons could look at images from inside the body at the very same time they're operating, and in terms of entertainment, gaming could get very exciting. The concept of literally feeling inside the game is very seductive, and these advancements in 3D virtual reality are making it happen, as we're already seeing with the Oculus Rift. It's obviously a dead cert that the porn industry will heavily promulgate their own take on the technology, too - which is bound to be, erm, lovely. iOptik do, however, still require the rather less-than-subtle glasses to project information to the lenses, which is something we'll no doubt figure out in the future. Do you think these will be the "next big things"? What would you like to see in the future of technology and the world? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
