Most people I know don’t think about augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, or the umbrella term for all these immersive technologies—extended reality, abbreviated as XR.
It’s not that all the terminology puts them off, it’s that they don’t really know how XR fits into their world.
I work in tech and happen to write about XR, so it affects my world Now In my daily interactions with software developers and PR people. However, that was my bubble. To my friends and family, extended reality still feels like a distant reality filled with overpriced headsets and virtual games.
But as the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach showed, there’s much more to XR than that. If you don’t care about XR yet, here are some things I saw at AWE 2024 that might make you reconsider.
do not miss it: 41 Best VR Games
XR isn’t just for gaming: It can also boost productivity
AR can increase productivity.
When most of your options are bulky headsets that are uncomfortable to wear for hours on end, the idea of extended reality can be suffocating.
Sightful’s Spacetop AR laptop wasn’t created with gaming or movies as its top priority. It’s focused on work and productivity, so you don’t end up with clunky headphones, but a pair of stylish AR glasses that look like Ray Bans. They plugged the monitor from the laptop into the keyboard.
Once you put on the AR glasses, a 100-inch virtual canvas appears that you can fill with various windows, all of which are overlaid on the physical world in front of you. You can do almost anything in a web browser, but do it privately and with more space than a traditional laptop. Imagine being able to have multiple monitors working simultaneously wherever you take your laptop, and you start to see the appeal of Spacetop.
Even the largest laptops can’t open so many windows at the same time. Augmented reality isn’t always about visiting distant planets or killing zombies. Sometimes, it might just be a more immersive way to check email, send a work message, or create a presentation, whether you’re stuck on a plane or from the comfort of your couch.
XR can create more immersive experiences in museums
AR headsets provide interactive and educational experiences.
Extended reality doesn’t always mean replacing what you see – it can also enhance it.
If you go to some museums, you can enhance your experience with an engaging audio tour. You put on your headphones and quickly get more context for whatever you’re seeing in the showroom. But what if you could have a more immersive visual experience instead of an auditory one?
At AWE, I put on lightweight Magic Leap 2 AR glasses and walked through a makeshift museum filled with artifacts. I can clearly see everything in the real world, but when I get close to certain objects in the AR glasses, I can suddenly see relevant information appear virtually. I can even interact with certain objects, pressing buttons to see more information, or make other objects appear.
XR exhibitions already exist, but more museums and galleries can adopt technology like this to provide a richer, more immersive experience for anyone who walks into them.
XR can be a creative outlet
As a digital artist, you can use digital brushes.
Apple’s Vision Pro is designed to improve productivity, but it’s also touted as a tool for creativity. While creating with a headset may feel cumbersome, these devices are now being used to write, draw, and paint in VR. It’s not just about work and play.
Logitech’s new MX Ink stylus expands your creative capabilities on Meta Quest by adding a smart physical pen to help you create in the virtual world. You can definitely use the stock Meta Quest controller to do some of the stylus functions, but MX Ink offers precision, which is important when creating.
The regular VR controllers that come with the headset can be a clunky way to create, but MX Ink gives you more control when drawing, sketching, or painting in VR or AR. Just like drawing on a tablet with your fingers is more intuitive and easier than drawing with a mouse, pens offer creatives more convenience, allowing for greater accuracy and advanced functionality.
You can use XR to better control devices in your home
Use XR gestures to control real-life things.
Gestures are a surprisingly prominent and original form of communication in the way we interact with the world. We can quickly call someone over or express our anger in traffic through simple gestures, especially when words fail. In the AR world, gestures provide a seamless and intuitive way to interact with augmented widgets, such as moving floating windows or playing videos, but there are always ways to control the world, not just virtual ones.
Doublepoint is a company specializing in touch interfaces, and its WowMouse app lets you control devices in your home with your Android smartwatch and simple gestures. You can swipe your hand to skip a song on Spotify on your TV, or twist your wrist to dim a smart light bulb in your desk lamp. You can control your watch by connecting it to almost any smart device via Bluetooth.
While it’s debatable whether this falls under XR, these same gestures can be used to navigate virtual spaces like VisionOS and Meta Horizon OS. Being able to use them without virtual displays is a great introduction to the XR space in your home without having to spend a lot of money on additional hardware.
look at this: Experience AR laptop Spacetop for yourself
