What's Augmented Reality's Killer App?

Kristina Grifantini writes in MIT's Technology Review about Augmented Reality and cell phones, but doesn't really answer the question posed in the story's title.

Researchers plan to offer more than just directions with innovations in software and hardware.

First paragraph: "Augmented reality (AR), which involves superimposing virtual objects and information on top of the real world, may be coming to a phone near you. As mobile phones become packed with more sensors, better video capabilities, and faster processing power, many experts predict that AR will become increasingly common. But in a panel discussion today at EmTech@MIT in Cambridge, MA, panelists will admit that several obstacles still remain and that the "killer app" for augmented reality has yet to emerge."

Is the Singularity A Load of Crap?

Alfred Nordmann writing in IEEE Spectrum seems to think so.

According to Mr. Nordmann "The story of the Singularity is sweeping, dramatic, simple--and wrong". He makes some good points around the acceleration of technological progress. However, his arguments seem anecdotal in nature, and are counter to my own experience working in the world of Internet businesses.

The most common definition of the Singularity is "the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence". My opinion is that this event is inevitable, the question is timing. If one assumes that technological progress continues at a linear pace and not an accelerating one, the Singularity would still occur, just at a point farther off in time.

Read the first portion of the article below, click through for the rest:

BY Alfred Nordmann // June 2008

This is part of IEEE Spectrum's SPECIAL REPORT: THE SINGULARITY

"Take the idea of exponential technological growth, work it through to its logical conclusion, and there you have the singularity. Its bold incredibility pushes aside incredulity, as it challenges us to confront all the things we thought could never come true—the creation of superintelligent, conscious organisms, nanorobots that can swim in our bloodstreams and fix what ails us, and direct communication from mind to mind. And the pièce de résistance: a posthuman existence of disembodied uploaded minds, living on indefinitely without fear, sickness, or want in a virtual paradise ingeniously designed to delight, thrill, and stimulate.

This vision argues that machines will become conscious and then perfect themselves, as described elsewhere in this issue. Yet for all its show of tough-minded audacity, the argument is shot through with sloppy reasoning, wishful thinking, and irresponsibility. Infatuated with statistics and seduced by the power of extrapolation, ­singularitarians abduct the moral imagination into a speculative no-man’s-land. To be sure, they are hardly the first to spread fanciful technological prophecies, but among enthusiasts and doomsayers alike their ­proposition enjoys an inexplicable popularity. Perhaps the real question is how they have gotten away with it."

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Augmented Reality in a Contact Lens

From IEEE Spectrum

A new generation of contact lenses built with very small circuits and LEDs promises bionic eyesight.

BY Babak A. Parviz // September 2009

The human eye is a perceptual powerhouse. It can see millions of colors, adjust easily to shifting light conditions, and transmit information to the brain at a rate exceeding that of a high-speed Internet connection.

But why stop there?

In the Terminator movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character sees the world with data superimposed on his visual field—virtual captions that enhance the cyborg’s scan of a scene. In stories by the science fiction author Vernor Vinge, characters rely on electronic contact lenses, rather than smartphones or brain implants, for seamless access to information that appears right before their eyes.

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