Category: Technologies

When you attend a conference, a launch, or perhaps just a private demonstration of augmented reality (AR), a new mobile app, or the latest game, you are often wowed by the amazing graphics, and how realistically sports, battle scenes, or information is presented. You leave the presentation jazzed, thinking about what you may be able to accomplish with the service or product you just saw. But remember not to overlook the importance of audio. Even the flashiest visuals would not have the same dramatic impact they have on us without quality audio. Whether it is music, effects, dialogue, or a combination of all three, audio is a key ingredient to build emotional responses. Would Star Wars be the same without the masterful scoring provided by John Williams? Of course not. Audio creates mood, anticipation, joy, sadness, etc.

So for AR, audio is just as important as it has been in the past for movies, theater, and games. To learn more about how audio is being used for augmented reality I spoke with Tom Wesselman Sr. Director of the software group at Plantronics. Plantronics is one the leaders in audio products.  You probably know them from their earbuds or other listening devices. But Tom and Plantronics are engaged in much more than that. Tom shared with me some of the ways Plantronics is looking to innovate in digital media and how they are positioned to be a great partner for AR hardware manufacturers, as well as those of us who are involved in the process of creating AR experiences.

For example Plantronics is able to collect and analyze data just by listening. Imagine you are in a distance collaboration meeting, like a GoToMeeting, or WebEx session, or a 3D meeting room, or maybe you manage a support center. With Plantronics’ technology you can measure decibel levels in a sound wave, and analyze inflection, tone, and more. Let’s suppose you need to solve a problem with a support situation. With this type of data you could quickly know how communication was handled.  Was the customer upset? Was the support team frustrated? This is important to know since the idea behind a support center is to solve problems. But solving problems can bring a great deal of frustration, so keeping a team fresh, knowing when to give someone a break, is key to optimal performance.

For AR, audio is not only necessary to bring an experience alive, it is also essential to provide immersion. Imagine if you will that we launch an event at a public park. We are going to set you up with an HMD, and you are going to walk around and see dinosaurs around you. Without hearing the roar of T-Rex, the experience would not be the same. In addition, audio plays an even bigger role. Audio frequencies can be captured by outward facing microphones, analyzed and if needed, canceled by other frequencies so that you don’t hear them. In this example we would probably aim at canceling traffic noise.

If you want to learn more about this topic, and get a jump into AR and what audio can do for your projects, you can meet Tom in person. Just join us at my panel at Digital Hollywood this coming October 10, at 12 Noon http://www.dhsessions4.com/Tuesday17Fl6.html . Other panelists include Leon Laroue (Epson Moverio), Eric Trabold (Avegant), Michael Leventhal (Holmes Weinberg, PC), Soulaiman Itani (Atheer), and Mike Hildebrandt (DAQRI). Come and learn how your company can be part of this technological revolution and tremendous business opportunity.

One of the very first augmented reality (AR) companies I learned about was DAQRI, which is located here in Los Angeles. Years ago I met with them because I wanted to use the ARToolkit, an open source platform they had acquired. I was immediately impressed with their vision for AR and what they had already accomplished with their human body and chemistry applications, which were featured just a few years ago at Apple’s main event. Over the years I have worked with Roy Ashok Chief Product Officer at DAQRI, and more recently, with Mike Hildebrandt, VP of Corporate Development, and Strategic Partnerships at DAQRI. They are both top leaders in the growing AR market place.

One of the company’s key products is and has been DAQRI Smart Helmet. Designed to bring digital technology and interaction right into the workplace, it delivers real-time data based on the environment, direct to users, enabling them to visualize and understand the workplace in ways never before imagined.  In short, it makes workers more productive, safer and more proficient.

Today Smart Helmet is just one of DAQRI’s impressive product line up.  They are now launching DAQRI Smart Glasses, which will be on the market this quarter. Smart Glasses are a significantly smaller form factor than Smart Helmet, and should have a big impact on vertical markets like architecture, 3D printing, blueprint models, and more.

DAQRI Qube, a new development platform that enables robust integration and custom development with the flexibility to leverage existing Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) and applications. The Qube, coupled with DAQRI developer tools, allows for easy prototyping, testing, and measurement by providing more direct access to sensors.

DAQRI provides DAQRI HUD as a solution for automotive manufacturers looking to incorporate HUDs in their automobiles.

DAQRI’s advances for AR promise to reshape the way we work, communicate and learn.  You can learn more about DAQRI’s amazing products and AR solutions at their website https://daqri.com/

If you want to learn more about this topic, you can meet Mike Hildebrandt in person, just join us at my panel at Digital Hollywood this coming October 10, at 12 Noon http://www.dhsessions4.com/Tuesday17Fl6.html . We’ll also be joined there by Leon Laroue (Epson Moverio), Eric Trabold (Avegant), Michael Leventhal (Holmes Weinberg, PC), Soulaiman Itani (Atheer), and Tom Wesselman (Plantronics). Come and learn about how your company can be part of this technological revolution and tremendous business opportunity.

It’s a fact that augmented reality (AR) is reshaping the way we work. And yes, it is happening right now, and it is going to grow faster than anticipated.  Today, I’d like to introduce you to a company called Atheer. I recently met with their SVP of marketing, Amar Dhaliwal, and he introduced me to the amazing vision Soulaiman Itani, their CEO and founder, has for augmented reality in the workplace, and soon in other areas.

Atheer’s focus is to connect digital and physical workspaces inside enterprises and as a result transform the productivity, accuracy, quality and safety of their workers. Their technologies provide rich AR applications on smart glasses of “your choice,” meaning it is hardware agnostic, enabling enterprises to use the glasses that best suit them. Their approach starts with something I have been preaching for some time now. In order to innovate, and have augmented reality reach its full potential you have to break with old models and paradigms. You have to forget the mouse, the keyboard, and the concept of sitting and staring at a screen for hours.  With this in mind, Atheer developed multi-modal technology, meaning it supports many forms of interactions including gestures, head motion and voice.

Think about it this way, if you are going to use AR, one of the very first things you need to consider is how the user is going to interact with the digital and real world. This would strongly influence your hardware and software choices (which are many). The new ways to interact that you need to consider are gesture recognition, voice commands, motion, eye interaction, and touch. All of these are different unique technologies that can work alone, or together. But in order to select the correct ones you need to consider the environment, and how the user will perform his/her work.  With Atheer’s technology, businesses (and more importantly their users) can select the interaction mode(s) that works best for them and switch between them seamlessly.

Another smart move by Atheer is that they have paid careful consideration to the use of existing operating systems by smart glass manufacturers and enterprises. With their open platform and broad OS approach they are able to support the wide variety of IT eco-systems found in use today.

Another plus is that Atheer provides flexibility for deployment options with a SaaS model. The technology is available now. If you want to learn more about Atheer visit their website at http://atheerair.com/ and get a glimpse of what’s coming.

If you want to learn more about this topic, and get a jump into AR you can meet Soulaiman in person, just join us at my panel at Digital Hollywood this coming October 10, at 12 Noon http://www.dhsessions4.com/Tuesday17Fl6.html . We’ll also be joined there by Leon Laroue (Epson Moverio), Eric Trabold (Avegant), Michael Leventhal (Holmes Weinberg, PC), Tom Wesselman

It’s a fact that augmented reality (AR) is reshaping the way we work. And yes, it is happening right now, and it is going to grow faster than anticipated.  Today, I’d like to introduce you to a company called Atheer. I recently met with their SVP of marketing, Amar Dhaliwal, and he introduced me to the amazing vision Soulaiman Itani, their CEO and founder, has for augmented reality in the workplace, and soon in other areas.

Atheer’s focus is to connect digital and physical workspaces inside enterprises and as a result transform the productivity, accuracy, quality and safety of their workers. Their technologies provide rich AR applications on smart glasses of “your choice,” meaning it is hardware agnostic, enabling enterprises to use the glasses that best suit them. Their approach starts with something I have been preaching for some time now. In order to innovate, and have augmented reality reach its full potential you have to break with old models and paradigms. You have to forget the mouse, the keyboard, and the concept of sitting and staring at a screen for hours.  With this in mind, Atheer developed multi-modal technology, meaning it supports many forms of interactions including gestures, head motion and voice.

Think about it this way, if you are going to use AR, one of the very first things you need to consider is how the user is going to interact with the digital and real world. This would strongly influence your hardware and software choices (which are many). The new ways to interact that you need to consider are gesture recognition, voice commands, motion, eye interaction, and touch. All of these are different unique technologies that can work alone, or together. But in order to select the correct ones you need to consider the environment, and how the user will perform his/her work.  With Atheer’s technology, businesses (and more importantly their users) can select the interaction mode(s) that works best for them and switch between them seamlessly.

Another smart move by Atheer is that they have paid careful consideration to the use of existing operating systems by smart glass manufacturers and enterprises. With their open platform and broad OS approach they are able to support the wide variety of IT eco-systems found in use today.

Another plus is that Atheer provides flexibility for deployment options with a SaaS model. The technology is available now. If you want to learn more about Atheer visit their website at http://atheerair.com/ and get a glimpse of what’s coming.

If you want to learn more about this topic, and get a jump into AR you can meet Soulaiman in person, just join us at my panel at Digital Hollywood this coming October 10, at 12 Noon http://www.dhsessions4.com/Tuesday17Fl6.html . We’ll also be joined there by Leon Laroue (Epson Moverio), Eric Trabold (Avegant), Michael Leventhal (Holmes Weinberg, PC), Tom Wesselman (Plantronics), and Mike Hildebrandt (DAQRI). Come and learn about how your company can be part of this technological revolution and tremendous business opportunity.