V R living in great times...
Zoltán T?ndik
Conference Organizer, Podcast & Morning Show Host, Duathlete, TEDx Speaker | Leading Prague & MARE BALTICUM Gaming Summits, European Gaming Congress
Yo! Check this out!
Happy to be back again and thank you for the great support, everyone! In just 2 weeks, the newsletter has well over 1500 subscribers and many more are subscribing daily.
Today, you have the opportunity to dive into the technology we all call Virtual Reality and learn more things about Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, and Extended Reality. Call it a crash course, but you are getting the opportunity to learn about 3D models, AI algorithms, singularity, the merger of real and digital worlds, and more.
It's exciting, right? I don't blame you for skipping the intro part and diving directly into the content below. So, I guess, by now, you know what I meant in the title, and you see what I did with the words. We are - Virtual Reality is living great times and one of the key goals of my weekly newsletter is to bring you insights and stories, today I will share a unique interview that is only being shared here on LinkedIn.
The special guest is Sonia García, whom I would like to thank for taking her time and replying to my interview questions. Believe it or not, the replies were sent at 2:00 am, so that means that you are in for a treat!
ZT: Please introduce yourself.
Sonia: Hello, nice to meet you. I am Sonia, from Spain, Asturias.
I am a professional translator, blogger, cybersecurity expert, marketing and tourism professional including areas of expertise such as eco-tourism, PPC, storytelling, digital signage, Mobile and Email Marketing, Big Data, QR custom design and strategies based on them, and many others.
My degree in Tourism and my master's degree in Marketing Direction and digital content cover the totality of related techniques, technologies, and tools as I have kept updating myself on a permanent and regular basis while owning specialties from my degree in specific tourism fields. I consider specialization as an important factor because everything keeps progressing but sharpening skills also impacts the sum of them.
I have developed real-time campaigns combining storytelling, video edition, vouchers, digital signage, and copy to simply mention one example.
I have lived in Spain, France, and the USA, where also studied and worked in different moments of my life plus traveled to many countries, and written blogs about different topics including health, fashion, cosmetics, astronomy, archaeology, marketing, music even since my master study time with an interdisciplinary and international team being an official fan club, etc.
I equally find myself into gaming and eSports having a deep understanding of both from the inside adding I am a gamer myself.
On the translation side I localized the title Bear’s Restaurant, game testing and proofreading it being available in both iOS and Android, Nintendo eShop as a title for Nintendo Switch and Steam respectively, from the Japanese studio, Odencat, where I assisted at the same time into research, communication and other areas required for the previously mentioned title.
As mentioned previously as a translator I have not only translated games but also into companies like Amazon and its marketplace.
I speak 5 languages (Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Chinese) and study a few others including Icelandic. This is not only useful for translating but for communicating with people all around the world.
At the same time, I find myself into AR, VR, AI, programming languages, and the ethical side of cybersecurity including the awareness about threats even knowledge about best practices in daily navigation as well as helping people to know about encryption, cookies, and their kinds (Zombie cookies, supercookies, etc), ports, backdoors, keyloggers, man-in-the-middle attacks and other kinds like social engineering, phreaking and related.
For more details and background, I strongly suggest visiting my LinkedIn profile and even contacting me there as I would be pleased to provide extended information about myself.
ZT: What are the major trends driving the VR/AR and Mixed reality sector?
Sonia: We can talk about Extended reality (XR) as a catch-all term covering the three other terms (VR, AR, and Mixed reality) and we are going to see a progression into the attempts of making virtual movements smoother and more natural than the current ones, enabling realistic movements within virtual environments even though it may still be a problem if the environment where using VR or AR headsets doesn’t match the size and proportions of the virtual one. Fortunately, I have seen at the end of 2022 good practices into determining and warning about the safety limits in the virtual space so that the person using augmented reality does not end up elsewhere by accident.
At the same time hardware will implement what was already used in Marketing added to heatmaps and ads but applied to VR and AR headsets, and eye tracking. Even though it has already been cracked by the HHTC Vive Pro Eye headset but now we will see more software taking advantage of this.
On the other hand, Haptic?feedback will attempt to solve the problem of sensations in XR environments adding to this Teslasuit by providing tactile feedback through electrostimulation.
It was already expected to be seen on a smaller scale in 2022 so this year will continue that tendency as the ones used for NASA astronauts costs around 20.000$.
If we talk about gaming, we can take as reference Pokemon GO and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the games to come will make us able to interact with virtual characters and objects using physical movements or gestures, creating an entirely new level of realism.
ZT: Are we at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR)?
Sonia: We are not that far from what is called singularity in AI, even being used in translation and not only ChatGPT bringing texts or other technologies that could do a task where the helpers are better than those completing a full task into writing or translating, it’s told that in 10 years we may be seeing that point called that way in reference to the Physics related to dark holes, taking that term because it is extremely hard to predict where it starts and almost impossible to know what is beyond of the ‘event horizon”, we don’t really know what may happen once crossed because at that moment the AI would surpass the human control and there are already tests that were stopped to don’t lose control over them.
Recently a team of computer scientists has used theoretical calculations to argue that algorithms could not control a super-intelligent AI for example.
We currently have researchers trying to identify those signs that may inform us about having reached the singularity, and some of those signs would be having skills minimum comparable to a human being for example the skill of translating speech at the speed of a human being as it’s one of the hardest sides for AI at the moment and that would be a sign of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), that would affect to the intersection of AI, AR, and VR. And it seems that we are not that far from reaching the AGI point. A company called Translated measured this with 8 years of investigation with a metric called TTE measuring the edition time of a human correcting translations made by an AI.
The average speed of a human translator is 1 second/word when editing words from other human translators but AI in 2015 needed 3.5 and today, 2 seconds, so it’s possible to see the progression and could be alike ours in less than a decade and once reaching our skills it will continue advancing.
About AR and AI, for example, we could mention computer vision, which allows AR to better recognize objects in the frame and overlay them with augmented virtual information, such as trying on clothes or viewing products in the interior.
Or the Virtual Avatars but for me, I would mention the AR headsets and not only Oculus but other actors, understood as companies, as they are used in medical remote care or even in fires with firemen using them but, it’s expected to see them substituting phones in a decade if the pace is the one we currently have.
The price has been reduced, as happened with Ray-Ban Stories costing $299 and including two cameras for recording and posting a first-person video, as well as speakers and a microphone for listening to music and talking on the phone among other potential uses.
Another technology into the intersections is WebA, back in 2020, K5 Factory partnered with Werbung & Film to launch a promotional AR lottery for dairy producer Müller Milchreis. On the yogurt label, customers could find a QR code that triggered an AR character. It would open the lid and tell if the person had won a prize. And here is where marketing also relates to this technology because takes the range of QR codes to then be combined with an AR character and not only a regular web or image.
In 2021, Sber launched the Sbertants competition in Russia. Users were asked to make a dance video with one of the digital avatars - Vera Brezhneva, Klava Koka, Vanya Dmitrienko, Anet Sy, or Philip Kirkorov.
But, can be seen in the use of VR headsets and a physical model of a kayak simulating the real sport making the person exercise even if not in a river or open sea with different scenarios fully created at the software level interacting with the hardware being ours in the software reacting with the same physical laws of real oars but using special controls with high sensitivity and sensors to recognize different parameters. Also applied to other scenarios, such as a helicopter, perfect for future pilots to train and get another kind of experience that could be customized for those students making it more oriented into learning than being a helicopter tour piloting it while visiting the city and consulting information using physical controllers with buttons close to those found on Nintendo Switch Joy-cons or Joysticks on various video game consoles.
AR and VR both are being used in many fields, for example, healthcare, e-commerce, entertainment, gaming, training, and marketing. This last one, Marketing, has applications in social commerce but also trade and car shows being both parts of an advertising campaign and a technology if showcasing features but also social media platforms are investing in this and it’s understandable as you could drive a means of transport not yet on sale and know more about it.
ZT: Can VR and AI improve students’ soft skills and improve their chances of employability?
Sonia: Definitively, AI algorithms and educational software can adapt to each student's individual learning style, pace, and preferences.?
AR, for example, can allow students to see and interact with 3D models of scientific phenomena or historical events.
Teachers?need to be trained on how to effectively integrate these technologies. invest in the necessary hardware and software to support these technologies.
Schools, on the other hand, will need to ensure that their technology infrastructure is robust and secure, to prevent any potential data breaches or hacking incidents but also invest in hardware such as AR and VR headsets, monitors, etc. The real purpose of AR/VR in higher education is to promote student engagement and nurture better understanding.?
At the same time, it’s also important to remember the health side, not only about using those technologies in a way you can avoid illnesses but avoiding to cause other possible impacts as some VR are into sports but equally require the user to be in a good physical condition, others, on the other hand, are more flexible as could be the ones applied into tourism tours but could equally be applied into learning languages implementing a software allowing it while moving and relating what’s shown with vocabulary (and not only flashcards but even combining what I just told with an adaptative software alike the ones we see in some current language apps) or even virtual teachers or professors for university-level students.
Furthermore, I can tell I tested both VR and AR headsets and even if one kind of AR headset was oriented into showrooms and selling products, the potential was visible in relation to what I am now explaining as could be modified into an AR software teaching skills to people. In the example I am mentioning here, I could choose between a furniture exposition for selecting prices and information about them or a fashion store with the last collection including jewelry, being very simple to consult information on prices, materials, and textures without really moving and being in the same place moving the head, hands, and neck respectively
Not only, but they can also be combined for working the soft skills into specific training designed for situations where they have to be applied in order to succeed, almost like a gaming stage or sport-based one in teamwork making people develop a series of traits that in other circumstances probably would not be necessary.
领英推荐
Currently, there is software aside from ChatGPT (which can currently be implemented to WhatsApp adding this to the already generous uses) for talking with AI and (not only apps for AI partners) and if we go into OpenAI GPT-3 ?where the own AI algorithm has evolved by itself and there is one free version and one paid, you can give traits to the AI and that AI will develop an identity to the point of ending describing itself even if not fully having something like memory or being independent of taking information from the internet’s sources, providing conclusions according to the conversation. It can write code, translate, a program from text to code, and them, program by itself just describing what you want to obtain and it evolves improving itself by comparing solutions and basing itself on which one is the most optimal transform one in the model and restarts comparing another set of solutions.
When we observe the potential when well used, the range of the impact it owns is enormous as you can recreate even a musical “ecosystem” not only for musicians in a training but for people with musical sensitivity learning better that way or generate a meditation state of mind being more powerful than the current apps we can see on the app store or play store.
I have seen face-to-face how AI software could be implied in health prevention (not only 3D printing into this and other fields) by calculating the angles, pressure, and other factors when providing first-aid so could be useful for high schools, companies, and other potential uses as medical students.
Seeing the examples it’s clear that they can be used in different fields of expertise but I also see the potential into dealing with other situations as people with the need of developing some personal skills, overcoming traumas or fears, getting sociable if isolated or even training for something like could be a stage play or learning a musical instrument, without needing it physically if not having the possibility to own one immediately and it would be more immersive than just a YouTube video so later would result into a more precise mastery. All this can open a new dimension of knowledge, aside from the own metaverse but this would be another question. Still, I think I can share with you this photo that may interest you:
We have to remember the current situation regarding employability with laws requiring employers to inform when an employee is being fired by an algorithm and how it is affecting to get hired as well, adding airlines using them for their rates and other circumstances as calculating certain statistics they later use in specific ways. Estonia and Argentina use AI for legal but Estonia took AI to other levels including health care and even the supermarket systems.
ZT: Is there a difference between the technology behind large screens and mobile AR different?
Sonia: Yes. Reliable tracking and hardware specs have an impact and some technologies that may not require visual tracking and have been programmed for other purposes as happened with BroadcastAR to mention one example. Without any special device or distracting technology between the viewer and the virtual characters, people in front of the large screen can experience AR as freely as possible.
With computer vision algorithms, the phone camera can better recognize floors, walls, and objects - resulting in the correct positioning of the object.
It would relevant to explain how AR works in a smartphone, ARCore and ARKit are Google and Apple’s respective underlying structures for bringing more Augmented Reality apps to their platforms. They use three basic capabilities to achieve environment creation and interaction. These are; Motion Tracking, Environmental understanding, and Light Estimation.
Motion tracking occurs when ARCore or ARKit uses visual feature points to help map out the movement of your phone. They detect flat surfaces to be used as planes in any specific app in a process known as Environmental understanding. They finally detect the lighting of the environment to provide average light intensity and color at any given camera angle.
As computer vision algorithms become better, there will be less need to “set up” an area to be AR enhanced ahead of time in any way by utilizing natural features of the area, such as skylines or famous landmarks, to aid the AR application to determine where the device is in the environment.
Here I add some related websites that may add more knowledge about this topic:
·????????https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/technologies/augmented-reality
·????????https://www.online-tech-tips.com/gadgets/what-is-augmented-reality-and-could-it-replace-all-screens/
?
ZT: What are the headsets that you would recommend?
Sonia: If we talk about VR, the market is currently dominated by Facebook, owner of meta platforms Inc. Apple has delayed the glasses everyone was expecting to come.
It also goes more into headsets than glasses as it was the original intention, glasses as the ones used during a normal day,
About AR, Apple is facing technical challenges in the production of a consumer-friendly product, so their initial dream of a lightweight pair of AR glasses that people could wear all day now appears many years away.
Having told you this I would probably recommend the Google Glass Enterprise 2, an all-day wearable that's lightweight, it’s not as cheap as other models (around 1000$) but definitively not over 3000$.?And at the same time, they come with an 8MP camera and stream clear video.
Last but not least I would like to include some URLs that may be of your interest to:
Well, that's all for this week! I would like to thank Sonia once again for the very detailed information she provided and I will be back next week with more exciting stuff.
If you would like to get featured in this weekly round-up, please contact me directly as this opportunity does not involve any financial commitment from your side. The main mission is to bring valuable unbiased information and filter out unnecessary content.
Thank you for your time and have a great Wednesday everyone!
PS: Make sure to register for our upcoming?Prague Gaming & TECH Summit?which is taking place between 29-30 March where you can meet up with some of the brightest minds in the blockchain, fintech, artificial intelligence, VR, transhumanism, and gaming sphere. More details can be found here: https://hipther.com/events/prague/
Cybersecurity/Big Data/Marketing/Tourism/PPC/Storytelling/ex-Cast Member DLP/eSports/Blogger/Drone Pilot/Translator ????????????????????
2 年Has been a big pleasure for me to participate in this Episode 3! Thank you very much for the interview opportunity, Zoltán T?ndik, Betty T?ndik Kiszner Szilágyi. I agree, we are living in great times and we have to value everything, thank you for appreciating my answers in the way you did ??