Kind: captions
Language: en
Our world is rapidly changing. Let's say
I'm in an unfamiliar neighborhood and I
get lost. Just a few years ago, I would
have spent hours wandering around.
Today, all I have to do is pick up my
smartphone. An app like New York Subway
shows me if there are stations nearby
and even shows me which way to walk to
get there. If I need something
translated, no problem. Word Lens
replaces the text in my view with my own
language. And in the future, will it be
possible for us to do this? Get
information about anyone in an instant?
A paradigm shift is taking place right
before our eyes. The real world and the
virtual are merging. It's called
augmented reality. And you can
experience it with the help of hundreds
of apps on your smartphone. But one day
soon, companies like Google, the
internet search giant, think all this
information will be delivered in
revolutionary new ways. This is glass, a
very different type of computing and
communication device. Think of Google
Glass as a wearable smartphone. Can I
try it? Yeah, you can put on if you
like. Cool. But lighter and quicker to
access. Oh wow. Right now, glass is a
work in progress. I can just flick my
eyes into this corner and I see a very
crisp screen. The little square you see
glowing here is actually a tiny computer
screen. Google hopes that in the not too
distant future, it will bring us our
email, show us our text messages, and
provide access to the internet. And the
tiny camera here will be a new way to
share your experiences with friends. So,
this is wild. So, I'm I'm seeing a
beautiful path through a woods. As I
turn my head, I'm actually looking
around the scene. Oh, and I can even
look down and up. Wow, those are
beautiful. But Google Glass is just the
tip of the
iceberg. Researchers like Henry Fuches
at the University of North Carolina are
developing technologies that blend the
virtual and physical worlds, augmenting
our reality with the stuff of sci-fi
movies. So this is one of the labs,
David, that we have set up to work on
augmented reality and teleresence. So as
I understand it, this is like in Star
Wars when Princess Leah gets beamed out
of R2-D2's head. Remember that famous
scene where Princess Leia records a
hologram of herself and sends it to
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only
hope. That was all special effects. What
we hope to develop here is the real
thing. Help me. And that's as hard as it
looks. First, I put on these stylish
shades. Is that too tight? Nope. Once
we're set up, we're ready to roll. We
pretend Henry is on vacation in his
beach house in Hawaii while I'm stuck in
my office here in New York. And
suddenly, wow, if my goggles don't
deceive me, that's you sitting across
from the table from me. Wonderful.
That's just the effect that we would
like. Wow. So, that's crazy. You look
the right height, size, shape, and angle
as though you're actually sitting right
in front of it. I have to admit, it's
the closest I've ever come to having a
conversation with a hologram. Although
the image is far from perfect. So, this
is the Model T we're wearing right now.
Oh, we're not even Model T. Not even
this. Oh, no. No. This is like, you
know, 20 years before the Model T. But
the technology needed to create this
illusion is anything but 20th century.
In order for Henry and me to see each
other, he's rigged our rooms with a
bunch of 3D cameras. They are, in fact,
Xbox Connects. With the help of some
sophisticated software, they transport
his virtual image into my stunning
handcrafted headset. And these little
silver balls that make us look like
aliens are part of a complex tracking
system that pinpoints where we are in
space. There's one serious problem with
the video, though. Yes. It looks like
you're wearing a hideous, obnoxious
Hawaiian shirt of some kind. In the
future, teleresent systems like this one
could come in handy. And wearable
smartphones like Google Glass may give
us a new way to access the virtual
world.