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The Real Use of Augmented Reality

Posted on July 10, 2019 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, Medical, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple filed a patent for a unique use of augmented reality that warps images so they can be seen in a person’s blind spots.

Look at any technology and it’s only as useful as the problems it solves. One huge reason why virtual reality hasn’t taken off is because it doesn’t solve a pressing need.

People adopted mobile phones and dumped land lines because mobile phones offered far greater convenience. People adopted cars because cars are easier to use than horse and carriage. People adopted electricity because it’s easier than lighting lamps with kerosene.

Right now, augmented reality has mostly been used for games and entertainment, which is fine because that’s how people experiment with new technology. However, eventually there must be a practical use for technology or else it simply fades away, much like 3D TV never went anywhere.

Apple’s latest patent points out how augmented reality could be used to help people with poor vision. Many partially blind people cannot see in certain areas of their eyes, creating blind spots. Apple’s patent points to warped images that allows augmented reality to display the areas that a person’s blind spot might be blocking, thereby granting them full and complete vision.

Augmented reality is more than just games. It’s a technology to enhance vision and correct faulty vision whether it’s just in people who need corrective lenses or people who are partially blind.

By using augmented reality to solve real problems, augmented reality will be far more useful than virtual reality. The future is augmented reality and Apple appears to be leading the way.

To learn more about Apple’s latest augmented reality patent, click here.

Improving the iPhone Camera

Posted on May 2, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Olloclip offers clip-on lenses for the iPhone.

The built-in camera of the iPhone has improved drastically over the years to the point where many professional photographers use the iPhone as their main camera. Of course, dedicated digital cameras will always capture better pictures than the iPhone but that’s because dedicated cameras always have more space for changing lenses. The drawback is that you must lug around a bulky dedicated camera whenever you want to take pictures.

Still, the iPhone camera is better than dedicated cameras of the past. Even though dedicated cameras will always have the size advantage over the iPhone to provide better quality lenses, for many people the iPhone camera is good enough, even for professional photographers. Now for those who need to improve the quality of their pictures even more captured by an iPhone, there’s the Olloclip add-on that clamps on to an iPhone and adds additional lenses.

The iPhone combined with the Olloclip can now capture images that rival those captured by dedicated cameras. The huge difference is that the Olloclip and the iPhone are far more convenient to carry than a dedicated camera. If you insist on lugging a dedicated camera around, you’ll gain a trivial amount of additional quality. So ultimately the question is whether a dedicated camera is even worth it any more?

If professional photographers can use an iPhone camera without any additional lenses at all, think of what major quality difference the Olloclip and the iPhone can give professional and amateur photographers. The iPhone camera is like having an older dedicated camera in your hand. Add the Olloclip accessory and you now have the power of a dedicated camera in the smaller size of an iPhone.

Dedicated cameras still have their place, but that place is rapidly shrinking. If you demand higher quality photographs, then consider getting an Olloclip with your iPhone. Then again, you may be able to get along with just the iPhone alone.

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Director Steven Soderbergh

Posted on January 29, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Director Steven Soderbergh plans to use the iPhone’s camera exclusively for making his next movies.

At one time, digital cameras could only capture poor images. That’s why companies like Kodak felt they had nothing to worry bout since film captured such better images. Then digital cameras gradually improved until professionals started to use digital cameras for their convenience as well as their picture quality and resolution.

Today, very few people use film. Even professionals use dedicated digital cameras, but director Steven Soderbergh plans to go one step further. Instead of using dedicated video cameras, he plans to shoot movies only use the camera in the iPhone.

Amazingly, the iPhone’s camera has gotten so good that its small size and convenience makes it much easier to use than expensive, bulky dedicated cameras. With image quality being equal to what dedicated digital cameras could capture just a few years ago, the iPhone camera is all professional photographers and film makers really need any more.

At one time, the idea of editing a picture on a smartphone was laughable. Now film makers are able to not only capture entire movies on an iPhone, but they can also edit video on an iPhone as well. That’s because the power of the iPhone is equal to what PCs offered just a few years ago. With processing power and camera quality being equal to dedicated film making equipment from the past, it’s no wonder more and more film makers are relying solely on the iPhone camera for professional work.

Expect to see more professionals dumping dedicated equipment in favor of the small size and convenience of the iPhone. If the iPhone can make such a drastic change in the world in a little more than a decade, imagine what the next decade might bring with smart speakers, self-driving cars, and tablets just as powerful as laptop computers of today.

The computing world is changing faster than ever so if you’re not embracing technology, you’re falling behind. Young people understand this and easily adapt to changing technology. Older people are most resistant and more likely to suffer the consequences as a result. So whatever your age, don’t think like an old person still clinging to the past. The future is bright and wonderful. Just look at it through an iPhone camera if you don’t believe.

ESPN Shoots Magazine Using the iPhone 7 Plus Camera

Posted on July 9, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: ESPN shoots all images using the iPhone 7 Plus Camera.

Remember when photography enthusiasts dismissed smartphone cameras as “toys” that could never replace dedicated digital cameras? If not, then maybe you remember when photography enthusiasts dismissed digital cameras as “toys” that could never replace film cameras?

Dedicated digital cameras are still superior to smartphone cameras and always will be just as million dollar supercomputers are still superior to PCs and always will be. The problem is that the cost, weight, and bulk of a supercomputer makes it impractical for most people compared to buying and using a PC. Likewise, the cost, weight, and bulk of a dedicated digital camera makes it impractical for most people to use, especially when their smartphone comes with a built-in camera. Given a choice between pulling out your smartphone to take a picture or consciously lugging around a bag full of lenses and digital cameras, you can guess which option is more convenient for most people.

ESPN isn’t the only organization to use the iPhone’s camera for capturing images that previously required dedicated cameras, and they won’t be the last. The iPhone’s camera has gotten so good that it’s effectively equal to dedicated digital cameras of the past. If you don’t think the iPhone’s camera is good enough for professionals, then you must also believe that dedicated digital cameras of the past weren’t good enough for professionals either.

The iPhone camera captures sharp images that not only makes it easy to use, but also good enough for professionals to rely on as well. When professionals rely on the iPhone’s camera for capturing images that dedicated digital cameras could do just as well, that tells you that the iPhone camera is simpler to use without sacrificing the necessary quality.

Some filmmakers have already shot and edited entire movies on the iPhone camera so it’s only a matter of time before more filmmakers discover the convenience of video capturing using the iPhone’s camera. As the iPhone’s camera continues too improve, its next big breakthrough will be augmented reality that can combine cartoon images overlaid on actual images. Improve the augmented reality images to look less like cartoons and more like actual items, and pretty soon you wind up with a camera that can capture scenes that never existed.

Imagine taking a picture of a city and adding in an image of Godzilla in the background. Or take a picture of your house and put a unicorn on the front lawn. Today cameras are capturing sharper images of reality. Tomorrow, cameras will capture images that never existed in reality. When cameras can create pictures that never happened, what will that do to journalism in the world?

Already journalists must sift through information to find the truth, but they will always be biased. Toss in augmented reality and now people will be able to fake images as easily as they fake information printed in text.

Technology keeps advancing and people keep learning to use it for good and bad. The real advance in the iPhone’s camera isn’t the technology behind it but the people using it. Let’s just hope that for now, people continue using the iPhone camera to capture reality instead of imaginary scenes to support a lie.

The iPhone as a Camera

Posted on June 30, 2017 by admin Posted in Business, Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: The iPhone is the most popular camera in the world.

The iPhone defined smartphones because previous mobile phones were little more than telephones without a cord. If you wanted to do anything more, you could send text messages (often by tapping the same key multiple times to choose the right letter), but if you wanted driving directions or to view a web page, too bad. You were out of luck.

One often overlooked feature of the iPhone is its camera. In the early days of cameras, you took a picture and sent the film off to be developed. Then Polaroid offered instant cameras so you could see your picture as soon as you took it. However if you wanted to share pictures with others, you still had to mail them in an envelope.

When the iPhone appeared, not only could you capture pictures easily, but you could share and edit those pictures right on your iPhone as well. As the image quality of the iPhone’s camera improved, it was more than good enough for most people. Today’s iPhone camera is equivalent to yesterday’s dedicated digital camera. Dedicated digital cameras will always be more versatile, but the added cost, bulk, and inability to share pictures will always give the iPhone an advantage. The iPhone camera, combined with the iPhone’s portability, helped redefine the way the world takes and shares pictures while the iPhone redefined how smartphones should work.

The iPhone ushered in huge changes in just ten short years. Yet many people failed to recognize the potential of the iPhone when it first appeared, which is like seeing the future in front of your eyes and refusing to believe it exists. Imagine how today’s critics of the Apple Watch and iPad will feel when both of those devices take over the market more in a few more years. The iPad is going to redefine mobile computing and the Apple Watch is going to redefine wearable computers.

With iOS 11, the iPad is going to get more versatile and merge into a laptop. With additional sensors, such as a non-invasive glucose monitor, the Apple Watch is going to dominate the real-time health monitoring market. Expect other wearable computers to soon appear from Apple such as Air Pods and Smart Glasses. Wearable computers will become common just as the world finally adjusts to the reality that the iPhone has ushered in a whole new world for mobile computing.

Follow Apple and you can see the future because rivals will simply mimic Apple instead of forging ahead with their own initiatives. Sadly, only Apple (and possibly Google) seem capable of recreating new markets. The rest of the world seems content to follow and then wonder why they can never be seen as innovators.

Even if you use an Android smartphone, it owes its design to the iPhone. The iPhone will soon redefine a new world with augmented reality. When Apple introduces its own augmented reality apps on the next iPhone, expect to see Apple redefine the smartphone market once more.

The future is Apple. Just watch what they do and be ready for massive change. Even if it’s just changing the way we take pictures.

The Coming Dual Camera Revolution

Posted on March 1, 2016 by admin Posted in Hardware, Software Leave a comment

What it is: Most smartphones have a decent camera, but future smartphones may offer dual cameras to capture 3D images.

At one time, smartphone manufacturers tried to tout the superiority of their products by offering cameras with more and more pixels. The theory was that the higher the pixel resolution, the better the image. Of course there wasn’t always a direct correlation with higher pixel resolution leading to better resolution, but higher resolution was an easy benchmark for people to use for comparing different cameras.

At a certain point, pixel resolution reached a state where there’s little difference between cameras any more because the images are sharp. What makes a difference now isn’t just resolution but how well the camera captures images in different light settings and how well the camera captures video as well.

So to keep the camera feature race going, tomorrow’s smartphones promise to offer dual cameras. The main idea for dual cameras is to capture different types of images that a single camera couldn’t do. A dual camera can offer optical zoom or capture 3D images, which would be impossible for a single camera to do without special lenses. Since few people want to strap a lens on their smartphone camera, dual cameras offer the advantage of keeping cameras small enough while still allowing new features.

Back in 2015, Apple purchased an Israeli camera company called LinX Imaging, which was working on imaging algorithms to improve picture quality without the need for large, protruding camera lenses from the back of an iPhone. Such dual camera setups will likely improve image quality without the pointlessness of increasing additional pixel resolution. Compare pictures taken with a single camera to one take with a dual camera and the difference should be as dramatic as yesterday’s digital pictures compared to today’s digital pictures.

Dual camera are the future of smartphone cameras, so it’s obvious Apple acquired LinX Imaging to improve the iPhone’s camera. Like the pixel resolution race, rivals will likely counter Apple’s dual camera technology with dual and quadruple cameras in a desperate attempt to show how they’re better. What matters isn’t the technical specifications but the final image that the camera captures. When you compare the pictures an iPhone can capture to the pictures that other smartphones can capture, you should see a stark, dramatic difference.