Augmented/Virtual Reality
With hardware costs lowering, processing power
increasing, and high-profile players such as Google and Facebook entering the
game, virtual reality’s day may have finally come. And the more widespread
acceptance of augmented reality apps in smartphones may make such technologies
an easier sell moving forward.
The recently announced Microsoft Mesh and its
competitors hope to capitalize on our new remote-work era. The concept combines
these “mixed-reality” technologies to create virtual shared spaces that
business teams can use to hold meetings or work on projects.
And Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the XPRIZE
Foundation, imagines this technology can revolutionize the customer experience
in retail. Customers could, for example, try clothes on a virtual avatar or sit
in their amphitheatre seats before making a purchase.