Is this Augmented Reality T-Shirt a Gimmick or is it Your Future?
Some things are a gimmick. They were created to be a gimmick and if they were lucky or ‘got hot’ at the right moment in time they emerged as a pop-culture hit. Is there any better example in recent history than the Pet Rock? It was a rock that had some clever marketing minds behind it and though it surely made a good conversation piece in its heyday, it was just a well-played out gimmick.
Then there’s this:
What you just watched above was from the team at Amutsu and though you might be thinking this t-shirt (and accompanying mobile app) is nothing more than Pet Rock 2.0, there is one gigantic reason you are incorrect. See below.
If you are unaware of who that is and why he matters, here’s the brief skinny. That’s Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google and he’s wearing Google’s Project Glass or Google Glass (product name).
Google sponsors the 2013 TopCoder Open
That device is likely the next progression in our march toward the singularity between humans and machines. It is likely what eventually replaces the mobile device and because of its purpose (to work in sync with our physical surroundings) the genre of augmented reality applications and ways in which it is applied is about to explode.
When will you know this soon to be augmented future has truly arrived? Well much like Facebook, when your mother is using it. [tweet this]
But you are an innovator. You are creating new user experiences, digital assets, and shepherding new technologies to the masses. As we’ve recently discussed, 2013 is the Year of the Sensor and if you are paying attention you realize the physical world is steadily gaining a layer of digital skin. This layer is your new platform to create. That augmented reality t-shirt is no “pet rock”, rather, it’s your fair warning of what is coming and your invitation to innovate.
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