Volkswagen's new ID.3 electric car is almost ready for its big reveal, but VW is already sharing details about the augmented reality dashboard the high-tech hatchback will feature. The ID.3 will be VW's first production vehicle based on its brand new MEB all-electric platform, but it turns out that won't be the only fresh gadgetry drivers can play with.
Holograms performing on stage in lieu of the unavailability of certain personalities isn't unheard of but, given the context, it isn't always considered appropriate either. That doesn't mean, however, that there isn't room for such holograms in the near future. Microsoft seems to have thought of a use case that takes advantage of its various technologies, like HoloLens and Azure, to create an exact replica of a live person, except that it speaks a different language from the original speaker.
Volkswagen's Golf is getting some R2-D2 action, with the Golf GTI Aurora concept debuting a new hologram control system. The floating 3D interface demands no special glasses or screens; instead, it simply shows a set of media controls that hover in mid-air.
We're inching ever closer to the time at which holograms are a real possibility for mobile smart devices. Only a few years ago I'd have completely disavowed the possibility that a mobile hologram were a reasonable pursuit of a major mobile tech company. Now, with what we've just seen in the last year - and what we're expecting in 2019 - the possibilities don't seem nearly so impossible.
Holographic car windshields that overlay augmented reality graphics atop the real world could be closer than you think, with Porsche, Hyundai, and others tapping a smart glass startup developing the transparent tech. WayRay has been working on holographic augmented reality head-up display technologies since 2012, developing a compact hologram projector that could change what you see through your car's windows.
Virtual and augmented reality have created the need for a niche type of content creation, one that requires truly immersive 3D experiences. But while there are already tools for that, a bottleneck is created when you have to put on cumbersome VR or AR headsets just to quickly test their work. Wouldn’t it be great if you could actually see those right on your desk immediately? That would require a holographic display and that is exactly what The Looking Glass is trying to offer.
Researchers have invented a way to print objects with light into thin air at the Dan Smalley Lab at Brigham Young University. These objects are better than those that've come before them. They do not require that the holographic images they create be stuck to one dimension. Instead, they use nearly invisible particles in the air to create objects that can be viewed from any angle. This is Star Wars made real.
Augmented Reality through 3D-projected images (holograms) are just one part of Samsung's newly revealed headset plans. Glasses, that is to say, or as Samsung called it, a "holographic see-through optical device." That's about as simple as they make it in the plans we're looking at - a new way to look at the world through augmented reality. This is not the first glasses or "glass" that we've seen from Samsung, but it is the first that makes augmented reality and holograms a part of its main objective.
Mainstream phone buyers may be obsessed with the iPhone 8 and Note 8 right now, but it's RED's Hydrogen that has enthusiasts fascinated. The modular Android smartphone may be $1,200 but, in RED terms, that's a drop in the ocean compared to its film cameras that have become the darlings of professional movie-makers. What's really intriguing, though, are RED's plans for holographic video content, a vision in which the Hydrogen One is just one part.
In the hopefully near future, you won't need hulking contraptions to create holograms nor special glasses to see them. All you are going to need is your phone. This promise of science fiction made real comes from a group of researchers at the RMIT University in Melboune, Australia who have developed what they claim is the world's thinnest hologram. If and when they manage to solve the engineering and manufacturing challenges of turning the prototype into an actual hardware component, then the age of consumer holograms could soon be just around the corner.
The advantage of basing your AI-powered personal assistant off an existing fictional character is that you have a ready-made visual representation of the assistant. When said fictional character takes the form of a hologram, it is almost begging to be given a real-world form. In that sense, it's almost surprising that there are so few implementations of Microsoft's Cortana as a fully functional hologram that, of course, can tell you the weather as well.
The race towards self-driving, autonomous cars seems to have gone quiet lately. And although they surfaced in news this week, they weren’t exactly seen in a very positive light. At CES 2017 next month, however, car makers have the chance to rekindle interest in this future technology, and BMW is definitely not going to pass up that chance. Combining everything it had learned from its HUD and gesture control features, the BMW HoloActive Touch will make drivers feel like wizards making magic in the air to control their cars.