Will AR enable the Metaverse? | Sunday Tech Revue

Could Augmented Reality (AR) enable the Metaverse?

Welcome dear Readers to the new year. I hope you had a terrific start into 2022.

Today’s Sunday Tech Revue is still wrapping up week 52 of last year. Included, as always, are the most exciting tech topics of the week.

Let’s start with the question of whether AR might give the metaverse its next big push as early as this year. 2022! (not spelled 2020, too ;-))

Will AR enable the Metaverse in 2022?

We all witnessed that the metaverse went big in 2021. But at the same time it’s still completely in its infancy.

However, on the other side big tech players have been working on the breakthrough of Augmented Reality for a few years now.

Google did not have success with Google Glass for various reasons. At the time, I tried one myself, but found the technology unsuitable.

Microsoft has been pursuing the Mixed Reality strategy under CEO Satya Nadella for quite some time and has the HoloLens up its sleeve. Let’s wait and see what Microsoft announces at its HoloLens Summit on January 26. In any case, Microsoft rather targets the Industrial Metaverse.

Unlike Apple, that aims for consumers. CEO Tim Cook is a big fan of AR and believes that this technology has greater potential than virtual reality (VR).

Why? Because VR isolates us, while AR enriches our environment in a natural way. At least according to Cook.

Now here comes the exciting part.

Various sources assume that Apple will come up with a big and revolutionary throw around the corner this year.

Apple didn’t make a big fuss with the first iPhone before, and yet the smartphone ushered in a whole new era. And made Apple the most valuable company in the world in the process.

I have every confidence that Apple will come out with the first truly mature AR glasses. And thus help the technology achieve a breakthrough.

If this technology were to become really widespread, it could mean a far-reaching revolution. It could even replace the smartphone. The glasses – voice-controlled and with a good enough display – would be a much more natural approach.

The real revolution, however, would be that we would all suddenly live in a digitally enriched world. The true metaverse would be born.

What do you think, will this happen? Let me know here or on Twitter.

But let us first have a look what else of interest happened this week.

Other Notable News

• Sony VR Headset: PlayStation will release its own Virtual Reality Headset VR 2 for the PS5 this year. It could benefit from Sony’s latest display technology which I have already mentioned in this article.
• AI Startup for the Metaverse: Synthetic data for the Metaverse: Meta acquires AI start-up Reverie
• NYC Times Square goes Metaverse: The Owner of the Times Square in New York, Jamestown, partners with Decentraland to bring its Digital Twin into the Metaverse. Keep that in mind for the next New Year’s celebration.
• IOTA and DEX: On the IOTA blog, an exciting article was published on the topic of decentralized crypto exchanges. I will deal with this in an article soon.
• Metaverse Talent War: As Meta ex Facebook has increasingly poached XR talent from Apple, the company has felt compelled to respond with lavish countermeasures. Relevant employees will receive share packages of $50,000 to $180,000 over the next 4 years.

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Fabian Schmidt

Fabian Schmidt is working as Head of Software Engineering in Manufacturing at SICK AG. He has an extensive IT background and has a faible for lean and agile organizations.

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