Facilitate - Disruptive influences

Facilitate magazine

Overview

Given that the longterm impact of the smartphone is still to be fully documented – that ubiquitous device still evolving our ideas of what instant internet access can do for us – it may seem a bit early to be unnerved at Apple’s latest exercise in popularising an emerging technology.

Nevertheless, the company’s entry into the augmented reality space, with its absurdly priced headset, has had me thinking. In the weeks after release, one enterprising individual had mapped out a floor space with bright yellow digital markers; pass over it with your vacuum cleaner and those yellow markers disappear (thus ending the very notion of ‘you’ve missed a bit’). Another bright spark showed off a three dimensional miniaturised motor racing circuit in his front room that allowed you to walk the circuit and view a race from any angle; a startlingly comprehensive digital twin.