What will become reality?

Tonight at the Mind Lab we looked at Virtual reality and Augmented Reality. I had a turn using goggles that were similar to the Oculus Rift and after a few seconds I felt nauseous. The concept of being able to look around in a 360 view was really interesting.  A fellow colleague looked at a 3D Skateboarding video link on You Tube.

Here is an explanation of what augmented reality and virtual reality is:

Augmented reality is the blending of virtual reality and real life, as developers can create images within applications that blend in with contents in the real world. With AR, users are able to interact with virtual contents in the real world, and are able to distinguish between the two.

Virtual reality is all about the creation of a virtual world that users can interact with. This virtual world should be designed in such a way that users would find it difficult to tell the difference from what is real and what is not. Furthermore, VR is usually achieved by the wearing of a VR helmet or goggles similar to the Oculus Rift.

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Difference and similarities

Both virtual reality and augmented reality are similar in the goal of immersing the user, though both systems to this in different ways. With AR, users continue to be in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects around them. With VR, the user is isolated from the real world while immersed in a world that is completely fabricated. As it stands, VR might work better for video games and social networking in a virtual environment, such as Second Life, or even PlayStation Home.

Google Glass is an interesting concept for me.  It hasn't taken off yet as the idea that you can video is definitely a problem in education and in the real world for privacy reasons. With technology being made more accessible the future using both Virtual and Augmented reality will definitely make things interesting. Finding a balance for living in the real world or a created world will definitely be a challenge.