Comment by motters
17 years ago
Two main predictions:
Telerobots become commonplace. These will be not much more than a wheeled or tracked base with a pole and holder for a mobile phone. It allows you to visit people in their homes, visit companies or customers, provide some kinds of medical service and carry out inspections of remote sites.
Augmented reality becomes a major entertainment system. You wear something like an EyeTap device and 3D content is projected into your field of view. The device also contains a accelerometers (same as the Wii controllers) to monitor head pose. Highly compelling 3D content, including games, business charts, street directions, ads, and even "adult content" can be interacted with at any location using the headset, which is wirelessly linked to something like a mobile phone or laptop.
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2008/02/turn-old...
The second part of your post is actually the central thesis of William Gibsons 'Spook Country', he calls it 'locative art'.
We're already very much on the augmented reality trajectory if you look at the Johnny Chung Lee stuff, Google Goggles, Wii, etc. Once the original EyeTap patents lapse I think there will be a rush of consumer electronics companies implementing something very similar.
What's the big deal about the eyetap patents?
Augmented reality could also be used for political purposes. I imagine that as part of an election promotion campaign a photo-realistic avatar of the candidate sits opposite to you in your living room and says "look Bob, it's like this...". The avatar has access to your data and can completely customize the political message to your individual circumstances. This ultra personalized campaigning could be highly effective.