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TECHNOLOGY Wednesday 30 august 2017

Are consumers ready to give augmented reality a try?

By ANICK JESDANUN will it be far enough from that everyone must have,
AP Technology Writer other pieces of furniture for the way smartphones
NEW YORK (AP) — You someone to walk through? have become essential for
might have gotten a taste With AR, you can go to navigation and everyday
of “augmented reality,” your living room or bed- snapshots.
the blending of the virtual room and add an item Rather, people will discov-
and physical worlds, as you you’re thinking of buying. er AR over time, perhaps a
chased on-screen mon- The phone maps out the few years. Someone reno-
sters at real-world land- dimensions of your room vating or moving might dis-
marks in last year’s gaming and scales the virtual item cover the furniture apps.
sensation, “Pokemon Go.” automatically; there’s no New parents might discov-
Upcoming augmented re- need to pull out a tape er educational apps. Those
ality apps will follow that measure. The online furnish- people might then go on
same principle of superim- ing store Wayfair has the to discover more AR apps
posing virtual images over WayfairView for Android to try out. But just hearing
real-life settings. That could phones, while Ikea is com- that AR is available might
let you see how furniture ing out with one for Apple not be enough for some-
will look in your real living devices. Wayfair says it’s one to check it out.
room before you buy it, for exploring bringing the app Consider mobile payments.
instance. to iPhones and iPads, too. Most phones now have
While “Pokemon Go” didn’t As for whimsical, Holo for This photo provided by Wayfair shows screenshots demonstrat- the capability, but people
ing WayfairView for Tango-enabled Android phones, allowing a
require special hardware or Android lets you pose next user to superimpose virtual images over real-life settings. still tend to pull out plastic
software, more advanced to virtual tigers and cartoon Associated Press when shopping. There’s no
AR apps will. Google and characters. For iPhones doubt more people are us-
Apple are both develop- and iPads, the Food Net- Put on the headset, and friends look on the phone ing mobile payments and
ing technology to enable work will let you add frost- you shut out everyone else screen with you. more retailers are accept-
that. Google’s AR technol- ing and sprinkles to virtual around you. Part of the ap- ___ ing them, but it’s far from
ogy is already on Android cupcakes. You can also peal of “Pokemon Go” was BEING AVAILABLE VS. BE- commonplace.
phones from Lenovo and add balloons and eyes the ability to run into strang- ING USED Expect augmented reality
Asus. On Tuesday, Google — who does that? — and ers who were also playing. While AR shows more to also take time to take
announced plans to bring share creations on social Augmented reality can be promise than VR, there off.q
AR to even more phones, media. a shared experience, as has yet to be a “killer app”
including Samsung’s popu- Games and education
lar S8 and Google’s own are also popular catego- Apple CEO Tim Cook reaps $89.6M
Pixel, though it didn’t give ries. On Apple devices, a
ising an update by the end Walking Dead” creates windfall from long-term deal
companion to AMC’s “The
a timetable beyond prom-
of the year. zombies alongside real
As a result, Apple might people for you to shoot. On SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — 280,000 shares for simply
pull ahead as it extends AR Android, apps being built Apple CEO Tim Cook has staying on the job.
to all recent iPhones and for classrooms will let stu- collected $89.6 million as Apple set aside more than
iPads in a software update dents explore the solar sys- part of a 10-year deal that 291,000 shares sold for $46.4
expected next month, iOS tem, volcanoes and more. he signed as an incentive million to cover Cook’s tax
11. Hundreds of millions of ___ to keep the iPhone maker bill.
AR-ready devices will sud- BEYOND VIRTUAL REALITY at the forefront of the tech- The stock package award-
denly be in the hands of Virtual reality is a technol- nology industry after he ed to Cook in 2011 was
consumers. ogy that immerses you in a took over the reins in 2011 originally valued at $376
But how many are ready to different world, rather than from company co-founder million,
give AR a try? trying to supplement the Steve Jobs. but is now worth much
___ real world with virtual im- The windfall detailed in a more because Apple
EARLY APPLICATIONS ages, as AR does. VR was Monday regulatory flowed shares have increased by
Of the dozen or so apps de- supposed to be the next from 560,000 Apple shares six-fold since he signed the
moed recently for Android big thing, but the appeal sold during the past week. deal.
and iPhones, the ones has been limited outside of Cook received half the Cook is still in line to receive In this Monday, June 5, 2017,
showing the most promise games and industrial ap- award because Apple’s 2.94 million shares of Ap- file photo, Apple CEO Tim
are furniture apps . plications. You need spe- stock delivered sharehold- ple stock currently valued Cook speaks during an an-
From a catalog or a web- cial headsets, which might er returns in the top third of at $479 million, based on nouncement of new products
at the Apple Worldwide De-
site, it’s hard to tell whether make you dizzy if you wear the Standard & Poor’s 500 Tuesday’s closing price of velopers Conference in San
a sofa or a bed will actually one too long. index during the past three $162.91. q Jose, Calif.
fit in your room. Even if it fits, And VR isn’t very social. years. He got the other Associated Press