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The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

beyondthescreen.substack.com

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Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#11

Post by _a_a_a_ »

alexanderbz wrote: post #3
throwaway22032 wrote: post #2

In what sense would AR ads be inescapable? I have no plan to ever buy one of these headsets. If the streets of London became Minority Report-esque e.g. holographic loud projections, I can just move five or ten miles down the road to somewhere slightly less urban. It'd be significantly less expensive too. I mean, almost all tube station adverts are still just paper billboards, clearly something is preventing them from…

If AR glasses become the only device we have (no macs or iPhones), then these ads could be everywhere. Almost like modern tech billboards. Obviously you can just not buy the product, but when everyone else has one it will be hard to do that. Imagine not owning a smartphone right now (a quick example).

> Imagine not owning a smartphone right now

I don't, and life goes on as before

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#12

Post by pengaru »

causi wrote: post #7
alexanderbz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If AR glasses become the only device we have (no macs or iPhones), then these ads could be everywhere. Almost like modern tech billboards. Obviously you can just not buy the product, but when everyone else has one it will be hard to do that. Imagine not owning a smartphone right now (a quick example).

Why would adblock be less effective on AR glasses than it is on my phone?

adblock assumes a world where the web is an actual supported first-class medium of society

I think it's pretty clear where that trajectory is already headed. Proprietary Apps are not the web, and your adblock browser extensions are irrelevant when everything relevant is an App.

FTR this is not the future I want, it's just the future I see.

We need a new and better Mozilla analog to champion the web browser and push things forward to where the best way to develop the best Apps is the open Web. It's a huge problem when companies clearly vested in a closed-App walled-garden future dominate the browser market.

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#13

Post by crooked-v »

pengaru wrote: post #12
causi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would adblock be less effective on AR glasses than it is on my phone?

adblock assumes a world where the web is an actual supported first-class medium of society I think it's pretty clear where that trajectory is already headed. Proprietary Apps are not the web, and your adblock browser extensions are irrelevant when everything relevant is an App. FTR this is not the future I want, it's just the future I see. We need a new and better Mozilla analog to champion the web browser and push t…

If everything is an app, then just... don't download the apps that have bullshit ads.

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#14

Post by crooked-v »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #5
alexanderbz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If AR glasses become the only device we have (no macs or iPhones), then these ads could be everywhere. Almost like modern tech billboards. Obviously you can just not buy the product, but when everyone else has one it will be hard to do that. Imagine not owning a smartphone right now (a quick example).

You can count clicks with eye tracking. If you look at it then they know.

It's worth noting this kind of thing is why the Apple headset OS is designed specifically to keep eye tracking information to an OS-only layer, at least outside of traditional VR style full immersion apps.

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#16

Post by droopyEyelids »

_a_a_a_ wrote: post #10

Totally inescapable except by taking the damn thing off your face . This 'article' should not be on HN. Is alexanderbz the same Alexander who wrote it I wonder Edit: I guess it is.

The issue is that a technology becomes required for membership in society.

15 years ago you could reasonably tell someone "if you don't like it, then don't get a cell phone" but today that advice is no longer reasonable for cell phones. If AR ends up being a practical technology, we'll face the same issue in the future.

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#18

Post by throwaway22032 »

alexanderbz wrote: post #3
throwaway22032 wrote: post #2

In what sense would AR ads be inescapable? I have no plan to ever buy one of these headsets. If the streets of London became Minority Report-esque e.g. holographic loud projections, I can just move five or ten miles down the road to somewhere slightly less urban. It'd be significantly less expensive too. I mean, almost all tube station adverts are still just paper billboards, clearly something is preventing them from…

If AR glasses become the only device we have (no macs or iPhones), then these ads could be everywhere. Almost like modern tech billboards. Obviously you can just not buy the product, but when everyone else has one it will be hard to do that. Imagine not owning a smartphone right now (a quick example).

The idea that everyone is going to walk around outside constantly using a headset is not a version of reality that I ever think will happen.

There are enough people who like, enjoy breathing normal air and seeing plants.

Maybe if it becomes a brain implant at some point. I hope to be long gone before then.

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#19

Post by tiedieconderoga »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #2

In what sense would AR ads be inescapable? I have no plan to ever buy one of these headsets. If the streets of London became Minority Report-esque e.g. holographic loud projections, I can just move five or ten miles down the road to somewhere slightly less urban. It'd be significantly less expensive too. I mean, almost all tube station adverts are still just paper billboards, clearly something is preventing them from…

Just wait until you can't see a restaurant's menu, in-flight announcements, traffic advisories, etc.

The pandemic opened the door to making a piece of technology a mandatory requirement to participate in society. It used to be possible to live without a smartphone, now you really need to be able to read and produce QR codes¹.

Why couldn't the same thing happen with AR, considering how expensive it is for governments and companies to put displays and audio announcements everywhere?

¹: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/my-lif...

Re: The Wild (and Slightly Terrifying) Future of Inescapable AR Ads

#20

Post by tmchu »

pengaru wrote: post #12
causi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would adblock be less effective on AR glasses than it is on my phone?

adblock assumes a world where the web is an actual supported first-class medium of society I think it's pretty clear where that trajectory is already headed. Proprietary Apps are not the web, and your adblock browser extensions are irrelevant when everything relevant is an App. FTR this is not the future I want, it's just the future I see. We need a new and better Mozilla analog to champion the web browser and push t…

The trajectory seems toward exclusive AR apps is not that strong in my opinion. There are still billions of people out there without access to XR headset and have no incentive to spend upward of thousands of dollar for one yet.

We already have AR/VR (XR) being built into the current web (W3C webxr), and people building out Web based AR. Take a look at 8th Wall.

There will be a long transition period where webxr have the chance to shine and prevent the wall garden future of private apps.

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