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Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

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Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think AR will become a "thing"? Do people really want to run around wearing glasses/headsets all the time? If you'd ask me, this idea could just as well end the same way as 3D TV.

> Do people really want to run around wearing glasses/headsets all the time? Absolutely! If I could wear some regular looking glasses that could identify objects, give me directions, etc, I would totally wear them. I'm really good with faces, in that I can see someone after a long time and know that I know them, but I'm really bad with names, so I can never remember their name. If I could have glasses that looked in…

> that would help me be less awkward at social gatherings

And how do you think the people you are "talking" to feel when you're constantly occupied with your AR glasses? :)

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#163

ARKit. Apple has solved few real world AR problems, which were usually hard for an average app developer to get started with. But with ARKit, apple, is "trying" to do the heavy lifting in terms of plane and object recognition etc. Another thing is the platform of distribution. People will use AR apps, which will hit the app store after September like crazy. And these same people, will be primary audience for Apple he…

Yeah. It's ARKit. A thousand times over.

For some time I thought the convergence of modern computer vision (including server-side machine learning based object discrimination) and mobile cameras had the potential to create tech indistinguishable from magic. And with Pokemon Go there was a glimpse at the possible consumer demand for the right combination of user interface and compelling content or use case.

But now consider something like "Medical Mixed Reality" following an exponential law of growth into the coming decades. Imagine travelling virtually inside the human body to excise the moribund sections of a liver in vivo with the help of a robotic laser operating on a patient on another continent.

Multiply the potential across verticals. And across platforms like Microsoft HoloLens, Google Tango, MagicLeap and you begin to see how the future will be "mixed"!

Augmented Reality's A-ha Moment:

http://www.madewitharkit.com/post/163454867118/augmented-rea...

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#164
post #77
post #23

I am excited about both WebGL & Web assembly. Although both of these have been around for a few years, we are yet to see a general adaptation of these. (might be due to inconsistent browser support). Now with the rise of VR, 3d Printing, powerful GPUs these two technologies are bound to open new avenues of an immersive browsing experience. I imagine that in next few years we would have 1- Webs stores, that show a vir…

I've been interested in learning WebGL but have been hesitant to take the time to learn it because it didn't seem like a skill companies would hire for. Do you think it will become a marketable skill in the future?

WebGL is very similar to OpenGL ES. In general, having basic knowledge of OpenGL and the rendering pipeline is always a good thing. But that alone won't provide a lot of value to a company.

Start out with some tutorials and learn the basics, but keep in mind, that there are frameworks like three.js [1], which abstract away all the nitty-gritty details, like setting up a render context, initialize texture buffers or load 3d models from known formats. By using a framework you will save a lot of time and you can concentrate on the fun stuff.

But even three.js can be kind of low-level, because depending on what you want to achieve, you still need more 'boilerplate'. If you want to write a game, you need stuff like a ui framework within the render context, a physics engine, particle generators, pathfinding etc etc. If you need this, maybe take a look at Unity [2] or Unreal Engine [3], which provide said extensions and alot more. Those engines provide ways to build applications for different targets like direct3d, opengl or webgl, so you basically can cover browsers, pc's and mobile platforms with the same codebase which is truly awesome. But be prepared for a step learning curve (but it's fun!).

When you start working on stuff like this, you realize, that those frameworks and game engines are just tools. In the end, you need to combine those tools with some kind of domain knowledge, like art, game design, architecture, interface design or something similar to increase chances finding a job in such a sector.

It's alot to ask for, but you need to start somewhere. And if it doesn't work out, you maybe find a new cool hobby and gain programming and design experience on the way.

[1] https://threejs.org/ [2] https://unity3d.com [3] https://www.unrealengine.com

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#166

ARKit. Apple has solved few real world AR problems, which were usually hard for an average app developer to get started with. But with ARKit, apple, is "trying" to do the heavy lifting in terms of plane and object recognition etc. Another thing is the platform of distribution. People will use AR apps, which will hit the app store after September like crazy. And these same people, will be primary audience for Apple he…

Why do you think AR will become a "thing"? Do people really want to run around wearing glasses/headsets all the time? If you'd ask me, this idea could just as well end the same way as 3D TV.

ARKit what these guys are talking about isn't even that. Its just holding up your phone. This functionality has been around forever. From Worldlens, to Yelp to the Ikea app. I don't know why all of the sudden its considered "Around the corner"

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#167

Still waiting for the day when I can buy a computer wth a full color e-paper display and sit out in the sunlight to work.

So, fast refresh e-paper displays?

I'd like a very large, performant-enough display for solely for editing in vi. Even that is still just a dream, as far as I can tell.

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#168
I am suprised applications of blockchain outside cryptocurrency is not higher on this list. For example:

* Election fraud and recounts can become a thing of the past * Everything that requires a contract could become completely electronic (the mortgage industry alone is probably a multi-billion dollar opportunity)

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#169
post #165

Another javascript framework, of course.

This may be facetious but in fact it's true.

JavaScript needs a fresh wave of tools and improvements in the JavaScript language.

This time the priority has to be zero configuration and simplicity.

Re: Ask HN: What tech that's right around the corner are you most excited about?

#170
Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN)

GAN is a type of Deep Learning Network which can generate data after training.

Applications

- Text to image synthesis (Scripts to Movie ?) (https://github.com/reedscot/icml2016)

- Generation of Game Environments

- Image to Image conversion (https://github.com/junyanz/CycleGAN)

- 2d to 3d conversion

I think in future we will have highly creative deep learning systems, which will make ar/vr/movie/game creation faster and cheaper.

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