WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: this list of technology questions for 2022 feels like an answer to the question "what is digital disruption?".

We have reached a moment in time where old technologies - eCommerce or videoconferencing for example - are finally breaking into established industries. And the impact, at scale, cannot be found in technology but rather in every single industry it disrupts.

Very thoughtful piece, very good questions.

WHY IT MATTERS: a long read about tens of new developments in the works at Apple from a long time AR-VR industry watcher (he was very bullish about Google glasses back in the day). Nevertheless, the article is a good rundown of what the future of 3D in AR and VR may be. 

What I find great is that it goes beyond the classic AR-VR use cases and into a more fundamental trend of embedding digital into the real world in 3D. The examples of what is being developed in the labs is eye opening. But remember, this is R&D and will take years to become ubiquitous. 

WHY IT MATTERS: this long read from Facebook Tech provides insights into the potential of augmented reality.

WHY IT MATTERS: this post is a bit theoretical for someone not bathing in digital transformation all day as I do (mostly). It explores what could come next but more importantly stresses an important fact: we now have a new platform - the mobile phone - in our pockets that has the potential to transform our world. We have started to see this with eCommerce - physical retail stores become irrelevant and we can price compare from anywhere - but we have yet to see the real impact of eCommerce+mobile+cloud+5G. THIS is what I think about most days...

WHY IT MATTERS: augmented reality glasses will really be useful when they incorporate sensors that give you superhuman capabilities. Here these AR glasses equipped with thermosensors enable professionals to measure temperature at a distance, giving medical professionals, first respondents, tools to manage covid crisis. Watch the video to get a feel for what's possible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWjX4R0kak 

WHY IT MATTERS: augmented reality is looking for good use cases to make it a reality. Is this one of them?

WHY IT MATTERS: 5G telecom network promises to revolutionize many industries including retail. This report from Forrester presents use cases for 5G may bring but also puts those in context of what exists today and how fast the transformation will be.

WHY IT MATTERS: movie production is going digital real fast enabling distributed teams to work collaboratively. Will this mean that the production of hyper realistic fake videos will become easier to produce. One may think so :-(

WHY IT MATTERS: an amazing overview of technologies that are on the horizon. They range from bizarre - empathy design? - to the probable and useful - supply chain tech improvements. Read it.

WHY IT MATTERS: 360 pages of reference material for any strategic planning exercice.

WHY IT MATTERS:  the technology is impressive (just look at the video). The appeal to a large audience is proven, as it has been deployed to a large audience via android phone. I wonder if this is the only AR success out there and if there are popular AR business applications? I wrote about some that appear to be very niche (see AR category in the previous blog posts).

Is it the devices (Apple is rumoured to have glasses in development but target dates reach as far out as 2022)? If not what is it?

WHY IT MATTERS: everyone has experienced remote work in recent weeks. Zoom, Teams or Meet are fine if you work in an office. But out there in the fields, you need more. Enters AR, with the promise of hands free access to knowledge and télécommunications. This articles explains how AR is used to repair high end cars. Other applications include field service, architecture, etc. But be careful: the devices are bulky, with limited battery life and clunky software. For example, the company behind the AR glasses mentioned in the article has shut down a few years ago and magic leap is in dire straights. AR will remain an R&D experiment until Microsoft (most advanced today), Facebook, or Apple delivers useful glasses to the masses.

WHY IT MATTERS:  I saw and tried this technology at CES2020. Scenarios were industrial, like watching for heat loss in refrigerators. Boring. The device is bulky, slow, low res, etc. Not very convincing.

But with covid-19, the same tech has a new purpose: equipment for security personnel to identify people with fever. 

More interesting is that enhancing human vision with heat detection may become the killer app (pun intended) in this era of coronavirus scare. Imagine when Apple announces their iGlass with builtin heat sensor, "so that you can detect the infected colleagues in the boardroom". Crazy? Maybe, who knows...

WHY IT MATTERS: we do not see augmented reality in our daily lives - other than pokemon GO. I would expect AR to offer real solution in todays market of labour shortage and need to quickly rampup new employees into jobs. This solution and the video should show quite well what is possible with the technology today. I've tried it and it is quite impressive...

WHY IT MATTERS: always good to look beyond digital transformation into practical applications of the digital technologies. In particular, #2,6,7 in the list. Here an extract from the #7 highlights an application of blockchain which we've been tracking for a while as a disruptive digital technology that has received a lot of bad press with the bitcoin debacle but that has real future...

"Together, a pair of technologies could reduce both food poisoning and food waste. The first, an innovative application of blockchain technology (better known for managing virtual currency) is beginning to solve the traceability problem. Enhanced food packaging, meanwhile, is providing new ways to determine whether foods have been stored at proper temperatures and whether they might have begun to spoil."

WHY IT MATTERS: always in search of the killer app, looks like AR is actually something that you embed into something else (here to sample lipstick in Amazon retail, there to correct the eyes in Apple facetime) rather than something you do on its own (think pokemon GO). Hmmm... 

WHY IT MATTERS: want to know what augmented reality will look like in 10 or 20 years. Read this. But don't expect it to come together in the short-term, this is a *long* play

WHY IT MATTERS: it looks like the next time will be better with a focus on business applications rather than personal life. Listen to the video that Boeing has produced where they used Glass to help assembly of wire bundles in airplanes using heads-up display in Google Glass: impressive.

https://9to5google.com/2017/07/18/google-glass-enterprise-edition-officially-announced-with-multiple-upgrades-video/ 

I can see many more applications in transportation, order delivery, manufacturing, and maybe even retail where repairs or service require some form of step-by-step process to complete the work. Expect this in 2019.

WHY IT MATTERS: sales of furniture online is difficult because it is difficult to visualize the product in your environment. At least in the store you can view the product in a fake setting (think IKEA rooms you have to travel through during your shopping trip). Augmented Reality has been tried to enhance paper catalogues in the past but now Amazon is trying to leverage 3D directly within their online store to help you decide if that table and sofa go well together. This is obviously a test and the links below should provide you with additional food for thought on the matter.

Hubstair a startup that helps retailers do a bit what Amazon showroom does: https://www.hubstairs.com/ 

http://fmcs.digital/blog/canadian-tire-enhances-2016-paper-catalogue-via-augmentedreality/ 

http://fmcs.digital/blog/google-project-tango-demonstrates-how-to-buy-wayfair-furniture-in-augmentedreality-ecommerce-googleio/ 

http://fmcs.digital/blog/ikea-2014-catalog-can-view-and-place-furniture-in/ 

http://fmcs.digital/blog/augmented-reality-catalog-places-ikea-furniture-in/

http://fmcs.digital/blog/apple-next-killer-app-may-be-augmentedreality-ikea-demo-and-others-to-come/ 

WHY IT MATTERS: augmented reality has yet to make its way from gadget of pokemon GO to commercial and business settings. This product recently announced is part of this new generation of systems that use AR to improve manufacturing, quality, efficiency and training. A short video and more picture will give you ideas of what it can do.

WHY IT MATTERS: end user applications of AR are few and far between and this just proves that point. Look at the video of a wedding proposal in VR to prove the point even further. However, do not dismiss AR in the business context as I have seen demos of very useful fabrication with augmented reality that are very useful and convincing!

WHY IT MATTERS: A good summary of potential use cases and applications for key digital technologies that revolutionize business.

WHY IT MATTERS: the world economic forum keeps putting out great reports on the impact of digital transformation. I love the illustrations, great summary of key trends and their adoption. Must read.

WHY IT MATTERS: everyone has been expecting this device for a long time as may be as important as the iPhone launch was for smartphones. The glasses should allow its wearer to live in augmented reality. Those that have tried this before say it is A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. see this for example: https://twitter.com/BenedictEvans/status/943504687457755136