Lee Stott, Microsoft @lee_stott

AR is a method of looking at the world through a different lens.

Several current issues: connectivity, need for Internet and app store, device ownership, user interfaces. Either you build new interfaces for every devices, and people keep buying new devices, or you go for the lowest common denominator.

Commercial AR: Kogan AR app allows you to see what a piece of tech such as a television would look like in your room.

Games-based AR: finding objects in your house that increase your points in a game that you are playing.

Sensor-based AR: looks at input from device sensors. Examples include Photosynth and the Live Butterflies viewer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO43NOXgzyE that uses the iPhone gyroscope.  You can download a free toolkit to build these (although I didn’t get a link to that, and I can’t find it)

Geo-AR: takes real-world objects and adds information from the augmented world. It takes into account your location and your direction. Intel have a device that pulls information from your Facebook account and advertises directly to you when you walk into a shop such as Top Shop (again, I can’t track down a link to this, though Intel are obviously doing things with AR http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/11/intels-checklist-of-innovations-coming-the-next-18-months-on-the-pc/ )

Wii as AR – the wii is augmented reality in that you are doing things and the computer knows about it. Microsoft is about to launch Nike Plus Sports, which will allow you to get awards and recognition for games but also to build up stamina and fitness.

Physical-interaction-based AR. Two million sensors embedded in a table, which is thin like an LED screen and which can be mounted at any angle.

Microsoft is working with Guide Dogs for the Blind to transform the ways in which blind people get out and about. Good technology is almost invisible to the user – they view as part of their physicality. The work in this area is not solely for people with a visual impairment, these technologies have the potential to benefit everybody.

Cool video – well worth watching www.guidedogs.org.uk/inspiring-future-technologies

Personal AR – an evolution of personal AI, and of decision engines. Getting an AI agent to do things like make appointments for you and to make predictive suggestions.

AR Browser: Nokia City Lens is built into the Nokia Lumia phone. It knows where you are and can display local information http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMdNtVqYJIw

What lies ahead: more cultural heritage in digital form, AR more accessible to more people, people better equipped with tools to add creatively to the AR resources available, an exponential growth in mass cultural expression, and a cloud culture.

Graphene is making all this possible – it conducts electricity and can be embedded into any material http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene

Also important is near field communication (NFC), a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish communication when near each other or touching. This enables, for example, contactless payment.