Augmented reality: The next big thing?

There has been pretty significant buzz in the press recently about the rise of augmented reality and it seems to have captured many peoples imaginations. Indeed a lot of people have been talking about AR as being one of the stars of 2010. Already a number of brands have jumped on the bandwangon although the UK seems to be lagging behind the US in terms of utilising AR as a marketing tool.

I haven't personally be so enthused, the experience always seems to feel slightly underwhelming. Examples such as the one below are going some way to help change my mind. Love the integration of a game - its something which could have endless possibilities. It does leave me wondering just how much this cost to implement however.

The Perfect Sized Pocket Personal All In One Media Device

I read an interesting post by my CEO Danny Meadows-Klue today about the Amazon Kindle. It basically says that with the convergence of personal media devices the Kindle is likely to become redundant. I certainly agree with him and I think Amazon should milk their Purple Cow for all its worth then plough their money into other things. It also got me thinking about what the ideal size for an all-in-one device would be.

Back when mobile phones first went mainstream everyone believed they would continue to just get smaller and smaller. Of course this wasn't the case and as mobiles become much more than just phones they've started to get bigger again (iPhone, Blackberry etc). At some point a happy medium will be reached between being able to fit the thing in your pocket but also being able to surf the web and read a book on it without feeling restricted. I personally think their going to end up being more reminiscent of current notebook laptops, with a flip screen to make most of the phone's size and surface area. Maybe something that looks a little like this but thinner:

Microsoft peers into the future

An interesting peek at what life might look like in the future, mainly relating to touch screen technology.

It doesn't feel too far off does it. In a roundabout way it reminded me of this quote from Firefly, everyone favourite prematurely cancelled sci-fi tv series:

Zoë: Psychic?
Wash: Is that even remotely possible?
Mal: You tell me. You've been studying what they've done to her.
Simon: They've, uh, they've definitely altered the way she reacts to things. Even the way she perceives. But I'm not—
Wash: Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction.
Zoë: You live on a space ship, dear.