Post contributed by Peter Ludolph As technology has advanced, face-to-face communication has, for many people, diminished. We instead find ourselves using things like Facebook Messenger, text messaging, and e-mail as our primary means of communication. However, as we continue to advance, we can also see that face-to-face virtual communication sits at the forefront of the next technological revolution in communication. Products like Google Glass, Oculus, and today's feature, Microsoft HoloLens, will be leading the charge in this new form of communication, a form that has been anticipated for decades and may finally come to fruition. The three superpowers of wearable virtual technology have been hard at work developing their products. Google, with its Glass technology, has tried to make a wearable lens that can take the practicalities of technology on phones and computers and cram it all into a wearable and physically cooperative headset, in the form of glasses. Google hopes that Google Glass is something that a person can interact with and use in practically any setting. Oculus has a product called the Oculus Rift, and has tried to create a virtual reality headset primarily used for gaming. However, Oculus has another product, the Gear VR, that can be coupled with newer Samsung phones to create a virtual reality experience using only the phone. Lastly, Microsoft has recently developed the HoloLens, which in some ways bridges the gap between Google Glass and Oculus Rift. The Microsoft HoloLens functions as both a device for work and play. It has more advanced optics than Google Glass and a more sleek design than Oculus Rift. With a technology like Microsoft HoloLens, the world of digital communication that we experience now will change drastically. It is a transition from an onscreen experience to one in which we are immersed. The digital experience will move beyond the boundaries of a screen and a device; instead, it will be an experience in which we are physically active participants. People will interact with their documents with a wave on an arm. A person will be able to set up a virtual living room and have their physical environment become intertwined with a digital environment. A teacher will be able to create drawings in mid-air to students in order to help visualize a concept. The potential of this product is staggering, so the anticipation is high. It is yet to be seen whether this technology can live up to its hype. Previous technology such as Google Glass at first seemed revolutionary. However, after some time it was deemed by many users to be impractical. The HoloLens is still largely in its developmental stages, with the first prototypes being released in early 2016. In virtual imaging technology, we are only just now reaching the edge of the technological sophistication that is needed for this sort of product to exist. With companies like Microsoft and Google at the forefront of development, there are sure to be some interesting developments in the coming years. As this technology becomes more prominent, I think that we will see a shift in how we communicate. Through these systems we will communicate through a different digital perspective that is tied much more closely to our natural person-to-person conversation style. Not only will our communication change from person-to-person with this technology; we will also change how we communicate with digital technology and computerized systems. There will be a much more collaborative system linking humans and their technology as we see the virtual world take shape. Below are Links to the Oculus Rift, Google Glass, and Microsoft HoloLens websites. https://www.oculus.com/en-us/ https://www.google.com/glass/start/ https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us
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