Augmented Reality - My Dream for holograms!

Everyone in the world - good news!
In contrast to my last post, which may have left you wondering if the Mayans were right, this post sees me, and you too, giddy with excitement over a technological marvel that I have just witnessed.
It is called AR - Augmented Reality.

As I sat here, enjoying my first ever worry-free day off at Ayers Rock Resort, I searched the internet for news on the anticipated release date of the new Nintendo 3DS. This is a gaming system (among many other functions) that succeeds the Nintendo DS, and has glasses-free 3D visual technology.

In fact, the 3DS has tons and tons of new and amazing technology, all of which is trademark for Nintendo's way of doing things the right way (even if the rest of the world doesn't agree at the time). For example, after years of palying 2D handheld games with sprites for visuals, we now have fully rendered 3D characters, environments, and graphics that will make the Nintendo64 weep with shame and envy.
After almost two years of sitting in cinemas and donning clunky, expensive 3D glasses to watch Avatar (were there any other 3D movies worth watching??), we can simply open the 3DS, turn it on, and have 3D graphics instantly.

I could go on all week and longer about the 3DS, and once I get my hands on one, I just might, but for now I want to share with you the latest techno-marvel that I only discovered today.

Augmented Reality. As the name suggests, it is similar to Virtual Reality. However, VR means creating an entirely new world inside the confines of a computer system and screen. VR means relying 100% upon the graphics power of the machine you are using. VR often has meant donning large, clunky, and at times migraine-inducing headgear in order to "enjoy" the world properly. Nintendo's own "Virtual Boy" was a catastrophic failure in the market because the technology was not developed enough yet, and it made people sick (this was back in the 80s, though..)
VR, really, was just a stepping stone. Just like 3D TVs today are a stepping stone, and anyone who buys one has rocks in their head.

AR is all about using existing reality, and, for now, super-imposing virtually realistic, and unrealistic, things all over it. "But this has been done!" I hear you say. Since Superman and Start Wars, super-imposing has been possible and done in Hollywood, and to great effect. This is true. However, the sort of super-imposing done in movies requires many computers, large budgets, and up to years of time and patience. AR allows the common techie to do it in his own living room, for practically nothing (in relative cost terms).

Go on YouTube, and type in "Augmented Reality" - you'll find some incredible videos showing the technology. And I think that, like me, you will be filled with that notion of almost unlimited potential for the technology.
Watch the Nintendo 3DS videos that display AR - using the reference-marker cards that AR is based on, a person can use their dining room table as a backdrop for a huge battle with a dragon, or literally turn their bed into a pool table.

AR utilises the real world to help itself create virtual worlds. 3D graphics technology has had over a decade on the market to improve itself to the point of photo-realism, and now that photo-realistic graphics world can be super-imposed upon the real world. It is, essentially, a mix of the real and the computer-generated, and it is amazing!

For now, AR only exists inside the screen of the Nintendo 3DS, or whatever other computer you are running it on at the time. But I urge you to think about that potential, imagine those possibilities.

Just as we have gone from the Wright Bros. to space flight, with millions of little stepping stones along the way (tri-planes, bi-planes, mono-planes, jet engines, jumbo-craft, rockets, etc. etc.) it is no less realistic to imagine that AR is the next major stepping stone on the road to full-blown, Star Wars-style holographic technology. By combining AR with the 3D imagery of the Nintendo 3DS, I predict that the Star Wars dream will already come true, within the confines of the screen. All that is left to do is to perfect projection technology so that light can be formed into solid-looking objects in the air, sans screen. I know that there is a factory in Japan working on motion-sensing technology right now that will allow users to interact, fully interact, with computer generated objects just by "touching" them, and that is without any of the VR gloves and goggles of the 1980s.

Once projection technology is developed just a little more, we will have my dream of Star Wars holograms. Now, imagine THAT!
Ono Skype, not only will you be able to video-chat with your family ont he toher side of the world, but your mother's head could actually be floating, in 3D space, above your screen. When you battle in MMORPG games, you could actually use your fists, and hey, maybe you'd get some real exercise, too!
The technology already exists to allow a traveller to hold up their smart phone and pan across certain cityscapes, and be flagged with info and distance markers. This means that I could travel to Amsterdam (where it is already in place), know nothing about the city, hold my phone to the horizon, and learn exactly where I want to go. I can touch the screen and be informed of the history of a building, pricing of a restaurant or hotel, or know where a road is going to lead me. The entire world, the REAL world, will suddenly become my home, in the most literal way possible to date.

I see two good things in this:
Firstly, no more getting lost and placing oneself in potentially life-threatening situations.
Secondly, it will have one of those totally unexpected effects (as often occurs with new tech), that will in this case see us homonids begin to get up, switch off the screens, go outside, and actually interact with the REAL WORLD around us. Exercise as you literally walk to the most interesting hologram marker you see. It will get us off our arses.

There is slight cause for concern with regards to a decline in adventurism - with more people going out to explore their holographically interactive world they might seem to lose their sense of adventure, of curiosity to discover and learna bout parts of the world the old-fashioned way. To this I say two things again:
1) The Developed World has already lost its sense of adventure, as we all sit in front of our screens and blog and facebook and poke and twitter. I see no loss from that, only great potential for improvement!
2) Like all technology since the dawn of tech, and until the Terminators take us over, your Nintendo 3DS and your smart phones all still have "OFF" switches. Switch it off and go for a walk the old fashioned way. You will always feel more human and alive when you do that.

I can't wait for my 3DS. Not sure when I am going to get my hands on it, but when I do it'll be Legend of Zelda Heaven, followed by AR tinkering and mind-opening experiences of potential for the future.

From The Tominator.

2011 - The Catastrophic Year So Far

Peoples,
Well, what can I say? It is only the 22nd of March, but 2011 has been an eventful year already!
In the personal realm, I've had many ups and downs and secret movements. But for now, I will focus on the Rest of the World:

In Australia, we've had floods, cyclones, storms and heatwaves. In Queensland, it all began in January with the floods in Toowoomba and just north of Brisbane. Those floods moved into Brisbane itself soon enough. In tropical Queensland, as well as expected heavy rainfall, there was unexpected flooding, and Tropical Cyclone "Yasi" - the largest tropical cyclone to ever hit Australia (category 5 of course).
Closer to home for me, out here at Ayers Rock, in the middle of the Australian desert, there has been more rain in the last three months than the average annual rainfall figures. And the rain has been coming since September last year! The "Red Centre" of Australia is remarkably green right now!
Also, Cyclone Yasi was so massive that the bulk of its storms managed to travel all the way across the continent and hit us with incredible rainfall here, in the middle of the desert. I was working outside on many of those days, so I recall it well!

In Melbourne, there have been more floods, though not reported as much as Brisbane's were in February, because of all the other shitstorms that have ravaged the world.

A massive earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, and has decimated that city. I have never taken the opportunity to visit New Zealand, but as our cousins of all Australians, they will get our full support and help.

This year, up to FIVE middle-eastern/north-African coutnries have declared revolution, starting with Tunisia, then Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, and briefly in Algeria, too. All are countries dominated and controlled by autocratic dictators or kings. The really funny thing, from an historian's perspective, is that none of these revolutions (with calls for democratic reforms) have come about as the result of American influence.

The United States of America has continued its steady slide into uselessness, as its war in Afghanistan continues with no end in sight, and its economy fails more and more.

Libya currently occupies the news this day, along with one other issue I will mention shortly. Libya is interesting for me because last year I documented with a class in Mito the audacity of the British government and the USA in extending the olive branch to the dictator of Libya, Moammar Gadhaffi. Gadhaffi, like all crazy dictators, rose to power with military support, then grew complacent over the decades. Now he parades around in multi-coloured moomoos, sleeps in an opulent "Bedouin" tent, and issues blatantly ambiguous calls for war and peace with the "West".
After several weeks of allowing Gadhaffi to slaughter his own people, the European powers and the UN have finally decided that they have a conscience, and began an air-strike campaign to level the playing field between Gadhaffi and the rebels who oppose him. I have MUCH MUCH MUCH more to say about this, but I will say it in another post.

Finally, and most wary for my heart, is the crisis in Japan.

On March 11, a date that was already significant for me (in a very good way, for personal reasons), a terrible natural disaster occurred in Japan.

An earthquake, magnitude 9.0, struck just off the coast of Sendai. A tsunami followed, and practically erased Sendai city off the map. I actually went to Sendai only last year, almost this time last year, so when I saw the images on the news, I felt different to any other catastrophe I'd seen in a while.
And as if earthquake and tsunami, tearing down buildings and homes and depositing boats hundreds of metres inland, and ripping up freeeways wasn't enough -- Japan has faced a third prong in its catastrophes: nuclear meltdown.

The earthquake ruptured power lines to the Fukushima nuclear reactor (a really, really BIG and important reactor for north-east Japan's grid). Power generation was cut, and the east half of the country has to go on electricity rations. With power to the plant cut, cooling and failsafe systems also gave out, and now, for the last week, the Japanese have been locking themselves away inside gynasiums and their own houses in fear of radiation leaks.
My ex-girlfriend is among the many trapped indoors right now, and all I really want is to bring her here, a place where there are no nuclear reactors, no earthquakes, no tsunamis.

It's starting to look like the Red Centre of the Australian desert is the safest place to be right
now, in the entire world!

Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, nuclear meltdowns, civil war and revolution - 2011 is certainly a dangerous year.
Everyone, PLEASE take care of yourselves, and please stay alive! I want to speak to all of you again this time next year!

Let's just make it to 2012! The we can all talk about our experiences, and recover together.

From The Tominator.

Debt and Credit: The Other Side of the Coin

DEBT made the British Empire

In the 1700s, the British did not invent the idea of credit, but rather stole it off the Dutch, who already had an economic empire with the Dutch East India Company. Using the effective idea of "buy now, pay later", the British were able to build ships and arm their world-renowned fleets very quickly.
The French, at the same time did not take to the idea of credit. France, once a great power, top of the heap in Imperial Europe, is the best contrast for Britain's use of credit. As the French king, and then republic, did things the old way, they were forced to first raise the gold and francs to buy a ship or a gunboat, and then build it. In this way, sometimes only one ship was being built at a time.
The British, however, used credit: with the promise, backed by the Parliament and by the Crown, that worker's wages and material costs would be payed eventually, or "at a later date", shipyards across Britain's coastline were able to work on and complete several ships at once.
While the French would grunt out one, maybe two ships at a time, with long pauses in production in between (as they raised more funds), the British were able to churn out antire fleets in the same time. History has proven to us that this British modus operandi was the smarter course to take.

Why?

At the time of the discovery and colonisation of the New World, Britain was a heavyweight in Europe (after Elizabeth II), and it needed ships to guard its new enterprises. Protecting farms and plantations in Africa and America, the home ports within visual range of the coast of France - all Britain's biggest problems were best solved by naval superiority. The general parity between French and British industry at the time meant that if they both followed the same production principles, they would both end up building the same amount of ships, in the same amount fo time, and sned them out to smash each other to bits. The relative sizes of their navies would never really change, and it could easily turn into a never-ending naval arms race.

The advent of Credit, however, gave Britain the production advantage it needed. Production soared, ships were pumped out, and numerical superiority was achieved.

"Buy now, Pay later".

British physical naval superiority was established, but at great cost. The delayed payment (ie credit) on a fleet of warships is a steep payment, and the British government had pledged to pay its debts. With just the resources available on the British Isles, Britain could never have hoped to repay its debts to the (neutral) foreign and domestic creditors. In fact, Britain's claims on being good for the money were rather baseless in this regard. However, rich people and neutral governments still willingly gave over large amounts of money. They did it because the British Crown, and the British Government, made realistic and believeable pledges for their use of the money - to colonise the New World, and to defend the interests of the creditors. In this way, the creditors of Britain were in fact making a significant investment in the future of the Empire. Of course, at the start of it all, no-one could have really known how powerful the British Empire would become. Hindsight shows us that it was a good investment, but we humans never have the benefit of hindsight before the fact. We can really only rely on foresight, and that is a rare attribute to find in a person.

At the time, Britain did seem to have some real foresight. Initial losses in North America such as Roanoke occurred before credit really took root, but the resources and sheer potential of future American colonies was too great to resist.
We know how it turned out. Britain colonised the eastern side of North America, and the British people in those colonies eventually grew so profitable in their own right that they sought independence from Britain and to create their own state (the modern USA).

But in the meantime, when all the ships were being built, and the resources of America were yet to be exploited, Britain racked up an enormous National Debt. In fact, ballpark figures put Britain's National Debt in the range of millions of pounds! This number would be barely fathomable in the 18th century, but there it was!

Bottomless Debt?

If Britain racked up a debt into the millions, how could it still keep creditors interested?
The answer is simple: repayments. Debt repayments, as a key constituent of Debt, are always paid in installments. Obviously, to pay the entire sum owed all at once would negate the very need for taking the debt out in the first place. The debt on a loan is traditionally paid in installments, and each instalment brings with it a level of interest, based on the amount first loaned, and the time planned to be taken in paying it all back. "Interest" is the currency amount that adds on to the original loaned amount, and it means that the Creditor, by the end of all the repayments, actually makes a profit on the amount he originally loaned out.

Britain's exploits in the New World, funded by credit, were rich and profitable. Debts were payed back, with interest, in a timely manner. In this way, the Creditors of the British Empire found that lending money was a very profitable undertaking. All of this in spite of the phenomenal figure that was the National Debt.

The ability to pay back debts in a timely manner (usually the timeframe is agreed upon in advance), and meet interest add-ons, is called a "credit-rating". Britain's rich exploits, which were funded by initial loans, allowed the Empire to maintain a good credit-rating, which encouraged further investment in more of the Empire's exploits. As you can see, rather than creating a one-way-in, one-way-out debt situation, and growing exceedingly nervous about its ablity to pay, Britain instead created a cyclical, self-nourishing economy, based on large amounts of credit and good credit-ratings. The Empire itself began to loan out to its colonies once they had reached strong self-sufficiency, and within itself Britain created an ongoing, free-moving, and growing economy. No wonder they took over the world.

There are intrinsic cultural aspects to Britain's actions, exploits, and attitude regarding debt, but this should have its own essay.

Britain's example may seem, from afar, to be one of bottomless, endless debt. But by no means was the British Empire in any trouble. Old debts were repaid, andnew ones were invested. Creditors were always happy to come back for more, and ultimately everybody won.

That is the historical example of the birth of Credit, and why it can be a good thing.