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AR enters the lives of most people through
                 phones and tablets. Vito Technology’s Star
                 Walk app  lets  a user point  their phone
                 or tablet camera at the sky and see the
                 names of stars and planets superimposed
                 on the image. One more app called Layar
                 uses the GPS location of the smartphone
                 and the  camera to  collect  information
                 about  the  user’s  surroundings.  The app
                 then shows information about the nearby                           Star Walk app
                 restaurants, stores and places of interest.
                                                   Disney Research developed a coloring book with AR. After the
                                                   user colors in a character in the book, he / she launches the app
                                                   on the device. The app uses the camera to detect the character
                                                   that was colored. The app also uses AR to recreate the character
                                                   in a 3D form on the screen.


                           Colouring book
                      Virtual Reality

                 In Virtual Reality, we create a virtual world that users can interact with. In this world, the user cannot
                 easily distinguish between what is real and what is virtual.

                 In both VR/AR, people must wear HMD (Head Mounted Displays)
                 or a VR Headset like Oculus Rift or the Google Cardboard. The
                 headset has two small video display screens one for each eye.
                 This creates the sense of three-dimension. You can also wear
                 headphones and gloves to experience VR and AR. The headphones
                 play stereophonic sound or even 3-D sound so that feel that you
                 are hearing sounds not only near the ears but also in various
                 places all around you. The gloves have sensors to collect data about your hand movements. This
                 equipment and the software give you interactive sensory feelings similar to real-world experiences.

                 Both AR and VR provide a total immersive experience to the user. These technologies find the greatest
                 use in entertainment, sports/gaming, close interactive eye to eye communication and aided shopping
                 experiences. Imagine sitting at home and browsing through a store in London where you can see and
                 feel the merchandise you wish to buy. This technology is also used in education. Imagine being a live
                 participant in a historical battle or a student of anatomy in medical school. You can really feel the
                 battle or touch the organs.
                 We must remember that the journey of VR started in the 90’s with the Nintendo Boy but it really did
                 not catch on. Now the case seems different as the means of experiencing AR/VR has become less
                 expensive. Also, there is a lot more on offer and we are all connected all the time at least via our
                 smartphones.





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