Sutherland on the Future of Augmented Reality Displays

In fact, at the big enterprise, we tested some of Sutherland's findings in real life retail.   But found it to mostly be too 'busy' for practical use.  Still worth further examination in a new era of adaptive interaction.  What would make it pop for the right cases? 

The metaverse offers challenges and possibilities for the future of the retail industry  by Omar H. Fares, The Conversation

In 1968, American computer scientist Ivan Sutherland predicted the future of augmented and virtual reality with his concept of the "Ultimate Display. The Ultimate Display relied on the kinetic depth effect to create two dimensional images that moved with its users, giving the illusion of a three-dimensional display.

While the concept of virtual reality only focuses on the creation of three-dimensional environments, the metaverse—a term coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 book Snow Crash—is a much broader concept that surpasses this.

While no official definition of the metaverse truly exists, science and technology reporter Matthew Sparkes provides a decent one. He defines the metaverse as "a shared online space that incorporates 3D graphics, either on a screen or in virtual reality."

Since the term was coined, the idea of the metaverse has remained more of a fictional concept than a scientific one. However, with technological advancements in recent years, the metaverse has become more tangible. Much of the recent hype happened after Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement to rename the Facebook brand to Meta. Many retailers have since jumped aboard the metaverse train.

Nike recently filed multiple trademarks allowing them to create and sell Nike shoes and apparel virtually. JP Morgan opened their first virtual bank branch. Samsung recreated their New York City flagship store in the virtual browser-based platform Decentraland, where they are launching new and creating events.

While many retailers are capitalizing on the metaverse early, there is still uncertainty about whether the metaverse really is the future of retailing or whether it will be a short-lived fad. ... (more that discusses this usefully)  ... 

The Need to become an Adaptive Expert

Been known for a long time, soft skills are important.  Expertise is by definition a means of changing to meet the context. 

Becoming an 'Adaptive' Expert
By Quinn Burke, Cinamon Sunrise Bailey
Communications of the ACM, September 2020, Vol. 63 No. 9, Pages 56-64
10.1145/3366171

In today's software development industry, jobs have become more cognitively complex and require workers who are more collaborative and creative in their problem-solving techniques.14 Employees also must be able to combine diverse specializations rather than just having routine knowledge in one domain.22 While the "hard" technical skills associated with programming remain a prerequisite for new hires, the industry also wants software developers who can readily demonstrate a range of so-called "soft" skills, including the capacity to communicate clearly, facilitate an open and inclusive workplace environment, and demonstrate the resiliency and flexibility to work on a range of tasks.24

Our own past research4 interviewing software industry hiring managers indicates that discerning such soft skills among new hires is an overwhelming priority across companies. The industry hiring managers and directors we interviewed over the past two years stated that while the capacity to code is a necessity for employment, these managers actually spend the vast majority of their recruitment time assessing a candidate's soft skills, as these suggest the presence of adaptive expertise (AE) and the candidate's potential for persistence and continual learning on the job.4 What was also intriguing to us in discussion with a wide range of hiring managers was their expressed willingness to consider graduates from alternative educational settings—in particular, so-called "coding bootcamps"—alongside more traditional hires from undergraduate computer science (CS) programs.4 While there is no single representative model of a coding bootcamp, these intense training programs extend, on average,14 weeks in duration, cost approximately $12,000, and emphasize teaching the programming skills that employers look for from new software developer hires (particularly front-end programming) while also enabling their graduates to grasp the most essential aspects of coding.6 Much of this expressed willingness to hire codecamp graduates stemmed directly back to hiring managers' perceptions that what boot-camp students may lack in rigorous CS knowledge is counterbalanced with greater work experience and the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to join a wider team while remaining resilient in the face of unexpected challenges.

Alphabet X Everyday Robot

Early tasks will have these robots sorting trash.   In practice a tough job, with vision and other sensory aspects.   Learning also means adapting, so the hardest thing might be to adapt to a changing stream.    Adapting is a form of maintenance, and every ML project I have worked has under designed that part of the problem.   So looking forward to more from this effort.

Alphabet X’s “Everyday Robot” project is making machines that learn as they go in Technology Review

The news: Alphabet X, the company’s early research and development division, has unveiled the Everyday Robot project, whose aim is to develop a “general-purpose learning robot.” The idea is to equip robots with cameras and complex machine-learning software, letting them observe the world around them and learn from it without needing to be taught every potential situation they may encounter.   ....  "

Smart Headlights: Adaptive Driving Beams

Good sensor and adaptive example.    Made me think of the problem more abstractly.  Shining and focusing on data more precisely?

Smart Headlights Inch Closer to American Roads
The New York Times   By Eric A. Taub

Adaptive driving beam (A.D.B.) headlights use sensors and cameras to continuously shape a vehicle's high beams to illuminate only areas without oncoming traffic, while sending light elsewhere down the road. Car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Toyota already offer this type of lighting, but ADB lamps currently are illegal in the U.S. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) currently requires vehicles to have distinct high and low beams, disallowing lights that can dynamically adjust. However, in October the NHTSA issued a notice of proposed rule-making that, if approved, would allow these headlamps in the U.S. In anticipation of this, Audi is already selling cars in the U.S. that feature “matrix-designed” LED headlamps, which need only a software upgrade to operate in an adaptive way.   ... "