Augmented reality - do we need technology to make reality better?

Augmented reality is not a new concept by any means - it has just evolved and is more accessible to the masses. For those of you who drive a Toyota Prius, you will have already experienced the rear view parking camera that helps you identify the correct angle to back into a space by overlaying digital angled lines over the camera view.

This is what augmented reality is - taking what we see through our own eyes and adding a digital layer to enrich our experience or change the way in which we do things.

Is there anything wrong with this? Well no, not essentially, but it does make life far too easy for us. Let's take for example layar, a mobile app that enables you to access a range of AR tools, some of which include a restaurant finder. This works by tracking your exact location via your phone's GPS and then layering digital information through your phones camera. This enables the user to use their phone on the camera to navigate to local restaurants as they are walking along using their camera as a viewfinder. See example below that I have taken from my desk - it shows that the nearest restaurant in that exact direction is a rather nice local Indian.

Don't get me wrong this is really cool, but what ever happened to the old fashioned method of stumbling upon a great restaurant by accident. What about when you are on holiday and you try to find the nearest bureau du change - ok at the time it is annoying having to march the streets to find it without AR or a map, but 2 weeks down the line it will make an amusing holiday anecdote.

In my view I think the technology is incredibly impressive, but I think we need to keep it at arms length to allow us to develop the skills and experiences we require as humans such as navigation and being spontaneous.

However, I have come across one really cool tool that enables you to create your own augmented reality masterpieces - called Auras.

A developer under the name of Aurasma has developed a fantastic app that enables you to add digital layers eg. pictures, moving images or animations to any 2D or static image. I can see a real use for this in enhancing marketing materials. My colleague is currently developing an Aura that enables users to scan an image of a person in our marketing literature, which then comes to life as a talking head to provide more depth to the information provided in print.

I would suggest if you have some spare time, have a play with this app it is truly cool.

First solo flight

I'm not one for sharing everything about my life on social media but I like to share interesting things.

One of my passions is flying and I am currently studying towards obtaining my PPL.

I conducted my first solo flight at the beginning of the month which was one of the most rewarding experiences ever. Having racked up around 15 hours flight time, my instructor thought it would be a good idea to let me loose in a plane.

So when arrived I was briefed on my solo and what to expect and what to do if all goes horribly wrong - thankfully it didn't.

After the brief, I did the usual once around the plane checks and then we hopped in, checked out with the tower and then took off.

Mid-way into my first circuit, 3 sleazyjet planes decide that they all want to land one after the other which meant that I had to orbit the airport for 15 mins before I could continue my landing/takeoff circuit. Once they had landed I then had to take an extended approach due to the wake turbulence caused by the jets.

On the first circuit, I was troubled with moderate crosswinds which made landing tricky and consequently my 2 further landings weren't brilliant. Also, on takeoff into my 2nd circuit my door flew open at 400ft so I was glad the instructor was on hand to help out and grab the controls so I could prevent myself plunging to my miserable demise.

After the 3rd circuit my instructor hopped out and said "off-you go!". So I did, although as I started to taxi towards the runway I got that feeling you get when you first learn to drive and you try to over-analyse everything you are doing with your feet and arms. Consequently I started off all over the place but when I composed myself I was fine. Perfect straight and smooth take-off on runway 06, up over Rochford and Stambridge into a nice clear circuit @1000ft, no sleazyjets or any other traffic. Then a turn onto base and then final approach culminating in a perfectly straight and smooth landing back onto runway 06.

Karma is a wonderful thing though - as I landed there was a EasyJet 737 waiting at the hold to taxi onto the runway - and I was delaying its departure :-) brilliant.

I was then cleared to vacate the runway and hold behind another boeing 737 whose jet engines caused my plane to swing in the wind a bit. Then taxi back to the flying club where my rather relieved instructor was waiting for me. An amazing experience and really excited about racking up some more solo hours.

Good ole Lima Whiskey for getting me back down to the ground safely

Pictures do not do it justice - taken on the father's mobile phone through chicken wire. The next post will have better photos!

Who?What?When?Where?How and Why?

My blog is designed to share with you ways of using technology and the web to improve effectiveness and efficiencies in the way we work, learn and do other stuff with a few off tangent posts about my other passion - flying. For my first ever blog post I thought I would give a short introduction to my take on doing Social Media well. Having delivered training sessions in social media and also having sat and listened to presentations in this area I feel I have a nicely rounded approach to using SM effectively.

Before I encourage others to start digging into the use of social media, I always get them to revert to basic marketing principles. I don't consider myself to be a marketing guru, but having studied it at degree level, one of the key practices we were taught about choosing the right communication channels for your audience are the 6 W's The Who, What, When, Where, How and why? Although very similar to and often confused with the marketing mix (Price, Product, Place and Promotion) I feel this analytical approach is simpler and more direct. I often encourage others to ask themselves these when embarking upon a new marketing campaign. It is only until you understand who your market is and how they behave, that you can then start choosing the appropriate tools to communicate with them. Andrew R Michaels has written a really useful article around this and poses some questions that you might use when running a marketing campaign:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-6-Ws-of-Target-Marketing&id=1877512

Social media can be very useful for gaining insight and answering some of these questions. We can search for trends using Twitter. We can tap into what people are saying about our industry by joining peer groups on LinkedIn and so much more.

Once you have gathered your marketing intelligence you can then start using this information to decide on how, and sometimes if, social media is the right tool for promoting your product/service or business. The biggest question you should consider before using social media to support your campaign is how will you create buzz.

 Buzz is what social media is all about - how will you get people talking?

 Are you going to run competitions? Are you going to piggyback on something else that is trending e.g olympics, Euro 2012.

 Buzz will deliver results, just sending information or spamming social media users with your advertisements will not.