Dr. Frederik Pferdt, former Chief Innovation Evangelist at Google and Stanford professor, expertly guides readers through the realm of innovation and creativity in his book, “What’s Next is Now: How to Life Future Ready.” The book is a blueprint for transforming challenges into opportunities using an open, innovative mindset.
Pferdt breaks down his philosophy chapter by chapter, offering practical applications and real-world examples. Highlights include:
Radical Optimism: Pferdt emphasizes the power of positive reframing to unlock opportunities and enhance collaboration. His use of the “yes, and” exercise from improv is particularly insightful for fostering an inclusive and innovative environment.
Unreserved Openness: This chapter teaches the importance of changing perspectives to overcome obstacles, encouraging readers to zoom out and reassess problems to find creative solutions.
Compulsive Curiosity: By embracing uncertainty and constantly experimenting, we can drive innovation. Pferdt’s advice to prototype as if you’re right but test as if you’re wrong is a compelling strategy for challenging assumptions and pushing boundaries.
Expansive Empathy: Understanding and valuing different perspectives is crucial for meaningful innovation. Pferdt introduces concepts like predictive empathy and the futures wheel to navigate and plan for potential outcomes.
Your Dimension X: This final chapter encourages readers to identify their unique superpowers and leverage them to shape their future. By embracing radical optimism, unreserved openness, compulsive curiosity, perpetual experimentation, and expansive empathy, we can become future-ready and seize opportunities.
Overall, “What’s Next is Now” is a treasure trove of concepts, activities, and anecdotes that inspire readers to innovate and create a future by choice, not chance. It’s a must-read for anyone looking to foster a culture of innovation.
From June 17-20, the Long Beach Convention Center in California buzzed with excitement as the Augmented World Expo (AWE) took place, attracting thousands of XR enthusiasts, professionals, and innovators. The event was nothing short of a proverbial XR firehose, with a plethora of sessions that catered to a wide range of interests and industries. Attendees could choose from various tracks, including Enterprise, Creators, Retail & Marketing, Developers, Gaming, Entertainment & Media, AI & Virtual Beings, Healthcare & Wellness, Collaboration, Training & Education, Web3, and XR Policy (Ethics, Environment, Privacy). Additionally, the Expo Stage hosted pitch sessions for start-ups and investors, providing a platform for new ideas and partnerships to flourish.
My personal journey at AWE focused on delving into the latest advancements and applications within the XR realm. In particular, I was keen to explore the groundbreaking developments in the following categories:
Apple Vision Pro
Digital Twins / 3D Objects / Photogrammetry
E-commerce / Entertainment / Sports
Join me as I unpack the key insights and innovative breakthroughs from these exciting areas at AWE 2024.
Day 0: Pre-Conference Apple Vision Pro Workshop
The day before the official start of the conference, I attended an Apple Vision Pro workshop which, despite its title, featured panel discussions rather than hands-on activities. The event was presented in partnership with Unity. Topics ranged from highlights from WWDC ‘24 to insights from founders who used Unity to launch their apps on AVP. There were two 30 minute sessions presented by developers. James Ashley, an XR developer from CVS Health Immersive labs, discussed a comparison of developing with native Swift versus Unity (highlighting cost efficiency with native development) and recommended Kodeco and XRBootcamp.com for more resources. Dulce Baerga, a WebXR developer, presented a great talk on WebXR, offering a QR code for additional resources. Daniel Marqusee, an XR UX designer, challenged traditional design paradigms, telling us that we need to think spatially when designing apps for the AVP. He’s got a YouTube channel and is definitely worth following. If these 3 folks were allowed a full day workshop, I would have given this day 5 stars.
However, the lack of technical depth and practical guidance on designing, building, and optimizing applications for AVP was disappointing. The workshop lacked hands-on demonstrations, IDE insights, and guidance on publishing for AVP compared to other VR/AR platforms.
ARKit
RealityKit4
Immersive Environment Authoring
Plane detection in all orientations Room & object tracking Portal enhancements Reality Composer Pro timelines
Inverse kinematics skeletal poses low level mesh and texture apis
Video player docking video reflections hand brightness Reverb Shareplay
Day 1 Highlights
A Special Entrance Day 1 at the Augmented World Expo 2024 kicked off with a touch of Hollywood glamour. Attendees were greeted outside the Long Beach Convention Center with a red carpet featuring an “XR Walk of Stars” experience. This innovative display, built using Snap AR’s Camera Kit SDK, allowed visitors to interact with the environment, setting an exciting tone for the event.
Keynote by Ori Inbar The opening keynote was delivered by none other than Ori Inbar, known for his captivating and tech-savvy presentations. This year, he did not disappoint. In a remarkable blend of past and future, Inbar introduced an AI-generated version of himself from previous years, reflecting on his past predictions and their accuracy.
One standout highlight from his keynote was the comparison of the Meta Quest’s sales trajectory to that of the iPhone, illustrating the rapid growth and mainstream acceptance of XR technology.
Inbar also shared compelling market insights, revealing that the enterprise sector currently dominates the XR market. According to Consumer and Enterprise Estimations by ARtillery Intelligence (May 2024), the enterprise segment holds a commanding 71% share, valued at $35 billion in 2024. This figure is projected to rise significantly, reaching $44 billion in 2025, $56 billion in 2026, and an impressive $70 billion by 2027.
Qualcomm AI Hub, XR Sports Alliance (Accedo, HBS, Qualcomm) for Immersive Sports Experiences
Snapdragon spaces: enterprise, training, sports and entertainment, education, health and wellness, social and gaming.
Expanding All Your Worlds: Meta
Meta Quest Lifestyle App Accelerator
Advancing Snap AR with Generative AI : Snap
Demo’d new AR lenses that are AI powered. 350k lense creators . Rolling it out slowly, first to influencers. Page Piskin joined Snap on stage to speak on behalf of creators.
Niantic
Niantic Announcements
Spatial Computing Needs a New Map – Building the next generation 3d map to power spatial computing. Niantic has goals of “planet-scale AR”. From their website “With Niantic Lightship, Niantic Studio and Scaniverse, we’ve opened up our platform to provide developers with the most comprehensive tools and services for building real-world AR experiences.”
Throughout the convention center, Niantic had installments where you could play with their tools. One that I found particular interesting was Scaniverse, a photogrammetry app. I couldn’t wait to get home to play with this app. (Here’s my LinkedIn post featuring a scan of Jabba the Hut)
Meet the Authors! “Our Next Reality: How the AI-powered Metaverse Will Reshape the World”
Fortuitously, I ran into both authors, Alvin Wang Graylin (Global VP Corp Development, HTC) & Louis Rosenberg (CEO & Chief Scientist, Unanimous AI). I proudly showed them that I was on chapter 8 in my Audible app and they graciously autographed a book title card for me. Alvin has a YouTube presentation on the book.
Other Sessions Attended:
HOW DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGY WILL TRANSFORM REGIONAL PLANNING – Orlando
Opening Night Kickoff Party
The excitement of Day 1 at AWE 2024 seamlessly transitioned into a vibrant evening celebration. The welcome party, sponsored by Zappar, turned the closed-off area around the Convention Center into a lively block party. Thousands of AWE attendees gathered in a space adorned with luxurious furniture and club lighting, creating a thumping outdoor club scene.
The night featured several outdoor free-standing bars at which were were able to redeem a free drink ticket, and an array of food trucks, offering a diverse selection of yummy options. A live DJ kept the energy high, spinning tunes that permeated the outdoor space.
Adding a touch of whimsy and sparking conversations were the unique giraffe statues holding chandeliers, an artistic installation that left a lasting impression on everyone who attended. These quirky decorations became the talk of the night, symbolizing the creativity and innovation that AWE is known for.
The Opening Night Kickoff Party was not just a social gathering but a celebration of the XR community, setting the tone for the collaborative and imaginative days ahead.
Day 2 – Update coming soon
XR Hall of Fame Museum
Expo – Update coming soon
SIghtful – AR Laptop & QONOQ
302 Interactive had an amazing Fanport where they allowed groups of 4 to play fully immersive AR games built with the Magic Leap
Apple’s WWDC ’24 took off with a bang on June 10, 2024, featuring skydiving stunts and Tim Cook’s iconic rooftop address at Infinite Loop. I caught the keynote from my Apple Vision Pro, which was a spectacular experience.
If you missed the keynote from Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, affectionately known as Dub Dub, here’s a concise rundown:
Photos and Videos
Introducing spatial photo creation
AVP-enabled video trimming capabilities
SharePlay now supports photo sharing
Spatial video editing in Final Cut Pro
New cinematic view for Safari video playback
Multi-view display options for Apple TV, perfect for sports enthusiasts
Usability
Travel Mode tailored for train commuters
New home screen gestures: flip your wrist to summon Home View and Control Center
Enhanced home screen customization akin to iPhone and Mac
Virtual Display enhancements including a panoramic curved monitor
Mouse support for greater interaction
Volumetric APIs and Enterprise APIs (yes, front camera access!)
TableTop Kit for immersive, surface-locked experiences
Health Kit integration featuring breathing detection
Apps
AVP-specific enhancements across apps, including mindfulness and Safari
Apple Music updates for enhanced user experience
Other Announcements
Improved Guest support with setup saving capabilities
New virtual environments, including the exotic Bora Bora
Stay tuned as Apple continues to push boundaries with Vision OS 2, bringing innovation and seamless integration into every aspect of your digital life. For more updates and insights into the future of technology, keep following this blog!
Inbar also shared compelling market insights, revealing that the enterprise sector currently dominates the XR market. According to Consumer and Enterprise Estimations by ARtillery Intelligence (May 2024), the enterprise segment holds a commanding 71% share, valued at $35 billion in 2024. This figure is projected to rise significantly, reaching $44 billion in 2025, $56 billion in 2026, and an impressive $70 billion by 2027.
