Reality augmented

Back from the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) for just over a week now, I can say that I accomplished seeing some of the specific types of new and great ideas & products I had hoped to see.

One of these things had been "virtual reality", but, while I enjoyed getting some time with VR, I hadn't even heard of what really left me speechless. Augmented reality. AR wasn't even on my radar, but Wow, it left an impact.
Before this day I hadn't even heard of augmented reality, let alone see it. In fact, I almost walked right by this booth at the show. I mean, all that was there was a book on a table and a phone propped up in front of it.
Still not sure what made me look other than the idea that there must be more than met the eye since everything else around me was larger than life.
I was right.
The person tending the display motioned to me to look into the phone screen after they demonstrated that the dinosaur book laying there was indeed a simple book.
As I watched the person turn the page, through the screen on the phone (as if the screen were simply a piece of clear glass) I saw movement.
The person picked up the phone and tilted it and I watched as the dinosaurs suddenly came alive.
Without any visible aid, the pterodactyl on the page sat up, spread it's wings, and suddenly began to fly. Yes, fly, right off the book!!! The person holding the phone simply followed along watching it as it flew. A thing of note...everything behind the flying pterodactyl was exactly what I was looking at. The entire room in real time. Eventually the pterodactyl flew back onto the page.

Yes, I was still completely at a lack for words.

I was shown a couple more pages where dinosaurs suddenly started walking around the page and off the edges.
In the last page I watched even as a couple of trees stood off the surface of the page and the dinosaur started eating from them.
Taking the camera at the end of the short third video, I put it around to the back of the phone screen to show that there was indeed nothing but a flat book opened to the dino page.

All I can say is, as fun as some of the virtual reality was, there is something to be said for all this amazing fun and mind blowing visual to be going on in front of you without the aid of all those big heavy headsets and eye gear.
It's a bonus to see these things happening in front of you without the weight of all that gear as well as the ability to still look around at your surroundings and not be enclosed in a dark world all you own.
Given the choice, right now, this has my vote.

I imagine at some point there may be a combo VR & AR in our future!