Tucked away in the basement of the New Your Times is a little known Research & Development Lab. The lab has recently demonstrated the modern interpretation of a Magic Mirror. Tell it your command and it shall be so. Like the wicked witches of the West – western united states – we can all now have a new side-kick. Using an assortment on non-contact inputs, gesture, voice, RFID the mirror integrates you entire online life into the reflection.
The Mirrors on screen interface consists of various icons and pop up windows that are operated through a mixture of motion capture, RFID and speech recognition. All sensible choices, shaving and touch screens could get messy. The interface makes most standard computer functions available at the swipe of a hand, surf the web, watch movies, listen to music all easily accessible. The internals of the mirror are all off the shelf components, Xbox Kinect motion capture, RFID reader, microphone for voice recognition but the software that brings it all together is custom, very custom. Bringing all of the parts of the Mirror together. The mirror’s designers saw more potential in there than just a computer behind a mirror screen, the Mirror is designed to integrate into the bathroom. The RFID tags let the mirror recognize an object, then give you more information, instructions on use or daily recommended doses, augmented mirror reality for everyday use.
The demonstration Mirror could easily go into production, although no official release day has been set and software shown was still beta and still needs some work before being considered complete. Many commercial applications are already being touted for the MM, but here at Highpants we put money on it ending up in nightclub bathrooms displaying ads in the background. Although this mirror could also then show you how you look wearing the product, let you purchase the product and have it delivered home.
The world of augmented reality is approaching at great speed, if reality TV shows have taught us all one thing, there never can be too much reality. Our only question left unanswered is ‘Can it make people look goog first thing in the morning ?’
More information NYT Labs
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