CLOUD COMPUTING
display .” With the steady integration of virtual and augmented reality into mainstream culture – not to mention modern , click-free smartphones ridding the consumer ’ s need for real world keys – this may not be too far from becoming the new normal .
In September 2017 , Microsoft had a patent granted for a “ holographic keyboard display ”, which would utilise a virtual keyboard plane to read a user ’ s gestures to simulate typing . What ’ s more , the patent describes a “ HMD [ head-mounted display ] device ” which , invariably , means the inevitable redux of smartglasses .
Although Google Glass unquestionably tanked the first time around , smartglasses are primed to make a valiant comeback . From $ 2.3bn in 2016 , investment in both AR and VR is tipped to hit $ 162bn by 2020 . Physical offices , let alone PCs , might be rendered obsolete . The personal computer as we once knew it could , in theory , live inside a pair of virtual spectacles , with a worker navigating it 100 % with hand gestures . VR headsets will also allow transcontinental conferences to seamlessly take place , with colleagues that are thousands of physical miles apart sitting side by side in a meeting .
52 April 2018