Page 3 - EngineerIT October 2021

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Extended reality will change

our future!

hat’s the problem with our world today - More recently, the term has moved into the mainstream
everything and everybody wants to change as device makers struggle to describe the different
Teverything. Before we have come to grips with display upgrades they’re working with. A couple of
what we read about yesterday, we are confronted with examples are, immersing gamers in the action by
something new today. Take virtual reality for instance, putting a screen (a smartphone display or headset) right
before we could understand what it was about, we were in front of the eyes (VR) or adding game characters to
confronted by augmented reality and now, extended real-world surroundings like in the popular Pokémon Go
reality also referred to as cross reality (XR). (AR). VR is taking off in the gaming world.

As I wrote in last month’s editorial, there will never be a Since XR is a catch-all term, there’s really no question
new tomorrow because before the month, week or even of “is my laptop XR” or “can I buy an XR phone?”
the day ends, there is something new to tax us. That’s because devices with AR, VR or MR tech are
all considered “XR devices.” So, if you’ve played a VR
Tom Gerencer, a contributing writer for HP Tech Takes, game or used Google Maps to navigate, you’ve already
recently wrote that XR is new, exciting tech, and used XR tech.
everyone is talking about it. In this article he asks the
question: “What does XR mean and when can we start The confusion around XR tech is that the term is
using this technology? “ overused. As with other umbrella terms in the past like
“digital” or “natural,” there’s a bit of a marketing gold
He discussed how XR is different from AR and VR, rush in play as every big tech company hustles to brand
and how it will integrate with new devices and the gear their latest gear with the up-and-coming signature.
you own already. XR, cross reality, or extended reality,
is a catch-all term for several different but related Thanks to Tom Gerencer for putting me and hopefully
technologies. It rolls together similar acronyms like VR you, our readers in the know about extended reality.
(virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), and MR (mixed
reality). Once you know that tit-bit, understanding XR I often wonder if anyone is reading my editorial
gets a whole lot simpler. In a nutshell, XR is “reality- comments as I seldom receive feedback. Either
plus” tech using any kind of display. XR is VR plus AR. the 15 000 plus people who receive EngineerIT
XR stands for “extended reality,” an umbrella term that every month in their mailbox agree with my editorial
covers VR, AR and MR. All XR tech takes the human- comments or they do not read what I have to say.
to-PC screen interface and modifies it, either by Help me stop wondering and drop me an email at
1) immersing you in the virtual environment (VR), hansv@nowmedia.co.za and share your views. I would
2) adding to or augmenting the user’s surroundings like to hear from you. Drop me a mail or a voice note.
(AR), or 3) both of these (MR).
Happy reading the articles in this edition. I enjoyed
The term XR has been around for decades. It first putting them together.
popped up in the 1960s when Charles Wyckoff filed
a patent for his silver-halide “XR” film, intended for Hans van de Groenendaal
photographing extremely bright light events, such as Editor
nuclear explosions. 012 991 4662 / 082 781 4631

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