Augmented reality: Like this one!

This is a great experimental invention - truly augmented reality...



.. at the cost of having a projector (aka beamer, Dutchies) strapped on to yourself.

I really like how it could augment real products; thats the holy grail for augmentation, and a source of plenty of revenue if successful.

The next challenge is getting quality information to the device. Control of the information used in this system, one it grew to mobile handset scales, would be powerful. Hopefully open systems such ala wikipedia would ensure sane community control of the public data.

What will products compete on? Consumer weighting of metrics, as offered on augmentation device:

• price (Current favorite ;)
  
• carbon footprint
  
• eco factor - packaging, manufacture etc.
  
• rating/score/desiriability in demographics you care about
  
• Loyalty scheme incentives
• ...
  

That seems like raw capitalism - the machine knows your weightings of many metrics, and always offers you the optimal choice.

Decisions would (mostly) be that of the Economists' ideal consumer: rational decision makers trying to maximize their benefits and minimize their costs. I say "mostly" because you don't have to take your handsets advice, do you :P ?

... Beamer on board ...

Thanks to Alef for the link.