“The world will be totally transformed by next Christmas”, remarks Robert Scoble in the latest Mentor From Afar podcast. He was mainly speaking about Apple, who Robert says is launching a $40 Billion product. Remember when it was said that Steve Jobs left a legacy of a product roadmap? The augmented reality headphones Apple is going to release is Steve’s last product. It is actually a combination of headphones that will be released next Christmas and a visor that will be released in 2022.
The technologies to support the new headphones and visor are: a new version of siri, new 3d maps of the world, spatial audio in car play. Think of every object as a sugar cube or voxel and the AI in the visor and headphones will create a totally new world that you can interact with.
The main reason I wanted to interview Robert is because he is talking about a world that is changing and you should prepare for the upcoming paradigm shift. The paradigm shift includes moving from computers and phones to spatial computing. As Robert says, “in 5 years I know you are to be wearing glasses at least part of the day to do your computing”. VW is already preparing for this shift by virtualizing their factory floor so they can train employees in VR before they even reach the floor. Major jobs impacted include:
- Software Engineer: If you are a c++ programmer, you will have to stop thinking in 2D and start thinking in 3D. You may want to add Unity to your skill toolbox.
- Interior Decorators: Decorators may become the next computing experts because they think in 3D. Companies are hiring more creative folks that think in 3D and then can be trained in software.
Virtually every field is impacted by spatial computing. This podcast is filled with interesting and valuable anecdotes, please take the time to listen.