‘I think it’s gonna change everything’
It is rare to see someone of Tim Cook’s caliber for a TV interview, but that is what happened on Sunday. Apple’s CEO made an appearance and shared his vision on the state of tech today, and where it is all going. What strikes many as peculiar (us, really), is that Cook used his TV time to talk mostly about – Augmented Reality.
It is a rare chance to cherish every word and peer behind the scenes at Apple campus. Tim Cook invited 2 journalists for a short interview and a bit of a tech show-off. Despite Apple having so many topics to discuss, Apple CEO couldn’t stay away from AR which has been, by his own admission, an obsession lately. The HBO Apple interview was also an opportunity to showcase a new iScape app version.
‘We’re always seeking not something different but something better’ Cook opens up on his view of technology. Neither good nor evil, technology is there, a testament of our curious minds and drive to improve on our condition. ‘Technology should amplify human performance and human experiences, and AR does an unbelievable job at that’.
Augmented Reality is not a simple matter of preference, or just another platform of experience. It has the potential to radically reshape our world. The way things stand now, Augmented Reality is slowly creeping not only into our (i)phones, but also our lives. ‘In a few years, Cook explains in the Apple Interview, ’we’re not going to be able to imagine our lives without AR. It’s that profound a platform’. The research supports it, paper have been screaming it, but hearing it from the guy at the forefront of technological advancement has a deeper ring. Augmented Reality, rather than Virtual, is more difficult to pull off properly, but has far greater transformative potential for our daily life.
The trio was later joined by Apple’s AR PM, Allessandra McGinnis, who offered a brief demo of a new, 4.0 version of iScape. It is is a landscape designer tool by which users can design – nature. They can overlay trees or shrubbery onto a barren land, or improve lush environment with a bit of a background. This includes combining the time of day with various lightning effects. Each AR element can be placed, sized, and rotated to the desired nature effect. AR rises the landscape design to new heights.
The Apple interview couldn’t pass without a brief mention of the future Apple AR glasses. To the journalist’s question, Cook left little room for either doubt or confirmation. ‘Well the great thing about technology is there’s never an end state of anything, right?’ Right, Tim. It is as evasive an answer as one could possible utter, but still full of cryptic hope. Add the fact that despite iPhones, iMacs, and the rest of the bunch, Cook used a rare interview to talk AR. That’s telling something.
