I've augmented my reality for years. When I was younger I got a radio
from my grandmother. It was a white stand-up clock radio that was an
analog clock and you can set the alarm on it when I was restricted to
my bedroom in the fourth grade or fifth grade that's the radio that I
listened to Chicken-man and Paul Harvey on.
As I got older I'd buy boom boxes. I remember I bought this big silver
boom box that was awesome. I would listen to the radio on it and I'd
listen to my cassettes on it. When I got home from school I would put
it on the table and listen and actually fall asleep with my head on
the table.
Then came the Walkman radios with the headphones. I loved them but I
hated the spongy foam on my ears. I was so happy when they came with
those plastic stick in the ear so that they didn't fill the ear but
you could still hear the music really well headphones. Then came the
waterproof versions. I didn't use them very much because they were
always too expensive.
But I've augmented my reality with music and then as technology has
progressed with Bluetooth whisperings in my ear from podcasts and my
own little programs that quoted facts and jokes and weather
information randomly.
I'm concerned about visual augmentation because it could be very
distracting. But I'm also rather excited about it. The idea of being
able to go to the aquarium and have on a pair of AR glasses and see
the name and type of each fish and shark swimming in the water just
excites me to no end.
The possibilities of being able to see bubbles over cars as I drive
down the road giving me information about what they're about to do or
their speed or even the rating of the driver if we can get that far
without too much invasion of privacy are exciting.
Being able to drive by a business and see that a restaurant's busy and
the wait times two hours would be amazing.
I'm excited about what augmented reality is becoming but don't be
mistaken that it's new, it's not.