AWE conference in Silicon Valley highlights latest trends in VR, AR
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- First it was virtual reality. Now the technology has evolved into augmented reality. It's a marriage of graphics and computers, that promises to change how doctors train for surgery and how people like us do their shopping.
No matter where you look, there are goggles and headsets to immerse you in a different dimension. They call it augmented reality.
"It's new hardware, it's new software, it's new platform. It's a cloud-based algorithm. It's going to create a whole industry. It's going to be tremendous for everybody," explained David Fattal, the CEO of Leia Inc.
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It has been developing over time, but keeps promising to immerse people in a new dimension, one in which you can feel and touch virtual objects, even sensing whether they're hot or cold through your fingers. It could revolutionize online shopping.
"I'm buying a dress, so I can actually feel the leather feeling, or the silk feeling or actually cotton feeling. I think for e-commerce it will be very interesting," said Alex Yang, with CloudMinds robotics.
This showcase, called AWE, does feature some big-name tech companies, but at its heart are start-up's. View Verge works out of a Kansas basement.
"It's the first conversion process, 2-D to 3-D conversion process of its kind that is capable of doing all of the conversion on the sole power of a cell phone," Michele Janssens, with View Verge.
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Digibits is a mom and pop game-maker making its debut. The game gets players moving instead of sitting and swiping on a screen. It's a start-up financed by the family's cookie jar.
'It's quite a bit of money for the family. For a family to spend the kind of money I've spent, it's painful, yes," said Colt Correa of Digibits.
Very typical, says the show's co-founder, Ori Inbar.
"They have a dream. They believe in this vision, and they're trying to find their way," explained Inbar.
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