Mixed Reality to Become Mainstream

For all of its impressive effects, marketers have been holding back to some extent from applying mixed reality to their campaigns. That made sense in light of the fact that most people were not equipped to view it properly. But that's set to change by the end of this year.

At the end of August, Microsoft announced a lineup of mixed reality equipment for the holiday season that is expected to put it in the hands of a lot more people, thanks to the triple appeal of an affordable price, easy setup, and portability...

Google just released  a preview of its new software development kit (SDK) called ARCore for Android devices. Here's a video showing some Wizard of Oz inspired effects:

Popular characters also be adapted to marketing in a mixed reality environment, for example letting people interact with personae linked to brands, like Tony the Tiger, or Mr. Clean. That would mean that anyone could have the experience shown in cleaner's Super Bowl ad last year (except for getting the actual cleaning done, of course).

Read more in Mainstreaming Mixed Reality

German clouds on the horizon

The possibilities inherent in applying digitization to industry has earned a name of its own, Industry 4.0, with modified spelling when applied to Germany. In Europe, Germany is the leading star of this fourth industrial revolution. Progress on that front has not been as rapid as some had hoped due to some obstacles identified by a Mckinsey and Co. report published in March 2016.  But that is set to change now with the arrival of clouds built in Germany to meet the needs of Germany’s Industry 4.0.

The Mckinsey report, “Industry 4.0after the initial hype” (PDF download )  looks at perception, progress, and problems faced by the evolution of manufacturing in a digital age. It is based on survey responses from 300 industry experts in Germany, the US, and Japan.  In a nutshell, the anticipation raised a few years ago has resulted in some disappointments, as some businesses did not come up with a clear plan and timeline for implementing a digital strategy.  At this point, 60 percent of those surveyed said that they have come up against obstacles to executing digital strategies.

A fundamental problem for some of the companies was finding a way to integrate the data that comes in from various sources, something that is essential to extracting a comprehensive picture of the process to maximize efficiency that doesn’t compromise the data security or ownership when it passes into “third party technology and software providers.”   For the companies in Germany, there’s the additional concern of being certain to comply with the data privacy regulations in place and the distrust of datacenters located outside the country. 

Read more in 

New IoT Clouds on German Horizon

Tech Forecast for 2016

 Sarah Lahav, CEO of SysAid Technologies gives her take on what we can expect to see this year. .in 

2016: 6 New IP Predictions

For one of the predictions, I was really tempted to put in a reference to The IT Crowd. You should be able to guess which one.

Opportunities in Africa

Which region promises the greatest expansion? IBM thinks the answer is Africa. It’s not alone among tech companies that are seeking new markets and trainable talent on that continent. While growth tapers off in many more developed regions, Africa offers great potential, particularly as its workforce gains access to education and technology for communication. Read more in 

Africa: The New China