Intel Technology Expert Hints At 3D Internet Within Five Years
3D may be popping up in just about every facet of consumer electronics
these days (your next HDTV included), but so far, it managed to largely
avoid tampering with the delicate Internet space. Of course, we all
knew it wouldn't stay that way forever, and now a technology expert at
Intel expects 3D to be a huge part of the way we interact with the Web
within just five years.
That means that by the time 2015 rolls around, the articles you're reading here will quite literally be popping off the screen and into your brain. It's the next wave of New Media (Web 3.0, even?), and now it looks like it's on a fast track to reality. We jest mostly, but there's some since to this logic. Look how much multi-media content is on the web now, and compare that to just five years ago. To say that available content on the Internet has "increased" since 2005 would be understating things; to say media has "exploded" on the 'net since 2005 would be more like it.
If one explosion can happen in those five years, there's nothing stopping another explosion from happening in 2015. According to Sean Koehl, a technology evangelist with Intel Labs, he believes that tech is evolving so that 3D applications could become a regular part of the Web in as little as five years from now. He also made broader statements on the future of the Internet in general, but the 3D aspect really has us thinking. With NVIDIA's 3D Vision kit already providing this tech for games, there's already hardware in place to support a 3D Internet. And given that so much material is being filmed in 3D now, that's already taken care of as well. Sean followed up his thoughts on the matter with this:
This all sounds totally feasible to us, but we're still not sold on whether consumers really want 3D. Sure, 3D has done well in the cinema, but will that translate to 3D HDTV and 3D Blu-ray sales? Only time will tell, but considering that a 3D Internet would cost no more to use than the standard Internet for 3D Vision owners, the 3D Web may actually have a better chance at catching on than those other guys.
That means that by the time 2015 rolls around, the articles you're reading here will quite literally be popping off the screen and into your brain. It's the next wave of New Media (Web 3.0, even?), and now it looks like it's on a fast track to reality. We jest mostly, but there's some since to this logic. Look how much multi-media content is on the web now, and compare that to just five years ago. To say that available content on the Internet has "increased" since 2005 would be understating things; to say media has "exploded" on the 'net since 2005 would be more like it.
If one explosion can happen in those five years, there's nothing stopping another explosion from happening in 2015. According to Sean Koehl, a technology evangelist with Intel Labs, he believes that tech is evolving so that 3D applications could become a regular part of the Web in as little as five years from now. He also made broader statements on the future of the Internet in general, but the 3D aspect really has us thinking. With NVIDIA's 3D Vision kit already providing this tech for games, there's already hardware in place to support a 3D Internet. And given that so much material is being filmed in 3D now, that's already taken care of as well. Sean followed up his thoughts on the matter with this:
"I think our lives will be a lot different. Look at the trends of the last decade or two. Think about computers becoming widespread, and the Internet and these mobile devices. With the availability of all this computing power, we're only beginning to exploit it. Now we're adding more intelligence and more capability. Add that to 3-D worlds and it could be very different than the sort of experiences that we have today. When we get to the point where suddenly it becomes easy to do something that seemed hard before, then it will be a dramatic change. The Internet may never go fully 3-D, but making 3-D environments broadly accessible is probably capable within five years. I think it's going to give flexibility to let people really take advantage of virtual realities. The power to shape your environment would be dramatic."
This all sounds totally feasible to us, but we're still not sold on whether consumers really want 3D. Sure, 3D has done well in the cinema, but will that translate to 3D HDTV and 3D Blu-ray sales? Only time will tell, but considering that a 3D Internet would cost no more to use than the standard Internet for 3D Vision owners, the 3D Web may actually have a better chance at catching on than those other guys.
