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Comment by m_herrlich | Hacker News Reader

Maybe pedantic, but this seems like just a heads-up display. AR implies the projected image interacts with real objects in your field of vision. I wouldn't call this AR. Nice HUD though.

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Not pedantic, it's clearly not AR.

At least not in a world marketers haven't completely taken over, where words still have meaning.

what does "augmented" mean to you?

to me, listening to a podcast while driving is probably augmented reality, and that has nothing to do with driving or the route I'm taking.

this does augment the activity intended.

I mean if that's the definition of augmented reality - wouldn't literally all glasses be augmented reality since they either tint or do something to distort your vision?

To put oil on the fire, there is the same debate about cyborgs: glasses are a mechanical enhancement of the human body, so technically…

Less controversially, hearing aids and HDR goggles would also fit the bill.

Shoes, hats, many kinds of clothes are mechanical enhancements. Gloves for working without hurting one's hands, etc. All those things give a definite advantage over unprotected skin. I don't even start listing tools, which glasses are.

Would a chicken be a human since it's a walking biped?

From the first sentence of Wikipedia:

> Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information

I agree in that there needs to be some interaction between real-world objects and virtual ones to be considered more than a simple HUD.

That sounds like where these glasses do. What do you want them to do in AR? Give you graphics?

Something like optimal trajectory or gamification of the surrounding environment

I don’t see how that’s possible, it would have a prerendered map for a path like a game? use laser sensors to warn you of danger? I think it’s very possible on unnatural roads but on off-road it would not be useful.

That’s still the definition of the technology. You’re right that it mostly doesn’t exist yet.

In unnatural places can have markers that tell it to show you things, like how cars auto park, invisible signals could do it too, they could add haptics and it would be AR.

When doing Strava segments, a ghost rider riding at your PR pace!

They had an issue with that at a military base!

A heads-up display moves with your head; augmented reality moves with the world.

So, showing a billboard every 100m alongside the road showing your speed, heart rate, etc would be AR (and yes, a hud seems better option for this kind of thing)

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