Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality?

          Let me start this month’s wisdom dispatch with a quote from Apple’s Tim Cook, who says “VR, I think, has some interesting applications, but I don’t think it’s a broad-based technology like AR,”  In other words, we all need to know the difference between VR (with the goggles) and AR (like Pokémon Go).

          Why is this my topic this month? Because we’re going to start seeing a lot more Augmented Reality in commercial books, toys and apps over the next 12 months.  More children and parents have some form of smart device in their pocket. This device has a camera, a connection to the Internet and a graphics processor that can overlay computer graphics over real world images. Book illustrations, toys or even a rug can trigger virtual experiences — and the real world can be cleverly interwoven with an imaginary one. This trend is important to note for both business and technology reasons, because it represents a way for interactive designers to get paid. The app is free, but it adds value to something you buy. The people who sell the toy or book pay the people who make the app.

         This month, you can find reviews of several examples, including a rug, called  SpinTales Jungle Rug, which lets a tiger loose in your child’s room.

       Here are two AR books: Sarina Simon’s ABC Animals Alphabet in Motion, which uses short movies to illustrate each animal.

    And the beautifully illustrated French title Chouette!