We may have found the unexpected killer app for augmented reality… opera
A company called Opera Touch has been working with the SmartEyeGlass and has created an app that allows opera audiences to use augmented reality to see subtitles of the show in a large number of languages.
My first feeling was that this was technology for the sake of it – after all, there are subtitles above the performance to offer this very functionality.
However, the issue is that having to scan up and down to see what's being said is jarring, not letting the audience see what's going on and understand the words at the same time. By using AR, it brings the feeling of subtitles in films to a real world performance.
On top of that, the glasses can also feed information on the artists and let them see the score unfold in front of them, offering something that the subtitles above can't. A spokesperson for Opera Touch told me the new company has already sold the system into an opera house in San Sebastien, Spain, and is in talks to do the same with larger venues in UK, US and Spain in the future.
While it does depend on the business model of each opera house, the spokesperson told me the use of the glasses may either be bundled into the price of the ticket at purchase, or hired at the venue itself.
See the full story here: http://www.techradar.com/us/news/wearables/we-may-have-found-the-unexpected-killer-app-for-augmented-reality-opera-1316969