Home Centre's AR app allows shoppers to virtually place a piece of furniture in their home before buying. Home Centre.
Home Centre's AR app allows shoppers to virtually place a piece of furniture in their home before buying. Home Centre.

Forget Pokémon Go – Augmented Reality finds traction among business users



Gaming studio Niantic Labs announced in November the details of its newest game – Harry Potter: Wizards Unite – expected to be released this year. Based on augmented reality, the highly anticipated smartphone game will be overlaid on users’ real-world neighbourhoods, allowing players to discover and fight legendary beasts and take down powerful enemies, all while walking on the streets close to their homes.

The game is the latest to attempt to tap the potential of AR, defined as the integration of digital information and the physical environment in real time, where apps take the user’s existing surroundings and superimpose computer-generated information on top of it via a smartphone or other device. While AR has been around for some time, it shot to the mainstream with the hugely popular 2016 game Pokemon Go, also developed by Niantic.

Pokemon Go was a world-wide phenomenon, and the one of the first examples of mass adoption of AR. At its peak, the game had more users than Twitter in the US. It went on to earn more than US$600 million within three months of its launch, the fastest game to hit the landmark. 

The upcoming Harry Potter game will be Niantic’s follow-up to Pokemon Go, and will mark the start of a new chapter in the evolution of AR-based mobile entertainment.

But AR’s reach promises to extend far beyond gaming; the technology is also experiencing a gradual adoption in various business sectors.

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Google Glass, the search giant’s AR-equipped spectacles first announced in 2012, may have failed to catch on in the mass market, but are proving to be a useful ally for medical professionals conducting surgeries and other complicated medical procedures. Microsoft’s HoloLens AR headset allows architects to move around large-scale projections of buildings to look out for safety issues. 

Technology start-up Meta is developing an AR-based headset that will allow users to completely shift their desktop-based computer usage to apps inside the headset – making the day-to-day office functions totally computer-free – and establishing the Meta 2 headset an effective replacement for the traditional desktop monitor. 

Retail is another area where AR is making headway. Ikea in September launched its Ikea Place App, which uses AR to allow users to see for themselves how their chosen pieces of furniture would fit and look in their own homes. Similar functionality has been introduced by the UAE retailer Home Centre.

Lego has introduced AR kiosks in some of its retail shops that allow potential customers to scan a toy of their choice and immediately get to see, in 3D, what the finished product will look like.

Based on such developments, the US research analysts Digi­Capital predict the global AR market will grow to reach $83 billion by 2021.

That said, it’s still early days for the mass adoption of AR outside games and entertainment, with several challenges facing the technology. The most important among these is the relative lack of availability of AR-powered hardware at affordable prices. Microsoft HoloLens or Google Glass are great at high-end visualisation, but at over $1,000 their costs remain high.

In spite of progress in a number of areas, very few apps and use cases have been launched in the AR space to make the domain anything other than a highly selective niche.

With limited developer support and lack of compelling business models, AR needs a big thrust from somewhere to reach the next level of adoption.

It helps that the collective might of tech powerhouses such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook is firmly behind the technology. Enhanced AR capabilities were among the key features highlighted by Apple in its iPhone 8 and X models, unveiled last year.

Governments and corporations in the Middle East are also increasingly experimenting with AR. 

Dubai Land Department in September launched Mashrooi, an AR-powered app that allows users to track the progress of real estate projects and compare actual construction against developer plans. Dubai Frame, which opened this month, features AR screens for visitors that allow them to identify nearby landmarks.

Emirates launched an interactive amenity kit in 2016, that used AR to unlock immersive content on travellers’ mob­iles via the Blippar app. Last month, the airline launched Noel the Polar Bear as part of its Fly With Me Animals range, complete with a gift card that unlocked 3D AR content via the Emirates Kids AR app.

Such examples hint at the possibilities that AR offers in both consumer and business segments. In the coming years there may well an explosion of these.

As the physical and digital worlds increasingly become intertwined, our sensory experiences are in for the ride of a lifetime. 

THE DETAILS

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Director: Ron Howard

2/5

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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At Eternity’s Gate

Director: Julian Schnabel

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen

Three stars

Ticket prices
  • Golden circle - Dh995
  • Floor Standing - Dh495
  • Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
  • Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
  • Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
  • Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
  • Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
  • Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
UNSC Elections 2022-23

Seats open:

  • Two for Africa Group
  • One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
  • One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
  • One for Eastern Europe Group

Countries so far running: 

  • UAE
  • Albania 
  • Brazil 
MATCH INFO

FA Cup final

Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

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Ruwais timeline

1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established

1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants

1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed

1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.  

1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex

2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea

2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd

2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens

2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies

2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export

2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.

2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery 

2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital

2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13

Source: The National

Director: Shady Ali
Cast: Boumi Fouad , Mohamed Tharout and Hisham Ismael
Rating: 3/5

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5

Sustainable Development Goals

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality  within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The drill

Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.

Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”

Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”

Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.” 

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