[kbenson]

> Also, no, being able to project a little cartoon monster on the surface of a table is not "useful" AR functionality...

I would think being able to do that means you've solved most the hard problems you mentioned, so if it can be done well it means we've achieved a certain level of usefulness.

Sort of like how bouncing a white square between two movable white rectangles was a "useful" bit of functionality for consumer AV electronics. Pong isn't exactly blowing anyone's mind now, but it did mean they had to solve a lot of problems to make a machine that could interface with current televisions, deal with user input, do it and update the display within an acceptable time period so it was responsive, and hit a cost and form factor so the general public could make use of it.

[kempbellt]

> I would think being able to do that means you've solved most the hard problems

I guess the other hard problem, besides just creating the tech, is real-world application,

Reminds me of the Leap Motion device. The creators made some really cool tech, and it works pretty well for what it is, but most people struggle to find a really useful application for it.