[adolph]

There is a balance between immersive and ambient. A large number of people are working on the latter in terms of smart home devices, advanced driver assistance systems and fitbit-like quantified self devices, to name a couple of sectors.

Maybe a challenge for ambient technology is that its nature is non-engaging. If it were engaging, it would be immersive and not ambient.

[haswell]

I don't think ambient and immersive are mutually exclusive. Ambient tech just widens the potential space in which someone can become immersed. Before ambient tech, I primarily interacted with my computers. With ambient tech, I interact with my computers and the environment in which those computers exist. Now, I'm one with my apartment. A thought leads to spoken words which lead to direct control of the devices around me.