You don’t have to look very far to find the next trend in technology education. There are a lot of choices out there, and a lot of letters have been thrown around lately, but what do they mean? Use this guide when making your next techno-decision.

VR

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is an all-encompassing experience. VR creates a world of its own. This can be realistic, or surreal. The important thing to remember is nothing from your physical environment is able to be seen when experiencing VR. Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PS VR are recocnizable names in the VR industry.

AR 

Augmented Reality

The definition of  augment is “to make something greater or better by adding to it”. That’s exactly how you would define augmented reality. AR adds a virtual layer to the real world. Pokemon Go really brought AR to the center stage. Amazon is promoting their AR services to help envision their products in your home. It will have another high-profile resurgence if/when Wizards Unite ever comes out.

MR

Mixed Reality

This is the newest, and most  ambiguous type of virtual experiences. It’s very similar to AR in appearances, but the biggest difference is that the virtual objects learn, adapt, and adjust their behavior to their real-life space. Microsoft is the current leader in this technology with their Hololens, but more will be coming upon the (virtual) horizon, like Magic Leap.

 

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not so hard to grasp the differences between the concepts. It’s also incredibly easy to get excited about things to come. Like all technology, it’ll get better, cheaper, and more accessible with time, but waiting is the hardest part!