In the not-so-distant future, you may not need a TV. Or a computer monitor. Or a smartphone. Or anything else with a physical display.
That's because the biggest companies in tech are working on augmented reality technology, which places digital images over the real world when you wear a headset.
The latest demonstration of this comes from someone using Microsoft's new HoloLens headset. In the video below, you can see someone playing the new "Halo" game on a virtual TV projected on the wall.
Take a look:
The player doesn't even need a TV. He just straps on a HoloLens and projects the game wherever he wants.
Now imagine that concept extended to everything from personal computing to watching Netflix. Instead of having several gadgets littered around your home, you'd just need to wear a special pair of glasses that can project whatever you want wherever you want it.
This is a similar concept to what the stealthy startup Magic Leap is working on. Although Magic Leap hasn't shown its augmented reality prototypes to the public yet, its patents hint that its broad vision is to one day replace every screen in your home with an augmented reality headset. (The company is probably on to something big too. Google led a $500 million investment in Magic Leap last year and its CEO Sundar Pichai is on its board.)
Meanwhile, Facebook owns Oculus VR, the company that plans to release a virtual reality gaming headset in early 2016. Samsung is working with Oculus on VR headsets powered by Galaxy phones. HTC has its own VR gaming headset called the Vive, which should come out next year. Sony has a VR headset for the PlayStation 4 coming out next spring. Apple has been acquiring companies related to augmented reality.
The list goes on and on, but it's clear all the big tech companies see significant potential in augmented and virtual reality.
Virtual reality is slightly different than augmented reality in that it completely immerses you in an experience instead of projecting images on top of the real world. The two are closely related, however, and it's likely future devices will be blend of augmented and virtual reality depending on the application.
But one thing is clear: The technologies being developed today have the potential to replace every screen you own with one thing. And that's pretty cool.
