Google Glass is a pair of glasses that double as a display screen. You can see the world as-is through them, and data can be displayed about the things you see. That's Augmented Reality in a nutshell.
Virtual Reality uses goggles that contain screens only. Everything you see on the screen is a created image, unreal.
Modified reality adds a stereo camera-pair to the VR goggles, so that it can present a real-world image on the screen whenever wanted. However, in-between the image-taking and the image- displaying, the computer can process the image to present the wearer with Modified Reality.
For example, you could be walking down a crowded street, and you won't bump into anyone simply because the locations of others on the walkway will be Real --but their images might be changed so that 1/5 of them look like Klingons, 1/5 of them look like Jar Jar Binks, 1/5 of them are unchanged in appearance, children look like velociraptors, and so on. This particular use might help cure people of xenophobia.
For another example, cars might look like contraptions from Dr. Seuss or Rube Goldberg, but since their modified images still occupy the same space as real cars, you won't collide with them any more frequently than you collide with ordinary-looking cars.
For another example, ordinary buildings can look like ancient fortresses or even-more-ancient "cyclopean"-style structures (made from enormous stone blocks). Or every 4th one might look like a fairyland castle.
And so on. Could this be the "killer app" that encourages everyone to wear VR goggles?-- Vernon, Sep 08 2015 VR prettification video https://youtu.be/wmYT79tPvLg?t=41LDN by Lily Allen [Loris, Jun 24 2022] "In-between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality" [marked-for-tagline], maybe?-- Vernon, Sep 08 2015 Arguably it should be used for public surveillance cameras: only when a crime has been reported (or noticed) does the system defantasticize the feed.-- FlyingToaster, Sep 08 2015 Difficult to achieve, as Jar Jar Binks is decidedly taller and lankier than much of the population. I'm not certain what you do about his floppy ears, either.-- RayfordSteele, Sep 08 2015 [RayfordSteele], the percentages of modified people- images don't have to be 1/5. And of course smaller percentages could allow a larger variety of different aliens to appear to be walking along.
[bigsleep], I don't know that I did or did not ever read your older Idea.-- Vernon, Sep 08 2015 A recent term that has some popular usage is mixed reality. Magic Leap (and several others) are attempting to use light fields in a way that goes way beyond what Google Glass can do.-- theircompetitor, Sep 08 2015 Enhance the system with facial recognition and loadable avatar models and you could selectively replace individuals with a more pleasing or personality-fitting appearance: that surly, ugly, brutish person who frequently makes your life hell might be represented as Jessica Rabbit or as a Klingon, you choose...
There's a whole new revenue stream for the movie studios and CGI creators in creating the loadable avatars.-- Tulaine, Sep 09 2015 This is an application of AR. No need for a new buzzword.-- Voice, Sep 09 2015 Whatever happened to taking good, old-fashioned hallucinogens?-- Cuit_au_Four, Sep 09 2015 I was thinking about this more in the terms of beautifying reality. You live in a neighborhood where things don't look so pleasant? Well, a VR skin is cheaper then moving to a more expensive neighborhood.-- PauloSargaco, Sep 10 2021 //a VR skin is cheaper then moving to a more expensive neighborhood.//
"Oh, I'm being charmingly mugged by a local shepherd on this beautiful alpine pasture!"-- bs0u0155, Sep 10 2021 //a VR skin is cheaper then moving to a more expensive neighborhood//
There's a movie that features that, but I couldn't find it because the search words are so common. A man uses augmented reality to see his robot as a boy and his slum as a beautiful world. IIRC the robot is a combat bot.-- Voice, Jun 24 2022 //a local shepherd//
Imagine the police line-up.-- pertinax, Jun 24 2022 random, halfbakery