Augmented reality conference returns to Dublin

Google may have pulled the plug on Google Glass sales for now, but the augmented reality glass is still half full, say the organisers of the Augmented Reality Marketing conference, which will return in April after its inaugural event at the Guinness Storehouse last year.

Augmented and virtual reality experts from the US, UK, Europe and Ireland will speak at the gathering in the Croke Park Conference Centre on April 29th. The organisers say the move to a bigger venue reflects increasing interest from marketers, the tech sector and creative and digital specialists.

The driving force behind the conference is Alex Gibson, a lecturer at DIT and the host of Dublin City FM's marketing and media show The Persuaders, while speakers include Amplified Robot chief executive Steve Dann, iTagged founder Keith Jordan and Betfair's head of public relations Barry Orr.

Google says it is still committed to launching smartglasses as a consumer product. And, as Gibson notes, on the same day the company withdrew the first iteration of Glass, start-up Magic Leap – which raised $542 million last October in a Google-led funding round – filed a patent for a kind of augmented reality it calls "cinematic reality". Isn't that an oxymoron?