Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

Not going to ISMAR :\. Since going to Florida is not an easy trip for me, I would have like to stay there for more than a couple of days. However, my current workload maje such a vacation impossible. I'm sure Ori and Thomas will do a great work covering it. In the meantime, I'll take the next few days off from blogging, and will be back with my 200th post (woot!). Hope to see you all at ISMAR Korea!
Now, having done with the excuses, here's the weekly linkfest:

Articles & Videos

• YDreams' blog - what's augmented reality added value?
• Fast Company - "Augmented Reality is Both a Fad and the Future"
• If you have a friend that doesn't know a thing about AR, let him watch O'Reilly webcast where Chetan Damani of AcrossAir explains it all.
  

Augmented Reality Browsers:

• Following Wikitude, media favorite Layar is now on the appstore.
• Following Yelp, Urbanspoon adds an augmented reality view.
  
• Lodestone AR Compass is a browser for the great outdoors. Two bucks and it's on your iPhone.
• CiviCast (from CiviGuard) is an augmented reality browser for civil services with a lofty goal - "To guide & protect global civilian populations in the event of a crisis through authoritative & reliable information delivery over mobile communications networks."
• Can't even call it a browser, 3d Compass is just a floating compass for Android.

Other

• Total Immersion presents markerless tracking on the iPhone
• Columbia University's submission to ISMAR09 - Augmented reality used for maintenance and repair by the US Marine Corps.
• A more detailed video of what the augmented reality experience to promote the Transformers DVD would look like (hope it's better than the movie :).

The weekly video is from the Australian band Lost Valentinos. In order to promote their latest single (Nightmoves) they chose (what a surprise) to use augmented reality. We have seen AR clips before and AR used to promote singles as well (see for example this application for Eminem). However, Lost Valentinos found a simple yet ingenious way to use augmented reality - they shot each band member perform the song on its own, match each one with a marker, and let their fans to compose their own videoclip via AR. As the press release says - "From lead singer Nik performing the song atop a user’s shoulders, to the whole band playing the song at the base of the Eiffel Tower". Try it yourself over here (and btw, don't search for nightmoves on Youtube from work).



Have a great week!