Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

You've been waiting for this the whole week - here's the weekly linkfest:

• Augmented Planet has a round up of all the coming AR events this year.
• Interesting piece on New Scientist - Augmented reality iPhone helps police track suspects.
• Chris Grayson published a very good presentation on face tracking and face recognition. Pity there's no video recording of him presenting it.
• Don't tell the secret services, but artists used Layar to virtually infiltrate the White House and the Pentagon.
  
• Blair MacIntyre discusses Georgia Tech's Argon, "the Augmented Reality Web Browser".
• Augmented reality used as a gravitational wave interferometer tool. I don't have a clue what that means, but it looks like a virtual pendulum.

Only a few weeks ago, we reported on Virtual Master Reel, an augmented reality game whose aim was catching virtual fish with an augmented fishing reel. Seems that augmented reality fishing games are trending right now, because Nintendo got one for its Nintendo 3ds platform. Video doesn't do it justice, because the whole 3d display thingy is lost, but it still looks good. You can read more about the planned AR games for 3ds on Wired.



have a fantastic week!

The Augmented Reality Sword Fight

The Augmented Reality Sword Fight

Well, the following video is obviously not a show of augmented reality by any definition. The virtual entities are well orchestrated, and do not interact in real time with the actor. They are also projected on a screen behind the actor, so he can't really see them.

However, this video is still amazing, and more than a million views on Youtube are evidence for that. It also serves as a reminder for one possible future for augmented reality, where fun packed, fast paced games are not bounded to a LCD screen. The Kinect was a big step forward, AR may be the giant leap ahead.



(via Geekologie)

Augmented Reality U.S./Iraq War Memorial

Augmented Reality U.S./Iraq War Memorial

Here is another example of art activism where augmented reality is used to convey a message. Building upon Layar, artists Mark Skwarek and John Craig Freemand created was is probably the first virtual war memorial, commemorating each of the 52,036 deaths, both Iraqis and Allies, in the last gulf war.



The artists translated the place of death in Iraq to a location in the US and placed there a virtual casket, either "American" or "Middle eastern" in design. The result is disturbing:



More info on the project's blog, via Development Memo for Ourselves.

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

As always, here the augmented reality news stories and tidbits, I didn't have the time (or will) to cover this week:

• ISMAR11 call for papers is online, abstracts due May 11th
• The Guardian asks what is mobile AR for, and whether we should look for an augmented reality killer application.
• Georgia Tech's Argon, "the first augmented reality web browser" is now on the Appstore.
  
• Qualcomm announced their AR challenge (and $125,000 ) winner.
• Metaio and Ericsson are optimizing tracking capabilities in the Mobile World Congress.
  
• Route 66: A new twist on augmented reality navigation aid - you just need to follow the virtual car ahead of you.
• AC130 is an AR shooting game that uses dollar bills as markers. What was once an innovative idea, is quickly becoming a standard.

This week's video is a neat meshup between the insanely successful indie computer game Minecraft and augmented reality, by one Scott Kronick (or at least I think that is his name). Kronick, an artist by trade, came to the realization that it would be great "to hack away at and modify your city or school made of cubes". The result is "RealCraft":



Have a nice week!

Augmented Reality in the Fight Against Car Accidents

Augmented Reality in the Fight Against Car Accidents

Safe for Humans is a really smart mobile app concept that harness augmented reality to make people more aware of car accidents involving pedestrians. As you can see in the video below, it will use "natural" markers and probably GPS. However the big challenge here, I suspect, would not be pinpointing the user's location, but rather matching the video to the user's orientation.

Safe for Humans from Hey, on Vimeo.

What other "public service announcements" can be reinvented using augmented reality?
(previously covered AR activism: bringing BP's oil leak to your hometown, fighting domestic violence and going against the hunt of Siberian tigers)

Valentine's Weekly Linkfest

Valentine's Weekly Linkfest

You can't find a date using augmented reality yet (?), but you can sure do other things with it:

• You can control lights around your home with this very nice use of Qualcomm's AR SDK.
• See ultrasound imaging of your body, overlaid on your skin.
  
• Install a new ink cartridge in your printer, without printing any markers, using Junaio.
  
• Find a new job with kooaba's Paperboy.
• Or you can do nothing and wait for machine learning to change AR to the better.
  

This week's video is a must see. Being in German, I can't tell you much about it, but it seems to be a concept design for in car head up display done as a university assignment. It looks very realistic and compelling - I can't wait to have such a display in my car:



Have an excellent week!

Super Weekly Linkbowl

Super Weekly Linkbowl

links, who wants some links?

• Metaio & USA Today launched an AR Super Bowl application that puts you in the middle of the Cowboy's stadium.
• Virtual fishing with an augmented reel (via @yoav85)
• If fishing is too peaceful for you, the AR gun makes augmented reality shooting games more realistic than ever.
• Russian AR Door demo a neat science project - combining Total Immersion's D'Fusion, Vuzix glasses and multitouch screens.
  
• Is LiveStache the world first live video AR iPhone app to put a mustache on your face?
  
• Most QR code scans are now taking place in the US (as long as you don't consider Japan)

I found this week's video on Toby's weekend "linkfest". It's one more example how augmented reality can upgrade almost any old board game, this time making "battleships" more interactive. As Toby rightfully states, there's no need for two boards when AR is deployed, as the two players can be shown different views of the same board. Still, it's a cool demo:



Have a great week!