Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

Slow week, or am I at fault for not paying attention to the augmentosphere?

• Qualcomm releases an iOS version of their AR SDK. I guess now I'm left out of excuses for not developing any AR app on my own.
• Face detection is coming in iOS5, but will be probably used only to make "funny" pictures.
• Cool augmented dressing room, powered by Kinect, which makes the clothes look a little bit more realistic and less pasted on your body. (via augmented.org)
• AR on billboards: dance with virtual dancers in Kuala Lumpur.
  
• AR Dodge Ball from TU Munich. Is it a HUD on your face or are you just a weirdo?

This week's video is without a doubt this one from The Heavy Projects - I never got so many retweets as I did after tweeting about it (if you don't follow me I'm @augmented). Harnessing the power of Junaio, the billboards of Times Square are repainted with original street art. I think the guys from Artvertiser had this idea first, but it's pretty neat to see it actually implemented. I just wonder whether it's ok with Junaio's terms of use.

Augmented Reality Advertising Takeover in Times Square from Will Sherman on Vimeo.

Have a great week!

Weekly Linkfest Plus

Weekly Linkfest Plus

I think that's one of the best linkfests in a while. Judge for yourself:

• A long and illustrated (by Youtube videos, of course) survey by The Next Web: Augmented reality: The past, present and future (via @yoav85)
• A couple of weeks ago Qualcomm held its Uplinq conference. Xconomy has a nice review of Qualcomm's AR vision and the five application categories it is trying to promote.
• Qualcomm's Jay Wright however thinks that AR glasses are a long way off - both due to technology challenges and adoption issues.
• Early bird tickets to Metaio's insideAR conference (still they are quite costly, I think :/)
• Artists corner:
• Helen Papagiannis hopes to treat phobias with a pop-up book with augmented reality extensions, full of creepy crawlies (powered by Junaio).
• Sander Veenhof once again checks the boundries of AR with 3D2D3D (powered by Layar). I could have tried to explain it, but would surely fail.
• Brian Wassom has an interesting interview with daqri's CEO, Brian Mullins on how to create a Youtube of AR content.

Since Friday was Canada Day, and tomorrow is the 4th of July, let us celebrate with a double feature in this week's video. Two first person shooter games caught my eye this week, the first ShootAR has a surprisingly sleek teaser video, while the other Uwar seems a little bit more feasible, and features cool shirts (well, cool is in the eye of the beholder). Is this new generation of AR games going to heat things up?

Have an excellent week!

Georgia Tech's Spring 2011 Crop of Games - Nerds, Puppies and Asteroids

Georgia Tech's Spring 2011 Crop of Games - Nerds, Puppies and Asteroids

It was only five months ago when we reported about the first set of mobile augmented reality games coming out of Qualcomm Augmented Reality Game Studio. The studio, a partnership between Qualcomm and Georgia Tech's Augmented Environments Lab, gives students the tools to create AR games and gives us a peek their crazy ideas. Now, a new crop of games is out of the studio's doors, and here are my favorites:

Dodger Dodger is a simple game where you are tasked with escaping falling asteroids. This game smartly harnesses the mobile platform to add another dimension to the game. Not only does the player needs to move left and right, he also needs to move the phone back and forth in order to avoid the asteroids:



Nerdherder is obviously the bastard step child of last semaster's Nerdferno. Instead of dodging asteroids, you need to avoid eye contact with girls in this one:



The goal of Puppy Plus is to teach your child basic math skills using a cute puppy living on a deserted island, surrounded by pirate ships. It makes perfect sense, trust me:



You can read more about these games and others coming out this spring on Qualcomm AR game studio site; Don't miss the narwal safe sex guide.

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

Weekly Augmented Reality Linkfest

Wow, what a busy week. I've listed below only a few of this week's AR related news stories, just to protect you from an information overload. I hope to blog about the other stories in the coming days.

• This computer vision and augmented reality mind map found by Etsuji, is a bit lacking on the commercial side (for example, Metaio is not listed under companies), but seems ok on the research side of things.
  
• Pipe dream or a dream just waiting to come true? Gotham Eyewear: "What are we building? We are building augmented reality glasses for the masses.
• Last week's video featured Predator, a really cool looking computer vision tracking algorithm. Now, its creator, Zdenek Kalal, has released it as open source.
• The Next Web published a list of "The 25 most influential people tweeting about augmented reality". I'm there, and actually if you are on Twitter and enjoy this blog, you should follow me.
  
• Researchers at the University of Tokyo combined AR with eye-tracking to create a hands-free and clutter free interface.
• The New York Times discovers AR, again. 'Towards a talking newspaper" - augmented reality comes closer to reality (via @GaryPHayes)
• From EyeToy to NGP: Sony looks back at augmented reality on PlayStation and offers a peek to the future.
• Suwappu - I just don't get it.

This week's video is magnificent in its simplicity. Nothing more than a demo of Qualcomm's AR platform, featuring virtual domino bricks, it made me think what would happen if they'll scale this game. Anyone in the world could place bricks, and anyone could push a brick and start a world-wide chain reaction, but of the playful kind. A simple game that will cross borders and cultures, or maybe I'm a walking cliche?



Have a beautiful week!

Weekly Belated Linkfest

Weekly Belated Linkfest

Sorry for not posting the weekly linkfest yesterday; Don't worry though, the links are still fresh:

• A preliminary schedule for the second Augmented Reality Event has been posted, lots of interesting sessions await you.
• Sander Veenhof created the first one-dimensional art piece using Layar, aptly named 1px (math geeks, calm down! a pixel is indeed not 1 dimensional, but as close as one can get). You can also see an interview with Veenhof about art in AR.
• Toby has a nice roundup of non-visual augmented reality projects and applications.
• If you have any programming in the last year, you surely know of StackOverflow.com. Now there's an attempt to create a similar Q&A site for augmented reality. If you think this idea has any merit then show your support.
• Marketing with Augmented Reality - an Infographic (via @comogard).
  
• Mavericks have teamed with Qualcomm to add augmented reality to this year’s playoff tickets.
• April fools: AdBlock Freedom - augmented reality eyewear that detects and removes ads from the world in realtime. Probably the guys at AdBlock never heard of Artvertiser.

I love videos done by students to show off their work. This week we are lucky to have Predator, a very impressive video (though I haven't tried it myself) tracking algorithm resulting from Zdenek Kalal's phd thesis at the University of Surrey, UK. You can try it yourself by downloading a compiled application to your pc, and read more about it here. Though desktop bound right now, Kalal claims that "implementation for mobile devices is feasible".



have a great week!

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!

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!

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

It's Sunday, and here are some links from around the augmented sphere:

• Videos of ISMAR 2010's keynotes were recently uploaded to Youtube:
• Ron Azuma: Beyond pop-ups and moving trains
• Hirokazu Kato: Return to the origin of Augmented Reality
• Boris Debackere: Better Then Reality
• Selim Benhimane: Imagine a generalized daily basis usage of AR/MR
  
• It's way too long for me to read, but it looks quite promising: PSFK's Future Of Mobile Tagging Report.
• Artist to use augmented reality to deface the Mona Lisa on Thursday (with Junaio).
• More AR goodness on the Nintendo 3ds (via @yoav85)
• MixAR, an augmented reality edtior for the iPhone is looking for your support on kickstarter.
• "Live Butterflies" allows you to go outside and see virtual butterflies around you. Now we can go on and push the real ones to extinction.

Ever played Duplo (the big blocks version of Lego) as a toddler? Worried that your kids will only want to play with things that have touch screens on them? Worry not, legoplatformer.com will turn your old bricks into a mobile augmented reality platform capable of running computer games. On a serious note, that's one example of the power of Qualcomm's AR SDK:

New Yearly Linkfest

New Yearly Linkfest

As you may have guessed this passing week was very slow in augmented reality news (or any news for that matter). Nevertheless, I scoured the web and bring you this weekly linkfest.

• Last week I reported on the winter crop of augmented reality games coming from Qualcomm AR Game Studio. The videos of three more games were recently uploaded, so be sure to check them up.
• Layar and int13's ARDefender selected as apps of the year on SamsungApps.
  
• DOMO, Tonchidot's newest project, aspires to enable transparent society, where you could see everyone's thoughts and interests.
• Open question on Quora - What will be the most important developments in augmented reality in 2011? I tried giving my best answer, though you may disagree with me. (via @TishShute)
  
• On the same topic, Metaio give their own 2011 predictions. You can also find some AR predictions for the next decade on Joe Ludwig's blog.

What a better way to start the new year than playing a round of augmented golf? That's exactly what the students at Rochester Institute of Technology thought when they came up with this game that doesn't require an entire fairway.



have a happy new yeAR!

Nerdferno and 2 Other Augmented Reality Games from Georgia Tech

Nerdferno and 2 Other Augmented Reality Games from Georgia Tech

In late June, the establishment of Qualcomm Augmented Reality Game Studio was announced, a partnership between Qualcomm and Georgia Tech's Augmented Environments Lab, with the goal of "pioneering new advancements in mobile gaming and interactive media". Six months later, the first crop of mobile based games is coming out of the studio, and this blogger is far from disappointed.

Shotgun Showdown is a two players western styled shooting game which utilizes two $20 bills as an arena/required marker. I wonder whether the winner takes both bills.



If you thought that tracking dollar bills was original, than get ready for Volcano Fever, a game that uses condom wrappers as a marker. It's more than just a weird artistic choice by the game designer. The goal of Volcano Fever is to teach proper condom use.



I understand the volcano metaphor, but what's the octopus supposed to symbolize? ... Anyway, next is, as promised, Nerdferno, a game that puts you in a God like position, determining the fate of cubicle dwellers. If you looked for original AR content, you've found it:



You can read more about these games and others, such as Spintopia and Bug Juice, on the studio's website, and about previous AR games from Georgia Tech here.

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

After a month long hiatus, it's back! The weekly linkfest is here, with a fresh batch of links:

• Top headline of the week obviously goes to Qualcomm, which will launch a free vision based AR framework for Android this fall. In order to encourage developers to use their SDK, Qualcomm holds a contest for best use of the framework, first prize is $125000. I have to get myself an Android phone and start working on that AR Farmville concept! Who's with me?
  
• int13 (missed you guys!) brings very smooth marker based augmented reality to the feeble Nintendo DSi. They're also submitting AR games to Samsung's Bada store.
• French Laster Technologies creates AR eyewear that isn't revolting (at that's a complement!)
  
• Layar now used as an art canvas in an interesting project with a Dutch museum.
• Yes, you can even market cancer using augmented reality.
  

Video of the week shows a social hacking feat which will probably become a common practice as AR goes mainstream. Mark Skwarek and Joseph Hocking created “The leak in your home town”, an augmented reality application for the iPhone, which displays a virtual oil spill whenever you set the phone's camera on a BP logo. Don't expect to see it on the AppStore anytime soon. (via Beyond the Beyond):



Happy 4th of July to our American visitors!

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

Anybody feels like sponsoring an AR blogger trip to an AR event?
There were plenty of interesting AR links to share this week, but only seven won a place in this week's linkfest:

• Tish Shute interviews Paige Saez on the challenges designing an appealing AR application (see quote below).
• Qualcomm buys Austrian Imagination, launches an augmented reality lab, and becomes a force to be reckoned with.
• CrunchGear covers LookTel, provisioners of AR for the blind (see video below). See one of my earliest posts, for another take on AR for the visually impaired.
• Augmented reality is one of Time Magazine's top 10 technologies for 2010. The top technology is location based services.
• Weird British augmented reality fashion show "is like watching Avatar on shrooms".
  
• If you are celebrating either Passover or April fools day - the augmented matza is for you.
• And since they requested me so nicely, I have to mention Seac02's "LinceoVR for all" plan - you can now use LinceoVR for as low as 25 euro per year. (they don't pay me for this plug, but they should!).

This week's quote comes from that talk with Paige Sez:

As we’ve talked about it before, it’s amazing that marketing and advertising are helping push forward AR, and it’s great. It’s fantastic. But it’s also the worst possible thing that could ever happen because it is such a singular way of looking at an overall ubiquitous computing experience. There are other ways.

And as promised, this week's video is a demo of LookTel, it looks fantastic, and shows that there are some things that an old Windows phone still does better than a new shiny iPhone (well, at least till June):



Have a great week!

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

Another week passed by, and here we are again, at the weekly linkfest. Today on the linkfest:

• Juniper research is predicting that mobile augmented reality will by a $750 million industry by 2014, which is a lot more than the previous $350 million estimate by ABI research. Just a quick reminder - Twitter is valued at one billion dollars.
  
• Tish Shute preaching for Wave powered augmented reality infrastructure at Mobile Monday Amsterdam.
• Thomas Carpenter reveals Qualcomm's plans to use face recognition to create augmented social networks.
  
• We had quite a few marketing campaigns this week:
• Target uses AR markers to spin a virtual wheel, but I wouldn't call it augmented reality otherwise.
• InStyle magazine has an augmented version of its December cover (using Total Immersion's tech).
• And more of Total Immersion - augmented albums for some Brit and French bands.
  
• Play with a virtual Dodge Avenger, I think it's the first time anyone used augmented reality to sell a car [via Development Memo for Ourselves]
  

This week's video is of a photo booth at Las Vegas that lets you try different hats. I just find this guy's reactions really funny (and the augmentation is quite good) [via DMfO]



Have a great week!