Layar, Layar, Layar

Layar, Layar, Layar

If you read this post, you are probably an avid reader of this blog.
If you are an avid reader of this blog, you are probably interested in AR.
If you are interested in AR, you probably know that Layar had a fantastic day, at least PR wise:

• VentureBeat - "Augmented reality browser Layar expands worldwide, eyes iPhone"
• ReadWriteWeb - "Layar Augmented Reality Now World Wide on Android, iPhone is Next"
• Brightkite - Brightkite & Layar take you through the looking glass to see your friends in a new dimension: "Using the Layar Augmented Reality Browser, you can now look at the world around you through your phone’s camera, and see your friends’ posts, photos and locations superimposed exactly where they were made."
• Augmented Reality Soundwalk with Layar: "Soundwalks mix fiction and reality in a cinematic experience giving the listener the impression of actually being in a film. The Layar Soundwalk will augment reality with additional contents to the St. Germain des Prés in Paris Soundwalk with Virginie Ledoyen and original music by Benjamin Biolay."
• And GoWeb3D created numerous other layers, among them one for Flickr and one for Wikipedia.

As a matter of fact, this day was such a success for Layar, that it seems that layar.com and layar.eu are quite slugish, probably due to a surge in visitors. Is it too late for Mobilizy (Wikitude) and acrossair? (I really hope not).

Even more details, on Layar's blog.

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

Last week I published a poll, asking how do you define yourself - are you an engineer, an artist or maybe an Entrepreneur? As of writing this post, 75 readers have answered the poll, 34 of them (45%) identified themselves as engineers. I thought there would be more artists among you (15%), and was surprised by the percent of entrepreneurs (15%). The poll is still open, so you can still cast a vote.
Moving on to the weekly linkfest (it gets bigger every week!) -

• Metaio blitzed the airwaves with two podcasts - Noora Guldemond (head of sales and marketing) interviews here and Peter Meier, Metaio's CTO is giving an interview here. Sadly, I haven't found the time last week to hear them, but I plan to do so in the next few days.
• And it was a good week for SPRXMobile (Layar) as well. Aparently, Layar comes preinstalled on Samsung's new Android phone, they were featured on The Financial Times, and things are only going to get better, since they are holding their first Layar event.
• TweetWorld is Gamaray's attempt to have an augmented tweeter application, joinning the ranks of Layar and TwittAround.
  
• The BBC - Mobile phones get cyborg vision: "Not only could this form of rich, intuitive and easy to grasp data be the next killer app for the mobile, some see it changing our world view forever."
• ReadWriteWeb - Augmented Reality: A Human Interface for Ambient Intelligence: "Augmented reality (or AR) is fast becoming as ubiquitous a term as Web 2.0. The field is getting noisier by the day, and AR as a field of research now has to co-exist with its status as an industry buzzword"
• A short introduction to programming AR applications for the Android OS.
• Is this the first augmented shirt on Threadless?
• CrashCorp demos a rudimentry AR application for the iPhone.
• YDreams and Zugara join the AR consortium (can I join too?)
• And Zugara (covered previously here) also launched what must be the second augmented reality game on Facebook (since last week Total Immersion had the first), CannonBallz (video). Just four years ago, we would have called this kind of games "Eye Toy" like, but today we have new buzzwords. Still, it is a well produced game.

Our weekly video is of a game created by Circ.us, to promote Chris Angel's new show, "The five lives of Chris Angel". Since it's a puzzle game, and this summer turned me into a brain-dead blogger, I haven't tried it myself to give an educated review. You, on other hand, can play it here, or just watch the embedded video below:

Criss Angel Augmented Reality Game from Circ.us on Vimeo.

As always, have a nice week!

Two More AR Browsers to Join the Party

Two More AR Browsers to Join the Party

Are you a Wikitude or Layar supporter? Maybe Sekai Camera fan? The battle for supremacy at the augmented reality browsers market is getting more complicated by the minute, with two new contenders joining the fight.
First, acrossair which brought us the Tube Finder, is now showing off a very slick "general purpose" AR browser for the iPhone 3GS:



Next, GraffitiGeo, a fresh new startup that wants to create a Digg like service for real places is working on an AR version of their application, also for the iPhone:



(more details about GraffitiGeo here).

So, now we are at five AR browsers. Anyone wants to bet how many browsers there will be by this time next year? (my guess - only three serious contenders, and one of them will be owned by Google).

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

This passing week's trending augmented reality topics were AcrossAir's Tube Locator (which is two weeks old) and James Alliban's augmented business card (which is over a month old, can't see why it became so popular suddenly). Let's hope next week will bring some fresh AR news. As a matter of fact, tomorrow I'll cover an even cooler augmented business card concept. In the meanwhile, here's this week's linkfest:

• Another week, another TalkBlogRadio interview with an AR alumni, this time it's Maarten Lens-FitzGerald of SPRXMobile speaking with Tracy Swedlow about future directions for Layar and the industry as a whole.
• Even better than the real thing: the Guardian had a good report on the current state of augmented reality.
• On the other hand, Wired mocks the current plethora of augmented reality apps with its own proposal for an an AR hobo app - "Augmented Reality Hobo Signs? There’s an App for That".
  
• The Cartoon Network is using an AR game to promote their IncrediKids show (via Revolution Magazine).
• Not only AR was used to promote the last Star Trek movie, the DVD version will have its own (?) AR experience.
  
• Techcrunch: Canon uses AR to enhance product design process. Interesting video that also shows how that dinosaur we mentioned on last week's linkfest works (answer: with a lot of markers).
• Augmented reality is cool! But where's the ROI?

Weekly quote:

However, I am nervous about the potential AR hype bubble. I'm pushing
"real AR" (which right now means tabletop) and the importance of tight
registration whenever I talk to the press or companies, because I want
as many people to realize that whether these apps succeed or fail
should not really be used as a metric of the potential success or
failure of AR.

Blair MacIntyre from an interesting discussion on the AR Forum whether the recent set of GPS based applications are AR or not (a point I've briefly touched here. I much prefer those pseudo AR application over the novelty AR applications).

This week's video comes to us from Dutch design company Strafwerk. They described this video as "welcome to the future", but I think it's actually worse than Zugara's clothes shopping application (which wasn't that great on itself):

Updates from the Frontline

Updates from the Frontline

Continuing my coverage of the augmented reality browser wars, here are the latest news (well, some of them are a few days old, excuse me for procrastinating a bit):

AcrossAir is not satisfied with letting you find the closest subway station in London (where it's called The Tube), it also has its sights on the NY subway system:



If you remember correctly, Mobilizy, makers of Wikitude, claimed AcrossAir's application demo is nothing but a mock-up. Seems real to me.
Anyway, Mobilizy is working hard to remind people that Wikitude augmented the world way before SPRXMobile's Layar. Moreover, one of their tweets suggests that Layar was based on Wikitude's technology. Indeed, SPRXMobile did cooperate with Mobilizy once, when creating their ATM finder, but it doesn't prove that Layar is Wikitude in disguise.
Mobilizy also released this video demoing their Wikitude API, and did not miss the opportunity to include some sarcastic remark towards its end:



And in the Eastern front, TechCrunch reports on the almost final version of Tonchidot's Sekai Camera. Compared this video -



With what we have been promised a year ago:



Well, at least they still have something to aspire to.

Battle of the AR Browsers

Battle of the AR Browsers

See update at the end of this post (if only I've waited ten more minutes!)

Three weeks after its launch, SPRXMobile's Layar partially opens up its layer creation API to developers. It's not freely available online (bad decision?), however, interested developers can register here, and may be among the lucky 50 to get access keys to the API. The press release is here.
Meanwhile, Mobilizy (creator of Wikitude) is not keeping silent. They congratulated SPRXMobile on their twitter account, and placed a comment on Layar's press release:

On behalf of Mobilizy GmbH the developers of the original Wikitude AR Travel Guide we would like to congratulate SPRX Mobile in their efforts to help shape the Mobile augmented reality landscape.

Good Job!

Mobilizy also put this picture depicting Wikitude on the iPhone 3GS, and released the following advertisement video



and commented about AcrossAir's Tube Locator application, saying "you can tell it is fake if you look closely".

All this while both SPRXMobile and Mobilizy are founding members in the new AR Consortium. So, am I making a lot of noise out of nothing? Probably, after all I'm a blogger!

Update: Mobilizy just announced that they will let user add their own tags to the world via Wikitude.me and that they open up their API in a closed beta. And thus begins the battle to control the mobile AR world!

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

This week seemed to be all about Layar. The blogosphere and major tech sites were all reporting about the "first augmented reality browser" (and we had our fare share in the coverage as well). However, there were some other AR releated news this week, even though the first item on this week's linkfest is still about Layar:

• Engadget brings us a hands-on review of SPRXMobile's Layar. Things to notice - only one layer is visible at a time and the user chooses the distance of the farthest points visible by Layar.
• Nokia releases more information on creating content for Point and Find.
• Youtube War is a card game involving Youtube clips and augmented reality, where the audience takes an active role. Surely, some hot-shot producer needs to bring it to television. (via PSFK)
• Occipital's cool pedestrian navigation technology is like Photosynth working on your mobile phone, matching its video input to earthmine's street maps. (via TechCrunch)
• TechCrunch - Amazon's A9 buys SnapTell

Happy Father's day! If you live in the united states and forgot to get something special for your father, don't worry, you can still make him an augmented greeting card, thanks to internet developement agenct Mangrove:

Hi Dad! An Augmented Reality Father's day gift from Mangrove on Vimeo.

Have a good father's day, and a great week!

Layar is Out

Layar is Out

Surely, you have already read about it at Gizmodo, at ReadWriteWeb, or at any other of the millions of websites which reported the news today. However, if you are avid readers of this blog, you already knew about Layar, "the first augmented reality browser" for at least two weeks (see link for further details).

So luckily, all that is left for me to do, is (1) embed this new video demoing Layar:



(2) Quote from the press release:

Mobile innovation company SPRXmobile launches Layar, the worlds first mobile Augmented Reality browser, which displays real time digital information on top of reality (of) in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phone's camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, jobs, healthcare providers and ATMs.
...
The premier launch is for the Dutch market. ... Layar will be launched per country with local content partners in order to guarantee relevent results for the end user. SPRXmobile is planning further roll-outs, together with local partners, in Germany, the UK and the United States this year. SPRXmobile will continue with regular releases of new layers after each local launch. The Layar application will be available via the Android Market. Other handsets and operating systems are in development with a prime focus on the iPhone 3G S.

(3) Tell you that it will be available tomorrow on the Android Store
(4) And once again wish good luck to Maarten, Raimo and friends from SPRXMobile.

Layar is Online

Layar is Online

Layar is a new augmented reality Android framework that comes from SPRXMobile. SPRXMobile, which previously brought us the ATM finder and this excellent post about the AR hype cycle, have kicked it up a notch with a full blown AR platform.
SPRXMobile don't provide many details quite yet (they save it to Mobile 2.0), but here's what was made public on their site:

• It will be available for download on the Android Market before the first of July. However, at launch, the service itself will only be available in the Netherlands (one more reason to visit!)
  
• Points of interest are shown on top of the video input using graphical symbols, their interpretation (the text describing them) is shown out of band, on the bottom of the screen.
• You will be able to choose between different content layers. Companies will be able to create their own layers (e.g. a layer whose points of interest are Starbucks).
  
• "Currently several companies have already signed up for Layar and will publish their own content in their branded layer soon."

My educated guess is that they are using the compass+gps combo to identify points of interest. First, it works only on Android devices since "they are the only devices with a compass". Then, "We have a little indicator showing you the accuracy of the location positioning", which could be avoided using computer vision. If that's the case, the main difference between them and Wikitude is having many content layers (which also justify their "first mobile browser" slogan).

Whatever is the case, seeing SPRXMobile previous projects, I'm sure this one will be a tight application with a lot of promise. Good luck guys! (Raimo, Maarten, feel free to comment).

(link)

Update: Maarten of SPRXMobile replies -

We sooooooooooo excited. And there is even more. We will be launching with at least one layar which is globally relevant, so you can visit Holland to use it but also do it at home in the US8-)

If there are any major brands out there reading this and wishing to get their location information in a layer on this browser let me know: “maarten atsign sprxmobile.com”. Starbucks would be a great layar…

Weekly Linkfest

Weekly Linkfest

That was quite a week for augmented reality.
The top article at Games Alfresco was "Augmented Fear of Heights" (with about 1000 views!), and on Augmented Times the top post was about Marco Tempest's magic Trick.

There were so many news items this week, I couldn't cover them all even if I wanted to (though, I might cover some of those next week):

• An interesting article at SPRXMobile's blog (creators of the ATM finder), looking at the augmented reality hype cycle. I had some reservations about the way Maarten's divided the different AR applications to generations (as you can read in the comments section), so I may write my own take about it soon.
• An excellent presentation given by Thomas Purves at Refresh Events - "Designing for an augmented reality world", where he covers some technological and sociological aspects of AR.
  
• Advertising Age 1: Augmented Reality Will Blur the Line Between Online and Offline.
• Advertising Age 2 - the rebuttal: "Augmented reality has huge promise, but in the short term it's a niche technology for a niche audience. ... Let's just hope our desire to hype it AR as the next big thing won't harm it. "(Augmented Reality: Can the 'Stars Wars' Effect Sustain Engagement?)
• The New York Times had a piece about electronic eyeglasses and contact lenses.
  
• O'Reilly has another very thorough tutorial on FLARToolKit.
  
• Record scratching using ARToolKit (thanks Anatoly!).
• ISMAR 2009 now has a Youtube channel.
• The new Star Trek movie has some AR in its ARG (but I don't really CARE).
  

Quote of the week comes from Joshua Falken (is that a WarGames reference?), as a comment to the "Augmented Comedy" post:

The widespread usage of standard AR toolkits for non-science by self-proclaimed “AR researchers” is the root cause for the bad reputation that AR has now. If one mentions AR / MR as an area of interest to, e.g., computer graphics or computer vision researchers, one immediately is flagged as a mediocre me-too person. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are now applied to good and bad AR researchers alike. Therefore, a funny clip, but the topic, unfortunately, is very serious. Just ask all the people who have found it practically impossible to acquire research funding for AR topics for the past several years already.

You should go read that thread. Have a look at the replies Falken got and express your own opinion!

Finally, to kick-off the coming week, here's a fun little video of some guys putting the Living Sasquatch application to good use:



Have a nice week!