Business Insider on the three issues augmented reality has to resolve in order to become the next big thing. No surprises there, but isn't AR already the next big thing, and it should rather try to become the current big thing?
Par-Tee - care for some augmented reality golf game?
It seems that I have never posted here about Greg Tran's work on augmented architecture. Which is a pity. I had the following video opened as a tab in my browser for a long time, just waiting to be published, and somehow I forgot about it. Luckily, Yanko Design posted another video of Tran's work, which served as a necessary reminder:
It's been a busy summer for me, sorry for not posting the weekly linkfest in, well, a weekly manner. If you want more frequent updates from me, you should follow me on twitter
Change your perspective with MirrorMap - an augmented reality application that lets you tap to near by CCTV cameras. I think they had a similar thing in Rainbows End.
This week's video comes to us via Etsuji Kameyama's blog. I often complained about not having the AR equivalent of Angry Birds (ARAB). Well, we are not there yet, but Junaio now features a channel with the boids, enabling users to take picture with them. Even though it's a wholly new media, still nobody likes the boomerang bird.
A downpour of augmented reality links for you today:
Brother's AiRScouter see-through head mounted display is coming out this fall? One thing's for sure, they Brother stresses the AR use cases of that device.
The future of firefighting may be augmented according to Tanagram. As Toby points out, a firefighter wants 100% reliability which doesn't go well with computer vision dependence on heuristic algorithms.
Not too happy with the shape of your nose? Researchers at the University of London are working on an AR mirror that will let you tweak it (and other features) in real time.
In the last week Bruce Sterling has postedseveraldemovideos of AR projects done by Art Center College of Design (Pasadena) students. The class, which is sponsored by Layar (very wise move!) and guided by Sterling, resulted with some interesting ideas, from AR religion to Bitcoin treasure hunt, but I liked most Dobu Dobu, an "augmented reality app to create love, companionship and friendship through adoption of virtual pets".
before I fall to sleep, here's a very short video illustrating Minecraft brought to the real world using augmented reality (more specifically, using Kudan's Qoncept engine).
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 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.
If you missed it, we've got it, in this week's linkfest:
Users not waking up to augmented reality mobile apps (via @jack_benott). Here's an interesting quote: Augmented reality "needs to move away from the "pull" model of using the camera to pull AR data to a "push" model where consumers can receive AR data in a seamless fashion". This theoretically will happen with the introduction of head up displays, but maybe we can't wait till then ...
The augmented reality pitch that made Justin Timberlake invest in stealth startup Dekko (via @GaryPHayes). I really hope there's something more to it than this. I do love their chosen company name, though.
I think Layar already did it, but 110 Stories is a Kickstarter project aiming to create an AR (and later physical) memorial the World Trade Center towers.
Daqri's CEO Brain Mullins gives a keynote talk on San Diego's ARDevCamp titled "The state of augmented reality". I may or may not link to it just because I got quoted (but thanks!).
"Inch High Stunt Guy" is not just a game, it also beautifully shows the power of Qualcomm's AR SDK.
This week's video comes from Toyota Motor Europe and the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, which re-imagined a car's window for an excibition, and named it "Window to the World". The result is very attractive, as is evident by the half a million views this video got in the past last week. You probably have already seen it, but if not, here's a good place to read more about it.
Oh my, what an interesting week for augmented reality, especially in the business front:
Nokia Beta Labs revealed Live View, a revolutionary mobile augmented reality application. Well, unless you consider Wikitude, Layar, Junaio and many other "AR browsers" that came out in the last three years. Nokia was once a leader in AR research, it's a sad day to see them show off a product like that.
Microsoft licenses GeoVector's tech. Slashgear says the goal of this move is to challenge Google Goggles. Patent war against Google (like the current one against Android) can be another reason.
This week's video features a cool street art by SWEZA named QRadio. Graffiti boom-boxes around Berlin start to play music when the QR code drawn on them is scanned. Via Wooster Collective.
How are terracotta warriors, billiard, a coloring book and the city of Basel all related to each other? Well... they are featured in this week's linkfest:
Developers, rejoice! Our old friends at YDreams have released a beta version of YVision, a natural user interface SDK that has computer vision and a physics engine baked into it.
HitLab NZ introduces first(?) coloring book that comes to life with a bit of augmented reality.
If you are a Layar developer, AR-4-Basel may be the contest for you (via @genebecker).
Two years ago I wrote about Deep Green the robotic, augmented reality pool player from Canada. Now a student from Germany created a mini version.
An augmented reality artwork created by John Goto and Matthew Leach using the Layar platform, Gilt City confronts the banking crisis in an unusual way. Famous beggars appear on your mobile's screen, and you choose whether to help them, or make them explode. Art - I'll never understand it, but maybe you will, by reading more about this project here.
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.
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?
Had a very good trip to the US (apart from the trans-atlantic flights) and now I'm back! Let's see what I have been missing -
Modojo laments the sad state of augmented reality video games: "Thus far, no company has been willing to create an augmented reality video game based on a million selling series. Everything's a new intellectual property, which is usually a hard sell, even without AR".
The above article mentions Reality Fighters, published by Sony, which actually looks pretty cool.
Design concept: Papyrus - communication with time, augmented reality display of buildings' past glory. This concept is not that far-fetched, seeing that Layar has "historic layers".
It's been a while since we have featured a kinect hack in the weekly video spot, so I'm happy to present, Saint Kinect, created by Youtube user koshiik with "100 lines of code and 2 beers". Fight the devil wearing a halo on your head -
Before we begin with our weekly pile of links, here's a message from Christine Perey on behalf of "the program committee of the Third International AR Standards meeting":
But lest us forget about the European counterparts: Augmented Planet 2011 and the AR Summit (which ironically falls for me on a trip to the United States)
This week's video goes to you Dr. Who fans - I'll never understand your ways. Sean McCracken apparently does, and thus created this Android app, available on the Android market to display an augmented version of the TARDIS. Everlasting glory to the first fan who will create a video of Daleks shouting "augment! augment!"
Many of the AR community went to the second annual Augmented Reality Event. Sadly, I wasn't able to be there, but luckily, Augmented Citizen share some thoughts and presentations from the event, Locative Media have some "pirated videos" of the keynotes and Layar uploaded videos of a couple of their presentations to Youtube. If you have a video or a blog post about the event - send me an email or give me a tweet.
Sander Veenhof is a genius (there, I said it!) and Layar should be paying him money for choosing their platform if they don't already do so. This time he came up with a way to use augmented reality to create a world wide synchronized dancing routine. It's an augmented macarena!
This week's video is of a simple augmented reality game, called Tapcloud with an interesting premise. By chasing virtual cloud (and looking a little bit foolish), the game forces you to get some exercise, and even counts the number of calories you burned once it's game over. The game is available for free on the app store, so you have nothing to lose (except, again, calories).
ARE2011 is only two days away, and I'm going to miss it (this time its my fault, and I can't blame Delta Airways). I'm a lame excuse for an AR blogger, I know. If you go there, please shoot some videos and share!
Tish Shute interviews Vernor Vinge on the promise, progress and threats of AR. "I see four or five concurrently active paths to the Singularity ... If we humans want to keep our hand in the game, AR is an important thing to pursue."
Our weekly video comes today from the Future Lions 2011 contest, where young advertising professionals are called to "Advertise a product from a global brand in a way that couldn’t have been done five years ago, to an audience of your choosing". Tom Houser and Victoria Trow came up a way to use augmented reality as an alternative source of income for record companies. I am a bit of a skeptic, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless:
Took a break last week (missed me? you should follow me on Twitter), back today with many AR links:
Happy Mother's Day! It can be even happier if you get your Mom an AR cake (via DMFO)
Tish Shute and Ori Inbar hold an interview with Bruce Sterling - it doesn't make sense to write fiction about augmented reality nowadays as AR is not fictional topic anymore.
As part of the ARE2011 media blitz, Sterling was also interviewed, together with Vernor Vinge on ReadWriteWeb about augmented reality in the workplace.
Plush toys on sale at a virtual store, existing only in the augmented world of Layar.
This week in the linkfest - computer vision, Easter bunnies and furniture:
"Augmented Reality for Smartphones" is a 50 pages-long report that analyzes many popular AR platforms in order to give developers better perspective on what's available in the market today.
Computer vision (2): Raimo van der Klein gives an excellent talk on why computer vision, like biological vision at the time, will start an evolutionary arms race - Birth of the Digital Eye.
Computer vision (3): IQ Engines is a cool startup, offering "vision as a service". I've tried their mobile application, and it is amazing at recognizing objects - but also usually slow, because it is still partially based on humans behind the scenes.
Fraunhofer presents an eye-tracking microdisplay that delivers Terminator vision (via @Ben_Thomas_Ech).
Oh noes! Giant Easter bunnies invade the Earth!
Finally, if you ever find yourself confused by IKEA's instructions, there will be an app for that (maybe).
This week's video was featured on Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond, but if you missed it, here's your opportunity. It's in French, and depicts a modern fairy tale, made possible by augmented reality. Luckily you don't need to know French to follow the story, and I find it only adding to the video's allure. (However, I'll be thankful if you can translate the old guy at the end of the video in the comments).
It's time again for the weekly linkfest, a collection of augmented reality news stories that I didn't find the time to blog about during the past week:
If you are still debating whether to go to Augmented Reality Event 2011, Tish Shute has a good writeup on what you can expect to see there (and a $100 coupon).
Augmented reality sketch-a-race demo for iPad2 by Ogmento
Brazilian police to use "Robocop" glasses to recognize criminals and terrorists in crowds? Sounds like a hoax, but this article, and the one on which it is based, were written after April fools.
This week's video comes to us from Nokia Research, showing their indoor navigation solution. Coming from Nokia Research, one of the first bodies to look into mobile AR, this should be considered as no more than a teaser. It's very cool and alluring with its 30cm accuracy, and its "where I put my keys" functionality, but not likely to be adopted anytime soon. Five years from now, Apple/Google will probably come with inferior solution which will be hugely successful. You can read more about the technology on GSM Arena.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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".
The spring is here (unless you live below the equator, and somehow don't fall off the face of the earth), and it brings some great links (and allergens) :
Librarian’s dream app – researchers from Miami University created an augmented reality meets mobile application to help keep books ordered on libraries' shelves.
Beats me why the need the money, I always assumed they make millions, but Total Immersion gets USD $5,5M in funding led by Intel Capital (which, interestingly, also funded Layar).
Quimo from the University of South Australia, is like play-doh for augmented reality. This "deformable material" supports "freeform modeling in spatial AR environments" by embedding almost invisible AR markers.
"The Witness" is a German half-movie-half alternative reality game that uses AR (or pseudo-AR) to move the plot forward (via @GaryPHayes).
This week's featured video is coming to us from Microsoft, a company that develops stunning technologies just to see them later made into products and sold by the likes of Apple. Here they develop a "Photosynth Lite", enabling users to create 3d models by taking a few pictures with their cellphones. I wonder where this technology can be applied:
This week's video is a fantastic demo of Seac02's Eligo SDK power to track 3d objects and overlay virtual layers on them. This gives the programmer the ability to "X-Ray" a model car:
We, at Augmented Times, believe that augmented reality (AR) is the next big paradigm shift. Connecting the world wide web with the physical world and the many objects, places and humans it contains, AR is both a disruptive technology and an exciting vision of the future.
This blog's goal is to document AR taking over our lives, but it needs your help. Have an augmented reality related news or story? Published an interesting paper about AR? Have something to say about this site or the AR community in genereal? Tell us about it, at rouli.net ~at~ gmail.com
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