The One Eyed Man is King

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Ori Inbar

In a land where what you see is what you get, those who can see more – even with one eye – are kings.

Kijin Shin from Yanko design believes in it and makes a point with this interesting concept design. He calls it the “Third Eye concept designed is for travelers.”

See something interesting? Just place the Third Eye up to your eyes like a monocle and the device pulls all relevant historical, travel, shopping, and tourist information.

Augmented reality lends itself well to touristic applications. When people explore new places – extra (augmented) information in context is highly sought after.

Multiple concepts focused on tourism have been thought of and implemented before: Museums apps, Wikitude, YDreams Sightseeing, Archeoguide, and many others.

What’s interesting in this one – is the form factor and the user interface.

Sometimes you have to reduce features (one eye only) to achieve simplicity. That has the potential to drive massive adoption.

If you are into the pros and cons, check out the interesting discussion on the site featuring the usual supporters vs. skeptics. One commenter compared it to the Celestron SkyScout:

We’ll see if Kijin’s design raises interest among hardware manufacturers. By then we’ll realize if the one eyed man becomes king – or whether he’ll be facing a land populated with 2 eyed specs.

Filed under: AR Devices, AR User Experience | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

Metaio Offers Flash Forward for Lego Buyers

Posted on January 20, 2009 by Ori Inbar

From Metaio‘s press release”

LEGO, the Danish toy manufacturer will test launch its “DIGITAL BOX” in selected toyshops and LEGO® stores worldwide. This interactive  terminal will utilize innovative technology supplied by Metaio in the form of a software  program specially-developed for the LEGO Group by the Munich-based experts in augmented reality solutions. Together with a camera and display screen, the software  lets LEGO packaging reveal its contents fully-assembled within live 3D animated scenes.

lego_digital_box_showcase

The press release continues:

The partnership between Metaio and one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world is a truly  major milestone in the history of the company.

Indeed, Lego is associated with playful, innovative toys and will certainly expose the concept of augmented reality to many kids around the world.

Kudos to Metaio for a great splash at the onset of the AR year.

Now who’s going to post the first video of this experience?

Filed under: AR Applications | Tagged: , | 8 Comments »

Passionate About Augmented Reality and Not Afraid to Blog About It

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Ori Inbar

Tish from Ugotrade interviewed Robert Rice about his latest Sekrets AR endeavors. It was an unmissable opportunity to rant about everything augmented. Check out the blog of one passionate AR fan.

What moves you in AR?

Filed under: AR Demos | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Mobile Augmented Reality Goes Way Beyond Markers

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Ori Inbar

The dust from CES 2009 has barely settled over many shiny new devices, and new advancements in Handheld Augmented Reality software are already emerging from Vienna.

Daniel Wagner and his team at Graz University have come up with new and improved capabilities.

High Speed Natural Feature Tracking on a mobile phone

We saw an early implementation of Studierstube ES at ISMAR 08, so I asked Daniel what’s new about this capability, besides being faster and more robust.

Daniel: We can now track multiple images and switch arbitrarily. I believe it is now at a level that it can really be used in practice.

Games alfresco: Looks great. Based on the video it seems that it runs on Windows Mobile 6 (ASUS p552w, iPAQ 614c). What about other platforms?

Daniel: Not bad! It is written in C/C++, [but] since this is pure math code, it could be ported easily to any platform. Our AR framework is still Windows Mobile only, although we now also have Linux support (desktop only since we lack a Linux phone). MacOS and Symbian are in the making and should be available in a month or so.

Tracking of Business Cards on a mobile phone

Daniel: On January 20th we have the official opening of our “Christian Doppler Lab” (founded by the Christian Doppler agency). For that purpose I created a small demo for tracking business cards. In the future we’ll replace the 3D content with something more useful…

I can’t talk about Daniel without mentioning WARM ’09; He is the main organizer of this Winter Augmented Reality Event on 12th-13th February 2009 at Graz University, Austria. Registration is over, but if you really want to go and have something cool to present – you may be able to convince Daniel to let you in.

Should you get your hands on this powerful technology (assuming Imagination makes it available for licensing soon) what would YOU do with it?

Filed under: AR Tracking | Tagged: , , , , , | 3 Comments »

So Many MIDs to Augment Your Reality at CES 2009

Posted on January 9, 2009 by Ori Inbar

A quick look at all MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) Intel is showcasing at CES 2009 (thanks to Truc and Warner from GottaBeMobile)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Intel introduced the MID design concept only last year with just a handful of working devices. This year, they are definitely making a  big splash with too many to count.

Here’s Intel’s own Uday sneak-peaking a bag full of MIDs prior to the show

A notable MID, the Gigabyte m528, was released last month boasting great capabilities albeit a steep price ($750)

Stay tuned for Mid Moves – where four well-known technology bloggers will be taking 8 Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices on a fun and challenging 4-day tour starting on Jan 19th.

Now, which one will you use for your next augmented reality experience?


Filed under: AR Devices | Tagged: , | 3 Comments »

Must See at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Ori Inbar

CES starts tomorrow.

It always delivers a gadget-splashy kick-off for the year. If you are there in person, or following virtually (like I do) – you will want to check out these events:

Wow!

Sad to say, it’s not the next AR goggles…it’s  for shooting underwater HD video…

But there’s more.

TN Games

Wear this helmet from TN Games and when they shoot you (in a game) – you’ll  feel the wonderful sensation of actually getting hit in the head. Now, try it on a street while playing an augmented reality style laser tag. You may feel cool – but you’ll still look dorky.

To complete the awkward look, don’t miss the matching game vest and you’ll feel the shots and blasts on your torso.

PrimeSense

Prime Sense, an exhibitor in CES 2009, makes “video games more immersive and fun to play by allowing users to play naturally using body movements and gestures”.

Though unique in its technology, Prime Sense is not the only company that offers body game play. A handful of companies compete on that niche – somewhere between the Wii and augmented reality games.

Lunch@Piero’s – with Total Immersion

Total Immersion is sure to deliver a great augmented reality tour de force this CES. They are the best at demonstrating AR today. This year, though, they left the keynote stage and went for lunch at Piero’s. January 8-9, 2009 — 11:30 am to 2:00 pm press demonstration only.

Kids at play conference

I have argued before we first need to get the next generation hooked on AR. The conference within conference, Kids@Play, will provide some of the ingredients needed to do it right.

What will you look for at CES 2009?


Filed under: AR Events | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Augmented Reality Predictions for 2009

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Ori Inbar

Happy New 2009!

What’s in store for us in 2009?

As usual, CES 2009 will  kickoff  the AR year with a glitz. Expect to see new AR devices unveiled: new Intel MIDs, mobile devices powered for the first time by the promising chips: Texas Instruments OMAP3 and NVidia’s Tegra .

And we are most likely to meet the first a cool looking AR goggles – from Vuzix.

What else to expect in 2009?

We will see consumer AR apps selling for the first time, AR games played by cellphone owners, and the AR Market  doubling in size.

And not to forget – ISMAR 2009 – the world’s most important Augmented Reality event, will mark the first year where the show expands beyond the engineering department. In October 2009 ISMAR will make a foray into art, , experience, entertainment, and business – all key building blocks of the future AR industry. Orlando will host this year the most ambitious ISMAR yet to be planned. To join the effort contact Chris Stapleton.

2009 is posed to be the year where AR breaks from the lab and gets in the hands of consumers which will change the way we experience the world –  forever.

What do you expect from 2009?

Filed under: AR Events | Tagged: , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

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