Weekly Linkfest

Posted on October 11, 2009 by rouli

Too much links, too little time:

If you are wondering how come there’s not one link pointing to a new augmented reality browser, they had their day yesterday.

This week’s video is of an odd AR application for the iPhone, named Sun Seeker. Basically, it lets you see, overlaid on top of the real world, where the sun is, and where it’s going to be throughout the day and year. Pointless? Well, the video does present an interesting use-case when buying a new house. Learn more about it, here.

Have a great week!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Weekly Augmented Reality Mobile Applications Galore

Posted on October 10, 2009 by rouli

Yes, there are so many of new augmented reality browsers each week, they deserve their own post, instead of clogging the weekly linkfest. Here are the browsers that made news this week, in no particular order (well, ok, those they I liked are on top):

Air Painter
Previously we featured geoPaste, an Android application that lets you draw on real-life. Air Painter is a Japanese Android application with a similar premise, though its user interface seems a bit more refined, as can be seen in the video below (don’t worry about the German, you don’t have to understand it to see how cool this application is). More information on AirPainter’s hompeage, and here’s another video.

LooKATOR
LooKATOR shows you WiFi signals floating on top of Android’s video feed. Follow the spots to get stronger signal/stronger dose of radiation. Some details here, no official homepage that I can find (via DMFO)

WhereMark
An augmented reality browser with a slick interface for the iPhone, that features results from Google’s local search. Like most browsers these days, it also lets users add their own content. Some more information, in WhereMark’s homepage.

uTourX
uTourX is an iPhone browser like application, for the niche market of American students touring colleges before they sign in. Nothing much special, except the over-acting in the following video. Homepage

Vicrea’s Browser
I don’t have any better name for it. Vicrea is a Dutch corporation, and the next video shows a concept augmented reality application they are developing. They should really just ask Layar to give them a branded version. More information, here, in Dutch. (via DMFO)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

ACME – Augmented Collaboration in Mixed Environments

Posted on October 9, 2009 by rouli

I couldn’t decide whether I should dedicate a whole post or just a tweet to the next project. On the one hand, I don’t know much about it, and its homepage is in Finnish. On the other hand, the video is in English, and shows a concept that can become a huge buisness – augmented telepresence:

In a nutshell telepresence is a turbo-charged version of video-conference, that aspire to give you the feeling that you are really in the remote location. There are some companies around the world that invest loads of money in developing better and better telepresence experiences, because they believe it’s going to be a billion-dollar market. Now, is there a better experience than seeing your remote pal in 3d across the table?

Obviously, ACME, the project featured in the above video, doesn’t come close to making this idea a reality. But it does let you see you companion’s avatar, which mimics his gestures, and share with him a virtual desktop.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Three Comments on Wikitude’s Augmented World Trade Center

Posted on October 6, 2009 by rouli

So, Mobilizy just released a new update for Wikitude, one that allows you to point your phone at ground zero and see a 3d virtual version of the Twin Towers on the phone’s screen.

  • First we should congratulate Mobilizy for intergrating 3d objects into Wikitude. That’s only two weeks after Layar made a similar move. If I understand correctly, Wikitude doesn’t let folks upload their own 3d models yet, but that’s surely not that difficult.
  • We should also congratulate Mobilizy for a smart marketing move. Yes, it’s very respectful, and I actually think that there should be such a virtual memorial. However, one cannot deny that such videos as the above create buzz, something that Wikitude’s competitors usually excel at. I can only imagine the impact of such application if they had released it last month, for 9/11.
  • I’m fascianted by how the AR illusion is completly destroyed at around 00:18, when the buildings look very small just because there’s a tree in the background. That’s not Wikitude’s fault, but it just shows us how much there’s still to be done to make AR look good.

More details at TechCrunch.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

Weekly Linkfest

Posted on October 4, 2009 by rouli

As usual, here’s a bunch of links to augmented reality related news bits that have accumulated in my inbox during the week:

  • There’s no end to the augmented reality browsers phenomenon. Cyclopedia is yet another browser that is based on Wikipedia, Bradesco is helping you find your way around Brazil, and AugmentThis! lets you upload kml files and share them with others.
  • Peak.ar on the other hand is a specialized browser from Salzburg Research that only lets you see the names of mountain tops around the world.
  • While Wikitude is finally available for the iPhone (but you wouldn’t know that if you had visited www.wikitude.org as to the writing of this post).
  • So, with so many AR browser available, how are they all doing, buisness wise? Gene Becker collected some appstore statistics, that shows that AcrossAir’s applications are leading in terms of downloads among the non-free applications available on the American appstore.
  • Joe Lamantia on why creating AR content should be accessible to everyone, and how to make it so.
  • What’s that augmented reality that I mention so much? I guess most of this blog’s patrons already know, but here’s Scientific American explantion, though I think YDreams’ post is far better.
  • Campaigns of the week: One for a game named Operation Flashpoint, the other for Fox’s Dollhouse (which looks extra sleazy).

This week’s video is a lovely tour de force from Oxford’s Active Vision Labratory’s Robert Castle. Although Ori posted a sneak peak to ISMAR 09, he somehow missed this video. It shows an extension to the PTAMM system that allows “multiple objects to be recognized and localized within multiple maps.”

Have a nice week!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Et tu Citroen DS3?

Posted on October 3, 2009 by rouli

(Before you comment, “Et tu” has the same meaning in French as it has in Latin).
The Citroën DS3 joins the ranks of cars that get an augmented reality campaign, thanks to Total Immersion.

Yes, it’s not as lame as other cars AR campaigns, with its little racing game. However, it won’t be spared from becoming the latest addition to my growing petition to stop using AR to promote cars.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Future of Social Networking and Games

Posted on October 1, 2009 by rouli

As you may have noticed, I took some days off blogging. Can’t get myself to blog about yet another AR browser (YAARB™) or some run of the mill augmented reality campaign.

However, futuristic concepts still excite me. Check out Matthew Buckland’s latest post. With the help of designer Philip Langley, Buckland has conjured a series of illustrations giving us a peak into social network turbo-charged with augmented reality. Below is one such illustration, showing you what’s going on in the neighborhood.

Can be quite useful when looking for a new home. You can find the other illustrations (and this one in far higher resolution) here.

Another interesting concept that popped today is PlayboxAR, which is a glimpse to what can become the future of augmented reality games:

This is actually a new video of a rather old concept by one Soho Marky.

The disparity between these concepts and reality reminds us that we are still at the very beginning of a long road. Maybe AR is hot right now, but in the future it’s going to be fabulous.

(via @abc3d and The Future Digital Life)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Weekly Linkfest

Posted on September 27, 2009 by rouli

Let’s try to make this week’s linkfest as concise as possible:

  • Tish Shute interviews Bruno Uzzan, CEO of Total Immersion for UgoTrade.
  • Blair Mcintyre: “Has AR taken off? Is it finally here?“, check out the quote below.
  • Augmented reality tested on board the international space station, to help astronauts in maintenance tasks.
  • Another pseudo-AR game whose goal is to catch ethereal creatures – Fairy Trails.
  • Intel looks into augmented reality devices.
  • Total Immersion (those from the first bullet) created a bumping-cars game for Six Flags.
  • You know that AR is really hot when (French) politicians start to use it in their press conferences (powered again by Total Immersion).

AR Browsers:

Ad campaigns of the week:

This week’s quote comes from Blair’s post I’ve mentioned above (and yes, I took it out of context, because I’m a blogger!):

Now that the time is here, now that the promised AR apps can be published in the iTunes store, will they be able to live up to their claims, or will they (and their claims) fade away? I suspect things will die down for a little while. At least, I hope things die down for a while

And this week’s video comes from YDreams, and you have probably seen it before. It’s called Flyar, and it’s an interactive screen saver that shows you Twitter updates with birds that respond to your hand-gestures, a la EyeToy. Yeah, the video makes it clearer:

boof! that was a long one!
Have a nice week!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

In Germany they have Augmented Elections

Posted on September 26, 2009 by rouli

Just a short video for this lazy Saturday afternoon. The German federal election are held tomorrow, and the voting form may be confusing for some. Luckily, augmented reality is here to help you do the right choice:

Sounds a bit illegal, though I can see parties using such application for a last minute self-advertisement. Unfortunately, no further details are provided.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , | 4 Comments »

Amazing Mobile AR Videos from Graz

Posted on September 24, 2009 by rouli

Daniel Wagner and our friends from Graz University of Technology bring us another set of amazing videos (previously). Nothing I can say can beat the following videos, so I’ll just shut up, and let you enjoy.

The tracking algorithm behind it is PatchTracker that will be featured in ISMAR09. As you can see in the videos, on an Asus P565 the algorithm achieves 30 frames per second. If that’s a sign of things we are going to see at ISMAR, we are going to have a great conference!

See the third video and find more details here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

« Previous Page — Next Page »