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:
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):
What’s the common thing between Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah? Each of these holidays use lights to brighten the dark days of winter, whether they are electric or candle lights.
What’s the common thing between the following two videos? They both show augmented reality under extreme light conditions. They are also cool, so check them out.
First is this demo, showing a very realistic response to shining a real light on an augmented tire. Presented by Ludwig Fuchs, CEO of RTT, at NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference a few months ago –
Just across the border from the German RTT is the Austrian Imagination, which uploaded the next video to Youtube. Showing robust markerless tracking in low light conditions, it’s really quite amazing. Near the end of the video I’ve lost track of the image, but their algorithm (working on a mobile phone, probably an Asus one), kept on going:
They gave you wings, extreme sports races, and Flugtag – and now they want to save print magazines with the bold concept: Print 2.0.
Guess which one of these is a true fact?
1) In 2006, more than 3 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in over 130 countries
2) Red Bull publishes a printed magazine (2 million copies per issue)
3) Red Bull is an Austrian company
Answer: all of the above!
Can’t say which fact is more shocking, but they certainly explain why Red Bull decided to partner with Imagination (an Austrian company) to create a webcam augmented reality experience where:
This magazine sings, dances, flies and even scores a touchdown…
The cover and multiple pages (any page with the Bull’s eye) can be activated by pointing to a webcam thanks to Imagination’s natural feature tracking software.
If you don’t have the printed magazine – don’t worry – you can download and print at home.
Or just watch it here…
The magazine editor dives into more autophilia:
PRINT GOES LIVE
It’s not often that a magazine can call itself revolutionary, but we’re delighted to say this one can.
This very issue of The Red Bulletin takes us from print to Print 2.0, thanks to the incorporation of some nifty software known as ‘augmented reality’…the fun stuff is this: simply by holding the mag up to a computer you can take it ‘beyond the page’ and into the world-wide web. So, for example…[the cover] will link through to a video package explaining exactly how augmented reality can enhance your reading experience in a way you almost certainly never imagined, with music, film, animations and more.
Then turn to page 5 and Red Bull Air Race ace Paul Bonhomme will give you an ‘as live’ introduction to the magazine and the world of augmented reality. Head to our Now and Next pages, find the story about Black Gold on page 20 and do the same again with the mag. Lo, you’ll
find the band’s latest video on the website. Clever, eh?
Further in, you can read about Burcu Cetinkaya and Cicek Güney – the girls putting the glam into rallying – then link to exclusive interviews with them and videos of them driving flat-out… and crashing!
And we’re not done yet, no way. Our Reggie Bush cover story, on page 48, combines with an exclusive mini-movie of Reggie at home, as he talks to correspondent Jan Cremer, while page 62 will take you right into the pocket-rocket world of the Red Bull Rookie motorbike racers.
No other magazine has ever tried anything like this, and we have plenty more ideas for the future. But for now, just get your magazine and computer primed and prepare to be amazed…
…And Daniel Wagner certainly shows his skills in the video above…
We are a collection of augmented reality (AR) enthusiasts and professionals (from business and academia), who have been working on a multitude of AR apps for the iPhone. These apps are poised to change the way people interact with the real world.
But here is the rub: we are currently unable to publish these apps on the app store because the iPhone SDK lacks public APIs for manipulating live video.
We are asking Apple to provide a public API to access live video in real time, on the iPhone.
We will be happy to offer additional technical details.
The impact of augmented reality (AR) on our lives could be as significant as the introduction of the PC.
In 10 years, we believe augmented reality will change the way everyone experiences travel, design, training, personal productivity, health care, entertainment, games, art, and advertising (videos).
Looking back just a few years, AR pioneers had to hack a slew of components into ridiculously large backpacks and HUDs, and be confined to rigged environments. Nowadays, it comes in friendly, affordable packages and the iPhone is one of the first devices to have it all – except for a public API.
The battle to determine the winning device has already begun; a public API to access live video will give the iPhone a lucrative ticket to compete.
We believe Apple has a window of opportunity of about 3 months before developers start looking elsewhere. If Apple decides to publish the API in that time frame – in the next 10 years, everyone might be using the iPhone as the preferred device to interact with the real world.
Here is how augmented reality could open up new opportunities for the iPhone this year:
Games Alfresco 