Well, the title says it all, and this video shows it all, but if you are clamoring for more detail, check out Japanator.com
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Handhelds and Cellphones, nintendo 3ds, Visible Markers | 2 Comments »
Mirage HMD Augmented Reality System
Posted on March 15, 2011 by thomaskcarpenter
The HMDs are here!
The HMDs are here!
Okay, maybe it’s not that exciting, especially when you realize that the Mirage from Arcane Technologies is not a stylish pair of glasses or even some retro steampunk goggles outfitted with AR HMD gear. The unit looks so bulky and bland that not even Lady Gaga could make it trendy.
But it IS an AR HMD.
But really it’s made for industrial usage and not everyday street wear. Though I suppose, a truly hardcore AR enthusiast could augment their home and wear them safety inside without worrying about losing a chance to ever have another date. Again. Ever.
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The system comes with authoring software so you can customize your markers. I’d be curious if you could also use third party software like the Kinect to make it even groovier. The Mirage + Kinect could become quite an indie hardcore hit. However, since they don’t list the price on their website, I assume the cost is greater than even the most hardcore could afford.
Still, it IS another AR HMD on the market and to me we’re another step closer to stylish low-cost AR HMDs. I’m still predicting 2015 as my arrival date for said glasses, but hopefully someone will surprise me and deliver a product sooner.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: AR HMD, Arcane Technologies, augmented reality, HMD, Kinect, Mirage, Visible Markers | 2 Comments »
Is There Such a Thing as Pregnancy Induced Stupidity?
Posted on September 14, 2010 by rouli
warning – this is another one of my nasty posts. Reader discretion is advised.
Is there such a thing as pregnancy induced stupidity? If you examine Simubaby‘s premise you might reach such a conclusion. How else would you justify its business model? Simubaby, the brain child of the Spanish Atlantis Virtual Reality is a commercial product harnessing the power of augmented reality to help pregnant mothers-to-be visualize how their fetus looks like. Unlike a similar solution from Talking Dog Studios, this one comes with a belt.
Nothing to get mad about you say? Well, you haven’t heard the price yet.
It’s 60 euros (77 US dollars). And that’s after a price cut from 80€. But, don’t think of it as 60€ for an ugly belt just so you have somewhere to put the AR marker. No, you also get access to some amazing AI:
With the advice of experts, we have recreated the most important stages of your baby’s growth and with the aid of an artificial intelligence system.
In case you still think that’s a product worth paying for, then I’ve got news for you! I’ve recently secured access to some magic beans, guaranteed to increase your baby’s intelligence using the aid of quantum entanglement system. Only 59.99€ for a bag of 10 beans, and shipping is free.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Visible Markers | 2 Comments »
Gundam Robots in Augmented Reality
Posted on August 24, 2010 by rouli
This post can be summarized by three magic terms:
- Augmented Reality
- Giant Robots
- Yahoo Japan
Yes, it seems that the Japanese branch of Yahoo is much cooler than its American counter part. They have recently announced the coming release of a free iPhone application set to display a virual Zaku II mecha from the animated series Gundam (and sorry if I get this wrong, I’ve never seen it).
Interestingly enough the application is both image-recognition based and GPS/compass based. It will show the mecha when the iPhone camera will be directed at the (real) 18-meter tall Gundam statue in Shizuoka, Japan, and when the camera is pointed at a special marker.
For more details check out Anime News Network. Via Development Memo for Ourselves.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: GPS and Compass, Handhelds and Cellphones, Visible Markers, Yahoo | Leave a comment »
Augmented Reality Farmville
Posted on June 29, 2010 by rouli
Addicted to Farmville? Have a green thumb but no garden? Envy real farmers but got allergies?
The guys from TU Munich have the perfect solution for you:
Augmented Farmville could be one heck of a layer for Layar/Junaio/Wikitude once better positioning is available. Think of the gold rush to get a virtual plot in major cities, imagine Times Square as a flower bed! Using real meteorological data to those virtual farms would add another interesting and educational twist. It may be the most stupid idea I have ever featured in this blog, but then again, nobody would guess that a farm simulator will be one of the most successful games in 2010.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: head up display, Research, TU Munich, Visible Markers | 2 Comments »
Augmented Reality Flash Mob
Posted on April 19, 2010 by rouli
If you happen to be in Amsterdam this Saturday (either because you live there or can’t get back home because your flight is canceled), you may want to check out the first AR flash mob. It turns out that in an augmented flash mob, the mob consists of virtual characters bounded to markers:
Sander Veenhof who is behind this interesting event hopes that tourists will opt to take pictures with the virtual characters rather then with the usual “live sculptures”. I personally doubt it, but if you want to take part in this experiment, the precise location and timing can be found here.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Tourism and Outdoors, Visible Markers | 2 Comments »
This Post is Rated AR
Posted on January 11, 2010 by rouli
Very short post following my prediction that 2010 will be the inaugural year for augmented reality porn. A couple of days ago, AppScout reported about the latest venture in this area, Pink Visual’s AR Porn (NSFW link).
Well, it’s porn all-right, but the AR is gimmicky at best. Here’s Pink Visual’s Amanda Cory explaining the potential of such application –
And here’s a close-up video of the application itself, showing how much the potential is left unfulfilled at the moment (sorry, you’ll have to follow the link due to some mild nudity). Not to mention the intrinsic problem of flash-based AR porn – porn websites can record everything that is visible by your webcam while using the application. Isn’t that exciting?
via AppScout.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: artoolkit, Visible Markers, web camera | Leave a comment »
First Augmented Building Spotted in Japan
Posted on January 7, 2010 by rouli
Augmenting reality using the GPS&Compass combo has become very popular in 2009, and has decent accuracy when used to augment distant big objects such as buildings. However, it won’t be terribly useful for augmenting specific floors within a building.
Japanese Qosmo and Teradadesign Architects to the rescue. By covering the facade of Tokyo’s N Building with giant QR codes, they were able to display store information and even tweets, linked to their source from within the building. It’s cooler than my lame description, check out the video:
More details at Nao Tokui’s blog (Qosmo’s CEO). Via PSFK.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Handhelds and Cellphones, Tourism and Outdoors, Visible Markers | 3 Comments »
Spads and Fokkers – Brainy AR
Posted on November 17, 2009 by rouli
I always enjoy featuring a hobbyist augmented reality project, and Davide Byron’s (aka @Need2Revolt) game “Spads and Fokkers” is especially pleasing. On the face of it, it doesn’t look anything special, two virtual planes having a dog fight, using a marker for easy augmented reality:
The twist is in the method the user may exploit in order to control the planes, using a brain-computer interface. Writes Byron:
As for the control mechanism, we actually have some devices that are able to read brianwaves and infere what the user is thinking about, so the choice was easy. The newest and most promising headset for thought control is the epoc, not yet on the market, but with a free SDK I can play with. With this technologies I was actually able to develop something that works and doesn’t need any special stuffs you can’t buy off the shelf. In the story, the players controls 3 airplane each, but in practice it was too hard to simultaneusly control 3 airplanes, so I reduced the number to a single airplane for each player. Furthermore, since the airplanes are not projected into the real world, it’s suggested you wear a HMD.
You can download the binaries and source code and learn more about this interesting project here.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Games, Spads and Fokkers, Visible Markers, web camera | 1 Comment »
Even More Augmented Reality Business Cards
Posted on October 17, 2009 by rouli
I’m doing some spring (it’s spring time in Australia*) cleaning in my bookmarks, that’s what I came with:
Genuine Interactive came up with these augmented business cards for its staff, which have been named “the butterfly effect cards”. Thomas has dedicated a whole post for their demo.
Visualcard.me on the other hand, lets you create your own AR enabled business cards, that shows your Twitter and Skype accounts.
I’m sure those two companies are not going to be the last ones that come up with this idea, so stay tuned.
* Alas, I’m not in Australia.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: artoolkit, business cards, Visible Markers, visualcard.me, web camera | 2 Comments »
Games Alfresco 