Virtual & Augmented Reality News - Page 138

JISC Observatory has released a brand-spanking-new whitepaper detailing the uses of Mobile Augmented Reality with smartphones. If you're a developer and/or content publisher (like myself) you're going to want to get your hands on this piece of literature, because it's chock full of nifty information regarding the creation of new interactive and immersive experiences.



Even better, JISC isn't releasing the final version until May 6, so if you want to take a look at it and revise it or comment on what should and should not be there, they will take it into consideration. Who knows- your wisdom may make the final cut.

JISC originally commissioned the report, which was written by a one Ben Butchart of EDINA, based out of the University of Edinburgh. Check out the press release, and make your voices heARd.

Not so long ago, augmented reality (AR) was an experimental technology that rarely left the lab and required a high level of technical expertise and knowledge to create new applications. Now, thanks to advances in smartphone hardware, AR technology is much more available and easily accessible for users and developers alike.

A new state-of-the-art TechWatch report looking at Augmented Reality for Smartphones is now available for comment:
Augmented Reality for Smartphones (PDF)...

The Amsterdamian Mobile Augmented Reality Browser may have a TV show in the works. A Dutch broadcaster named AVRO is researching new Reality Television shows, and one of the concepts revolves around using Layar to find points of interest around Europe. The show, entitled, "MeesterJacht", would concentrate on people embarking on scavenger hunts, looking for clues of historical import, apparently regarding famous composers- I don't know, the video is in Dutch. Still kinda makes sense, but the specifics are kinda lost on me.



Evidently AVRO already enjoyed success from a show involving mobile phones- the aptly named "The Phone" had random contestants picking up previously-hidden mobile phones, upon which they would be sent on a mission for an eventual cash prize upon completion. That show was wildly popular, so who knows! You could be seeing Augmented Reality experiences played out on your television in the near future.

Earlier this week, NYC-based GPS interactive augmented reality game startup GoldRun raised $1.1 Million this week in angel funding. GoldRun was fortunate enough (literally) to have participants like Ed Mathias of The Carlyle Group, financier Jon Ledecky, Founding Partner of United Talent Agency Jeremy Zimmer, Former Chairman and CEO of Sunglass Hut Jim Hauslein, and CEO of Venturehouse Group Mark Ein (Mathias and Zimmer will join the board of directors). GoldRun is looking to use the funding to develop new features for both users and clients to offer more AR interactions within their application. They will also invest in supporting sales and deployment activities in both the US and other, international markets. Even more exciting, we'll see GoldRun hosted gaming sometime in the near future.

For those of you unfamiliar with the application, GoldRun uses geo-data to run augmented reality experiences on the iPhone , and they recently launched a campaign with a sentimentally confused billboard near the Holland Tunnel in New York City, which we reported earlier this week. Founder and CEO Vivian Rosenthal commented:

GoldRun allows for a new form of...

Munich-based Augmented Reality Solutions firm metaio GmbH and Vuzix of Rochester, NY have announced a development and marketing partnership to collaborate on identifying and delivering improved and enhanced solutions for their customers. Roman Hasenbeck, Director of Business Development for metaio San Francisco, commented:

Our company has provided AR software for over 8 years and Vuzix is the first company to deliver a complete line of AR-enabled Video Eyewear, which includes both digital and optical see-through glasses that are high resolution and easy to wear. These are essential features for our customers. We believe that with Vuzix, we will finally be able to satisfy the needs of our many customers and partners for a hands-free solution.

If you're new to the Augmented Reality industry you probably don't realize the significance of this last statement. AR exists chiefly on two different platforms at the moment: web-contained and mobile. You may have seen examples and use cases in marketing promotions, such as those by Hallmark or Home Depot, that launch from the webcam of your desktop or laptop. Otherwise, AR lives in your phone, in the form of reality browsers...

London based creative communications agency Dentsu has announced their collectible interactive line of toys they call Suwappu. These adorable eastern-influenced and strangely bipedal incarnations of woodland creatures derive their names from their ability to "swap" (which is what Suwappu translates to) out their lower halves with each other, which Dentsu call "pants".

So we've got cute animal toys that switch pants- what about the AR? The fine folks at Dentsu have used the flat fronts of these cute things to utilize augmented reality natural feature tracking to use the toys in interactive mobile AR experiences. The swapping of the pants (I love writing that) changes the environment around the character while the top part controls the dialogue. Check out this video:



I gotta love the random Kanye tweet. As entertaining as the video is, it's kind of unclear what the actual experience will entail. Tish Shute, New Media advocate and journalist, wrote in her blog that she's trying to get them to Santa Clara, CA for this year's Augmented Reality Event (at which I will be present...

Billboards are a tough sell for augmented reality- they're expensive real estate, they're constantly exposed to a variety of external conditions that wreak havoc on natural feature tracking algorithms and sdk's, and outside of urban environments they're generally only seen while moving past them at 65-80 mph. So how does one utilize a billboard for an AR experience? Tack it to a place in an urban environment where there are always a @#$%load of slow-moving vehicles present. Cue bustling New York City's Holland Tunnel, where readers familiar with the area will immediately summon memories of exhaust stench, honking horns, and that dreadful summer day mid-way through a heatwave when your AC on your Nissan Stanza craps the bed.



To express your inevitable sentiment, rather than raging and yelling at your car and fellow commuters, why not just take your iPhone, point it at the billboard, and snap a picture to post to your Facebook wall that says "I am feeling (ANGRY FACE)"? New York-based GPS augmented reality app GoldRun partnered up with Tronic Studio and outdoor marketing firm ADstruc to bring us the first billboard with feelings. The billboard is part of the latter's "Billboards For Everyone" campaign, which brings together local design talent to create...

The University of South Australia brings us quite a nifty gadget / design tool as part of their Wearable Computer Laboratory. In a paper and accompanying video published by Ewald T. A. Maas, Michael R. Marner, Ross T. Smith, and Bruce H. Thomas, they introduce "Quimo", a free form spatial Augmented Reality interface. Short for "quick mock-up", the substance is a white malleable material that the user can sculpt and reform to their heart's content, all with their bare hands. It retains its shape once you sculpt it and doesn't harden later, so you can always go back and sculpt different things. It's like Play-Doh for Augmented Reality.

Valpak has got a brand new bag. And it's not a giant blue bag stuffed with coupons, either. It's a mobile augmented reality channel that uses geo-locational user information to display mobile-based deals in or near your vicinity.

Neato.

With the recent success of Groupon and LivingSocial, it does not come as a surprise that Valpak entered the mobile arena, especially after launching an iPhone app. Unlike a normal app, this one is in full Augmented Reality, so you actually perceive mobile coupon deals overlaid onto the physical world, i.e. wherever you're pointing your smartphone.

The feature runs on junaio, a free application for the iPhone and Android. The Valpak channel uses the navigation features of junaio channels, utlizing a user's surroundings to supply them with relevant hyperlocal information. Here's a demo from Valpak telling you how to use the app:



It's that easy folks.

This is a definite "do not try this at home", kids.

"Jump Master" US Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker was leaning out the side of a plane traveling at about 150 miles per hour when his iPhone 4 slipped out of his pocket. iLounge, to whom Walker originally emailed his testament (SPOILER ALERT: It was typed out and emailed on the same iPhone!), reported that immediately after losing the phone, Walker thought to himself

Well, guess I'll be buying a new phone.

Yeah. I'm sure that's exactly what he was thinking after dropping his phone out of an effing plane.

Walker reportedly used the "Find My iPhone" app on a friend's phone to locate the fallen phone. Walker probably had no hope whatsoever that the phone still functioned, but evidently wanted to back up his data (is Angry Birds really that addictive? Yes, yes it is).

I'm sure Walker was delighted to find that not only was his data intact, but the rest of the phone too. Walker speculated that the trees and brush may have slowed the iPhone 4's fall (doesn't that sound like a punchline?), but it was reportedly protected by a third-party Griffin Motif TPU case as well as a metal backing.

Now tell me this isn't the best advertisement that Griffin could possibly hope for.

When the Wii hit the market it didn't take long for accessory makers to flood the market with a hoard of accessories that made the games you played a bit more realistic. You could get steering wheels for Mario Kart, gun controllers for shooters, and sports gear for golfing and other games. It's was pretty cool really. That same sort of controller to increase the realism is coming to the iPhone.

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A cool new gun accessory has turned up for a company called Apptoyz. It is a plastic gun that has a case to hold your iPhone on it and a trigger. The gun and associated app turns your iPhone into an augmented reality shooter.

Everywhere you point the gun the iPhone camera puts little aliens into the real world for you to shoot. It appears that the trigger pulls on the gun actually make a couple plungers that touch the iPhone screen activate to fire. The app for the gun is free, but the gun will set you back 20. This is a really cool setup.