augmented reality, AugmentedReality, MIT

If virtual reality creates a rich experience within a world that may not exist, then augmented reality (AR) creates a rich experience within the world that actually does. AR overlays relevant digital content on physical environments in real time so you can interact with them in ways that are more interesting and more powerful. Register now to hear how AR is creating cool new applications and exciting new business cases in areas ranging from consumer retail to travel to entertainment and more.

Read More: Digital Media SIG Event: Augmented Reality Gets Real | mitforumcambridge.org.

9to5Google, augmented reality, Dulce, dulce baerga, dulce303, glasses, goggles, Google, Google X, heads-up display, HUD, mixed reality, smart glasses

Google is working on a set of HUD, (heads-up display), glasses, they are now in prototype phase and will enable users to tap into Google’s cloud services through augmented reality. Here 9to5Google Explains…

We detailed the first information about the Google [x] Glasses project in December.

They are in late prototype stages of wearable glasses that look like thick-rimmed glasses that “normal people” wear. However, these provide a display with a heads up computer interface. There are a few buttons on the arms of the glasses, but otherwise, they could be mistaken for normal glasses. Additionally, we are not sure of the technology being employed here, but it is likely a transparent LCD or AMOLED display such as the one demonstrated below: In addition, we have heard that this device is not an “Android peripheral” as the NYT stated. According to our source, it communicates directly with the Cloud over IP. Although, the “Google Goggles” could use a phone’s Internet connection, through Wi-Fi or a low power Bluetooth 4.0. The use-case is augmented reality that would tie into Google’s location services. A user can walk around with information popping up and into display -Terminator-style- based on preferences, location and Google’s information. Therefore, these things likely connect to the Internet and have GPS. They also likely run a version of Android.

Since then, we have learned much more regarding Google’s glasses…
Our tipster has now seen a prototype and said it looks something like Oakley Thumps (below). These glasses, we heard, have a front-facing camera used to gather information and could aid in augmented reality apps. It will also take pictures. The spied prototype has a flash —perhaps for help at night, or maybe it is just a way to take better photos. The camera is extremely small and likely only a few megapixels.

The heads up display (HUD) is only for one eye and on the side. It is not transparent nor does it have dual 3D configurations, as previously speculated.

One really cool bit: The navigation system currently used is a head tilting-to scroll and click. We are told it is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.

(As an aside, I built a head mouse as a Masters Thesis project a few years back that used head tilts to navigate and control menus. I am ready to collect royalties!)
I/O on the glasses will also include voice input and output, and we are told the CPU/RAM/storage hardware is near the equivalent of a generation-old Android smartphone. As a guess, we would speculate something like 1GHz ARM A8, 256MB RAM and 8GB of storage? In any case, it will also function as a smartphone.

Perhaps most interesting is that Google is currently deciding on how it wants to release these glasses, even though the product is still a very long way from being finished. It is currently a secret with only a few geeky types knowing about it, and Google is apparently unsure if it will have mass-market appeal. Therefore, the company is considering making this a pilot program, somewhat like the Cr-48 Chromebooks last year.

Yes, Google might actually release this product as beta-pilot program to people outside of Google—and soon.

FYI Motorola’s got something cool in this area brewing as well.

(Source)

3D Mapping, augmented reality, Dulce, mapping, projection, sony, Video Mapping, virtual projection

Sony Realtime Projection Mapping 2 from Marshmallow Laser Feast on Vimeo.

Vodafone – The Evolution of Mobile from Marshmallow Laser Feast on Vimeo.

http://marshmallowlaserfeast.com/
http://www.meorme.com/index.php?/commissions/sony-ps3/

augmented reality, Dulce, game engine, HOLOGRAPHIC, kinect, mixed reality, Windows Phone

Another quick hack using the Kinect beta SDK and my new Windows Phone (which is great!). What you see is a simple game engine utilizing the pseudo-holographic effect from my other videos. A Kinect “sees” the position of the viewer and the 3D engine adjusts the image accordingly to give the illusion of a real 3D object. The 3D engine supports anaglyph 3D (red/cyan glasses) for a better effect in real life. A simple WP7 app controls the application and the helicopter using the accelerometers of the phone.  (Source – If you like it, check out my other videos. Thanks for watching! )

augmented reality, AugmentedReality, Dulce, pico projector, pico projectors, PicoProjector, PicoProjectors, research, smartphone, video, virtual projection, virtual projector, VirtualProjection, VirtualProjector

Pico projectors are an easy way to increase the screen real estate of your mobile phone, but what if you'd rather not carry one around in your pocket or bulk up your phone's slim profile with a slip on solution? Well, a team of intrepid researchers may have come up with an elegant solution to your problem that can work with any smartphone and external display: virtual projection. The system works by using a central server that constantly takes screenshots of the external display and compares them with the images from the phone's camera to track its location. It then replicates what's on the handset's screen, while allowing you to add multiple image windows and position and rotate them as you see fit. Additionally, multiple users can collaborate and virtually project pictures or videos onscreen at the same time. Intrigued? See it in action for yourself in the video after the break. Continue reading... Researchers turn your smartphone into a virtual projector

Researchers turn your smartphone into a virtual projector originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   | (source) Dominikus Baur  | Email this | Comments

augmented reality, car, Dulce, dulce303, GM, OLED, touch display, window, World Car Fans, YouTube

Got backseat boredom? DVD players and Game Boys are so five years ago, but a new concept in rear seat entertainment technology that uses the windows themselves could replace squirminess and snoozing with interactive scribbling, sweeping and pinching.

General Motors Research and Development put that challenge before researchers and students from the FUTURE LAB at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel. The task: Conceptualize new ways to help rear seat passengers, particularly children, have a richer experience on the road.

The Windows of Opportunity (WOO) Project was inspired by psychological studies indicating car passengers often feel disconnected from their environment, GM asked the Bezalel students to turn car windows into interactive displays capable of stimulating awareness, nurturing curiosity and encouraging a stronger connection with the world outside the vehicle.

“Traditionally, the use of interactive displays in cars has been limited to the driver and front passenger, but we see an opportunity to provide a technology interface designed specifically for rear seat passengers,” said Tom Seder, GM R&D lab group manager for human-machine interface. “Advanced windows that are capable of responding to vehicle speed and location could augment real world views with interactive enhancements to provide entertainment and educational value.”

Since GM has no immediate plans to put interactive display windows into production vehicles, the R&D team gave free reign to the Bezalel students to create applications without concern whether they could be mass produced. Bezalel is Israel’s oldest institute of higher education and one of the more prestigious schools of its kind in the world. (Source)

avatar art, bryn oh, daughter of gears, Dulce, IBM, immersiva, metaverse, narrative, rabbicorn, second life machinima, virtual worlds

Immersiva is one of the most icon simulators in any metaverse, Bryn Oh‘s, (Immersiva’s creator), artistic soul flows, breathes, and evolves on a checker board grid that immerses you in lucid dreams and stories. Bryn’s free expression has had a profound effect on the residents of Second Life, and Immersiva is a grid favorite, it’s a place that always surprises.

So, it was such a surprise to hear, (from Bryn herself), that Immersiva was to shut down… with no good reason given. That news  hurt, shocked and sadden me. I felt as if one of the last great SL creators was about to disappear from the metaverse, as so many have before her.  Too many fantastic virtual artist have move out of SL, either to pursue real life artistic endeavors, or they immigrated to other open spaces.  My heart broke at the news of Immersiva’s shutdown, and Bryn herself lamented that the experience was like the image of Marty and his siblings faded in the foreground.

It got me reminiscing on all the times I’ve paid a visit to Immersiva and other Bryn Oh builds around the Second Life grid. I have always been fascinated by her work, and I feel connected to the spirit she evokes.  Both of my avatars have modeled with Immersiva in the background, and since Immersiva is a living and breathing simulator there is always something new to experience.

Bryn Oh’s Second Life builds seems like a faded memory now, I will charish these snapshots and archive them, I will not let Bryn’s Oh fade in vain! So Heartbreaking. =[

Huh? What was that Bryn? You found some funding? For another year and six months? Really?? …
YAY! \o/ … Yes! That’s excellent news! Immersiva is not going away yet, and in fact Bryn is asking for support to extend Immersiva’s breath and life. This is a great gift, Byrn! I’m so excited to see what you build, and the experiences you create. Check Out Byrn’s Crowd Funding site!

Byrn Oh is a true artist, she tells stories and brings them to life, she connects to your emotions and makes you think. Immersiva must stay open for as long as Bryn has something to say. Check out The Rabbicorn Story and Anna’s Many Murders.

Oringal Post Feb.  15, 2010
Immersiva, created by Bryn Oh and donated to Second Life residents by Dusan Writer, is one of the most artistic and existential simulators in world. Byrn Oh’s work strikes deep cords in one’s soul, it opens the cracks into ones dreams and distant memories, while telling the stories of our collective childhood.

Traveling through the simulation and zooming into the detailed builds one gets the sense of slipping in between time and space, stepping through portals of blinding light and falling into voids. Immersiva is the place in our minds that time and space forgot, a place that is both run down and working, a place that allows the visitor to dream up their own reality and sense of what it all means.

The builds and landscape are beautifully crafted and Bryn Oh’s use of particle noise is perfectly executed. I’ve taken several trips to the sim and I will make many more, Ms. Oh likes to keep busy so she’s always adding and taking away from the experience, which keep the simulation exciting and new. Below you will find a slide show of my experience with Immersiva and machinima videos created by Ms. Oh herself.

Check out my Immersiva Flickr set.

ahrs, Dulce, flashlight, gps, image stabilization, ImageStabilization, laser, laser pico projector, LaserPicoProjector, lasers, pico projector, PicoProjector, robot, robots, sriranjan rasakatla, SriranjanRasakatla, torch, video, way go, WayGo

We love just about anything involving lasers or robotics here at Engadget, so naturally, we're intrigued by Sriranjan Rasakatla's Way-Go flashlight that combines the two. It's comprised of a laser pico projector, GPS module, altitude and heading reference system (AHRS) to not only light your path but also tell you which way to go. It can be used strictly as a flashlight, but users can also input starting and destination points to have the Way-Go guide them. There's also a wander mode that displays info about your surroundings as you stroll around -- though naturally, such information must be pre-programmed into the device. Because it displays stuff that needs reading, the projector's connected to servos that can keep it locked on a projection point to keep it readable no matter how much you move the Way-Go around. Rasakatla sees the device being useful in search and rescue, backcountry trekking, and campus tour guiding -- odd, 'cause in our day, kids walking around campus at night were trying to find out where the party was at, not learn about the architecture of the academic buildings. Regardless, you can see the Way-Go in action after the break.

Continue reading Way-Go flashlight uses lasers to light your path, GPS to tell you where to go

Way-Go flashlight uses lasers to light your path, GPS to tell you where to go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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apple, clothes, clothing, Dulce, exercise, fitness, fitness tracking, FitnessTracking, intellectual property, IntellectualProperty, ip, nike plus, NikePlus, patent, patents, shoes

There's a huge problem with working out that has yet to be solved: when, precisely, do our workout clothes become too worn to wear anymore? Apple knows we can't be wasting endless minutes looking for holes and tears in our shirts and pants, so it's just obtained a method patent to let you know when your gear is past its prime. The patent claims sensor-equipped garments that can track how you use them, report that info back to a central database and alert you when the clothing has reached "its expected useful lifetime." (Read: it's time to buy some new, undoubtedly more expensive gym clothes.) This latest bit of IP doesn't just cover clothing either, Cupertino's claiming the same method for running shoes, too. The footwear bit also provides real-time feedback that compares your current running style to an established profile to keep your workouts consistent -- useful feature, that, though we can't imagine such iShoes would make the folks in Niketown too happy. We're not sure how Apple aims to make the needed wearables equipped with embedded electronics, but we can offer you plenty of typically broad patent legalese explaining the system that'll get you buying them at the source below.

Apple patents clothes that track how you wear them, tell you when it's time to update your wardrobe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Apple Patent Blog  |  USPTO  | Email this | Comments

augmented reality, Dulce, processors

Reiterating its commitment to fuel best-in-class user experiences, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) today underscored strategic relationships with metaio and Total Immersion, aimed at bringing augmented reality (AR) capabilities to life on TI’s market-leading OMAP processors.

Both companies are providing AR software development kits (SDK), optimized to work on TI’s OMAP processors, which now makes it easier than ever to implement next-generation, immersive AR applications. This time, the collaborative efforts place the smart-multicore OMAP processors at the heart of award-winning AR advancements, and bring breakthrough AR design capabilities to a broader range of OEMs and developers. Exciting apps built using these SDKs are on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in TI’s meeting space (N116, North Hall).

“Our strategic partnerships with metaio and Total Immersion enable their AR SDKs to leverage the on-chip dedicated camera sub-system and hardware-accelerated computer vision libraries unique to the OMAP platform’s smart multicore architecture,” said Fred Cohen, director, OMAP user experience team, TI. “These innovators are at the forefront of their industry. In addition to differentiated technical capabilities, our work with metaio and Total Immersion introduces an unprecedented set of tools and access as well as professional support from each company, empowering developers to bring a new era of AR-based eCommerce applications to life.”

The OMAP-processor-optimized metaio Mobile SDK includes patented gravity awareness visual tracking technology for 2D and 3D objects, which ensure more natural, intuitive and realistic AR experiences. Total Immersion’s D’Fusion AR platform, leverages the OMAP platform’s processing speed for lightning-fast image recognition, rendering capability and extraordinary tracking abilities.

“We are thrilled to work with TI to make it easier and faster for developers to enable the most sought-after, futuristic AR capabilities imaginable. Our new gravity awareness feature and award-winning visual tracking technology for 2D and 3D objects pair with the OMAP processor to deliver natural, intuitive AR features that consumers demand.” – Dr. Thomas Alt, CEO, metaio.

“Collaborating with TI on our AR SDK ensures that D’Fusion® offers a best-in-class AR solution for mobile AR development. The OMAP processors have what our developers demand in terms of performance and optimization with TI’s smart multicore OMAP architecture. It makes existing AR applications better and faster, and will also enable new and exciting apps in markets thirsty for what AR capabilities have to offer.” – Bruno Uzzan, CEO and Co-Founder, Total Immersion

Availability
These SDKs are available today to developers and customers wanting to bring a higher quality, higher performing, lower power AR experience to mobile devices.

Visit metaio’s site to download the free SDK here: http://www.metaio.com/software/mobile-sdk/.

Visit Total Immersion’s site to download the free D’Fusion® SDK here: https://community.t-immersion.com and join Total Immersion’s developer community.

Source: TI Forges Ahead In Augmented Reality On Its OMAP Platform.