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.

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)

Greek artist Petros Vrellis created this beautiful interactive animated version of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (video). The interactive work is powered by openFrameworks, an open source coding toolkit for creatives.

via Colossal & Creative Applications Network

For his “American Revolution Revolution” series, artist Shawn Huckins paints 18th century-style portraits with Internet slang superimposed on them (see the tweets and texts galleries).

via Hi-Fructose

On Wednesday, San Francisco-based independent video game company Double Fine launched a $400,000 Kickstarter project to fund development of a retro point & click adventure video game. The Kickstarter project will also fund a documentary film team from 2 Player Productions. The filmmakers will document the entire game making process as it happens (for the exclusive enjoyment of project supporters).

The project reached its fundraising goal in a record 8 hours, and surpassed $1 million dollars in less than 24 hours. It missed being the first million dollar Kickstarter by just four hours though—The Elevation Dock, which we wrote about earlier this week, gained that distinction on Thursday afternoon. But the Double Fine project has now surpassed the Elevation Dock and is now the largest Kickstarter yet ($1,384,438 as of this writing). The folks over at Kickstarter watched all of this unfold with understandable excitement.

Over a six-to-eight month period, a small team under Tim Schafer’s supervision will develop Double Fine’s next game, a classic point-and-click adventure. Where it goes from there will unfold in real time for all the backers to see.

2 Player Productions will be documenting the creative process and releasing monthly video updates exclusively to the Kickstarter backers. This documentary series will strive to make the viewer as much a part of the process as possible by showing a game grow from start to finish, with all the passion, humor, and heartbreak that happens along the way.

via BetaBeat

Rob Beschizza of Boing Boing created a montage featuring almost Every Apple Design Ever in 30 Seconds.

Rob also created a complementary montage of Every Next Product Ever in 30 Seconds.

Call him Pavel Puhov, P-183, “Pavel 183″ or, as happens frequently these days, “the Russian Banksy” (as Russia’s RT News do here). By whatever name, he makes inventive, ambitious street art that often has a sharp political point.

The Moscow-based graffiti and street artist has operated for more than a decade, and is reportedly about 30 years old.

Whether adding real fire to a large-scale graffiti portrait of a protestor, installing life-sized decals of riot police to subway station doors so commuters pushing past also undermine their potency, or something more whimsical like his giant-scale candy bars replicas, Pavel’s most exciting work tends to bust its way out of 2 dimensions into 3-D. Recently he’s worked a lot in public projections, like this one featuring the iconic Afghan girl photo from National Geographic:

You can find more of his work and an interview in Russian here.

The chocolate bar is Alenka, an iconic brand in Russia, one of few that survived from Soviet times to present day.

All Photos from 183art.ru

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