Revolutionary Concepts brings UFO on Tape to iPhone
Clearly looking for a challenge, the studio tasked itself with publishing a game that has no onscreen buttons, is completely unlike anything on the App Store, and implements the gyroscope (or accelerometer) effectively.
The result comes courtesy of Russian Artist Nicolai Troshinsky, who originally developed UFO on Tape as a freeware game.
The concept is simple: you have to point your phone in the direction of a meandering UFO, capturing as many seconds of footage as you can in order to prove the truth to a disbelieving world.
It’s a simple premise, but one that promises to deliver an experience quite unlike anything else on iTunes.
UFO on Tape is available now for £0.59 / €0.79 / $0.99.
Plane Finder AR for iPhone Updated with new Augmented Layer » Phone Reviews
The Plane Finderapp for iPhone has now received a layer of augmented reality as it has now been updated to Plane Finder AR and although the iPhone application was previously free there is now a charge of $3.00 for the added feature.
According to an article over on Gizmodo by Kat Hannaford, Plane Finder AR for iPhone now delivers flight numbers, destination, speed and numerous other details on airplanes that fly overhead, and the same developer also has numerous other travel orientated apps such as Ship Finder, and Airline Finder.
The new Plane Finder AR for iPhone will show augmented reality info on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS when the user points the device towards the sky and small thumbnails pop up with speed, altitude, flight number destination, and last port of call and even the distance from you.
Apparently the application work by collecting the ADS-B data from airplanes and thus apparently is the reason why the app and the iPhone cannot pick up info on every plane the iPhone is pointed at. You can grab Plane Finder AR for the iPhone for $3.99 from iTunes.
Nissan Juke Augmented Reality App Will Mess With Your Head
So you think Facebook, Twitter and YouTube social network marketing is where it’s at? Thought it was brilliant when your favorite company made an iPhone or Android app? Well go ahead and shove it all aside and make room for Total Immersion and their new (non cell phone) application to promote the Nissan Juke in the UK.
It’s really difficult to express in words what this application does, but you simply download their program for PC or MAC, install it and turn on your webcam. From there, you shove the printed graphic on the back of the brochure to your webcam and watch it come to life.
And what does it exactly do? Well, it’s much easier to view the video after the break, but by simply interacting with the back of your brochure, the application comes to life with a fancy Nissan Juke virtually overlaid. It’s like interacting with something in front of you along with something that isn’t. Does that make sense? We figured not, so just watch the video in awe.
[Source: Nissan UK]
Read AutoGuide’s 2011 Nissan Juke Review by Clicking Here
Get more Nissan Juke news and info at JukeForums.com
Twinkle | Geekosystem
A new augmented reality interface, dubbed Twinkle, designed by researchers at Tokyo University and Keio University uses a camera to project a character onto a surface, who can then interact with obstacles featured on said surface, including pictures and shadows.
The device works via a projector displaying the image onto the surface while a camera identifies what kind of obstacle the character faces, which then allows the character to determine how to react. An accelerometer is also used in conjunction with the projector and camera in order to recognize certain movements that the camera has a difficult time detecting. Very cool, and promising.
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Layar: Augmenting Reality via Smartphone - BusinessWeek
The Rolling Stones have put out a layer for fans who want to put up a singing poster of the band, virtually, on the wall of their school or home. The layer lets fans design the poster, choose a track from Exile on Main Street to go with it, and then stick it wherever they want—all without the mess of doing it for real. Quizno's, a fast-food chain specializing in toasted sandwiches, is using Layar in a more down-to-earth fashion, with a layer that helps potential customers find outlets, shows them 3D sandwich images to get them hungry, and then proffers location-specific coupons to seal the deal.
metaio to host insideAR, augmented reality conference on September 27th in Munich, Germany
metaio, the creator of the popular junaio application, announced what I thought was the first augmented reality conference in the world (but was corrected soon afterwards — though I still don’t know which one was the first) – insideAR. The date is set for September 27th and venue is Avalon – Das Kraftwerk, Bahnhofstr. 30, 85609 Dornach/Munich, Germany. Early bird rate (until August 31st) is 145 EUR, while the regular rate is 195 EUR.
The official pitch goes like this:
Discover the current and future applications of augmented reality technology by getting in touch with practical examples, live demonstrations, and research insights from the recognized leader in the field of augmented reality. Join metaio for a look insideAR, based on 10 years of experience in development and deployment.
Best of all, after the conference ends, the attendees are invited to visit the famous Munich Oktoberfest together.
The question on my mind is what Layar could do to counterstrike metaio now? Organize an “up in the sky” conference in the cafe shops of Amsterdam? That could work.
NTT FIRM BRINGING SMART YELLOW PAGES TO SMARTPHONES
Japan's NTT Directory Services Co. is adding a smartphone version of its iTownpage online classified telephone directory, taking advantage of the phones' camera and GPS (Global Positioning System) functionality to integrate the online information with augmented-reality applications.
NTT Directory Services, an affiliate of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (TSE:9432) arm NTT East Corp., publishes the Townpage telephone directories of local stores and companies. It also operates the iTownpage online version for computers and Internet-capable mobile phones. But now, special applications have been added to iTownpage to take advantage of smartphones.
Smartphone users can search from among 17 categories of information. Touching the augmented-reality icon appearing next to a store or other site activates the phone's camera and GPS functions so that site-specific information can be displayed while the screen shows what the camera sees.
US Open Experience Gets Augmented Upgrade
Fans attending the US Open at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, now have myriad ways of following Rafael Nadal, Melanie Oudin, Venus Williams and the rest of professional tennis’ elite, whether they’re sitting in Arthur Ashe Stadium or checking in from their work computer.
Once again, the flagship feature is IBM’s live video stream (available from USOpen.org) that draws on all three broadcast partners (CBS, ESPN and the Tennis Channel). From there, viewers can overlay match data, other in-progress scores, and even pull up picture-in-picture of another match going on concurrently.
“The simplicity of that video-stream design combined with the marrying of the data about the match is something we hope makes the experience more powerful,” IBM’s John Kent told Wired.com. In 2009, there were under 14 million streams accessed over USOpen.org, adding up to more than 2.5 million hours of coverage from 157 matches over two weeks.
This year, PointStream is the big new feature. Coupled with SlamTracker, which allows users to check in graphically on matches in progress, PointStream drills down on in-match data in a heavily visual way, using a central, tennis ball-esque design and various colors and indicators – triangles indicate break points, open triangles show missed break-point chances, and so on – to relay information about a given point at any moment in a match. (It’s also eerily familiar to those who swear by their Polar Clock screensaver.) PointStream debuts during tonight’s first-round matches.
“We’re expecting it will engage the fans a bit more and allow them to get some more insight into what is driving some of the best players’ performances,” Kent said.
IBM has been on site at the US Open for almost 10 days now, working to make sure the core online infrastructure is in place for what they expect will be an increase in traffic over last year, which was itself a 47 percent increase over 2008’s numbers. With a crew of some 18 engineers and technicians on hand, PointStream should provide a significant upgrade over graphical representations of tennis in the past. In this example, you get a glimpse of an entire match, with colors indicating who won each point.
Last year, IBM introduced a specialized iPhone app that was downloaded some 500,000 times during the tournament. For 2010, many of the same features – including video highlights, live radio broadcasts and real-time scoring – have returned. But this year, the iPhone app will also allow you a dip into the world of augmented reality.
Reminiscent of Bionic Eye, the app’s “Around Me” feature allows fans who are on the NTC grounds to point their camera at their surroundings and pull up data about what matches are occurring nearby, where the concessions are, and even where to find the nearest first aid station.
And yet, for all these upgrades, there will be no optimized iPad app for the US Open this year, although video streams will be viewable via mobile browsing through an HTML5 conversion. IBM’s Kent says that a dedicated iPad app may be in the offing for future tournaments.
“To be honest, that’s one of the big questions out there, not just for the US Open but the other properties we handle,” Kent said. “Our mindset has been that if you’re going to build an app – whether for the iPhone, iPad or anything – there has be a differentiated experience for that, versus just getting it over the browser.”
SDI Government Solutions to Present Augmented Reality Paper at I/ITSEC 2010
NewswireToday - /newswire/ - South Plainfield, NJ, United States, 08/30/2010 - SDI Government Solutions and D2 TEAM-Sim Co-Authored White Paper about the Future of Augmented Reality in Military Training.
SDI Government Solutions and D2 TEAM-Sim have been selected to present a white paper titled, “Augmented Reality as an Emerging Military Training Technology,” at I/ITSEC 2010.
The paper, which assesses the current state of augmented reality in the military and predicts several future applications, is co-authored by Daniel Donovan of SDI Government Solutions and James Cimino of D2 TEAM-Sim. Its acceptance comes just several months after an announcement for an augmented reality roadmap was released by the Aberdeen Proving Ground.
“This technology is rapidly taking root in the military,” said Donovan. “It’s just another example of how innovations within the training industry can be adapted to deliver critical information to Warfighters in the battlefield.”
Cimino agreed, adding, “Logically, it only makes sense for the military to pursue augmented reality. As we described in our paper, it is a technology that is well suited to the challenges of the warzone and it does not necessarily require a tremendous initial investment by the military.”
The presentation will feature several demonstrations of augmented reality technology and ways the technology can be deployed by Warfighters. Attendees will be eligible for Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits upon the successful completion of the credit requirements.
I/ITSEC is one of the world’s largest annual training technology conferences with approximately 19,000 total registrants in 2009. It connects the Department of Defense with members of the industry and academia to foster new ideas and explore ways to create better training. The conference is being held from November 29 to December 2 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For more information about I/ITSEC 2010, please visit its website at iitsec.org.
About D2 TEAM-Sim
D2 TEAM-Sim (d2teamsim.com) is a business unit of Appliedinfo Partners (Appliedinfo), a privately held minority woman-owned small business that provides customers with the following products and services:
• DIF™ is an intuitive, user friendly and browser based solution to address the challenge of managing and developing content for Interactive Multimedia Instruction (IMI). DIF™ enables the cataloging, maintenance, reuse of media assets and available training course materials. D2 TEAM-Sim's approach to the IMI process allows us to seamlessly integrate images, PowerPoint, video, animation, 2D and 3D graphics, and simulation to create a total training package;
• Custom IMI development and 3D Game-based constructive training solutions;
• Marketing Communications Services for corporate and Government agencies;
• Custom Web and client/server technology applications.
D2’s mission is to provide our clients with high quality, web and browser-based constructive training solutions. D2’s expertise covers all four levels of Interactive Multimedia Instruction (IMI). D2 has Secret Facility Security Clearance, and a dedicated team of over 50 talented professionals consisting of project managers, 3D artists, animators, developers and support staff.
D2 TEAM-Sim (d2teamsim.com) continues to push the envelope by building cost-effective, web based and SCORM-conformant training solutions for the DoD by leveraging decades of commercial multimedia design and development expertise while simultaneously integrating COTS software and hardware. Our award-winning approach to developing engaging blended learning products continues to catch the eye of senior army leadership, setting the standard and raising the bar in terms of quality, effectiveness, value and usability. D2 TEAM-Sim prides itself on consistently delivering high production-value training, using cutting edge technology and by being laser-focused on budget and deliverables.
About SDI and SDI Government Solutions
SDI Government Solutions (sdigovsolutions.com) is a division of Systems Documentation, Inc. (SDI), a woman-owned small business based in South Plainfield, NJ. Founded in 1978, with offices in New Jersey, Maryland, New Hampshire, Hungary and India, SDI develops a variety of information systems including enterprise architecture, interactive technical documentation, training and eLearning systems, content management systems, knowledge management systems and cutting-edge multimedia elements.SDI Government Solutions has been a leading subject matter expert in the Electronic Warfare (EW) community and the de facto leader in JCREW training and logistics programs management since 2007. It uses Training Planning Process Methodology (TRPPM) and front-end analysis (FEA) to create integrated technical documents and training materials, including interactive 3D simulations, gaming solutions and SCORM-compliant computer-based training (CBT). SDI Government Solutions excels in the creation of Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETM) in S1000D as well as XML conversion, content management systems, Department of Defense (DoD) 5000.2-compliant logistics and systems acquisition, integration and support. Through all of its services, SDI Government Solutions assists the US Department of Defense and other federal agencies that support the Warfighters protecting our freedom and homeland.
