augmented reality
Facebook is buying virtual-reality company Oculus VR for $2 billion — and the Internet has exploded in response.
Originally introduced on Kickstarter in 2012, Oculus VR's gaming headset Oculus Rift is the biggest development in the virtual-reality space since it was just a dystopian dream. Since Oculus development kits went on sale in March 2013, 75,000 units have been sold — even though the product is not yet available in retail stores.
Augmented reality—a technology that enables mobile devices to recognize live objects and then activate video or graphics—has been stuck for years in new-tech purgatory, where ideas loll in the hope of finding mainstream applications.
That may be changing, at least in the eyes of marketers, print publishers and retailers, who are testing new ways to promote their brands on ever-present mobile devices.
Startups like Blippar, Layar and Daqri are beginning to make inroads, offering technology that lets people point their smartphones or tablets at objects—whether a can of soda, a magazine cover or an in-store display—and then watch video or high-tech graphics unfurl on top of the objects on screen.
Blippar's print app lets readers of this ad from Maybelline try on virtually every color shade in the Color Show line of eye shadow.
Until now, Blippar was targeting magazines and brand agencies as it sought to establish its platform. Today, that target audience is expanding—newspapers and print shops, in particular—are in their sights. The company is now going to the publishers who have advertisers participating in campaigns, looking to form partnerships that will bring the technology and possibilities to more brands. And printers have a unique opportunity to introduce the platform to all the jobs that walk in the door—there are very few types of print jobs that couldn’t benefit from Blippar’s technology. Even editorial departments are finding new ways to bring their stories to life with instant reader engagement opportunities such as polls or animations that delve deeper into a subject or illustrate a point.
Blippar is an advanced advertising tool that presents additional information and extra features to users using augmented reality and smart devices. Jessica Butcher, co-founder of the app, demonstrated the service at PSFK London. Today, the AR startup introduced a new feature that extends the app’s capabilities to Google Glass, making it even easier for people to recognize product images and receive more information about them on the fly.
Augmented reality—a technology that enables mobile devices to recognize live objects and then activate video or graphics—has been stuck for years in new-tech purgatory, where ideas loll in the hope of finding mainstream applications.
That may be changing, at least in the eyes of marketers, print publishers and retailers, who are testing new ways to promote their brands on ever-present mobile devices.
Startups like Blippar, Layar and Daqri are beginning to make inroads, offering technology that lets people point their smartphones or tablets at objects—whether a can of soda, a magazine cover or an in-store display—and then watch video or high-tech graphics unfurl on top of the objects on screen.
At its best, augmented reality can promise a heads-up display for your entire life. But all too often, the overlay it creates adds little but pain and confusion. That was fully what I expected from Disney's foray into augmented reality toys when I first heard about them. Aimed at a young audience, the toys are built by licensee Jakks, and the first descriptions sounded abysmal: who wants to stare at a toy while watching somebody else — even a Disney character — play with it? After seeing the first versions, I'm not exactly reassured, but I've upgraded my opinion: the idea has promise, but it's not there yet.
The technology that powers Disney's new toys is called DreamPlay, built in a partnership between Jakks and NantWorks, a company founded by the richest man in Los Angeles.
Retailers have traditionally relied on print advertising campaigns or other media to promote products. Being divided in the past, print, media and in-store marketing efforts are merged today into the comprehensive consumer experience via augmented reality. Integration of augmented reality in marketing efforts aims to build consumer relationship, boost sales, and add value to the shopper experience. Retailers are getting the chance to attract their target audience by means multiple traditional and non-traditional interactions.
Play AR takes video games out of the TV and turns them into a physical experience! Play AR was designed to let people with no programming experience play and create highly interactive augmented reality [AR] video games with just a few clicks. Best of all you can publish your creations as stand alone apps for smart phones and tablets!
Typically, after he finishes scanning a room with the Structure Sensor, a 3D scanner for mobile devices, Jeff Powers, chief executive officer of Occipital (the company behind Structure), gets a strong reaction from the audience.
“People yell at us: You didn’t actually make it (the finished scan) that fast,” he says. The fast motif seems to have carried over to his company Occipital’s Kickstarter campaign, which raked up $100,000 (their goal) in less than 3.5 hours.
Augmented reality is defined as “the live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.” While technically accurate, to a consumer, AR is about something utterly different — something intangible, utilitarian, and evocative.
Video games have been entertaining us for nearly 30 years, ever since Pong was introduced to arcades in the early 1970s. Computer graphics have become much more sophisticated since then, and game graphics are pushing the barriers of photorealism. Now, researchers and engineers are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments. This new technology, called augmented reality, blurs the line between what's real and what's computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel and smell.
Gribetz has a suggestion for escaping our device doldrums: Spaceglasses, a wearable computing device in the form of beefy eyeglasses stuffed with sensors, projectors, voice recognition technology and more.
The high-tech specs immerse users in a mobile augmented reality experience. Maps can be manipulated with your hands. When playing a first-person shooter video game you can quite literally become the shooter. Or imagine building a complex Lego structure and having the directions floating above the building blocks spread out in front of you.
Victoria’s Secret is one of a few different retailers this holiday season that is incorporating augmented reality into its own branded application for both driving sales and engagement.
We've seen touch-friendly tables before, but they're rarely so slick as the Multi Surface Experience, a newly launched collaboration between design firm Gensler and ad agency The Hive. The installation lets guests explore Gensler's architectural portfolio (the book you see above) just by walking up to a wavy table.
Disney is going for a ride on the augmented-reality bandwagon, and it's betting the future of play will involve digital imagery that interacts with tangible objects—what the company describes as "traversing the digital-physical divide."
The concept is being developed at Disney Research labs with a new prototype device called HideOut. It's a handheld pico projector that projects digital images onto pre-marked surfaces, bringing children's books and board games to life as you move the device.
Augmented reality -- a live view of your environment with elements enhanced by computer-generated input -- will undoubtedly revolutionize the way we interact with the world, and even the way we drive.
Chevrolet Volt owners are already experiencing game-changing advanced technology (via two interactive color LCD screens that monitor and provide efficiency feedback based on one's driving style), but there are already products like Google Glass on the cusp of mass-market adoption -- essentially a wearable smartphone that looks like a pair of glasses, with a smart display imposed on the user's field of vision that can record video, take pictures, send texts and more, all controlled by voice command.
Earlier this year, at Qualcomm’s Uplinq conference, Motorola showed off a teaser of a child-focused augmented reality concept they were working on. Today, it looks like that project is a lot closer to being announced, as Motorola shares a sneak peek with us.
Drivers can now see what is happening in front of a car or bus moving in front of them, thanks to augmented reality technology. Researchers from Portugal are developing an AR technology to make this a reality. The system will be integrated into a car and it is likely to be very helpful in preventing accidents as drivers will have more information about the road ahead and can take proper and safe decisions when it come to passing a large vehicle.
What if Augmented Reality (AR) was Amazingly Relevant, not just a gimmick? We believe AR should be practical, intelligent and adaptable to human lives.
