Mosquitoes: Augmented Reality game for iPhone & iPod Touch
Augmented reality game for iPhone & iPod Touch, that lets you kill pesky mosquitoes flying around you in virtual space. Watch through the camera and you see tens of mosquitoes around you. On the ceiling, hovering above the floor, on your left and to your right.
This fun game uses the compass and accelerometer for a super realistic ‘augmented reality’ effect. The animated mosquitoes are projected in the real world, which you see through the camera lens.
A low-cost, motion and position capturing, data glove for 3D interaction with virtual objects in augmented reality (AR) environments.
What do you mean, really?
The Zerkin Glove, is the most intuitive input device using natural hand gestures – like you’ve only seen in sci-fi movies – with a consumer friendly price.
The glove enables accurate 1-to-1 tracking of one’s entire arm – from shoulder to knuckles – without external reference infrastructure (such as cameras, sensors, scanners) allowing intuitive interaction with virtual objects in augmented reality environments such as games, education, 3D design, training, healthcare and more.
Why is it important?
Augmented reality applications, which promise to change the way people interact with the world, have been largely focused on augmenting one’s field of view with additional information. The Zerkin glove is the missing element for enhancing the interaction in any handsfree mobile AR application.
How does it work?
Thanks to the use of inexpensive off-the-shelf components such as flex sensors, gyros, accelerometer, and compass headings, the glove precisely tracks the slightest gestures in the augmented reality space. Based on a proprietary patent-pending method. The graphics are overlaid relative to fiducial markers using AR tracking software. A pair of see-through AR glasses complements the experience as display for a first person perspective.
Layar announced the addition of 3D capabilities to its augmented reality browser platform. With 3D, developers can tag real-life objects with 3D text, place 3D objects in real-world space, and create multi-sensory experiences. The addition of 3D enables Layar developers to create more realistic and immersive augmented reality experiences for mobile devices.
First demo at Picnic Conference in the Netherlands
The first demonstration of the Layar 3D experience will be at the Picnic Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from September 23-25. A demo application has been developed to showcase the power of 3D. Conference attendees looking for “Picnic” in the Android Market can find and download the Android application to their phone to view a virtual exhibition that delivers a multi-sensory experience of reality, augmented by 3D.
They will experience the flyby of a jumbojet, a rocket launch, and be in the middle of an arcade game – all including sound. Conference buildings are tagged with 3D texts and on the lawn several 3D objects are placed such as windmills and 3D “experience domes”. Videos and images of the demo are available at www.layar.com/3D.
How does it work?
Layar 3D makes use of OpenGL, the accelerometer, the GPS and the compass of the phone. Developers can place 3D objects in their content layers based on coordinates. Objects can be optimized in size and orientation to create an immersive and realistic experience. The 3D capabilities support live downloading and rendering of 3D objects. Actions such as “open link” or “play music” can be assigned to 3D objects.
November Launch for Android
Together with selected partners Layar will update their API to support 3D objects for new and existing layers. Layar will launch 3D to the public in November together with the launch of version 3.0 of the Layar Reality Browser for Android.
Raimo van der Klein, CEO:
“We are very excited to announce this groundbreaking addition to the platform. Augmented Reality is an experience medium, not just a tool or a substitute for maps. With 3D we deliver these experiences. The platform currently facilitates over 500 developers who from November onwards will have endless possibilities to create rich 3D multi-sensory Augmented Reality experiences.”
About Layar
The Layar Reality Browser displays real time digital information on top of reality in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, tourist information, play a live game, etcetera. Layar first launched on June 16th, 2009 and announced its global launch and version 2.0 on August 17th, 2009. The Layar platform serves as an enabler for mobile location services – any database with geo-location information can easily be turned in a content layer. The Layar Reality Browser is globally available for mobile phones running the Android operating system, with iPhone 3GS coming soon. Layar is a company based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
iPhone Augmented Reality application based on compass & gyro to create the AR effect. It looks that it will be THE way to overlaying data… at least until iPhone will decide to allow other types of spaces detection (or Android would lead the market).
How to advertise an Android smartphone? Easy: Lets Augment it!
Vodafone Netherlands has stepped up the potential of the medium, by launching a modern day variant of the playground classic ‘tag’ for the Google/OHA (Open Handset Alliance) Android platform.
Vodafone introduced a game where players can ‘tag’ each other using the HTC Magic phone via the camera and a specialised app.
The Go Tag app allowed players to ‘tag’ their rivals by using image recognition technology to identify the target’s shirt colour when a picture was taken.
Devices like the Android HTC Magic and the iPhone 3GS are expected to pave the way for augmented reality applications, mainly because these devices are equipped with a digital compass that complements the GPS functions on the handsets.
Today a bird told us that iPhone wont allow access to live video on the API’s 3.1. That means that there wont be chances to make a Marker Augmented Reality app for iPhone -for now-.
For now, AR community’s iPhone developers will have to concentrate their forces into browsers like Layar or Wikitude , based on compass & gyro to create the AR effect.
So.. stop dreaming about pet jumping around a marker… or stuff like that.
We all hope that Apple start thinking forward again as always did…
Mobilizy releases WIKITUDE 3 and an enhanced version of Wikitude.me
PRESS RELEASE: SALZBURG, Austria: AUGUST 26TH 2009. Mobilizy GmbH introduces WIKITUDE 3 for the Android OS and relaunches a completely new Wikitude.me geo-tagging platform. WIKITUDE 3 is the latest release of the Wikitude World Browser, the premiere mobile AR application for Android, which displays location-based, geo-specific content in a real-time augmented reality camera view on a smart-phone using GPS & gravimetric (compass) sensors.
WIKITUDE 3 is the latest release of the Wikitude World Browser, which presents the user with data about their surroundings, nearby landmarks, and other points of interest by overlaying information on the camera-view of a smartphone bringing information from the internet into context with the real-world. The Mobilizy development team has listened to it’s users and implemented several new features to improve and enhance the user experience within WIKITUDE 3. New features include:
* Full Integration with the Wikitude.me user-generated, geo-tagging platform;
* An enhanced User Interface (UI) which tightly aligns with the UI in the forthcoming iPhone version of the Wikitude World Browser;
* Improved methods to enhance perspective and depth of perception of POIs (Smaller POIs indicate further distance, larger POIs indicate close proximity);
* The search and viewing-distance for POIs can be regulated by the user with a sleek slider bar;
* New & Improved filter options allow end-users to choose which content overlays and POI categories are displayed;
* Improved methods for locating POIs through search terms;
* An improved radar-overlay displaying the user’s current viewing direction and POIs within a specified radius;
* An entirely new “Beam-Me” feature which tele-ports the user to a pre-defined geo-location, allowing the user to experience a specified geo-data overlay;
Currently, WIKITUDE World Browser 3.0 offers data overlay sources from Wikipedia, *Qype and user-generated content from Mobilizy’s Wikitude.me (www.wikitude.me)
Mobilizy GmbH has partnered with Netociety Ltd., a specialist in enterprise social software, to develop an enhanced geo-tagging experience that empowers individuals with the tools to create POIs and location-specific, hyper-linked digital content which can be viewed through the WIKITUDE World Browser. According to Markus Tripp, the project manager of Wikitude, “Wikitude.me is the first platform which allows individuals to actively contribute to augmented reality. This is an amazing and huge step forward in the AR industry!”
Wikitude.me provides an open, easy-to-use, free mobile information platform for anybody who wants to access or provide location based and situation-specific information or services via mobile phones. Basically, Wikitude.me can be understood as a platform which encourages community-driven content creation to which anybody can contribute freely, very similar to the philosophy of Wikipedia, but for mobile augmented reality. With regards to intellectual property, Wiktude.me is implemented under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License.
To get started with Wikitude.me platform users can login through existing 3rd party accounts such as Yahoo!, Google, Twitter and Facebook. The ability to add points of interest and “geo-tag the world” is done through any Internet-enabled device, such as a netbook, laptop, desktop or a smartphone like the Apple iPhone, Nokia N97 and the Android handsets which are available today. For each point of interest there is a title, description (250 chars), category, language, and link to a URL. Each POI that is geo-tagged on the Wikitude.me platform is also cross-posted on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/wikitude_me ) to inform the global Wikitude community of the creation of fresh geo-content.
Mobilizy GmbH believes that the future of mobile augmented reality (Mobile AR) literally rests in the hands of the users. Our team can develop the infrastructure for Mobile AR experiences such as WIKITUDE 3 and platforms like Wikitude.me, but ultimately the end users will determine how mobile AR will be shaped. Mobilizy is constantly researching and developing ways to improve the WIKITUDE mobile AR experience by placing the user at the center of our development process
NOTE: POI data created by early-adopters of the beta version of Wikitude.me will be migrated to the new platform early next week.
About Mobilizy:
Mobilizy GmbH is an early pioneer in commercial augmented reality and the creator of the WIKITUDE World Browser, which is the first practical augmented reality (AR) mobile application. Available on Android (Coming soon to iPhone). Mobilizy engages in the research and in-house development of location-based services and augmented (mixed) reality experiences for smartphones. Mobilizy is one of the leading innovators in developing new methods and applications for data acquisition and exchange in the emerging market of augmented reality.
About Netociety:
Netociety Ltd. is a UK-Austrian based software development firm helping companies customize, implement and adopt social software, collaboration tools and best practice. Netociety facilitates the development of collaboration systems for engaging with customers, employees and partners. Improvements in innovation, change, marketing, and productivity efforts are focused on.
The first demonstration of the Layar 3D experience will be at the Picnic Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from September 23-25. A demo application has been developed to showcase the power of 3D. Conference attendees looking for “Picnic” in the Android Market can find and download the Android application to their phone to view a virtual exhibition that delivers a multi-sensory experience of reality, augmented by 3D.
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