augmented reality growing up fast
in the past week AR took a nice step forward with two very thoughtful examples of how virtual and actual can mix in useful (not just pretty, shiny) ways:
Layar - an Android mobile app with incredible potential for taking AR into the world with you.
and the US Postal Service's Priority Mail Virtual Box, which lets you see if what you're shipping will fit in their flat rate box. A simple, useful tool.
*update* - should be mentioned that the excellent folks at AKQA are responsible for the Priority Mail application. Nice work, folks!
9 comments
Jun 17, 2009
JBajancopymaker said...
That's some amazing stuff right there. Seems like something from a Ted conference. Good find sir.
Jun 17, 2009
Alan said...
Until I saw these 2 examples, I blew off AR ( like you mentioned ) as just 'pretty' or 'shiny'.Something else, here's an AR game for mobil devices. What makes it actually interesting is that you need to physically move around the plying board, and you place physical objects onto the playing board that effect how the game works.
Jun 17, 2009
burtonposey said...
This is rather similar to this application, which was previewed by Gizmodo on 9/11/08.http://gizmodo.com/5048302/sekai-camera-turns-on-worlds-balloon-help
Jun 17, 2009
dan light said...
<shamelessIt might not be quite as lofty or epochal as these other examples, but if 'augmented reality' is indeed the mot de jour, yesterday's launch of We Are Autobots (http://www.weareautobots.com) is certainly timely, and makes some fairly tidy use of face tracking to give you the head of everybody's favourite leader of the Autobots.
Youtube preview available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzB4mIPdm9k
</shameless>
Jun 17, 2009
Keith Ciampa said...
The MIT media lab has been experimenting with this technology since the late 90s. I remember demoing their wearable computing device while looking at a restaurant from the street and seeing the menu and at a bus to see the schedule and route. It had a big impact on me, I remember thinking this is really the future of the internet. Forget the big box I had to wear on my belt, the mobile phone is really becoming the wearable computer, now all we need are the eyeglasses display. You look at someone walking by in the street and image recognition software immediately provides their facebook and twitter profile, who their friends are , if you have any in common, all while scanning the sex offender registry and their eHarmony compatibility score. It's not far off.
Jun 18, 2009
Ola said...
I am really fascinated by AR. Did some short films to see the potential... http://vimeo.com/album/103285
Jun 26, 2009
liwolf said...
This may just be the coolest thing I've come across in the past 6 months.... The possibilities are endless...
Jul 29, 2009
Dax Brady Sheehan said...
^ absolutely agree!
Aug 09, 2009
Keith Ciampa said...
Hi Michael, I noticed my email's auto response is showing up in your comments. This is the problem with using Posterous.
