Metaverse One

So Apple has bought the German augmented reality company Metaio. I learned of the announcement via Tweetdeck and Magdalena Rogl's Twitter account where she posted a picture of this document. I send a huge congrats to Metaio's founders Thomas and Peter. Metaio has been around longer than a decade and continued to push the limits of the AR envelope with their computer vision and tracking technologies. I have been a fan of Metaio's technology for some time now as seen in the videos below. It definitely doesn't come as a shock that this company got acquired as they have great augmented reality tech and some good AR patents, but I am shocked it was by Apple and I am curious to see what they do with this technology now. With such big players like Apple, Facebook, Google, and others coming into the AR & VR space, our lives are about to get a lot more mixed with the digital world. Strap in and hold on! *scan this image with the Junaio mobile app

So I just got back from the ESRI User Conference 2013  in San Diego and wow, what a trip. Founded by Jack Dangermond, ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an industry leader and international supplier of Geographic Information System ( GIS ) software and geodatabase management applications. The company has an installed base of more than one million users in more than 350,000 organizations, including most US federal agencies and national mapping agencies, all 50 US state health departments, transportation agencies, forestry companies, utilities, state and local government, schools and universities, NGOs, and commercial business. The user conference brought 15,000+ ESRI users from over 130 countries. Keynote presentations included Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure, and Innovations Sam Pitroda  and an inspiring discussion with pop culture icon Will.i.am. For the record I am a B.E.P. fan but this interview was somethin...

Reality became augmented this week in Silicon Valley at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The third annual Augmented Reality Event, aka A.R.E.2012, brought the best and brightest around the world to the Bay area for a two day conference. Companies, research institutes, artists, and more once again got a chance to show off and experience the latest in computer vision, head & eye displays, motion sensor, mobile, and related augmented reality technologies. " ARE is where the people working on and using Augmented Reality technologies come together to explore best practices and innovations in software development, tools, business strategies, design and marketing. Developers, technologists, marketers, hardware manufacturers, mobile operators, researchers, designers, startups, business developers, and entrepreneurs gather to share their experiences and learn from their peers" - website Event organizer Ori Inbar (CEO Ogmento) interviewed by ARnewsTV before the event. A...

In Dallas this past March was the first ever augmented reality event in Texas. Scheduled over two days, the event looked to help Texas augmented reality enthusiasts understand the latest in AR technology and the current state of the industry. The purpose of the Friday March 16 workshop was to introduce AR to decision makers and owners of digital content, including 3D models and geospatial data, explaining the business cases and the new ways their assets can be utilized and visualized in real time. The purpose of the Saturday March 17 workshop was to share with developers how they can use the latest tools and techniques for developing high quality AR "experiences" for their audiences. It was a great event with a rather intimate turnout at Cohabitat , a co-working developer space in the Uptown area of Dallas. Many thanks to Christine Perey, of  Perey Research & Consulting  and founder/chair of the International AR Standards Community, who helped organize the e...

A quick look at some cool developments in the world of computer vision and augmented reality. UK-based Harmony Park has released Obvious Engine , a vision-based AR technology and SDK for indie games companies, developers and brands. AR company Metaio recently announced plans to add 3D Object Tracking and Visual Search to its free mobile Augmented Reality (AR) Software Development Kit, part of the Augmented City platform. Metaio Mobile SDK v3.1 will assemble core technologies necessary for creating the most interactive and immersive AR experiences, such as the overlay of virtual information on building facades, city streets and almost any 3D real world object or device.

This video covers the Augmented Reality Event 2011 last week in Santa Clara, California. A nice variety of people from all over the world shared stories of AR related success, vision, and technologies. I will do a proper write up soon. Thanks again Ori and Tish!

So I was recently exposed to the post Augmented Reality Finds a Place to Fit: Shopping! The article states, " Two recent AR implementations show promise, however, by adding value and actually demonstrating how useful the technology can be ." The author of the post is referring to Converse's Sampler application for AppleiOS devices and a TryOnBathingSuit application created by ImmediaC . With such an endorsement, I had to check these apps out. Review: Converse's Sampler application Perhaps I am biased as I work with the technology and know what is possible with it, but I am not impressed with this application at all. Sure once I activate the app I can see how the sneaker will look on my foot with a superimposed image, but I can see how a sneaker will look on my coffee cup or anything else, as it is just that, a superimposed image. It floats in the middle of the live camera feed. There isn't any form of tracking or foot recognition. I wouldn't say F...

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From Canada it was back to Silicon Valley for the ARE2010 in Santa Clara. "The Augmented Reality Event (ARE), the first global event dedicated to advancing the business of augmented reality in the US, announced today that the inaugural event will be held at Santa Clara Convention Center, June 2-3, 2010. The activities will be kicked off by a highly anticipated keynote from the “augmented reality prophet,” world-renowned author, futurist, editor and critic, Bruce Sterling. Start-ups, developers, mobile and hardware companies along with organizations within entertainment, media, education, healthcare, government, tourism, and many more, will gather to focus on evolving the much hyped technology into a productive, sustainable and entertaining new medium. ARE will include more than 30 sessions organized into business, technology and production tracks. The exhibition floor will showcase leading companies and products in augmented reality and will also host a career fair to help kick st...

Augmented reality has become quite the buzz word recently since mobile apps and print marketing are increasing the implementation of the technology to the mainstream. Well documented open source toolkits are allowing developers to create a swarm of AR applications that bring this way of accessing information to everything from your Android/iPhone to your Flash-based website. As with any emerging tech, there comes the time that the community (developers, hobbyist, entrepreneurs, businesses, academia, governments) has to come together to address and solve the issues needed to further advance the technology. So on December 5, 2009 was the first ever Augmented Reality Developer Camp held at the HackerDojo in Mountain View, California. " After nearly 20 years in the research labs, Augmented Reality is taking shape as one of the next major waves of Internet innovation, overlaying and infusing the physical world with digital media, information, and experiences. We believe AR must be f...

So the last full week of March ran the Game Developers Conference at the Moscone Center here in San Francisco. I love this event as it offers a glimpse at the innovation coming from the Game Industry, and brings in so many colleagues and friends from around the globe to a spot less than a block away from my office. A jam packed week of meetings where many conversations happened and good alliances were formed. The GDC this year was very reflective of the economic crunch taking place. The career expo was just as busy as the exhibit hall with a steady stream of students and professionals passing out resumes and looking for jobs. More than less of the associates I chatted with from the virtual worlds industry were no longer with the companies they once were. Even the exhibit hall had a smaller presence than in the past. Regardless of size, there still was an impressive group of exhibitors. For game editors, Hero Engine had a nice setup where the rep walked me thru some of the features of ...