Mosquitoes Augmented Reality Game For iPhone 3GS launched

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I am a sucker for augmented reality apps (AR) and therefore had to try out Mosquitoes right away when developer Makayama pointed me to it.
The iPhone game Mosquitoes lets you shoot animated mosquitoes that are infesting your room. The game uses besides the camera, the compass and accelerometer to realistically let you hunt down the mosquitoes around you.
Try playing this AR Game on a rotating office chair - it works quite well.
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Posted on Mon, 2 Nov 2009 07:43:09 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

WhereMark Augmented Reality App For iPhone 3GS Offers Google Local Search

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More and more augmented reality apps are becoming available for the iPhone 3GS. Wheremark is about to release an AR app under the same name that offers Google Local search augmented onto your surrounding.
In the Wheremark app search results appear on the screen, floating over the actual location. WhereMark provides also for users to create content tied to a location. Users can build their own wheremarks in the app and use them as they would other wheremarks. Saving a favorite restaurant, interesting landmark or leaving a location based reminder is now a reality. Read more

Posted on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:43:19 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Yelp Augmented Reality App Available in Apple iPhone Store

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Review site Yelp apparently beat all other augmented reality App contenders in getting an AR enabled app onto the Apple iTunes Store. I was under the impression that we have to wait until the iPhone 3.1 OS release to get AR on the iPhone 3GS. Apparently this is not the first AR app on the App Store. French PresseLite managed to get one onto the French iTunes store called Metro Paris Subway a couple of days ago.

You actually have to shake the iPhone 3GS to enter the Yelp app's monocle mode to get the AR experience. Did Yelp sneak the AR feature by the Apple App Store reviewers? Read more

Posted on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:38:52 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Gamer Society AR Girls Give You A Hot Augmented Reality Lap Dance On Your Desk

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Lionsgate promotes the upcoming movie Gamer with some fun and sexy Augmented Reality experience with the Society AR Girls website.
The Restricted (age over 18) service lets you control a 3D scantily glad girl on your desk with a printed icon. All you need is a webcam for this fun looking augmented reality application. You can watch a brief tutorial video on how this works below. Read more

Posted on Tue, 4 Aug 2009 01:56:28 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Augmented Reality: Out With iPhone 3.1

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Augmented reality represents the future for smartphones. In essence, AR involves layering extra information and search controls over the real world, as seen through a camera. The first augmented reality application was Layar for Android, and now an iPhone equivalent is out too.

Unfortunately, iPhone users are going to have to wait a while longer for full AR functionality. Apple's just announced that the iPhone camera won't be ready for AR until the 3.1 update. Some AR functions work fine with OS 3.0, but Apple's still decided that they won't release any AR applications over their App Store until 3.1 hits.

Posted on Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:30:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Mattel unveils Avatar augmented Reality Toys at Comic-Con 2009

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Mattel will bring the first Toy Line featuring Augmented Reality Technology at Comic-Con 2009. The augmented reality enabled toys will be launched with Cameron's much-anticipated film Avatar.
We have seen augmented reality already on smartphones, looks like toys are next.
Mattel will offer Avatar action figures, vehicles and creatures that come with a 3-D web tag, called an i-TAG, which you can scan using a home computer’s webcam.
Scanning the i-TAG will reveal special content onscreen unique to the corresponding product.

Exact content varies for each item, but could include biographical information, additional images and animated models of the figures. When the i-TAG for deluxe figures, vehicles or creatures are placed under a webcam, animated 3-D models will come alive through engaging, evading or defending moves. Place two i-TAGs from the Battle Pack together and the 3-D images will interact with each other. Read more

Posted on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:35:26 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

acrossair Augmented Reality App for the iPhone 3GS is hot

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iPhone App developer acrossair has a very cool augmented reality application for the iPhone 3GS ready to go live. They are waiting for Apple to approve it for the AppStore. Below you can see a video of the Nearest Tube app running on an iPhone 3GS. Augmented reality apps will be the next big thing for the iPhone. We already reported about Layar that is also hopefully coming to the iPhone soon.

This augmented reality app tells you where the nearest tube station is via the iPhones video function. Right now they implemented the app for the London tube system.
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Posted on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:26:45 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Layar for Android: Augmented Reality is Here

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Once again, we get proof of the awesomeness of Android. SPRXmobile, a Netherlands based mobile innovation company, has just released an application that gives us a glimpse of what the future will hold. This new app is called Layar, and it represents the very first word in augmented reality technology.

What is AR you ask? In short, it involves superimposing the digital world over the real one in order to bring you more information about your surroundings. The way the app works is somewhat difficult to explain but this video here does an elegant job of showing it.

Posted on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:00:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Vuzix and Metaio unveil CamAR and PhasAR augmented Reality Gear

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HMD maker Vuzix partners with metaio for a new augmented reality accessory kit for the Vuzix VR920 video glasses.
Vuzix AR Accessory Kit consists of the CamAR and the PhasAR.
The CamAR is a clip-on USB camera that mounts onto a pair of Vuzix Video Eyewear. The CamAR not only allows the user to see through to the real world but is also designed to accurately track objects and the user’s position in 3-dimensional space. Read more

Posted on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:57:33 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Vuzix Wrap 920AV augmented Reality Sunglasses to be revealed at CES 2009

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Vuzix announced to exhibit their newest HMD at the CES 2009. This year the company shows sunglasses that are able to display a 60 inch virtual image either immersive or in augmented reality mode.
Vuzix calls the Wrap 920AV the world's first fashionable sunglass-style video eyewear with revolutionary see-thru quantum optics. All the buzz words are fine, besides fashionable. The glasses look awful. If you want to make fashionable sunglasses at least talk to Oakley, Ray-Ban or better Prada. Read more

Posted on Mon, 5 Jan 2009 14:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Augmented Reality On Mobile Phones Gets More Sophisticated

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There is a very cool use for the camera in mobile phones: augmented reality.

I have seen the first games show up one or two years ago where you could shoot down insects flying around the room and similar ones. Augmented reality on mobile phones is getting more and more advanced. Siemens announced (German) Kick Real, which lets you kick a virtual soccer ball with your foot. You have to kick the ball into a virtual goal. The software calculates based on the movement of your foot the direction and intensity of the kick.

Mobility Site reports about the research of an Austrian student in the field of Augmented reality for mobile phones. A video shows a virtual character simulated onto reality visible through an i-mate SP5 Windows Mobile Phone. Read more

Posted on Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:54:01 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Augmented Reality GPS enabled Pacman Game

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Hey! Look! The guy on the other side of the street looks like he is playing real world Pacman.

Researchers in Singapore are developing a Pacman game that is augmented onto the real world (see photo on the left by BBC). The players are tracked via GPS and a central computer keeps track of the game - the future will be beautiful.
The human Pacman is on display at the Wired Nextfest 2005 in Chicago in a couple of weeks. I was at the Nextfest 2004 and it was really a great event.
More details on BBC News.

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Posted on Tue, 7 Jun 2005 01:51:45 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr