Steve Jobs Is Not Magic: An iTablet Reality Check

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Hundreds of years ago, back before smartphones and MP3 players and fine malt liquor, all the proto-engineers in the world devoted their lives to crafting something called the Philosopher's Stone. This magical device was capable of transmuting lead into gold and granting everlasting life. At least, that's what the stories said. No one ever built a real, working Philosopher's Stone. They just talked about it for decades and decades.

Now we live amidst the technological splendor of the future. Science has replaced 'guessing real hard' and 'making up stories' and allowed us to glimpse beyond the curtain of reality to reveal the mechanisms by which our world works. As a consequence, we've put down the Philosopher's Stone in order to seek an equally elusive but much shinier product; the Perfect Gadget.

Posted on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 CST | by Robert Evans

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

iPhone Credit Card Reader Becomes a Reality

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I heard about the idea of making a small accessory for the iPhone to swipe credit cards a while back. Now a store in New York is actually testing such a credit card reader for the iPhone.
According to Cool Hunting (Via Engadget) the Self Edge store is using a small credit card reader that plugs into the iPhone headphone jack. After typing the amount on the iPhone credit card reader app, the customer just signs with his finger and provides an email address where the invoice should be sent to. Read more

Posted on Tue, 4 Aug 2009 01:00:00 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.
Read more

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

PS3 'Slim' and PSP-Go a Reality.

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Few things are quite as sweet as rumor becoming reality. Remember those leaked photos of the PS3 'Slim' that hit the Internet a couple of weeks back? Well, we finally have some fairly solid confirmation that they are, in fact, real. Shortly after the pictures ran, several tech websites that showed the picture received cease-and-desist notices.

The notices stated that the pictures contained 'confidential information', which is confirmation that they're real pictures of something secret. That's not all we've got, though. Ars Technica received word from a mole that in the past has been "100% accurate". The mole stated that the PS3 Slim is in development, although it will not be released at E3 as we'd previously thought.

Posted on Thu, 28 May 2009 11:50:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

New iPhone Mystery creates more Hype than the Palm Pre Reality

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Palm Pre and the rumored new iPhone 2009 are undeniably the two biggest hypes in technology these days. The Palm Pre we feel we already know really well and the other is basically still a blur besides its operating system.
The mysterious new iPhone which we refer to as iPhone 2009 is generating much more interest around the globe according to our analysis. Is it the 'unknown' that drives the hype? Should Palm have kept the Palm Pre more under wraps until launch?
Palm unveiled the Palm Pre at the CES 2009 in January and it got major attention. The timing was great and nobody else showed anything at that time that could steal its thunder.
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Posted on Mon, 11 May 2009 08:30:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

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

Vulcan FlipStart UMPC Closer to Reality

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Way back in the technology dark ages, or 2003 as it is commonly known, we heard a bit about an UMPC from a company called Vulcan known as the FlipStart and that was about as far as things ever went.

Long assumed to be nothing more than vaporware it seems that the FlipStart may actually materialize into a real product. PCmag.com has a full review of the FlipStart E-1001S that closely resembles a notebook that was filled with candy I saw on the shelves of the gas station the other day. Read more

Posted on Mon, 5 Mar 2007 15:26:42 CST | by Shane McGlaun

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

IFA 2005 Reality Check

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So today is the last day of the IFA 2005. The presenting manufacturers are apparently happy with the amount of orders they got from retailers. For me the number of new product announcements were limited. But I feel this way after each consumer electronics show.

The big topics in the mainstream press were HDTV (still...) and TV on handheld devices (mhm...). Funny enough that those two topics have been surrounded by lots of controversy in Germany.

HDTV manufacturers for instance blamed TV stations to not quickly enough roll-out HDTV broadcasting. The first HD broadcast in Germany will be a Soccer game on a private Pay TV channel this November. It will only be via satellite. Of course the TV stations blame the manufactures that they just want to sell stuff (really?).

Everybody seems to be excited about watching TV on mobile phones. The idea is to fully launch it in Germany just in time for the Soccer World Cup 2006. Only problem: it might not be ready by then. There are legal issues, infrastructure is not there yet and the license deals are not in place. On top of that there is still a standards discussion. DVB-H versus DMB. DVB-H does not have standards yet for interactivity. DMB, which is already in use in Korea for quite some time is ready, but the German companies seem not to be very eager to let Samsung and Co. take over the German Mobile TV market.
Bottom line, the Consumer has to wait. More details on this topic in this report on Heise (German). Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 Sep 2005 00:39:30 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Virtual Reality Kick Ass Kung-Fu

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Maybe the Kick Ass Kung-Fu immersive game system is the best reason to get up and visit the Wired Nextfest in Chicago this weekend.

QuenteCafe has spotted it at the show. The system consists of two projection screens placed opposite to each other. The player is captured via a video camera and inserted into the virtual world. Judging from the demo videos on the Kick-Ass Kung-Fu site, I would say this is the most advanced video immersion system I have seen so far. It is extremely fast. The Kick Ass Kung-Fu system has been created by Finish Animaatiokone Industries.

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Posted on Sat, 25 Jun 2005 12:00:00 CDT | 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

Holo Display a Reality?

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Provision offers a display system that provides the projection of high resolution holographic like 3D aerial images into space detached from any screen, without any glasses.

The Provision site states that McDonalds has a POS system with a spinning 3D coke can in the field. Has anybody seen it? If yes Email us.

Story First seen on Josh Rubin's CoolHunting.

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Posted on Thu, 4 Nov 2004 03:38:57 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

RoboNexus Coverage: House-Bots Becoming a Reality

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eHomeUpgrade has a report from the RoboNexus Robot Conference that took place in Santa Clara last weekend.

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"Over the weekend I checked out RoboNexus (“The Nation's Largest Business and Consumer Robotics Expo”) in Santa Clara, California and couldn't help being blown away by all the innovation in the robotics industry, specifically in the area of personal robotics where enthusiasts and consumer product developers are making impressive strides. Typically you would associate robotic technology with the sciences, manufacturing, or even the military, but believe it or not the craze is making its way into people's homes in the form of super “robo” toys like Robosapien, QRIO, AIBO, I-CYBIE and practical house-bots like the Roomba vacuum cleaner (by iRobot), as well as, a product, in my opinion, which has the most potential for becoming your personal Star Wars R2D2, the White Box Robotics 912 multimedia, surveillance and security PC-Bot. More...
" Full RoboNexus Coverage on eHomeUpgrade.

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Posted on Tue, 26 Oct 2004 09:53:34 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr