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'Layar' Shows Augmented Reality Possibilities on iPhone 3G S

You dont need to point it up...

sbrhwkp3 said:
Alright, it's a cool demonstration of what technology can do, but who in their right minds would use something like this? :confused:

So you lift up your phone, and look at the world through your camera lens, so it can tell you what each building is, even though there are signs that say it anyway? :confused:

Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems, pointless.
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Actually you can point to the camera to the ground and the app still functions properly.. We basically disabled the horizon because of this reason ;-)
 
when you watch the full unedited version, some kid in a hoodie snatches the phone out of the bewildered users hand and legs it!

...but it's okay because he get's another phone out, locates it and disables it... probably
 
Cool cases!!

Small White Car said:
You see 4 restaurants in front of you. Let's say you want to look at all 4 menus to check prices, then call them all to see who has the shortest wait.

Using this program you could do all that in a minute. Using google maps and the web, that sounds like a 10 minute task to me.

Or maybe you're in another country and you can't read the signs on the buildings and want to know what's what. You've been told that the emergency dentist you need is on this block, in fact, google maps says you're in front of it, but you see 6 offices in front of you, all with signs you can't read. This would be useful for that.

Or maybe you're closer to home...right in front of your favorite movie theater. Yeah, you COULD bring up the theater web page and navigate through its menu to see showtimes, but why do that when you can just point your phone at it and hit one button? You'll get showtimes in 10 seconds instead of 90.
Click to expand...


Cool cases.. We are actually working on a couple of them already ;-)
 
That's funny, I said they should make something like that a while back but an app that would be able to quick scan something, even a live thing and identify it. Lol, I guess this is the start. . and what a great start it is ! :D
 
I just hope the GUI on the iPhone version will be much nicer.

There is a lot of potential for this type of technology. I only hope it doesn't invade our lives too much with advertising etc.

It reminds me of movies of robots like when you see the point of view of the terminators or Wall-e and they see all this overlaid information on top of what they see. A little scary.
 
I have a slightly different take on this one. I think that there is a really interesting play to leverage the hardware accessories support within iPhone OS 3.0 to build external 3D/VR glasses that plug into the iPhone, which I blogged about here:

3D Glasses: Virtual Reality, Meet the iPhone
http://bit.ly/141NNg

Check it out, if interested.

Cheers,

Mark
 
Small White Car said:
Or maybe you're closer to home...right in front of your favorite movie theater. Yeah, you COULD bring up the theater web page and navigate through its menu to see showtimes, but why do that when you can just point your phone at it and hit one button? You'll get showtimes in 10 seconds instead of 90.
Click to expand...

Or you could just like... look up right at the display they have for showtimes that is right in front of your face. You'll get showtimes in 2 seconds instead of 10.
 
Dude, this is awesome!!! :)

I seem to recall seeing something like this in the Terminator movies. :D

How much longer until the iGlasses arrive? :apple:

Haha! It looks like MS Dos. hahaha! (the vision of the future was different back then)
terminator.jpg


Gizmodo article that image is from. Take a look...
http://gizmodo.com/379114/retinal-imaging-display-glasses-make-terminator-vision-possible
 
This is where we thought the technology was going to go for a long time and it is nice that we're starting to take the first steps toward consumer usage.
 
NAG said:
This is where we thought the technology was going to go for a long time and it is nice that we're starting to take the first steps toward consumer usage.
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Until the T1000 arrives :eek:

(Japanese human robot + Apple iGlasses = prototype)
SERIOUSLY THOUGH, think about it. If you integrate this technology into a robot, whether it be human form of one of those military unmanned vehicles, JUST THINK ABOUT IT!!! We have the technology now! :eek: )
 

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bmk said:
I don't want to pooh-pooh this totally and the example you give is one of the better and more practical uses for it, but even your example suffers from the inherent drawback of the whole idea - you need people and companies to be constantly updating their 'layar' information to account for changes. It is hard enough for most companies (and individuals) to keep their web pages up to date, let alone the complex and time dependant information that would make such a system brilliant if it could actually work. To take your example, what happens when a museum lends its picture to some travelling exhibition, or changes its displays, or acquires a new work? All that layar information would have to be reconfigured on a constant basis.

I would like it to work, but at the moment can't see how it is going to be practical for third party content providers to maintain reliable information.
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You're absolutely right. The idea is dead in the water unless and until there are willing volunteers who will keep the database up to date and current. Enter the marketplace: those who currently own websites to entice their customers will jump on this like gangbusters. (Ref. the idea about pointing this thing at restaurants and theatres to find the menus or showtimes). Of course there's still a possibility that some info won't be current, but that's the case today with websites and even the Yellow Pages.

Like dear old dad used to say (he doesn't anymore, as he's six feet under and would get dirt in his mouth were he to try): "follow the money".
 
Last year around autumn a Japanese company demonstrated a similar app for iPhone called Sekai Camera. AFAIK, it works only with JB phone and works without a compass.
 
MacFly123 said:
There is a lot of potential for this type of technology. I only hope it doesn't invade our lives too much with advertising etc.
Click to expand...

Advertising will help push this technology. It will give people a reason to spend money to advance the technology. There was an interview on Charlie Rose awhile back with the CEO of NVIDIA. He said, and I share his thoughts, that augmented reality will make its way into vehicle windshields and windows with the use of OLEDs and HUD tech. Think virtual billboards.

So, while advertising may not be the most fun you can get out of this technology, it will push it further.

And "adult entertainment."
 
bmk said:
you need people and companies to be constantly updating their 'layar' information to account for changes. It is hard enough for most companies (and individuals) to keep their web pages up to date
Click to expand...
I have been extremely disappointed in Google and Apple because about 30% of the business locations on the Google Maps iPhone App are inaccurate. There is no way to submit a correction from the phone. I had to go onto Google's computer website to submit corrections ... months later, Google still has not updated the locations. Businesses that closed years ago are still on the map, and some pins show businesses in the middle of residential neighborhoods or on street corners that have houses on all four corners.

wolfshades said:
the idea about pointing this thing at restaurants and theatres to find the menus or showtimes
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This will make it easier for people to hold their camera phones vertical and take photos of other people without seeming obvious. But hey, we're on video camera every time we walk into a business or public area these days, so it probably wouldn't matter too much.

( glasses + camera = take a photo of anything you are looking at. That sounds cool !
Just wait until they add video! No more police brutality.)
 
A year ago there was a similar app within the Android developer challange. It didn't win because Google bought the app to patent it and develop it further.
 
sbrhwkp3 said:
Alright, it's a cool demonstration of what technology can do, but who in their right minds would use something like this? :confused:

So you lift up your phone, and look at the world through your camera lens, so it can tell you what each building is, even though there are signs that say it anyway? :confused:

Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems, pointless.
Click to expand...

I think it'd come in handy, especially if you are a tourist. This definitely would've helped when my wife and I were in Europe! :D
 
Anyone that doesn't see the potential of this sort of thing completely lacks imagination. Yeah, it might not work great, or even well, this year, next year, or the year after that. But 5 years from now, perhaps 10, this sort of thing is going to be absolutely revolutionary.

Back when portable GPSs were starting to pop up, people said "WTF, these things are inaccurate, expensive, they take too long to work, and the database isn't always right." Fast forward to today, when you can buy a fully functioning personal GPS for under $100. I own the bottom of the line Garmin, and it works 50 times better than the integrated GPS in my friend's 1998 BMW.

It takes time to build revolutionary ideas. Augmented Reality will change everything, just watch. Gaming, navigation, information, everything.
 
caoxiang said:
iphone sdk cannot even get the video streamming on the fly.
Click to expand...
This boring fact doesn't seem to register with anyone. Oh, well. It would have been nice for the article to not ONLY note what MAKES it possible on the iPhone... but what DOESN'T make it possible for the iPhone. All part of pressuring Apple I guess, but Apple seems afraid of letting people tap into the hardware without a layer of abstraction. [EDIT: Hey, I guess we'll get access to this when Google hooks it into Streetview, and Apple can do the implementation itself. Hardware video access problem... solved.]
zacman said:
A year ago there was a similar app within the Android developer challange. It didn't win because Google bought the app to patent it and develop it further.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I hadn't heard that Google'd bought it. These were the guy's I'd heard. Enkin.
http://www.vimeo.com/843168

::: RESEARCH :::

Ah. Interesting. http://androidguys.com/?p=2174
One of the highest regarded applications we’d ever encountered for Android was from the boys at Enkin. It took Google Maps and put a completely different spin on things. If you haven’t seen a demo of it, do yourself a favor.

These guys were riding high all the way into the Android Developers Challenge, likely going to take some top prize money home. A lot of expectation and anticipation was put on them and we couldn’t wait to get our hands on it when Android was to be released. People started paying attention to them and their website, wanting to see what was next.

So what happened? Go grab a coffee and prepare to dig in.

::BEGIN

On August 26th, in a post titled “Google’s (Not So) Secret Strategy”, Phineas JW wrote on Android Guys (www.androidguys.com) on why Android application Enkin not only didn’t make the first cut in the Android Developers Competition (much to the surprise of many), but literally disappeared from view. As Phineas points out, the very last words (dated May 17th) on Enkin’s blog were….

“The first round of the Google Android Developer Challenge is over and the list of winners has been released… “As some of you already noticed, Enkin is not one of them. We could speculate about the reasons for this, but there is more interesting news: “We have been contacted by Google separately and they, too, are excited about our project. “So at this point in time there are a number of possibilities for the project’s future, which we are currently exploring.” http://enkinblog.blogspot.com/

Enkin was gone, but Phineas JW suggested that Enkin will reappear as “Live View” a mobile part of Google’s Street View, a “real-time, real-life ‘map’ of your current location, using the phone’s built-in camera, compass, and GPS, with floating annotations of your destination(s)”. In short, the disappeared Enkin would magically reappear as an important part of a new Google Killer App. It was an interesting and very likely theory.
Click to expand...

~ CB
 
Very cool! A restaurant and entertainment "layar" would be cool too for big cities. Showtimes, menus for restaurants, etc.
 
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