Yes, it's still a prototype, but ...

In the following video from a company called TAT, you can see a prototype of an AR mobile solution of theirs really fantastic. It is a prototype but it looks potentially very interesting.

The problem is legal issues and private rights. What do you think ?

Augmented Reality in one hour

I have discovered a very interesting video describing AR technology in about one hour, focusing on mobile solutions. It is part of the youtube O'Reilly channel. Although it is difficult nowadays to have one hour free, and the sound is very bad, it is really worth watching it.

Another video about the future of AR

Another nice video about the future of Augmented Reality (AR). We're talking about AR a lot lately, thanks to the fact that we are enjoying real applications (iPhone and Android phones, e.g.)

I wonder when we will be able to have those glasses.

(Thanks to Jordi Tormo for the link)

The continuous evolution of processing

From the very beginning, processing was created as a development platform with one objective in mind: generative/procedural art. And this objective is a reality not only because of the tools this language offers, but because some additional libraries some developers are providing to this open community.

People from toxiclibs and their incredible set of libraries for processing is an example.

In the following video you can see a showreel of some of the works created using processing and toxiclibs libraries:

toxiclibs showreel from postspectacular on Vimeo.

Thinking digital

TDC 2009 (Thinking Digital Conference) took place last May:

Thinking Digital is an annual conference where the world's greatest thinkers and innovators gather to inspire, to entertain, and to discuss the latest ideas and technologies.

One of the speakers was a very well known researcher in HCI (Human Computer Interaction), Johnny Chung Lee, famous because his works using wiimote controller.

In the following video, Johnny summarizes his work with the wii controller, and then describes what's going on in HCI researching:
- Mixed reality devices (e.g. Microsoft Surface, augmented workbenchs)
- 3D displays (4D light field display)
- Flexible displays, ink paper displays...
- Haptics (e.g. touch in the air, vibrating screens)
- Tracking the position of the camera using computer vision
- Brain sensing (e.g. a car monitoring the human brain to use its answer against dangerous situations)
- etc.

Thinking Digital 2009 Talks: Johnny Chung Lee - Research into Interface Technology from Herb Kim on Vimeo.

A very good BBC article about AR applications

With the title Mobile phones get cyborg vision, BBC describes the present and future of some current Augmented Reality applications. It is worth seeing it.

Some interesting videos about the history of CGI

Looking for new material for my students I have found some interesting videos about the history of CGI (Computer Generated Images).

This first one summarizes the use of CGI in the film industry:



The second and third, two parts of the same, describe the evolution of CGI from its beginning to nowadays:



Click here for the second part of the documentary.

An online Augmented Reality application really useful

Although we have been able to see a lot of Augmented Reality (AR) applications recently, some even online (based on Flash, for example), it is not common to see some real useful examples. I mean, examples where the use of the AR is really interesting and contributes to the final product.

A good example of this is the U.S. Postal Priority Mail with its Virtual Box application. Visit their website, and see the demo video to get the final idea.

"Which box fits your shipment?" By using AR, the user can print a pattern, and can visually explore if the different box sizes are or not appropriate for the object the user want to send. The boxes are visualized with transparency, so they can visually compare the size of the object to send vs. the box. Great and useful.

Another video about Microsoft's Natal project

Another video of a real demo of this new project from Microsoft called Natal project.
This time, it's not an advert but a real and live demo.

'We' are the interface !

It's really impressive what Microsoft is preparing under the codename 'Project Natal'.

Is this the Wii killer ? I don't know but if it works as in the demo, we are going to go beyond the actual standards ...