AR Weekly Digest #52

1. CastAR exceeds $400,000 target in under two days

CastAR is augmented reality holographic projection technology from former Valve employees Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson. If you follow the news of AR world you may know this device is has been being developed for quite some time. Now development approached to a point, where various technologies have been proven and demonstrated in public, and needs funding to become market-ready.

On 14-th of October Kickstarter campaign was launched with a goal of $400,000, which was achieved in under two days! So now Technical Illusions – the developer of CastAR – added 2 new goals. Should funding reach $600,000, the company plans to create a fully functional “dungeon tiling tool” that will work with both the RFID Tracking Grid and the Magic Wand independently. If the campaign attracts $800,000, a microphone will be integrated into the glasses, while earbuds will also be added.

CastAR bridges the gap between the physical world and the virtual world by use of two unique peripherals: the Magic Wand and the RFID Tracking Grid. The Magic Wand is new kind of controller that lets you position things in space and control them with a joystick, all with one hand. The RFID Tracking Grid allows you to uniquely identify, track, and augment physical objects (such as miniatures, cards, and board game pieces) across the surface.

URL: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ex-valve-inventor-s-augmented-reality-tech-hits-funding-goal/1100-6415615/

2. AR Motorcycle Helmet with 180-degree Rearview Camera

Motorcycle helmets are definitely going high-tech in an effort to improve safety and offer riders more connectivity when cruising down the highway. A company called Skully Helmets has unveiled the latest high-tech helmet called the Skully P1. The company isn’t content with simply providing navigation and phone connectivity, they’re going to raise the bar by adding 180-degree rearview camera. The manufacturer says that is enough to completely eliminate blind spots and show the rider what’s behind them without having to turn around and look.

The helmet also features the augmented reality Skully Synapse HUD integrated into the helmet visor that makes it appear to float about 20 feet in front of the riders vision. That HUD offers two different views with one incorporated into the rear view display and a second view offering detailed turn-by-turn navigation. The HUD is powered by a lithium-ion battery good for nine hours of use per charge.

As for pricing, that’s still up in the air, but you can get in line to be part of the beta-testing set to begin in the next few months.

URL: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/10/skully-helmet/

3. Imaginary Reality Gaming – Quantum Basketball

Research team from Hasso Plattner Institut has developed a new hi-tech way of playing basketball. The new Quantum Basketball mimics the real world basketball, except that there is no visible ball. They call such games imaginary reality games. The ball is virtual and players learn about its position only from watching each other act and a small amount of occasional auditory feed-back, e.g., when a person is receiving the ball.

Imaginary reality games maintain many of the properties of physical sports, but at the same time they allow introducing game elements from video games, such as power-ups, non-realistic physics, and player balancing. Most importantly, they create a new game dynamic around the notion of the invisible ball.

Researchers created physics engine that evaluates all plausible ball trajectories and selects one that leads to the most enjoy-able game play. Players’ tracking is based on ALVAR markers, a webcam and hand-worn accelerometers.

The system can also provide AR overlay for auditory. It can show the score, highlight the player holding the ball etc.

URL: http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2013/10/augmented-reality-basketball-with-an-invisible-ball/#comments

4. Nokia Launches Augmented Reality App for College Grads

Finding a college internship that isn’t soul-draining can be tough, but Nokia wants to help with that. Nokia is using its powerful mapping service along with AR technology for this purpose.

The Finnish company has launched a joint effort with Internships.com to release Internships Lens. It’s similar to JobLens in that it displays employment info over the top of wherever your Lumia’s camera is looking – again using LiveSight tech – and is exclusive to Nokia’s line of Windows Phone 8 handsets. It allows users to apply for more than 75,000 internships, entry-level and part-time jobs from more than 40,000 companies.

This augmented reality app helps users to connect with their social networks to gather information about open positions, showing them the individuals in their network that can connect them to a hiring manager and eventually to a job.

It is estimated that 54% of recent U.S. college grads are either out of work, or underemployed, so let’s hope such efforts will help to improve the situation.

URL: http://www.augmentedrealitytrends.com/augmented-reality/nokia-uses-augmented-reality-for-college-grads.html#!

5. WeBubble – Discount Coupons Floating in the Air

WeBubble is a mobile couponing and entertainment experience which is powered by augmented reality technology. It lets consumers see virtual bubbles floating around them which cannot be seen by their naked eyes. But with WeBubble app installed your smartphone becomes a window to a new dimension of reality, where coupons and discounts float around in the bubbles.

Consumers can catch branded bubbles to earn rewards, including discounts and vouchers to redeem and shop instantly. Furthermore, consumers can create their own bubbles accompanied by personal messages, to blow it into the air and share it on various social channels.

First launch of WeBubble was in September 2013 at Kanyon, a premium shopping mall with 165 brand retail shops in Istanbul/Turkey.

URL: http://www.realareal.com/webubble-mobile-couponing-entertainment-experience-using-augmented-reality

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Updates from Augmented Pixels: At the end of this digest we would like to mention a few recent major launches Augmented Pixels had for the past month, If you haven’t had a chance to look at our new solutions for real estate and retail you are welcome to check ARHouse and WarBot here and give us your feedback.

AR applications:

Prepared by:

Augmented Pixels

3D Augmented Reality Solutions

http://augmentedpixels.com/

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