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John Moberg , posted on
August 25, 2010 at
2:14 pm
Archimedes observed his world and moved it by sharing his ideas. Modern day translation, give me social technology to leverage, and I will connect and move the world.
This presentation is talks about leveraging social media to share ideas. Simple.
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John Moberg , posted on
November 11, 2009 at
11:25 am
Let's meet by the eye...
I recently spoke on a panel at the SEE2009 (Symbian Exchange & Exposition) conference in London about the current state and future direction of mobile augmented reality. The panel title was, “Augmented Reality – This is Only The Beginning”, and we had a lot to talk about including an interesting mix of hardware, frameworks, software, user experience, and marketing perspectives.
We’re currently at that moment in time where mobile processors, touch, screen resolution and size, sensors, cameras and mobile operating systems are enabling us to generate some amazing user experiences. We can derive a persons location context and “add” or augment that context to create an informative, engaging experience. It’s walking down a street in New York and seeing Apartments for rent with pricing, etc. overlaid on your mobile as you walk. Think Google street view with layers of details pointed out to you as you walk. Most mobile experiences today are based on GPS, a compass and accelerometer to map objects as an overlay to live video. Some experiences in are able to recognize images (markers or simple shapes), but processing power and memory requirements have been limiting these until recently. Look for more of these types of experiences in the near future.
We explored some of the possibilities in this relatively new (to mobile devices) platform that mixes your physical and digital lives in a seem-less experience. As mobile processing power and head-mounted displays become mainstream, the possibilities are grandiose. Imagine phone, email, SMS, MMS, Second Life, social media, navigation, public service information, and more all available overlaying in real-time in your regular glasses with as much or little information as you want. Throw in some neurotransmitters and you’ll be controlling the works truly hands-free!
Symbian is the recently open sourced mobile operating system from Nokia. The Symbian operating system currently accounts for just over half (52%) of all smartphone sales in the world. The list continues with RIM (Blackberry), iPhone, Microsoft, and Google Android, respectively.
According to the “Media Advertising Forecast” from MAGNA, projections show mobile advertising revenues growing 36% to $229 million in 2009, and to $409 million in 2011. Not to mention the explosion of “app stores” on each mobile platform.
Moderator Matt Marshall, who is the editor and CEO of VentureBeat; has posted comments specifically on the augmented reality browser called Layar. Other speakers include: Mr David Caabeiro (Co-Founder, Sequence Point Software), Mr Simon Daniel (CEO, Moixa Design & Moixa Energy), and Mr Raimo van der Klein (CEO, Layar).
Mr. Caabeiro is working on an augmented reality framework called, ARound, for Symbian that is in beta. Mr Daniel designs innovative products (like the USBCell battery) and collaborates with the likes of NASA to further ideas like having the next generation personal safety features in mobile devices that would have emergency exit AR always available. And Mr. van der Klein heads one of a handful of companies creating augmented reality browsers for mobile devices. Their solution is called Layar, and has been released on Andriod and iPhone, with an announcement on the panel that they are targeting March 2010 for release on the Nokia-Symbian platform.
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Keith Wolf , posted on
August 6, 2009 at
1:38 pm
Last Sunday the Best Buy newspaper insert contained a marker that launched the retailers first augmented reality (AR) experience. We worked with Best Buy to develop the concept, which we hope pushes boundary between traditional and new mediums. It actually connects the two in a new way, and that’s pretty exciting. I think it’s great that Best Buy is pushing the envelope and innovating; across many customer touchpoints.
See it at: www.bestbuyin3d.com
We used FLAR for the recognition platform. It uses a box-shaped marker to initiate the 3D experience. If it sees the marker, it follows the marker. It’s a cool platform that works well. You’ve probably seen it used on other AR sites like GE’s wind turbine. Anther cool element was the integration of live tweets pulled in from TwelpForce, Best Buy’s customer-centric Q&A service using Twitter’s micro-blogging community as the platform. Another example of Best Buy utilizing technology for useful touchpoints.
Augmented Reality is not for everyone. I tried to explain it to my neighbor and he was totally confused. “It does what? And wait, it comes out of the paper how?” It was like the old “who’s on first?” Abbott and Costello bit. But think of the tech-savvy who look to Best Buy for innovation and support. These are actually their best customers and this experience is a new and exciting way to interact with the brand. For now, AR is more about pushing into new uncharted territory, rather than refining the online experience. It’s about something new and different. Part of the entertainment value is the fact that you’re participating in an experiment, doing something you’ve never done before.
Who knows where the technology will go from here. Marker-less platforms using facial recognition or image-based technology are simplifying the experience. No need for a paper-based marker. The possibilities and adaptations will probably surprise us all. It should be a wild and entertaining ride.
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Geoff Bremner , posted on
July 11, 2009 at
2:55 pm
I hope everyone enjoyed moving in yesterday as much as I did. It was great to see everyone socializing and finding their way around. Monday should hold some promise too I would imagine…
I had been talking about buying some instruments for one of our conference rooms for a long time. Today I finally went and did it. Acoustic bass, acoustic 6-string, a fake Jaguar, and Fender Champ. I was surprised to find that Squire has made significant improvements to their guitars. No longer do you risk slicing your hand open on the unfinished frets. This thing actually has good intonation up and down the neck and the electronics are better so it sounds pretty cool too. It’s no American-made Jag, but it looks cool and sounds and plays good enough.
My hope is that this collection of gear will bring people together and also be a release for those who play. The next addition will be a Cajon so the rythm section will be complete.
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Geoff Bremner , posted on
July 9, 2009 at
11:13 am
It’s a funny name, Truth & Robots. But that’s what the Interweb is. Somehow, these robots magically disseminate the truth. And when a bunch of people all share a belief, well…then we see that wave of truth come rolling through.
One thing I can never seem to get ahead of are these trendy things that happen online. When I send someone something that I think is cool, the response I get is, “Oh yeah, I saw that like six months ago.” So, for those of you are are just like me and don’t spend every waking, freaking second of your life surfing and tweeting, here are a few basics you should be aware of:
www.stumbleupon.com – the easiest way to find something that one of your co-workers has probably already seen. Don’t install the toolbar because you’ll give yourself away. By now you should have already installed and removed it.
If you simply need to catch up on viral videos, here’s a link to the top 100. http://tinyurl.com/cvcb6y (BTW – make your URL’s tiny at www.tinyurl.com)
Finally, here’s one that isn’t on the top 100 but I talked to this guy. He’s nice, humble and… well… Take a look… http://tinyurl.com/d22vrs
Well, that’s it for today’s lesson on the Interweb. Hope this helps you feel a little more caught up. And for those of you reading this who think I am an Interweb hating, luddite laggard… You’d be right about the laggard part. That said, I have been Rickroll’d and I would never crosspost.
