Statue of Liberty get Augmented Reality app

Would you like to check the Statue of Liberty, in all its splendor, right in your living room? Well, now you can thanks the new official Statue of Liberty app.

5 ARKit augmented reality apps to try out in iOS 11

The arrival of iOS 11 comes with ARKit in tow, opening up millions of people to high quality augmented reality experiences. Here's some you may want to try to see the sort of things that can be done.

Orboot AR globe brings back the magic from the old days

In pre-internet days, when you couldn't zoom anywhere on the planet using Google Earth or Google Street View, globes were mesmerizing devices that could keep us entertained for hours on end. Now, Orboot wants to bring some of that magic back, using Augmented Reality.

Magic Leap is gearing up to build millions of "magic" devices

Magic Leap hasn't announced a launch date for its mysterious magic glasses devices, but the fact that its gearing up for volume production signals that it's about to happen sooner rather than later.

RideOn takes snow sports into the augmented reality era

Google's Glass may be back to the drawing board but there are plenty others willing to tackle the augmented reality issue and bring real products to market, like these RideOn goggles that have already surpassed their goal on Indiegogo.

Microsoft HoloLens shows us the future of augmented reality

Microsoft has unveiled its Windows 10 but the thing that really caught our attention was their futuristic HoloLens glasses. A device that seems to make all augmented reality wishes come true.

Land Rover creates a Transparent Bonnet to ease your offroad adventures

If you ever off road, you'll certainly experienced the fear of not seeing what you might be heading into, such as when driving over steep inclines, where all you can see is the sky ahead. Wouldn't it be nice to have a transparent car which would allow you to see exactly what's beneath? Land Rover didn't crack a way to make transparent metal (yet) but it gives us a glimpse of the next best thing: a digital transparent bonnet via augmented reality.

Cameras in front of the vehicle capture the terrain, projecting it into a wide-screen panoramic HUD in your windshield, overlapping the bonnet with the terrain underneath the car, rendering it virtually transparent.

How far from reality this system is? Well, aside from the fact of the panoramic HUD spanning the width of the windshield (which you could technically do with a well placed HUD projector, or a couple of them), my main concern is that such a system would only be useful to the driver. In order to make it look good, the projection would need to take into consideration the drivers perspective; meaning, the passenger sitting next to him wouldn't have a very nice experience looking at it - it would look completely "off".

But, I guess some smart minds at Land Rover will be working at fixing those small issues, as the concept itself is great! :)

Augmented Reality brings Rome's Coliseum back to Life

Next time you see a nuch of tourists aiming their tablets to the nearest monument, you better think twice before whispering "look at those guys" in a disapproving manner. You see, maybe they're not taking pictures... but seeing how that monument was back in its former and glorious days. It's the kind of augmented reality magic that AR Media provides, and that now allows us to see Rome's Coliseum just like it was when it was new.

There are lots of applications for augmented reality usages, but I think this one might be one of the most simple to implement and that will have a broad appeal to thousands (or even millions) of people worldwide. Though you can read about it and see photos in a book or website, I think nothing comes close to really being there, experiencing the true scale and environment of these historical places. And if we can augment it even further... then by all means. This may even make those that think "monuments are boring" to reconsider and look at it in an entirely different way.

Just keep in mind that although augmented reality is a nice touch, you should also try looking at it without a screen in between. I can't help but feel a bit sad when I see so many tourists worrying so much about recording videos and taking photos, looking at everything through their camera's viewfinders, that I wonder if they're  taking enough time to actually look at things with their own eyes.

Augmented Reality "Holographic" Table uses Kinect

We've all seen all the things that one can do using a multitouch table like Microsoft's own Surface. But this augmented reality "holographic" table takes its one step further by using a Kinect to add an extra layer of "depth" to what you can use it for.

The system is quite similar to the original Surface, using a projector underneath the screen, and a infrared laser system and camera that allows it to recognize gestures and touches. The key point is the use of a Kinect sensor that allows the system to know the exact position of the user's head, and thanks to some complex math "magic", allows the screen to show a perspective corrected image that makes it seem like it has real 3D depth.

It's kind of hard to put into words, but you'll be able to grasp it as soon as you see it in action in the following video:

Google Unveils Project Glass

Looks like Google finally admitted being working on a next-gen man-machine interface using digital glasses, called Project Glass. The glasses Google intends to create are nothing like the bulky and heavy digital glasses we're used to see. Instead, they're quite unobtrusive and small enough to go mostly unnoticed in everyday use.

Will this project end up being a major breakthrough in the way we interact with our computers and smartphones, and finally put augmented reality tech to use in something we can use on our daily lives?

Maybe a couple of years from now we'll be looking back and laughing about the time people used to argue about the ideal screen size for portable devices and tablets...

Let's hope so!

Preview your Dream Home with Augmented Reality

What do you think about being able to preview how your dream house will look like, on site, before spending a single cent? That's exactly what you can do right now, providing you have a SketchUp 3D model of your future home and an iPhone or iPad to use this free 3DOn App. which allows you to preview it on-site, thanks to the "magic" of augmented reality.

The App has several different viewing modes:

• Preview - lets you overlay your model onto a photograph of your site
• Walk - lets you explore your model inside and out
• On-Site - lets you view your model where it will stand, in real time, using augmented reality.

Layar Vision - (More) Augmented Reality

Remember the Layar Reality Browser that allows anyone to create their own augmented reality layers to overlap in the real world? Now they're about to take it one step further with the new Layar Vision.

The new system allows the creation of more immersive and interactive layers, such as sharing articles on a magazing, accessing special offers on a dinner menu, etc.

You just need to point your smartphone camera to an image to instantly access the extra features.

In the future, I imagine this kind of stuff to evolve into a standard that will allow any number of Apps to access this kind of "augmented reality" info - or better yet, they'll be integrated into the OS itself. But until that day comes, Layar sure is one of the most effective ways to accomplish it (and I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days one of the big "ones" - like Google, FB, etc. - tries to grab it while it's not to late.)

Vuzix STAR 1200

I must admit that, ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to be able to wear some kind of digital glasses that could superimpose any kind of digital information over the real world around us. Virtual Reality glasses were one such option, but until now it seemed there was always something wrong with them: too bulky, too expensive, not enough resolution...

But, maybe we're coming to a turning point and fulfilling that dream with these Vuzix STAR 1200.

Unlike other "virtual reality" glasses, these Vuzix show the digital image over the real workd image - without cheating through the use of digital cameras to capture your surroundings and feeding it back to its tiny screens.

I supposed these will still lack a wide area view, but... I'm hoping this means we're one step closer to those ideal digital glasses I've always dreamed about.

Panasonic Augmented Reality TV Setup

If you can't quite figure out how a new large-screen LCD will look when you bring it home, Panasonic can now offer an helping hand to see how one of their Viera models will look like in your own home - provided you have an iPhone.

Using this free AR Setup Simulator App, you'll be able to actually see how each Panasonic Viera model will look like in your own home thanks to the "magic" of Augmented Reality.

You just need to print out a AR marker and place it where you would place the actual LCD screen, and when you look at it through your iPhone screen, running Panasonic's App... you'll see it just like it's actually there.

Just keep in mind that even in real TV sets, dimensions are truly deceiving. A large 50" or 60" set might look huge the first couple of days; but give it a couple of weeks and you'll soon begin thinking: "Maybe that bigger model wouldn't have been so bad after all..." ;)

Layar 5 gets more Social

Remember Layar, the most popular augmented reality browsing app for iPhone and Android smartphones?

Well, there's a new Layar in town, and it's called "5.0". This latest version adds animation capabilities, allowing layers to be more interactive than ever, and you can easily share any screenshot with your friends via Twitter and Facebook.

If you haven't tried it yet, go get it now in your nearest App Store. And if you're using Symbian... there's a version for you in the works as well.

Word Lens for iPhone

If you think reality can beat science fiction, you need to check what Quest Visual has been doing. Theey've just launched an iPhone App that will blow your mind away, and it's called Word Lens.

What if you could point your iPhone camera to any text or sign, and see its text immediately translated?

Sure, there are already several Apps doing similar stuff, like Google Goggles, but not like this. With this Word Lens you don't have to carefully align your camera, wait for the photo to be converted and the text recognized and then translated: you just point it and see the results immediately!

Can you imagine how useful such an App can be, especially if Quest Visual adds languages like Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hindu, and such? Truly mind blowing!

Word Lens for iPhone [Fixed]

By mistake (my dyslexia making itself noticeable once again) I incorrectly used "World Lens" instead of the correct "Word Lens"; and as Blogger doesn't allow us to correct wrong titles once a post is published, I had no alternative but to write a new post: here's the updated Word Lens post.

Diminished Reality

Although one obviously relates augmented reality with the adding of virtual elements on a real life setting, this doesn't have to be necessarily the case.

In this interesting project by Dr. Wolfgang Broll — Head of the Department of Virtual Worlds and Digital Games at the Technische Universität in Ilmenau, Germany - we can experience exactly the opposite: the creation of a virtual diminished reality, where you can erase real-life elements in real-time.

Watch the video:

Augmented Hyper Reality

After the Augmented Reality craze, can you imagine what may come next? Check out this amazing concept of Augmented Hyper Reality!


Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

iPhone 4 Augmented Reality with Gyroscope

When it was announced the iPhone 4 would have a gyroscope, improving its motion detection accuracy, I immediately thought that would come in handy for augmented reality applications.

Well, here it is: Acrossair, an augmented reality browser running on an iPhone using the new gyroscope, side by side with a iPhone 3GS using only the digital compass and accelerometers.