The continued advance of computer intelligence, riding the rails of Moore’s Law, have made events like IBM’s Watson win over two champions on Jeopardy inevitable.  While thoughts of the Singularity, a future in which we cannot predict because computers will out-innovate humans, are fascinating to consider, I prefer a human centered future.  And augmented reality has a large place in a human centered world.

While the underpinnings of this chess trainer demonstration with its Hiro-markers are circa 2009, the ideas still play out.  Instead of concerns that computers like Watson will replace humans, I believe that Watson will help us take advantage of our natural abilities.  Instead of wasting time memorizing trivia, we can focus on the combining of dissimilar ideas into new synergies.

So I say, bring on Watson.  Just with a side of AR, please.

Perhaps I should title this post, The Myth of the Muse, because that’s really what I’m going to talk about.   As a writer, a blogger, or as an engineer, I am on occasion asked how I come up with my ideas.  The questioner usually prefaces my answer by stating that it is probably: my intelligence, my weird mind, a divine muse, or just plain luck.

Fortunately, it’s none of the above.

For if the world relied on such randomness to expand the realms of man then why would the majority of the world’s greatest inventions have only happened in the last century?  The effluence of creativity says more about the collective efforts of those that came before and the prevalence of information that is the grist that we dine upon.

Or said by one of the great minds of the human race, Albert Einstein: “The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”

I would hate to have been a writer in the distant past when muses were in vogue.  To rely upon the vary airs themselves to provide my ideas would be a frustrating wait.

Our brains are a wonder, capable of combining randomness into new things.  The greatest combination ever: The Reese Peanut Butter Cup is made up of two entirely different things smashed together in a convenient cup. But if the inventor of the RPBC had not known what chocolate or peanut butter was, then the delicious candy treat would have never been made.

Such is the same with creativity.  One must fill up the brain with newness, so interesting and unexpected connections can be made.

At Toyota, we sometimes practice the Ohno Circle.  Taiichi Ohno, one of the early great innovators of the Toyota Production System, had an exercise where he would have a subordinate stand in a circle on the production line for the whole shift.  The subordinate was required to open their mind and try to see the line, thinking about what was happening, making connections of understanding they may not have had before.

When presented with a new challenge on the plant floor, I will often wander to the area and watch production, with a blank as mind as possible so to not prejudice my sight with knowledge.  I build my writing ideas in much the same manner, reading from a wide variety of sources, both fiction and non-fiction to fill up my brain.  Often I file away the fact or interesting tidbit of knowledge without knowing how it will fit in later.  Sometimes the thought is more formed, which can be dangerous in itself as once I lock it into a story, or project, or activity; it’s hard to hammer it back into its original form to be used somewhere else.

That is one reason I am all too happy to labor away on my blog and at Games Alfresco talking about augmented reality, the robot apocalypse, or whatever random bit of flotsam and jetsam I found on the internet.  Spending time learning and expanding my view of the world provides ample ideas for my day job at Toyota or my writing one, and I would never want to give that up.  The task itself of writing the articles are the reward.

So the answer to my creativity, and I assume the majority of the human race, is that it takes work.  One must seek out and challenge oneself with new information, trying not to codify the knowledge too soundly, so it cannot be reused in other interesting, or awesomely wonderful ways.  In the end, once one’s cup is full, then it becomes possible to dribble out a few beads and stand back to rejoice in the new creation.

A few months ago Staffan Dryselius made a splash on Team Hack-a-Day with his DIY data glasses.  Since then he’s been working with a team to improve his design and would like to form a larger partnership with anyone interested in working on or owning a pair of AR glasses.  Having a working HMD for augmented reality would help the technology gain wider use.  Currently, we’re stuck with magic lens or web cam AR if we want to play with our favorite technology, though both have come a long way since early 2009.

The group is calling the glasses Maxcware (website not fully functional yet, but contact Staffan below if you want to join.)  If you’re not familiar with the reference in the name, I’ll give you a hint.  The name is from a science-fiction novel from this decade and if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it (and it’s in the AR reading list.)  If you’d like to contribute to the group, contact him at staffan (at) maxcware (dot) com.

So to learn more about the project, I sat down to interview the man behind the vision (pun intended), Staffan, and since we’re talking about a visual medium here, I’m going to show you the glasses before we get to the interview.

Tom:

Interest in commercial HMDs has increased with spread of
smartphones.  Why did you decide to tackle this problem that the glasses
makers have failed to deliver on?

Staffan:

I had more or less despaired about any non-heinous, high-resolution
see-through HMDs emerging in my lifetime when Vuzix showed off their
new Wraps at CES 2009. When all they finally delivered to the market
turned out to be an opaque lump of plastic, I had finally had it. I
started to suspect that the public would continue to be spoonfed
incremental yesterware more or less forever. No single maker would
have the guts to make their inventory unsellable by launching anything
really nice and new unless forced at gunpoint. I would never get the
glasses I wanted unless I made them myself.

I first got excited about HMDs some time around 1995. There was lots
of interesting research done at the time, and also quite a few
companies advertising products “soon to appear in a store near you”. I
think it was around -96 something that Sony actually launched their
Glasstron model, and there was also the “Olympus Eyetrek” soon
afterwards. I however decided to wait a bit, great things seemed to be
just around the corner. Especially one company, Digilens had an
awesome idea for optical see-through AR-type displays using switchable
Braggs gratings in 98-99… I was very excited at that one especially
(the company has by the way resurfaced as SBG Labs with yet another
vaporware design).

Then the dot.bomb exploded, and everything digital died. “Virtual
Reality” became “Definitive Nonexistence”. The headsets by Sony and
Olympus were phased out, and the Digilens homepage died shortly after
they decided to do fibernet switching chips rather than HMDs… That
was more or less the situation for many years, and I was very
disappointed and soon promised myself to try and forget all about
HMD:s until I saw an advertisement for something really good I could
actually buy in a shop.

Since then, I have read several science fiction books featuring HMDs,
seen the developments in smartphone AR emerge and again felt
frustrated about the non-existence of  useful HMDs.

Enter 2009 and CES. Vuzix were showing their new Wraps. Wow! At last!
I couldn’t wait for the release date for their fabulous new optical
see-through displays! The disappointment was what made me do it. Even
though I didn’t really know how, I had to give it a shot.

Tom:

From the picture, the screens appear to be non see-through.  Is there any
possibility of making them see-through so true augmented reality can be
accomplished?

Staffan:

Yes. And that is the plan too, of course. The first step is to add a
camera to the glasses to feed the display ambient video blended with
digital content. It is much neater not having to point the camera of
the phone itself around to use AR applications in the glasses, as must
be done today. As soon as possible we will also want to add
accelerometers and magnetometers to the glasses.

The top half of the glasses will continue to be completely clear.
There is no need to expand the physical screens any further, only the
virtual screen estate. Those two are quite separate entities, but it
is only when keeping the optics sufficiently close to the eyes that
this becomes really obvious. It’s like peeping through a keyhole: Keep
your eye close enough and the aperture lets you see the whole room.

From the beginning I saw the “see-around” (or rather “see above”)
design combined with “really near eye” optics as just a pragmatic way
to make something useful with available technology. However, a very
nice aspect of the “really near eye”-design is that the physical
movements of the eyes can actually become useful instead of being just
another engineering obstacle. It is especially useful that the eyelids
work as natural shutters, switching to the view that is most
appropriate for the moment. When looking straight ahead or upwards,
the lower eyelids completely block the screen so that light from the
displays doesn’t disturb the natural vision. When looking down, the
upper eyelids block lots of the ambient light that may otherwise
bleach the screen.

Apart from a convenient way to keep alive when traversing a street, it
also means that camera see-through becomes practical. At first, the
mere thought of camera see-through made me shudder. Although that
solution can more or less immediately be used together with Layar and
all the rest of the applications for smartphones, both limited field
of view and latency are fierce problems to combat without a
possibility to momentarily switch to complete see-through. The latency
may not seem too bad at first, but try and navigate while walking at
any speed using only the viewfinder of a video camera. Fixing a camera
to the glasses is far worse and reacts to every jerk of the head. To
keep the screen from bobbing about, you have to take it real slow… If
motion sickness is not enough to make a person reconsider, then the
inevitable robotic choreography should inspire second thoughts about
testing the concept in public.

Tom:
How do you envision the use of these glasses?  Hooked up to an iPhone or
Android (or whatever smartphone you use) to project the screen realtime?  Or
some other usage?

Staffan:

All that is needed is connectivity and some basic sensors. They’re all
there in today’s smartphones, so yes, the glasses will hook up to
them. As many different makes as possible and as easily as possible.
As for uses… Wow! Where to start?

…Humanity is a little like the first amphibians. We’re popping our
heads above the surface of the primordial soup right now. There is a
completely new digital world in the making out there. We are just not
very well adapted to take part in it, and the interfaces we use today
are laughably inadequate for interaction. With AR glasses we may at
least get up from our asses and shut the door on the cubicle. Reading
company spreadsheets can be done just as well on the way to the beach.
The best ideas may come to our mind when we are in the supermarket,
only today we forget before we’re back at the computer. No more so. A
digital post-it or email is quickly edited in the corner of the eye.

But work and “productivity” is boring… Instead Google should be there
with us when we see a new butterfly in the park. Getting lost in the
city in the age of GPS? –That’s laughable! Directions should be where
they belong, as AR overlay. No more getting scammed in a shop. The
barcodes should trigger balloons with user tests and best prices on
the go. Blogger? -Updating the skateblog should be done when we are
actually up and rolling, complete with action footage and biometrics.
Why make do with just the normal senses? Nightvision? –No problems.
X-ray vision may come in handy while sharking by the pool, just pop
out the IR-filter if you are so inclined. Bad-hair-day? –Put on a
digital wig and a happy face. Bored? –Just connect to a robocam in a
Tokyo bar. Going to a meatspace party? Bring your avatar buddy along…

Starting to sound outlandish yet? SciFi? I say all this is very close
at hand, and we just need to light the match to set the digitality
ablaze. It is long overdue…

Tom:
You mention on the hackaday post that the image is doubled on the two
screens.  Have you figured out how to split the image to get the true 1280
width?

Staffan:

More or less. We will probably want to device a completely new
graphics card instead of doing too many hacks on the original MyVue
PCB, but it is doable even on that one. I’m just afraid that we may be
wasting valuable time going down that alley too far. I think it will
be better to put something together that doesn’t require un-human
soldering skills to work. I want to put together a more manageable kit
instead so that as many people as possible can get involved. The Kopin
displays are however well documented, and there is no magic involved
in interfacing with them. I  have a friend working on it, but don’t
want to push it. In the Hackerspace groups I also mention, we are
getting better organized. There is now a webspace up and running (for
our internal purposes as of yet), and we are putting together a
“to-do”-list allocating work-packages for the different members. The
front-page of Hackaday gave some new contacts too, and I’m having
serious pangs from my conscience for not handling them yet! I’ve been
lazing away with the family doing things like sailing and the like…

Tom:

How much would it cost if someone wanted to make their own pair?

Staffan:

A pair of MyVu glasses cost about $150 on eBay. Add some Fimo putty
and a pair of oversize-sunglasses (the kind that fits over regular
glasses) plus a couple of days work (depending on skill), and you have
a crude but passable pair.

If you want something better, you may download the meshes for the pair
I have and order better frames from an online prototype maker. I don’t
have the figures for how much that would be, but that is a quite
expensive alternative. Better then to wait until I can fill an order
with a Chinese factory. A box with a 100 pairs will cost about $100 a
pair.

There is then the video card, better battery and case… No figures there yet.

Tom:

Why are you going about this as an open source project?

Staffan:

Further, those who do understand say I’m either mad to disclose
everything on the net and to loose an excellent business opportunity,
or call me names for destroying the patentability for others. I
usually retort that the industry hasn’t moved at all for a decade, and
why do they believe I would fare any better? I also try to line out
the difficulties with classical innovation processes. I’ve been there,
on both sides of the fence. As inventor and as executive in a joint
industry-governmental innovation system. I know how bad it can be.So
much time and creative drive can be lost in anger over incompetence,
greed and dishonesty that you simply don’t want to think at all about
your project.

I believe that instead of getting entangled in patenting processes, VC
negotiations, hunting for (competent!) technical consultants,
marketing and manufacturing partners, it would be far better to copy
some applicable concepts from open source software development. With
the glasses, I want to perform an experiment. I would so much want to
put together a really nerdy team of developers that are driven by the
fun of problem solving and a feeling of contributing to a community
rather than for direct economic benefit. Not that there may not be a
chance to make some cash one day for everyone involved, only the money
should not be the driving force.

Here is a good clip to illustrate what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Naturally, hardware is much more difficult to develop in a community
than software. However, I believe the time may be ripe for a test of
the concept. If any project can succeed, I think AR glasses is it. The
time should definitely be ripe for technologically inclined people to
want those for themselves. I know I definitely do. The basic concept
is also in place, and both PCB:s and plastic/mechanical components are
quite cheap to manufacture these days, even in singular quantities.
Many of the potential combined early adopters and developers will be
able to make their own glasses and feed the loop.

I can see an emerging ecosystem where different participants can
specialize and even start to make some money from selling
non-complicated sub-systems. There is also potential for spin-off
projects and services that will benefit from AR-glasses. There are
many angles to this experiment…

** End of Interview **

Whew.  I agree, Staffan, the time is ripe for a technologically savvy group to tackle the AR glasses problem.  And given the importance of this little piece of hardware to the overall AR ecosystem, I think it’s worth our time and hopefully worth your time to join this project if you have something to give in the way of knowledge, expertise or time.

So stop by Maxcware or contact him at staffan (at) maxcware (dot) com if you’d like to contribute.  Or at the very least, sound off your encouragement at Games Alfresco.

Mobile computing devices are wonderful for bringing the world of information to our fingertips anywhere we go.  Hurtling down the highway in one ton vehicles while trying to access our maps or find directions is not the safest way to drive. 

This video shows an augmented reality street view using a Windows 7 notebook, Royaltek GPS, webcam, and an arduino board with 2-axis compass module.

The final intent of this garage-made system is unknown, but it certainly opens up possibilities for augmented reality car systems.  Projection units could easily put these views onto the windshield and voice-command for GPS to keep it hands free is nothing new. 

Speaking of GPS, did you know that you can get a TomTom GPS system with Snoop Dogg’s voice on it?  Here’s the video to prove it.

How hard would it be for an AR GPS maker to have dual cams mounted on the dashboard with a projector blasting the screen information on your windshield?  The car dimensions are fixed and the GPS is known, add in some object recognition for the occasional readjustment of geospatial location, and an AR car system could draw yellow lines on the road to follow and highlight points of interest along the way.  

The technology exists and only needs someone to put the pieces together.  I wouldn’t be suprised to learn a nimble startup had already started creating one.  And even if such a project was started today, one could be on the market by late this year or next.

The new Layar 3.0release brings more functionality to the reality browser.  To help people envision what the service can do, Layar touts five new use-cases:

Five Layar 3.0 Use-Cases

1) Architecture Showcase – Visualize the final building at a construction site.

2) Storytelling: Beatles Tour – A visual tour of forty-three locations in London involving the Beatles.  Each stop must be followed in order.

3) History Comes Alive – See the past reconstructed before your eyes with facts and 3D models.

4) Art, Messages & Fun Objects – Weird objects placed in unexpected places.

5) B2B & Personalization – Useful for businesses and social layers, enabling interaction with Twitter (take that Twitter 360!) and Foursquare services.

While these five use-cases expand the Layar reality browser (and more info on them can be seen here), I think they’re missing a huge use-case that’s now possible with 3.0.  After reading through the Layar Developer Wiki, I found these functions that should help make Layar games possible.

Two Layar 3.0 Functions

* User added 3D objects – 3D objects up to 5000 polygons can be created with any 3D program (assuming it can create a Wavefront)

* Auto-Triggered Actions – POIs can trigger a URI (audio, video, webpage, etc) which can allow for additional programming aspects to happen.  By utilizing functions within a webpage, most programming tools can be utilized within the Layar framework. 

 These two simple functions can add a lot of versatility to the program to make games.  And while the 3D graphics are still pretty limited and animations aren’t yet possible, think back to the dawn of gaming when text based games like ZORK were all the rage, or simple 2D lines and text created time-sinks like Wizardry.  Even simple sprites doomed many a night I should have been studying with Lemmings!  The key to these games is that they should be locative, otherwise, what’s the point?

 10 Games That Could Be Made with Layar 3.0

1) Capture the Flag – Instead of capturing flags on your opponent, hide flags in the city and capture your friends flags by visiting their locations. 

2) Choose Your Own Adventure – Who didn’t read these cheesy books in grade school?  Be a fun way to host a weekly bar-hop.

3) Simple RPG- a city based RPG that used locations as the “action areas.”  Any math or combat resolving could be done through a URI webpage call and then reveal the 3D model (win=dead creature/lose=gravestone).  Go into Joe’s Pub and kill a goblin for 5xp and then drink a pint to celebrate your victory. 

4) Hidden Treasure- Clues and visual markers only seen through Layar can lead you to finding “special points” in the city. 

5) Avatar Battles- Customize an avatar that does battle with others for control of locations.  Think Foursquare crossed with Pokemon.

6) Economy Game – Buy and Sell real properties with virtual money.  Must visit the location to purchase, can develop it with special actions (putting special 3D models in the area) and mark it with your sign.

7) Mystery Games- In a randomized Clue-style game, participants are given clues in different locations they visit and can ask questions using the URI webpage (pull down list) to figure out the daily murder. 

8 ) The Hidden Story – A mosaic story could be told through the location in the city.  For those that visit all of them, they can piece together the whole narrative that involves history, places and interesting people while the occasional 3D object might illustrate the narrative. 

9) Planet War- Mine resources at locations, purchase tanks and other warfare equipment that can be places in areas you want to control.  The website resolve winners and you see your battle regalia in the location.  Take over your favorite eating establishment with a load of Panzers.

10) Lemmings!- I don’t really know how to do Lemmings! with Layar 3.0, but I’m sure someone much more creative than I can do it.  It is the greatest game of all time, right?

Inspired by Joe’s “50 Things I Learned at ISMAR“, I’m going to take a crack at 25 things since I was only there for half the conferance. 

1. Participation in ISMAR doubled from 2008 to 2009.

2. In the next six months it’s important that a few AR companies have success so funding will flow for the others. 

3. Projections should be used in big interactive spaces to allow for a shared augmented experience.

4. The Disney Imagineers showed us how AR can make a difference right now.

5. HMDs will bring stripper poles to every corner.

6. Magic lens is or isn’t the answer for AR.

7. Lots of great research isn’t making it to commercial usage. 

8. Apple must open up their video API, now!

9. Don’t wait.  Use the technology at hand to make the killer AR app.

10. Place is the new social networking. 

11. Augmented reality is NOT following Moore’s Law (but it can with enough money.)

12. Disney teaches us that the technology has to be invisible. 

13. Sell the experience not the technology.

14. Stop trying to reinvent old games using AR.  Create your own category. 

15. Augmented reality should be about 4D (don’t forget about time!)

16. We need indoor locative solutions.

17. History can be reborn with the right magic telescope.

18. Light-weight, fashionable HMDs aren’t ready yet.

19. Conferances at the same hotel at the Mountain Dew Tour makes for interesting people watching. 

20. I’m excited about the future of AR.

21. I saw at least five applications for AR on my factory floor, but no one is developing a commercial product for me to purchase.

22. Leverage the military to fund development for commercial.

23. I learned as much in conversations outside of the conference rooms than I did in them.

24. Don’t forget to tell a story.

25. Augmented reality pets don’t chew on the furniture (unless you want them to.)

The biggest barrier to true augmented vision is an HMD that can handle all the requirements.  I had the oppertunity to experience what Microvision, Vuzix and ORALab/EvoOpticks had to offer.  I’ll try to relate their talks and my experiences with their products and let you know if any of them have achieved augmented vision. 

Microvision – Ben Averch

Ben started the presentation during the Industrial section of Workshop Monday.  The first AR-style model Microvision tried was the Nomad which tried to be a hands-free automotive maintenance model.  The unit was plagued by poor ergonomics and eye strain.  It only used the red spectrum and they retired the product line in 2006 only two years after release. 

Microvision then changed their plans to achieve an AR enabled HMD by leveraging their military contracts.  The plan is to sell their Urban Warfare model (Ultra-vis) to the government and then use what they’ve learned to create a consumer model. 

They see a big market for a consumer HMD display but need to solve the remaining issues before its ready for the public.  I had an opportunity to try out their prototype HMD.  It wasn’t a full unit, but a bulky monocle on a stick.  While it didn’t give me an idea how it would function as a pair of sunglasses, it did give me a feel for the graphics.  I was impressed by the clarity of the color in the monocle.  The big problem I see for the first generation of HMDs will be the field of view.  This prototype only had a ~25degree field of vision.  The limited view will mean our early HMDs will only mimic our computer screens and not release the full spectrum of hands-free AR. 

Ben has written about his experience on his official Microvision blog and has said they expect a commercial product by 2011. 

It’s clear from the discussions I had with various industry members that a see-through wearable display that meets people’s expectations from both ergonomics and display performance is the big, obvious missing link in the AR solution story. We at Microvision are working hard to fill in this gap and create a technology solution that can allow this new market to take shape.

Ben also showed off their projector which at the time didn’t excite me much from an AR point of view.  However, after the key note speech from Mark Mine from Disnery Imagineering, I learned that the projector had a lot more going for it than I realized. 

Vuzix – Paul Travers

Paul gave us a nice history of HMDs including the failed hype of VR which has made getting money for HMDs harder to come by.  On a good note, Vuzix has a good track record of selling video glasses which gives them a good base to work from once they master the AR HMD.  Currently they’ve sold around 200,000 video glasses by marketing them the same way a HD TV would be sold.  This might mean that augmented reality’s best bet for widespread use is to be a Trojan horse within another accepted technology (similar to how Yelp gained AR eyeballs through their Monocle easter egg.) 

Unfortunately, Paul had to apologize a few times for misleading on the AR community about the “see-through AR HMDs” everyone thought were right around the corner with the 920Wrap.  He hopes they can reach market by 2010, but like Microvision they still have challenges to solve. 

I did get to try their video glasses, which were interesting, but I would have preferred to try out the glasses Ori tried at GDC.   Paul did say that see-through AR glasses would be priced from $199-349.  This sounds like a great price point that would help gain wider audiences.  I know I would buy one. 

ORALab/EvoOpticks

This presentation delved into more historical and technical realms rather than commercial usage.  Not a lot to pass along, but I did get to try their see-through HMD.  The view port was around 20 degrees and seen through two reflected mirrors on the screen rather than a laser created image.  They have no current plans for commercial production.   

And for the history buffs, the first patent for an HMD was by Albert B. Pratt in 1916. 

I wish Lumus had also attended ISMAR, but no such luck. 

Overall, I was disappointed that no HMD maker had a surprise announcement that they had a product ready for release Q1 2010.  Release dates of 2011 sound more like appeasement than real schedules.  Having experienced the products myself, I also realize the field of view will be a problem for early developers.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy to have a HMD right now, even with a 15 degree field, but the small width will limit creativity.  Hopefully when they solve the lighting and weight issues they’ll also figure out how to achieve a 40 degree field of view. 

This past May, I predicted true Augmented Vision would occur around 2015.  After the demonstrations on Monday, I’m not going to change my prediction.  While I heard many quote Moore’s Law in regards to AR, I’m not buying it yet.  Moore’s Law is fed by billions (with B) of dollars which pushes the technology as fast as it can go.  AR is still languishing in VR’s dead space and has to catch a few wins of its own before it can start generating real cash to take advantage of Moore’s Law.   

Even if Microvision or Vuzix or Lumus release a commercial product in 2011, the software and apps to make the experience fulfilling won’t be available.  I also expect the first versions of the AR HMDs will only be bought by the early adopters.  It will take a few tries to make them lightweight, eye-strain free and with enough field of vision to keep people from having to rotate their head constantly.  I’m all for being wrong on this one, but I expect the road to widespread acceptance will be paved with a few missteps.  Cellphones took twenty years to go from the bag phone to the ultra-sleek smartphone, and while technology moves faster these days, I’m still sticking with my year 2015 prediction.

YDreams, a Portuguese information technology company, has been quiet in the augmented reality news lately, but remedy that with their release of an AR twitter product called Flyar for your PC. 

What is Flyar?

Flyar is a free Twitter visualization application that uses Augmented Reality and gesture interaction. You can set it as your screensaver or just play around with it.

It uses your webcam to create an augmented video image, enabling you to visualize incoming tweets (from your account or a general feed) in a twitteresque setting that you can interact with.

How does it work?

Flyar uses your webcam to create an augmented reality image where birds fly or hang around tree branches and fly towards you to deliver tweets. The birds represent incoming tweets, and their color represents different types of messages: blue for normal messages, green for replies and red for direct messages.

When a bird is standing on a branch it means you have a new message. With just a tap you can “call” him and he’ll fly to your side to deliver the tweet (only one bird at a time). You can also interact with the birds by disrupting their flight patterns, or affect the falling leaves. The flock of birds flying around tells you how many messages you have waiting to be read.

It works as a screensaver which means it’ll be active when you come back to your computer.  Later on when the technology develops and I’m wearing my Vuzix AR920 Wraps, I’ll have the eyeball space to wait for a bird to deliver my tweet where ever I am.  In the meantime, AR birdies delivering my message will be desk-bound only. 

YDreams also released a compilation video of their products.  The montage goes through examples of AR sightseeing, museums, interactive catalogs, advertising, books, full-body motion capture and a slightly creepy playground. 

I’m not sure how the interactive playground works, but it’ll mean we can finally play with our imaginary friends for real.

With all the buzz about multiple AR news announcements (ARML, Layar 3D, Vuzix contest),  Noah Zerkin’s glove/tracking project got lost.  Hopefully I can shed some much deserved light on what this one-man show is doing.

Noah has been working on an interactive glove that could be used as an augmented reality interface since early this year.  The video shows how he built the glove in less than a day for under $300. 

Noah lists more details on his new website – Zerkin Glove.

What is the Zerkin Glove?

A low-cost, motion and position capturing, data glove for 3D interaction with virtual objects in augmented reality (AR) environments.

What do you mean, really?
The Zerkin Glove, is the most intuitive input device using natural hand gestures – like you’ve only seen in sci-fi movies – with a consumer friendly price.
The glove enables accurate 1-to-1 tracking of one’s entire arm – from shoulder to knuckles – without external reference infrastructure (such as cameras, sensors, scanners) allowing intuitive interaction with virtual objects in augmented reality environments such as games, education, 3D design, training, healthcare and more.

Why is it important?
Augmented reality applications, which promise to change the way people interact with the world, have been largely focused on augmenting one’s field of view with additional information. The Zerkin glove is the missing element for enhancing the interaction in any handsfree mobile AR application.

How does it work?
Thanks to the use of inexpensive off-the-shelf components such as flex sensors, gyros, accelerometer, and compass headings, the glove precisely tracks the slightest gestures in the augmented reality space. Based on a proprietary patent-pending method. The graphics are overlaid relative to fiducial markers using AR tracking software. A pair of see-through AR glasses complements the experience as display for a first person perspective.

Noah is looking for investors, developers and fans.  I can’t help with the first two (unless they happen to read this post), but count me in as a fan.  Good luck and hopefully I’ll get to see the glove at ISMAR.

This augmented reality video from Najork has clearly been modified post-production, however, it really gives a sense of the possible.  When the tools to do this easily become available some artists might abandon real materials and instead build their art installations out of imagination and the colored lights reflected on our eyes. 

Combine these free-flowing art layers with the personal modification from Sony’s Vision Libary, and you can choose to live in a pretty weird place. 

street tests from Najork on Vimeo.

[Via Cruces]