Two years ago, in 2009, augmented reality took its first steps into mainstream consciousness.  This last year, 2010, we’ve seen augmented reality really expand into new formats and across spectra.

Like I did last year, I’m going to review month-by-month the mishaps and happenings of augmented reality in 2010.  This year the task seems more imposing as there’s a lot more content to cover, even though interest on the technology has plateaued.  And I expect that progress has been exciting, we still haven’t hit the real possibilities that AR has to offer and don’t expect to for another few years.

January

Already I’m overwhelmed by the amount of available content to choose from for this review.  Even just a year ago, I’m surprised by how much was going on in the month of January.  Also, the tone of the articles are much different than they are now.  People were still getting use to the idea of augmented reality and not quite sure where the technology was headed.  There’s a little more settling in the marketplace and augmented reality isn’t such a foreign phrase now.

Biggest News – The AR Consortium announces ARE2010.  Reading that article makes me wonder if there’s still anything going on with the consortium or has it just become the way to organize the ARE events.

Coolest App / Video – At this point, apps are still far and few between so the early months will be more devoted to the videos.  This video should of no surprise because it garnered a quarter of a million hits.

The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it.

A film produced for my final year Masters in Architecture, part of a larger project about the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality.

Best Article / Interview – Augmented Reality: Pure Hype or The Next Big Thing by Computer World did a nice job of summing up the technology at that point in time.  Additionally, it gave a good basic lesson on AR to those who’d never heard of it before.

Notable Quotes – This one comes from Tish Shute’s interview with Anselm Hook.

When you are mediating the translation layer between the image and the data, then there is an opportunity for you to control it, and that opportunity is hard to resist.  It is hard to choose not to own that opportunity. It is an advertising opportunity. It is a revenue opportunity. It is a chance to send a message and a tone.

I know that Google and companies like that are keenly aware of the kinds of roles they don’t want to hold, but it is sometimes seductive to think about them. And I am afraid that we, as a community, need to assert an ownership, kind of a commons, over how computers will translate what they see to information that we perceive.

Other Notables – Augmented Planet argued the Case Against Augmented Reality, which garnered some philosophical interest but didn’t really lay out a concrete case against it.  Also, AR Drone.

February

Biggest News – Layar opens their App Store was pretty big news.  Also, they picked up another $3.4M in funding.

Coolest App / Video – The Recognizr became an actual app which opened up the idea that Your Face is A Social Business Card.  No one has come up to me holding up their smartphone to find out who I am yet, but I suppose it’s still possible.

Best article / interview – Tish does all the best interviews.  Here’s another with Brady Forrest: The Physical World Becomes a Software Construct.

Other notables - The Augmented Planet reviews best practices for AR apps, 7 Ways AR Will Change Your Brain, and Augmented Maps with Photosynth.

March

Biggest News – Double shot of Metaio here with the Junaio $5,000 app contest and Junaio 2.0 hitting the iPhone app store.

Coolest App / Video – The augmented reality sketching games really captivated a lot of people by ditching markers and letting people create on the fly.

Best Article / Interview – Visual Search, Augmented Reality, and Physical Hyperlinks for Playfulness, Not Just Purchases: Talking with Paige Saez about ImageWiki.  Does Tish ever use a short interview title?  Geez.

It sucks that it is a closed proprietary system, but the App Store has done something for software that nothing has ever done in the whole world. Software is candy now. It’s candy. It is like when you are waiting at the grocery store at the checkout line and you are stuck behind somebody, and you have got all these little tchotchka’s, candy bars, magazines, nail-clippers and things. That is the equivalent of software now. It’s become an impulse buy, which is amazing. Nobody would ever have thought…that is actually revolutionary. That’s huge.

Other notables – This article of mine hit a StumbleUpon feedback loop and blew the doors off any of my previous articles or since – Eye Tracking Will Be The New Click-Throughs;  another one of note is Total Immersion on Sky News.

April

Biggest News – TechRadar reported that Google Goggles would be opened up to third party apps.  This was big news back then but we haven’t seen much from it.

Coolest App / Video – Augmented driving on your iPhone – the precursor to cars driving themselves?

Best Interview / Article – Has Augmented Reality Peaked? Rouli Nir asks an important question that is still relevant today and so is the answer.

Other notables – AR Wave at Where 2.0 and The Stark HUD 2020 (fake, but makes me drool).

May

Biggest News – Ogmento recieves $3.5M in funding as reported by RWW.

Coolest Apps – Two apps stick out to me this month with Gigaputt and ShootAR.

Coolest Video – What’s another year in AR without some magic from our favorite magician Marco Tempest?

Best Article / Interview – Bloomberg TV’s 30 minute show about augmented reality.   I swear I’m not partial to this video because during the interview portion with Tish (nice to see her on the other side of the interview table), she’s got her computer open to my website.  Besides 30 minutes of AR goodness, this show is a reminder that AR has moved well beyond the university level.

Other Notables – Sixth Sense for Autism and 10 Cool Things Happening Right Now in Augmented Reality.

June

Biggest News – Obviously the biggest news in June was ARE2010.

Coolest App / Video – A three-pack from the event: Bruce Sterling, Will Wright, and Jesse Schell.

Best Article / Interview – More from ARE2010 with Tish’s interview of Bruce Sterling.

Well, it’s because they are trying to do a different thing than media does.  I mean, they are trying to “augment reality.”  They don’t want you to know that you are using a medium.  They don’t want you to realize that you’re watching computer animation overlaid on some video acquisition stream.  That would defeat the whole point of AR.  It’s entirely different from an analog medium like television, where you turn on the television and there’s a constant stream of station identification alerts.   That’s like: “Don’t touch that dial!  You’re on channel 13!  Stay with us!”  Then it’s like, “And now a few words from our friendly sponsors!”  That medium was engineered to keep your eyeballs locked to a single stream that they’re feeding you.

Other notable – Digital Bullets: Is AR a fad or commercially viable.  An interview with various CEOs.

July

Biggest News – Qualcomm’s 2010 Augmented Reality Developer Challenge.  With $200,000 in prize money at stake for this contest, you can be sure there will be some impressive applications when the results are announced on Feb 14th of 2011.

Coolest App / Video – The augmented reality BP logo hack for the “Leak In Your Hometown” brought forth some interesting questions about trademarks in an AR world.

Best Article / Interview – A Short Interview: Celebrating Layar’s First Year from Rouli.

Other notables – The Great Civil War Project.

August

Biggest News – Kooba receives $3.0M in funding.

Coolest App / Video – Two times the dystopic vision.

Best Interview / Article – Lester gives his view that AR glasses are at least twenty years away.  I suspect he’s wrong based on some quick Moore’s Law-like math, but we’ll see.

Other notables – Vision Based AR from Jay Wright (Qualcomm) and 3 Reasons Why Games Are The Killer App for AR from Ori Inbar.

September

Biggest News – The world’s first augmented reality stamp (okay, so September wasn’t a big month for AR news).

Coolest App / Video – Hands On With the Lumus See-Through Wearable Display.  Unfortunately the demo is their helmet version and not a commercial display, but in a year lacking in AR glasses news, I was desperate.

Best Interview / Article – Urban Games, Storytelling with Augmented Reality, The “Big ARNY”, and “Inside AR: Talking with Thomas Alt, Metaio.”

October

Biggest News – Tonchidot lands $12M in second round funding as reported by Games Beat.  As the year goes on, so does the size of funding.

Coolest App / Video - The Sex Offender Augmented Reality Tracker App.  I picked this one for many reasons even though it’s not a great use of AR.  The first is the strange mashup of the viral video guy Antoine Dodson with a serious application.  The second is the implications of the use of data.

Best Article / Interview – Is AR Ready For the Trough of Disillusionment by Chris Arkenberg and Mobile AR is Sexy But Is It Practical by Jack Benoff.

Other notable – The Missing Manual on the Future: Tim O’Reilly’s Four Cylinder Innovation Engine.  It’s not specifically about AR, but it’s an important read.  Google Goggles now available on iPhone ( I probably think this is more important than it truly is since we haven’t seen much from it).

November

Biggest News – Kinect.  Kinect.  Kinect.  While Layar raising $14M in funding was nothing to sneeze at, the buzz has certainly been about the Kinect sensor.  See the Kinect Hacks site for all the best Kinect news.

Coolest App / Video – AirRaid Social Augmented Reality Game brought us a tower defense game combined with AR and social networking.

Best Interview / Article – Google Goggles Tests Ads Triggered By Your Mobile Camera by TechCrunch.  This article is important because it portents the future of advertising.

December

Biggest News – Android 3.0 may have a Google built AR app that comes with the OS?

Coolest App / Video – WordLens has garnered almost 3 million views on its video.  That easily gives it the top spot in our apps category for the year.

Best Article / Interview – Most AR Companies Not Doing AR? from Venture Beat.  I’m not a hardcore definition guy when it comes to AR.  IMHO, if it meets the customers needs, then you can call it whatever you want.

Other notables -10 Awesome Ways To Use Kinect For Augmented Reality,  AR Tags The Sign Of Apps To Come, and Metaio’s AR Magic Tricks.

What It All Means

I’m absolutely certain I’ve missed a few important items from the year or some just never actually came to fruition (hello Mirascape.)  So if I have, let me know in the comments section and I’ll add it to the list.  Some of the themes I notices as I reviewed hundreds of articles was the lackluster state of AR apps.  While we have tons of AR apps now, most of them, minus notables like WordLens, are pretty blasé.

The other common theme was AR companies receiving significant funding.  The total was around $50M between the various announcements, but I’m certain next year will outclass that number by a couple of hundred million.  Given that investors are bullish on AR, we can feel comfortable that we’ve only seen the beginning.

Did the year 2010 live up to your expectation?  It did for me, barely.  While the software and hardware (Kinect!) made advances, I was thoroughly disappointed by the lack of any news on the AR glasses front.  I even tried to put together a “State of AR Glasses” post, but found a couple of the players avoiding my phone calls and emails.  Oh well, if they’re not ready, they’re not ready, I’m hoping next year is better on that front.

But overall, I’m pleased with the direction the technology is going.  Heck, I even published a book and a few short stories about the fictional use of the technology and will publishing a few more next year, so you can be sure I’m bullish on the technology too.   So here’s to another year behind us and a bright shiny new year ahead, complete with surprises, apologies, and new directions we never even thought of.  Either way, I’ll be here to watch it unfold.

Think you know everything there is to know about augmented reality?  Well, prove it and take the augmented reality pop quiz. 

If you’re proud of your score, post the results on twitter with the hashtag #arpopquiz or in the comment section if you don’t use Twitter.  Thanks to Rouli who helped me with some of the questions.  The answers are further down the page, so you’ll have to scroll down to see them.  No peaking!  And if you quibble with the answer, just give yourself the points because this quiz is on the honor system. 

One point per correct answer.

The AR Pop Quiz

1) Who coined the term augmented reality?  

2) Name three “reality browsers”? 

3) Name four companies in the AR consortium. 

4) What three components does AR need to function?

5) Within how many meters is GPS accurate on an iPhone? 

6) Who created the ARToolKit? 

7) Who’s augmented reality magic trick created tons of buzz?

8 ) What was the first iPhone AR app to be available on the app store with OS3.1?

9) What types of companies have used AR in marketing the most?

10) What is the yearly AR conference?

11) How many years has it been happening under its current name?

12) Where will it be next year?

13) Name a fictional book that used AR?

14) What article of clothing should you wear when making an AR video?

15) Who developed the first AR interface? 

16) What well known anime show features AR? 

17) Who owns the patent on AR? 

18) Which company did the AR consortium write an open letter to?

19) Name three HMD companies?

20) What’s the name of the AR game from Georgia Tech?

The AR Pop Quiz Answers

1) Tom Caudell

2) Wikitude, Layar, Juniao

3) Int13, Metaio, Mobilizy, Neogence Enterprises, Ogmento, SPRX Mobile, Tonchidot, Total Immersion, YDreams, and Zugura.

4) Sensor, overlay and tracker

5) 3m

6) Hirokazu Kato

7) Marco Tempest

8 ) Yelp / Monocle

9) Car companies

10)  ISMAR

11) Eight

12) South Korea

13) Rainbows’ End, Halting State, (see this post for more)

14) Pink Hoodie

15) Sutherland

16) Denno Coil

17)  No one (trick question!)

18) Apple

19) Vuzix, Microvision, Lumus

20) Arhrrrr

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.

This past month the specter of augmented reality, which in the past had been mostly research papers and speculation, has slowly been turning into real products.  With a nice long three day weekend to relax, I thought I’d reflect on the more important happenings of augmented reality.

Augmented Reality Apps

Yelp

The hottest topic for augmented reality apps was the easter egg in the iPhone app Yelp.  With three shakes of the iPhone, the Monocle application would be unlocked allowing camera based AR.  The impact of this application on the news can be seen in this technorati tag tracker:

Wikitude Drive

Wikitude, the creators of the first reality browser, gave a preview of their augmented reality navigation system for the Android.  The navigational system called Wikitude Drive overlays point-to-point directions on the camera view.  Some concerns were expressed about safety for the driver, but this application is no different than any navigation system already on the market.  And for you iPhone junkies, don’t worry, they’ll be releasing it on that smartphone as well. 

And while I’m on Wikitude, they also released Wikitude 3.0, an enhanced version of wikitude.me.  Read the article for more details. 

Layar 2.0

Competing for the mindshare of future “reality browsers”, Layar has done a good job of getting its product noticed even though it came six months after the Wikitude app.  Layar is already onto version 2.1, making improvements to its browser like linking within Layars and sharing screenshots. 

Put-A-Spell

Living up to his promise of AR education games for kids, Ori’s company Ogmento brings us a demo of their Put-A-Spell game for young children. 

iPhone OS 3.1

Of course, this operating system isn’t an app, but its precursor to an assumed flood of AR apps we’re expecting to see when 3.1 finally becomes live.  Expected in September, grumblings of delays have been speculated based on progress in beta.  When it finally does drop, expect to see a huge spike in augmented reality articles. 

AR Goggles

Lumus

While we’re still a ways from augmented vision, its still nice to track progress of augmented reality goggles.  Ori Inbar gives us a peak into the progress of AR goggles in an interview with Zvi Lapidot, CEO of Lumus.  While we can’t expect to see a commercial product from Lumus until 2011, mostly due to a lack of VC funding, we can take a look at this demo from them.

Vuzix

While we’re still waiting for the AV920 Wrap to be released this fall, Vuzix has updated their website with a page with an AR Education Group.  This group will focus on training services for various industries from medical to military with both off-the-shelf training and custom. 

Nokia

At the recent SDForum, research fellow Kari Pulli, talked about Nokia’s take on mobile augmented reality.  They believe the future to be, not on handsets, but in AR goggles and are developing a prototype model.  The slide show can be seen here.

Interesting Articles

Eight months ago, I could keep up with all the discussion easily.  Now many new hats are being thrown into the ring.  I’d like to point out my favorite articles from around the ARNet.

Games Alfresco, Ori Inbar – Why People Get Excited About Augmented Reality  

Ori gives us a nice rundown of the influence of science fiction on technology and how augmented reality will bring us: x-ray vision, time travel and teleportation.

Ugo Trade, Tish Shute – Everything Everywhere: Thomas Wrobel’s Proposal for an Open Augmented Reality Network

Showing what a great discussion Thomas unleashed, the comment section was nearly as long as the article itself.  As a frequent contribuitor on the AR blogs, it was nice to see Thomas outline his vision for the future of augmented reality. 

Bruce Sterling – At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry

This video was recorded at the Layar Launch Event.  Bruce Sterling, a promenant sci-fi author who helped bring about the cyberpunk movement, gives us a rundown of down-market cheesy AR, who’s leading the AR development race, what to call augmented reality and other ramblings on a fledgling industry.  Bruce is also writting regularly about augmented reality and other wired topics on his blog Beyond the Beyond. 

Marshall Kirkpatrick, ReadWriteWeb – Augmented Reality: 5 Barriers to a Web That’s Everywhere

The challenges to an augmented reality world are more than the sum of its parts.  Marshall breaks down these challenges in five parts: Social vs. Real-Time, UX, Spam and Security, Interoperability and Openness. 

Rouli Nir, Augmented Times – Looking for a Modern Day Chaplin

Rouli explains why we need more storytelling and mystery in our AR applications.  As he says, “content not technology is the way forward.”

This hits a nice cross-section of my favorite articles from the last month.  I also would like to point to the three articles on my own site that got the most traffic: Proposal: Augmented Reality Scale, 10 Things Your AR App Must Have to Succeed, and 10 Franchises That Need Augmented Reality.

I’d like to say that I discussed all the major happenings from the past month, but the volume of AR information coming out lately makes that impossible.  For the items I have missed, I suggest checking out the Weekly Linkfest on Games Alfresco/Augmented Times (of course, most of my readers, also read that site, but for those that aren’t yet):

 Weekly Linkfest – Sept 6th

WeeklyLinkfest – August 30th

Weekly Linkfest – August 23rd

Weekly Linkfest – August 16th

Lastly, if you’re still not on the augmented reality bandwagon, I present to you the most recent augmented reality trends graph on Google trends.