By Staff Writer – Boonsri Dickinson (@boonspoon)

I spoke with analyst Christine Perey at the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference last week. Perey is very excited about augmented reality (watch the video below to see).

AR will change the way we interact with the world. Imagine not having to search for information. Instead, you’d point your camera and have that digital information put on top of your mobile screen.

“More and more popular mobile applications which did not have AR — social networking apps, games, apps like navigation and local search like Yelp — are introducing AR as they wade into the whole location-based services space,” says Perey.

GPS systems and camera phones have helped set the AR trend. “In the future, we will see a lot of growth of AR which is not location-based. When there is more image recognition, there will be many more models of phones which can provide AR to users and we will not be limited to outdoor experiences,” she says.

AR comes with the good and the bad, after all, image recognition is what got people worried about it being used as a stalking tool

Augmented reality with Christine Perey is a post from: TechStartups.com

By Staff Writer – Boonsri Dickinson (@boonspoon)

A few days ago, I was at the Ace Hotel for a meal. This guy sitting next to me asked me for my name. He proceeded to Google me and look through all the Google images of me — in front of me. Wow. Now that’s an efficient way of finding out about a person without asking questions!

What would have been even stranger is if he had an app that could do the searching for him. In fact, if he had the Recognizr app, he would have been sent back links to my Facebook and Twitter page just by pointing his phone at my face.

Enter augmented reality, where digital information mixes with the real world. And this is made possible by mobile phones with GPS systems and cameras.

Technology Review reports:

Developed by The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), a Swedish mobile software and design firm, the prototype software combines computer vision, cloud computing, facial recognition, social networking, and augmented reality.

“It’s taking social networking to the next level,” says Dan Gärdenfors, head of user experience research at TAT. “We thought the idea of bridging the way people used to meet, in the real world, and the new Internet-based ways of congregating would be really interesting.”

The app uses cloud computing to do all the facial recognition. We already post pictures to Facebook and other sites — if an augmented reality is added to this, we have a new way to explore the world.

The potential applications are endless — it can act as your personal tour guide and it can help you find a nearby movie.

In our digital age, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the augmented reality apps make their way into the dating scene.

Scientists are still trying to crack the rules of attraction. But it’s not that simple. Recent studies found that when a guy sees a woman’s curves, he feels like he’s taking a drug. And scientists found that women prefer geeks with facial hair. Seriously? I beg to differ there. I think that study needs to be replicated.

After all, location-based mobile apps are all the buzz. Companies like Foursquare will rake in $12.4 billion dollars by 2014. Advertisers have already begun to tap into the world of the wandering customer and location is key.

Image: flickr/ turkletom

The Rules Of Attraction Through Augmented Reality is a post from: TechStartups.com

A few weeks ago I told you about the Ski Report iPhone app that brings crowdsourced trail and resort information to you via your iGadget, forcing resort reports to be more transparent and accurate about the snow conditions.

But what happens when you hit the slopes and need to find a specific trail, some food or even the loo? You could ask someone, use one of those old school paper trail maps or, use some augmented reality magic to tell you which way to go.

New iPhone app RealSki uses your built-in camera and your GPS coordinates to overlay map data so you can find the lifts, lodges, restrooms, restaurants and trails, along with the required skill level to ride them.

Of course, like nearly all augmented reality apps, you’ll need an iPhone 3GS for it to work but the app is free and includes data for five major resorts. If you want to add other resorts they can be purchased using Apple’s In-App Purchasing support.

See it in action below.

[RealSki on iTunes via Gizmodo]

Disclosure of Material Connection: http://dsclzr.us/5

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• Top Selling Augmented Reality iPhone App Updated to Version 1.1 (themactrack.com)
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RealSki Augmented Reality iPhone App Helps You Navigate Resorts and Trails is a post from: TechStartups.com

It lives, it breathes and less than 30 minutes ago was mentioned on the most popular tech blog’s home page a whopping 32 times (see end of post for a screen shot). That would be Google.

We write about them here quite often as well. Today as a matter of fact, a few posts back John wrote about the business model for their new phone. That would be the device that they have branded and own the operating system of. And a couple of days ago was released into the palms of some employees.

The holiday onslaught from Gxxgle with both traditional and non-traditional advertising mixed with a multitude of product releases has unleashed an unprecedented amount of attention.

How do you measure the return on an advertising budget the size large enough to buy free wi-fi in over 100 airports, 2 airlines and swaths of public space? The answer is the ever increasing number of communication online in the form of blog posts, Tweets and Facebook mentions.

It is staggering that through a pretense of goodwill, a company can buy this type of abstract attention. And in defense of myself from the Gxxglers that didn’t like my language the last time I posted about them, I use word ‘pretense’ to describe advertising of this nature because Gxxgle is a public for-profit company and any measure of goodwill is ticked off in shareholder earnings.

I’m not sure if any other companies could release so many products into the market across such a broad spectrum of industry verticals without someone crying foul. I don’t see a Wal-Mart Mail, Oracle Office Suite, Dunkin Donut DNS, Brunswick Browser or Monsanto Maps in the future.

However, an augmented reality donut with geo location that could build a website or shoot video and upload it to You Tube might be just what the future has in store. Which is cool with me if it has enough sprinkles to distract me from the fact that it isn’t any good for me to keep stuffing in my face with all its deliciousness.

Below is a sample screen shot of all those tech blog sprinkles click it for full size goodness.

GXXGLE and Word of Mouth Domination is a post from: TechStartups.com

Sort of like Back to the Future in the sense that these folks are working to build the next, next and next web connected devices and the event is in the past.. Anyway, like Doc, these mad scientists of the AR and Semantic disciplines got together to discuss there passions and find common ground.

They did find that common ground after some time, as I wrote last night. What I didn’t write about last night, partially because I had  the pleasure of posting from my phone, was about another required middle ground – commerce. Both of these technologies have made their greatest leaps in the labs of academics and their students, not in the business world.

For these technologies to find their way into the public consciousness in a meaningful way this merger is necessary. It is necessary not only for funding these endeavors but for continued growth and innovation on top of the core concepts that create the value to users.

This is usually the stage where the process devolves into a soap opera. It is similar to the current drama between journalists and bloggers. The stereotypes – one is trained in the art of story telling, fact checking and impartiality while the other trained in the art self-publishing, internet culture and telling it like it is. I won’t tell you which is which.

These technologies born of academic discourse, grant writing and undergrad sweat equity come to the marketplace they are often unpolished. Which gives the marketing and advertising people only a partial vision of what the technology can do. The academics, feeling that they have done everything right, because the technology works and solves a problem rebuff ideas of how to polish and package it.

This room was no different when marketers stood up and professed their passion for these technologies to the sounds of nerd snickers and snide whispers. That was until immediately following one of these marketing, advertising types pulled up an AR expert and asked them to demo a new project that had just come from the lab.

The video that came on screen was a demonstration of the everyday possibilities of AR to enhance the lives of the wired set – a fashion app. Yep, fashion. A simple everyday activity that some revel in and most of us just follow the trends. This application allows the user to be on camera, choose real clothes images and virtually try them on at scale. It might sound lame but it got the most attention for being practical.

Around the user on screen were buttons that could activate the program to switch clothing items, take a photo to save, buy the item, add a photo and link to social network and of course the old stand by of emailing it to yourself. This context being, of course, shopping – where the commerce meets the tech.

The product hasn’t been released yet but I can describe it simply as the perfect merger at the right time for AR and the public perception of its usefulness. Unlike other attempts to create interest in AR this one has a no-nonsense feel of a real tool. When it is publicly released we’ll do a full review.

My point isn’t to pick on either of these groups but to use them as examples of how leading edge technology products are created and the dissonance that exists during the process of bringing them to the public. It is a world where marketing and ad folks often get the media credit and the technologists get a byline. The gap between the two is closing as we become a more tech savvy culture, but there is still room for the drama. It’s up to us to recognize it and make sure we get back to the future.

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Back to the Augmented Lounge is a post from: TechStartups.com

Tonight at 75 Varick Street in New York two groups came together the desperately needed to meet – the Augmented Reality group and the Semantic Web Meetup.

The event called the The Augmented Lounge was organized by John C. Havens and Marco Neuman to highlight the need for the two groups to begin a dialogue about their collective work. The Semantic Web is the working meta layer and Augmented Reality is the future of the display layer.

Im not sure that either group would simplify the body of their work down to this level but at the core these are the functionalities that they provide.

With plenty of food and drink (n/a) available and a medium size room to hold them the groups began to speak awkwardly together like two singles on a blind date. But all got rolling when someone made the first Apple vs. Microsoft joke when on queue the presentation computer running Windows crashed the browser.

The conversation quickly found its way down a path that included the outernet, visualization technology, open letters, the AR consortium and usefulness of Google Wave as a framework technology for many real-time applications.

I’ll have more on the event tomorrow. But the conversation stayed civil and no doubt there are some interesting collaborations that will come from it.

(Please excuse typos as I am blogging this from my phone.)

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/4

The Augmented Lounge is a post from: TechStartups.com

If you are looking for a meetup with more brainpower than horsepower you need to be in New York next week. Don’t come for Web 2.0 East, come for the Augmented Reality Lounge being hosted by and at Portner Novelli on November 17th at 7:00 p.m..

In this room will be some of the brightest stars from the Augmented Reality and Semantic worlds. You heard that right, AR and Semantic nerds in one room. Two of the most powerful forces that are shaping how the next web will be architected and delivered both on pc’s and mobile. The work of both groups will be the defining factors in how you experience the world around you.

If you would take part in shaping the future of the internet, these are the folks you should meet and talk to. Many of them are going to be in town for a panel on AR at the Web 2Open, an unconference event at the Web 2.0 Conference.  The others are based in New York and take part in the Semantic Web Meetup Group. That group is organized by one of the AR panelists and semantic technologist, Marco Neumann (@neumarcx).

Other members of this panel include:

• Robert Rice: CEO of Neogence, Chairman of the Augmented Reality Consortium
• Ori Inbar: Co-founder and CEO of Ogmento
• Jack Mason: Global Business Services, Strategic Programs and Social Media at IBM
• Lynne d Johnson: SVP Social Media at the Advertising Research Foundation and host of the NYC Android Developer’s Meetup
• Erik Manley: Manager, Digital Media at GE
• Michael Eisenreich: Technology Leader for GE’s company-wide Internet presence
• Matt Szymczyk: CEO of Zugara
• Marco Neumann: CEO and Founder of KONA, Lead Organizer for New York Semantic Web Meetup Group

This meetup before the event is the brainchild of John C. Havens (@johnchavens), the author of the book and blog Tactical Transparency and lead organizer for the first PodCamp NYC that helped to define all that followed. John has a strong interest in Augmented Reality and saw the obvious ties between the AR world and the Semantic side that I was talking to him non-stop about.

The Augmented Reality Lounge is an event that Marco described as:

“The Semantic Web is an ideal candidate to become the fabric for Augmented Reality applications in the near future. The global availability of HTTP and the flexibility of RDF, the foundational framework for the Semantic Web, make it a perfect match for distributed, heterogeneous and networked applications that can help to enable emergent Augmented Reality services.”

Believe me, if there is an iteration of the web that you should be a part of it is this one. The foundation that is being built from semantic data and the interaction with the real world that augmented reality presents is one that your ideas should be a part of.

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Shape the Next Web Next Week – with Augmented Reality and the Semantic Web is a post from: TechStartups.com