"Terminator Vision" Is Here For the iPhone

musefrog writes "The BBC is reporting that so-called augmented reality has arrived — in the UK at least. From the article: 'Via the video function of a mobile phone's camera it is now possible to combine a regular pictorial view with added data from the internet just as the fictional Terminator was able to overlay its view of the world with vital information about its surroundings. For example, UK-firm Acrossair has launched an application for the iPhone which allows Londoners to find their nearest tube station using their iPhone.' The page features an impressive video demonstrating AR in action."

Comments

Overlay source code?

[nacturation]

Does the Terminator vision for the iPhone also overlay Apple II assembly code?

Re:Overlay source code?

[elrous0]

Well, that explains why he failed.

Re:Overlay source code?

[musikit]

can someone photoshop up an apple logo crossed with a terminator head (like terminator 4 did with the city) so we can use that for apple stories since we use the borg for MS stories.

that way you can choose your cyborgic death.

Re:Overlay source code?

[networkz]

The comments on that page are amusing.

Check out the Amiga conspiracy nut going off on one. Excellent!

Re:Overlay source code?

[Verdatum]

Cyborgic death? Sounds Swedish.

Re:Overlay source code?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is kind of sad but understandable that Amiga fans maintain a grudge. The Amiga was far ahead of its time, then slowly fell behind for no apparent reason other than being perceived as a game computer. For example: Apple's Mac OS didn't offer preemptive multitasking until Mac OS X. The Amiga had it from the get go in 1985. The Amiga had hardware supported virtual screens with independent resolutions and color modes, etc. etc.

Re:Overlay source code?

[jDeepbeep]

The comments on that page are amusing.

Check out the Amiga conspiracy nut going off on one. Excellent!

Indeed. Vaxboy is by far the most interesting contributor to those comments.

Re:Overlay source code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nej, det gÃr det inte. Fittben.

Re:Overlay source code?

[nobodylocalhost]

I am disappointed that nobody referenced to "Eden of the East" or "Dennou Coil". Why does it always have to be terminator/matrix references?

Re:Overlay source code?

[sznupi]

Your post, while of course funny, tells one thing about "terminator vision" those writing such news forget about - it was a MOVIE! (if you think about it, there's no reason why such robot would put human-readable info on top of its filed of view, but plenty against it) And how many real life GUIs are similar to monstrosities from movie makers?

We need to find some better term for those headlines...

Re:Overlay source code?

[Kz]

can someone photoshop up an apple logo crossed with a terminator head

i thought you were referring to the evil robocop vision overlay, which was a resedit (an early mac developer tool) menu with the apple menu at the top left replaced by a skull.

Re:Overlay source code?

[Missing_dc]

Cyborgic death? Sounds Swedish.

Finnish, actually. They should be touring with M.A.D (Mutually Assured Destruction) and Methane Implosion this summer (if the equipment survives the tour)

Not quite as big as Metalocolypse, but in the same vein.

Re:Overlay source code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not gonna happen. Too many apple fanbois here.

Re:Overlay source code?

[davester666]

He failed because he was doing a code review?

Re:Overlay source code?

[Kushieda Minorin]

I am disappointed that nobody referenced to "Eden of the East"

Should've asked Juiz for an EotE first post!

Re:Overlay source code?

[swaq]

Eden of the East was the first thing I thought of. I tagged this 'edenoftheeast'.

Re:Overlay source code?

[node 3]

Cyborgic death? Sounds Swedish.

Finnish, actually.

Und der shwooshy-wooshy over der head.

Re:Overlay source code?

[node 3]

For example: Apple's Mac OS didn't offer preemptive multitasking until Mac OS X.

You mean NeXTSTEP? That came out in 1989.

Re:Overlay source code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Which version of Mac OS is NeXTSTEP?

Re:Overlay source code?

[Moghedien]

Version -1.

Re:Overlay source code?

[mdwh2]

Indeed, though this is misleading:

Apple's Mac OS didn't offer preemptive multitasking until Mac OS X

Mac OS - the first OS with that name - never had preemptive multitasking. Apple had to ditch that OS, develop a different one based on Next which was then branded OS X.

(I think the saddest thing is people who seem to maintain a grudge on anyone who uses or used an Amiga - that grudge seems to be far more prevalent here on Slashdot, and as you say, when you look at the alternatives at the time, it seems completely nonsensical now.)

Re:Overlay source code?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nacturation is really Mr. Outside?

Hud?

[Cpt_Kirks]

WHEN will we have a practical HUD or other type of head mounted display?

They always seem to be "almost ready". Frankly, I am ready to be a Gargoyle.

Re:Hud?

[wjsteele]

Like this one for airplanes? VirtualHUD

Bill

Re:Hud?

[Cpt_Kirks]

More of a head mounted display. For years (decades?) there have been a stream of funky helmets and various types of modified eyeglass and goggle type gadgets. They always seem to be "coming out next year", but then, the company folds.

Is there really no demand for these? Other than me...

Re:Hud?

[Anonymous Coward]

More of a head mounted display. For years (decades?) there have been a stream of funky helmets and various types of modified eyeglass and goggle type gadgets. They always seem to be "coming out next year", but then, the company folds.

Is there really no demand for these? Other than me...

It's primarily just being used by the military in things like helicopters and advanced fighter jets. Ends up being pretty expensive.

Re:Hud?

[cheros]

Amusingly appropriate to display a plane HUD on an internal propeller :-)

Re:Hud?

[nine-times]

It seems to me that the real hindrance is in getting a transparent display into a set of glasses. By this, I don't mean getting a bulky display mounted on the outside of a set of glasses, but in getting a transparent display built directly into the lenses, such that when the display is turned off, it's just a set of glasses.

I think we'll start to see real products once we can build both those sorts of lenses and a camera into a set of glasses, and not have them be too ridiculously heavy, bulky, and ugly. Also, it can't be too expensive.

People keep saying it's "almost ready" because there are practical and functional HUDs, but they all require this bulky machinery to be strapped to your head in a way that looks stupid. For geeks or specialized purposes (e.g. soldiers in combat, who are carrying heavy equipment anyway and care more about functionality than looks) that's all fine. But it won't be productized until people can walk down the street wearing them and still look cool.

Re:Hud?

[Darkness404]

I'd like to see more HUDs in cars, honestly, if they can pair that with some head movement or something, it would

Re:Hud?

[Tink2000]

Do you think he could have mean, 'Camaaaauuuuggghhhh'?

Re:Hud?

[noundi]

People keep saying it's "almost ready" because there are practical and functional HUDs, but they all require this bulky machinery to be strapped to your head in a way that looks stupid.

This was almost ten years ago.

Re:Hud?

[ByOhTek]

And this, people, is why we don't put HUDs in cars.

Darkness404, you will be missed, after your untimely demise in a car accident. If only you hadn't been distracted by slashdot on your HUD, you might be here today with us...

Re:Hud?

[Bandman]

The trick will be to do it like Cadillac did with the deer-sensor (http://www.vxm.com/Impact.cadillac.nitevision.html), and reflect it onto the lenses, and still make it so that the person can see it, despite their focus being well past the lens.

Re:Hud?

[wjsteele]

There are three basic problems with HMD style displays.

1.) Single eye solutions confuse the brain after a short period of time. The brain tries to correlate both eyes input and can't, so it starts dropping information. That causes tremendous problems because the brain doesn't know which information is appropriate to drop. Using a two-eye HMD solves that problem.

2.) The other problem is that the brain is very perceptive of information that doesn't actually coorelate to the real world. Think about an artifical horizon that doesn't quite keep up to speed with the real horizon that the pilot sees. That slight delay error will cause problems for the pilot similar to the above, where the brain quits using and relying on that information.

3.) The last problem is the biggest. How do you get an image focused at infinity. The traditional way is to use fancy optics to lengthen the path from the emitter to the eye to make it appear that the image is beyond 6' or so. Getting that done is very tricky and bulky. Just putting an image on the lens isn't enough... it must be presented in such a way that they pilot has a reduced work load (on the eye muscles) so that it is not a tiring experience.

I see that VirtualHUD as quite an innovative solution for that problem because, 1.) it's aready presented to both eyes simultaneously and 2.) it's focused at infinity (or darn close to it) by default. Generally the propeller is already far enough away from the pilot.

Bill

Re:Hud?

[Lallander]

I think what you are looking for is an EyeTap. http://eyetap.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyetap

Re:Hud?

[Darkeye11547]

I can't possibly imagine that there would be less demand for head mounted displays than other more geeky stuff like NAS boxes. I mean, the MYVU stuff sells pretty well, even though it's a low-resolution piece of junk that costs something like $200.

Re:Hud?

[MartinSchou]

You can get a long way towards the goal with OLED displays. I've posted about that before.

You can get OLED displays that are flexible as well as partly transparent, so you've already built the display into the glasses. Obviously compute functionality needs to be elsewhere, as you don't want to have too much weight hanging on your ears and nose. The DPI probably needs to increase on them as well, before they get really good.

As for how to see what is being displayed without removing your focus from the 'background', that's beyond my own knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if you can either use some kind of infinite focus trick (like with BoCode, where what is displayed on screen is out of focus if you look at it, but looking 'through' it puts it into focus. Obviously that'd require that your compute device knows where you're looking, but we already have technology for that. Not sure about the size though.

I'm completely with you on the "looks stupid" point of view. First of all, it needs to be see-through. The ones that blocks out your direct view of the outside world ruin your peripheral vision. Personally I wouldn't want to walk down the street wearing a pair of these

They don't have to be stylish, just don't make me look like an idiot. A pair of decent safety glasses would work nicely as a building block, as they're designed to handle high stresses without breaking. And as such they're usually designed to keep from ruining your ears and nose and thus rather comfortable.

Re:Hud?

[just fiddling around]

I can't currently find a better link than wikipedia, but there is a class of HUDs that are called "Visual retinal displays" that project the HUD info on the retina of the wearer. I have read about a system that uses a very low power laser and a micro-mirror to paint on the retina; the system can be integrated in the glasses' branches. Of course, there is still a need for control hardware somewhere, but it can be remote (ex.: on the hip)

Re:Hud?

[Hurricane78]

Well, everything you need for this, exists. The only question is how good it works.

You need:
* GPS
* Accelerometer
* Camera
* graphics processor
* internet connection
* mapping software
* panorama software
* database to store geolocations with gps position in 3d space

That's it. All of that works right now. You can start now and program that HUD yourself.

The only problems right now, are expensive mobile internet connections and the bad resolution of GPS, which can only get 3 meters with A-GPS, and 10 m without.
I know, because I'm already working on a large project for something, that will beat the shit out of the app presented in the video. :)

Re:Hud?

[maxume]

There are resolution issues with anything that is a display (hold your finger up to your eye about where the lens of a pair of glasses would be and try to focus on it; the apparent resolution of the display will be limited by this, combined with the size of the display). I guess drawing on the retina with some lasers wouldn't have that problem, but that seems scarier.

Re:Hud?

[M-RES]

Internal? No, no, you've misunderstood - that HUD system projects onto the back of the plane's propellor (external). Go read it again, it's way cool.

Re:Hud?

[mattr]

You mean like this red ribbon prototype?

Re:Hud?

[Anonymous Coward]

re 3.) laser projector? An implant attached to the retna? Or whatever tech was used for Geordi's visor.

Re:Hud?

[nine-times]

Isn't that just a camera strapped to the glasses? Cameras are easy. It's the displays that are hard.

Or are you talking about piping the image directly into people's brains? That's fairly invasive and dangerous, and not perfected in a way that would allow us to put high-resolution overlays onto the images already being transmitted from your eyes.

Re:Hud?

[nine-times]

But reflected from what? That just moves the bulky equipment from your glasses onto your face.

Re:Hud?

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that the visor transmitted data through connectors at the temples, not into the eyes.

Re:Hud?

[nine-times]

Obviously that'd require that your compute device knows where you're looking, but we already have technology for that. Not sure about the size though.

Yeah, I think this is ultimately another piece of the "bulk" that needs to be figured out. I think to make the system work very well, we'll need to have multiple cameras. We would probably be well server to have at least four, 2 looking out at the world so the computer can analyze depth, and one on each eye. You could have one on both eyes, but it's hard to figure where you could mount cameras on your glasses such that it could have an unobstructed view of both eyes at the same time.

I think eye-tracking will be more important than people think for this sort of thing. Not just for the issue you mention (the possibility of focussing the displays), but I think it will be helpful in allowing the computer to know what to display and what to show you.

For example, wouldn't it be great if your glasses could tell that you're focusing on something particular and to "get out of the way" (i.e. move any part of the HUD obstructing the view) to another part of the display? Or to note that your focusing on a particular thing and feed you additional information based on what you're looking at, without having to issue additional commands?

Re:Hud?

[shambalagoon]

I'm going to throw out my billion-dollar idea, in hopes that it gets made, because I don't have the connections to make it happen:

It's a new video game system based on Augmented Reality. You wear these special goggles that show you the world around you, but it's altered in real time. That cardboard tube in your hand becomes a sword, other players appear dressed in armored suits. Creatures float around the actual landscape around you. You play IN THE REAL WORLD with and against projected objects, people, and monsters. Course, it would make problems with Wiimotes look trivial in comparison. But play environments could be set up that could become futuristic areas, dungeons, other worlds, spaceships, bubbly worlds of goo, etc - much like a laser tag arena. The game machine would project whatever is needed onto the physical countours.

Even beyond games, the possibilities are endless. Imagine having someone you hate blacked out, or strange trippy visual effects on everything you see, or having whatever you're looking for lit up brightly, or flipping the picture until your sight adjusts (it will! and then when you take it off, everything will be upside down for a time). It could be used for training purposes or therapy or strange mental trips.

So there it is. Who will make it?

Re:Hud?

[Missing_dc]

A HUD is exactly what I pictured here, but in an abstract kind of way. It wasn't bad enough to have the Apple dorks running around flashing their little iPhones at everyone, now they will be running around with them glued over one eye asking everyone if they have seen Sarah Conner.

Re:Hud?

[Bertie]

Did you know Apache pilots train to be able to move and focus both their eyes independently, like a chameleon, so that they can look at the HUD and the view out the window at the same time? Don't ask me how they do it, but they do.

Re:Hud?

[wgoodman]

anyone else notice the BBC player's volume goes to 11?

Re:Hud?

[ground.zero.612]

It seems to me that the real hindrance is in getting a transparent display into a set of glasses. By this, I don't mean getting a bulky display mounted on the outside of a set of glasses, but in getting a transparent display built directly into the lenses, such that when the display is turned off, it's just a set of glasses.

I think we'll start to see real products once we can build both those sorts of lenses and a camera into a set of glasses, and not have them be too ridiculously heavy, bulky, and ugly. Also, it can't be too expensive.

People keep saying it's "almost ready" because there are practical and functional HUDs, but they all require this bulky machinery to be strapped to your head in a way that looks stupid. For geeks or specialized purposes (e.g. soldiers in combat, who are carrying heavy equipment anyway and care more about functionality than looks) that's all fine. But it won't be productized until people can walk down the street wearing them and still look cool.

Aside from the compact technology and display breakthroughs required to make a pair of regular glasses into a wearable "monitor," we need a breakthrough in video processing or all of these "augmented reality" fantasies will remain fantasies.

Think of bats and how they use sonar. Their brains have evolved to compensate for the time delay of the sound waves. Human sight relies on light, which travels orders of magnitudes faster than sound. I applaud the efforts of the scientists but I see some fundamental physics problems to overcome before it "works."

Re:Hud?

[Steauengeglase]

Prepare to be called a worthless nerd who will never know the touch of a woman. Not saying I disagree, it is just the gut response is to yell, loser at the guy who says he wants a HUD on his glasses or projected on this eye.

Personally, I'm expecting do have the luxury of a HUD, with a constant connection and monitoring of my surroundings, when I'm 80. Then who'll be laughing? Sure you'll brag about the touch of a woman, but I'll be able to tell if I just peed in the toilet instead of guessing and hoping that it wasn't the closet.

Re:Hud?

[Hymer]

"WHEN will we have a practical HUD..."
HUDs has been in pracical use for decades in military aircraft, primary in fighter and ground attack planes. They would have been in cars years ago but laws forbid anything that may obstruct the view out of the front window, they are not in use in commercial jets because they are not needed there.
HUD's are not almost ready, they are ready, the world is not ready for HUDs (this is the usual problem with new technology).

Re:Hud?

[Belial6]

If I have to choose between having women/peeing in the closet, or not having women/peeing in the toilet, I'll just pee in the closet. Luckily, my good aim and unwillingness to pee all over the floor has not played a factor in getting women. Oddly enough, when I say, has not played a factor, I mean that it also has not helped. Women seem perfectly fine with men peeing all over the floor. I've even had a few explain that it is OK, because there isn't anything the guy can do about it. Bizarre? Yes.

Re:Hud?

[shutdown -p now]

The obvious question is - how do pilots in newer planes equipped with HMD deal with the problems you describe, particularly "dropping information" etc?

Re:Hud?

[clone53421]

I can do that to some extent, but I can't see much of anything at the same time – I can't focus them while I'm doing it.

It's much like going cross-eyed. Try holding a finger right in front of your face and looking at the tip while moving it side to side.

I can hold one eye crossed while moving the other circularly. Even better to start cross-eyed and alternate, spinning first one eye then the other. Looks really freaky... :)

Re:Hud?

[Lallander]

Here is one of the most interesting mobile AR (Augmented Reality) systems I have seen so far. It uses S.L.A.M. (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) to make up for the limitations of the GPS and compass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBI5HwitBX4 It is still in a very early stage, but it will progress quickly from here I think.

Re:Hud?

[borgasm]

Yes!

I was talking with a CFI about that. Apparently he had a friend who could read 2 books at the same time as a result of his time spent in an Apache.

Re:Hud?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apache helicopter pilots have to be able to use the HMS monocle to be qualified to fly. In the book 'apache' by Ed Macy, he describes what its like. He says it takes several weeks to get used to it, and for the headaches to go away. Eventually both eyes start working independently, since one is looking at information off of the HMS, and the other is looking outside the heli. He says he videoed himself while flying, and sure enough both of his eyes were moving on their own. Pretty neat.

I'm waiting for integrated glasses like the ones in Gibsons virtual light. I must be the only person who read that book.

Re:Hud?

[wjsteele]

Lot's of money. The HMD in the Joint Strike Fighter uses extremly high speed computers and displays the information in both eyes of the pilot. The helmet alone costs over $300,000 each and must be custom fitted to each pilot. Then you have to add the cost of everything else... which pushes the whole system to over $3,000,000 each!

The Apache system actually only projects into one eye, but can be switched to either side. In addition, the information they present is not generally coorelated with the outside view so they avoid some of the issues. However, even with that, they're still having problems with pilot fatigue with them.

As for other aircraft, generally, they use the classic style HUD, not an HMD. With a HUD, you use a combiner plate (glass plate in front of pilot) to achieve a forward field of view, however narrow it is. These types of units start at about $200,000 each.

Bill

Re:Hud?

[Civil_Disobedient]

Not to rain on your parade, but I had this idea about ten years ago, which leads me to think:

1. About a million other people have also already had this idea.

2. At least a few of those million are programmers currently working on it.

Another idea would be to integrate a HUD with the internet so businesses could overlay meta-information about their store as you're walking down the street (restaurant menus, hours of operation, upcoming performers, etc).

Again, probably a million others have already thought of this. Actually doing it has always been the hard part.

Re:Hud?

[Darkness404]

Yah, I really meant to hit the back button but got distracted by a call and ended up submitting it, I guess thats why I really shouldn't be commenting on /. at work... But its better than in my car...

Re:Hud?

[dotar]

I am totally awaiting the day I can flash up "YOU'RE A DOUCHE" in bold h1 on some the dude who just cut me off's windscreen. Maybe he'll get so distracted he'll plow into a street light. Well, it's either that or "Smooth move, ex-lax."

Re:Hud?

[macsox]

Also, they are almost guaranteed to look dumb, a prohibitive hurdle when trying to mass market something.

Re:Hud?

[geekoid]

Apparently you just need to make a head bracket for your G1 or iPhone.

Good news, everybody already thinks you should be squating at the edge of a tall building~

I mean really, what did you expect.

Re:Hud?

[geekoid]

Already exists, you might want to do a little research.

Re:Hud?

[Larryish]

The HUD companies fold when the hookers-and-blow money runs out.

Re:Hud?

[drinkypoo]

Eyetaps seem to just look like dorky tanning glasses, which is acceptable for many purposes, but no body is selling them. Seriously, no one. They claim you can make one for about a grand, which implies you should be sell them for four. I can imagine plenty of market to make it worth it to make $3,000 profit per unit, and in a direct-sales model (which will work fine for the small initial volume) it should be entirely possible.

You can do it without an eyetap but then you always have to be correcting for parallax.

Re:Hud?

[Vastad]

Head Mounted Displays are a dead end for everyday, full-time casual and social applications. Full Stop. Period. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.

There is no point even discussing it or listing pros and cons or design hurdles. It simply will not be accepted. The sociological and psychological reasons are obvious and need not be listed. We absolutely loathe those Star Trek-ish bluetooth headsets. What makes you think HMDs will be any better accepted? "Trendy" HMDs disguised as fancy Issey Miyake glasses simply inspire resentment at needing an external fashion item to get a service.

The Augmented Reality Revolution will happen as soon as a display can be miniaturized on to a contact lens or some sort of walk-in day-surgery that replaces your lens, cornea or some part of the eye with an artificial one that acts as a display and runs off bio-electricity. Something like specially designed mitochondria or kinetic energy conversion like in those fancy "kinetic" watches. The latter is probably the most practical and safest as eyeballs are constantly moving and genetically engineered mitchondria could mutate into something life-threatening or cause catastrophic immune responses.

For all intents and purposes, the Augmented Reality tool, no matter it's form, must be perceptually invisible to the user and to all observers in order for it to become a more permanent fixture in our lives and culture. HMDs are strictly for hazardous or military applications. At the Facebook, cafe or pub crawl level, no one is interested in wearing some stonking doodad on their head.

At an even higher tech level, is bypassing the senses completely, and connecting directly to the appropriate parts of the brain, merging vision, sound and tactile information in one fell swoop (since the contact lens or implant solution would still require a permanent "hearing aid" type implant if sound information is desired as well).

Re:Hud?

[zobier]

http://www.microvision.com/

They're also using the same technology for pocket and integrated projectors.

Re:Hud?

[stiller]

worst. name. ever.

Classic Cyberpunk

[stoolpigeon]

What was the name of the story where the guy stumbled upon a pair of sunglasses that showed the plans for some Asian conglomerate to rebuild a city? (L.A. I think?) I don't know if it was a novel or part of a collection. I'm leaning towards collection - and included was a story about a guy being chased by some killing machine thing that moved slowly but never stopped so he always had to stay on the move. Others were typical cyberpunk stuff - I'm googling away but can't track it down.

Re:Classic Cyberpunk

[Anonymusing]

You thinking of Gibson's Virtual Light?

Re:Classic Cyberpunk

[Sir_Lewk]

I believe the short story that you're refering too is part of Accelerando. The part that always stood out best in my mind was the motorized combat boots the one guy had, and the sentient lobsters that acted as computers or something...

I remember it being in a collection entitled something like "Best Sci-Fi of 2004" (or something to that effect, forget the year too) Good story though :)

Re:Classic Cyberpunk

[Anonymous Coward]

What was the name of the story where the guy stumbled upon a pair of sunglasses that showed the plans for some Asian conglomerate to rebuild a city?

Someone posted 'Virtual Light', which sounds right, but you should check out Charles Stross' "Tourist" - a chapter in Accelerando (which is a free download), for an interesting take on how we're starting to augment our memory and mind.

And Gibson's recent "Spook Country" involves augmented reality, too.

Re:Classic Cyberpunk

[Sir_Lewk]

I think the collection was part of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year's_Best_Science_Fiction I'm not sure which year though.

Re:Classic Cyberpunk

[Darkeye11547]

I'm a big fan of Accelerando as well, but only the first section had people wandering around with goggles strapped to their heads and computers on their belts. By the second section, everything got internalized and the main character from the first section was a throwback that didn't want to upgrade from goggles to a neural net. And frankly, the idea that everyone would be happy wandering around with a fat computer sucked onto their face is the most fictional part about that book.

im back!

[ionix5891]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lfmlKYZ-vU

i cant wait till they have Governator in the iPhone ads!

Cameras with face recognition?

[samkass]

My camera has been able to do this for a few years. People's faces have white boxes around them that move with the scene.

Admittedly this brings it to a whole new level, being almost an augmented reality API. And that's where the power here lies... putting a general-purpose computing device capable of it into people's hands and an SDK that makes it easy into developers hands will make it take off. And hey, Apple is finally starting to open up the docking port (which has video-out) to software tie-in so maybe a HUD isn't far off either.

Re:Cameras with face recognition?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, this doesn't "bring it to a whole new level". Google's Android has been able to do this using the Enkin application for well over a year now...

If this is "augmented reality", then it's already long since arrived - and iPhone users are just late to catch up.

Re:Cameras with face recognition?

[PaintyThePirate]

Note that face recognition is a significantly harder task than face detection, which is what most modern high end point and shoots are capable of. Recognition means identifying who each face belongs to.

Anyway, while the summary only mentions the iPhone, TFA is actually about AR on phones in general.

Re:Cameras with face recognition?

[Anonymous Coward]

As far as I can tell, Enkin is pretty early on in development. The only "official" information available is that one video, and the last blog entry was in May, saying "more news real soon now !".

Re:Cameras with face recognition?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty early in development, just like the Sekai Camera beta being touted by the BBC article, you mean...?

Re:Cameras with face recognition?

[mdwh2]

Agreed - sadly this is yet another "For the Iphone" Appledot Slashvertisement, where something that would otherwise be old news, gets front page coverage.

At least the BBC do cover some of these other applications, I'm not sure why Slashdot summarises it as just being about the Iphone.

(So I see that the Iphone finally has video. I thought that was one of the things they didn't include, in order to make it "better"? That's what the Iphone advocates said, so does this mean that by including it, the Iphone has become worse?)

Supplementary Brain?

[neonprimetime]

Eventually, it seems possible that mobile phones might play the role of a kind of supplementary brain - Toshinao Sasaki

I think it would have the opposite effect, and make a generation of cell phone users even dumber.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[MrMista_B]

I think that using tools makes people smarter, not dumber.

Unpopular opinion on slashdot, I know, but I just don't know why.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Zakabog]

I think that using tools makes people smarter, not dumber.

Smarter in that they know how to use the tools. Dumber in that they don't know how to get by without them.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[timeOday]

The whole progression of mankind is based on increasing specialization - that is, increasing interdependence on each other, because no person alive actually understands all the steps of producing all the technology we use every single day. For better or worse, this trend is unlikely to reverse.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[imakemusic]

Actually I've learned a lot since I've had a mobile phone. Such as a variety of abreviations, like "lol" and "rofl". Also, I now know how to convey feelings using only punctuation. For example this shows I am happy :)

I feel that if I keep using my phone as I do may end up being able to convey meaning without even using any vowels.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that using tools makes people smarter, not dumber.

Unpopular opinion on slashdot, I know, but I just don't know why.

Old saying - "A fool with a tool is still a fool".

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[digitalsushi]

it depends on whether you count the brain as the whole, or the brain plus the augment as the whole.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[CannonballHead]

I think that depends on the tool, it's function, the level of understanding of the user, and the definition of "smart" and "dumb."

Using a calculator to do division very easily and quickly, but not knowing how to do it by hand and having to use a calculator yourself does not make you "smarter."

It can allow you to do smarter things, but making it easier does not necessarily make you smarter. It allows for progression, but does not necessitate it. Sliderules didn't make anyone smarter, either.

I think the real issue is how we define "smarter." If "smart" means "able to do it but not necessarily understand what is happening," then yeah. If smart means "understand what is happening," then someone who uses a sliderule and has no clue how to use a graphing calculator can be just as smart. I think that's more what people mean with "smart" and "dumb." Using google to find answers is efficient and is "smart" in a way, but doesn't make you knowledgeable in a field... IMO, "able to find the answer" and "knowledgeable" have the same fundamental difference as "able to do something" and "smart."

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Hurricane78]

You are both right and wrong.

It makes them more efficient.

If they are getting smarter or dumber, is a different thing. It is controlled by your need to be smarter.
As long as you are winning (in terms of physical and mental reproduction), you can become dumber.
As long as you are losing, you have to become more intelligent.

So will this give you an advantage against others? In the short term, sure. In the long them... no.
Humanity as a whole will gain an advantage from it though.
But there are two points of measurement. First, without the tools, we will be "dumber", because we're pretty helpless. (How many people would survive alone and naked in the wilderness?)
Second, with the tools, we will be smarter (or just as smart), because we can do so much more. (Now imagine those people's chance of survival in a city with healthcare for everyone, good food always at hand for small money, cars, machines, etc, etc, etc.)

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[clone53421]

No...

Better tools make smart people more productive and dumb people lazier.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Aceticon]

I think that using tools makes people smarter, not dumber.

Making tools makes people smarter.

Using tools at most just empowers people to do certain things which they would not do otherwise.

That said, tools that replace certain abilities will result that people who use those tools loose said abilities or are less likely to gain them in the first place(how many people do you know from the newer generation that can calculate products and divisions in their heads?). This does make the less smart in that area, although not necessarily overall.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Hal_Porter]

I've always wondered if intelligence might not ended up moving from individuals into society as a whole. Essentially the rules in society would be simple and we'd be like cellular automata dumbly following them.

The best example is lawsuits. Companies will go to great lengths to protect stupid customers because they are scared of getting sued. Rather than individuals protecting themselves from harm it's like the system 'knows' not to expose them to it. Still neither the customers, or the lawyers or even the engineers could or would do this if they were acting as individuals.

However the society as a whole has the collective intelligence to prevent it.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[wurp]

Yes, because Google, computers, calculators, and reading/writing have made us all so stupid...

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[religious freak]

I can't wait for the starchild to be born...

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Just Some Guy]

Smarter in that they know how to use the tools. Dumber in that they don't know how to get by without them.

I could learn to life barefoot and wrapped in animal skins, but I'd prefer to accept that I don't want to.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[G33kGuy]

This statement is probably true, but is it really a bad thing? Primitive man may have learned to use bows to hunt, is it a bad thing that they are worse at killing animals with their bare hands? Only when they don't have the bow available, but this does not offset the benefits of having it, because it is much more efficient. The same thing can be applies to public water works, they enable a larger population (or a larger crop) to exist in a location, but they are dependent on the water is brings, but here, again, they are not worse off due to the dependence, as it allows them to do other things.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[easyTree]

...and smart enough to ensure that the tools are always to hand. Sounds pretty good to me, like the step we took many years ago when we outsourced smelling-things to "man's best friend" leaving spare brain capacity to develop new levels of intelligence.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Late Adopter]

Can't it be both? Smarter with the external compute-wear, but dependent on it when taken away. Charles Stross explores this a bit with the protagonist from the first few chapters of Accelerando.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[element-o.p.]

Using google to find answers is efficient and is "smart" in a way, but doesn't make you knowledgeable in a field...

I think I see what you are saying, and I think that you are probably on the right track, but I'm not quite sure that I completely agree with you. Here's my quibble. As the world we live in grows more and more complex and as it changes more and more rapidly, it will become impossible for us to keep pace with all of the changes around us. I would argue that that point in time has already come and gone. I think it was in the 1700s where the educated elite pretty much gave up on being completely literate in all fields of study (math, science, philosophy, politics, etc.). Since then, we have become specialized, i.e., there are no more people along the lines of Ben Franklin -- people who are statesmen and inventors and scientists and philosophers and....

Because of the overwhelming wealth of information in the modern world, it is less important to "know everything" than it is to be able to figure out what you need to know when you need to know it.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[greyhueofdoubt]

IMO, the real question is, "Does this new tool increase productivity/efficiency/etc?"

Hammers are an improvement over rocks, even though now most people would have a hard time getting anything done with just a rock.

Same with C vs assembly, cars vs horsedrawn carriage, CNC vs manual lathes and mills.

Automated farming has meant that only a tiny percentage of the population knows how to grow much of anything, but in the big picture it frees us up to be more productive doing some more useful or more enjoyable.

-b

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[johanatan]

Yes, but what is a 'tool'. Or more precisely, what is not a tool? Do you remember learning to use your extremities and are you a 'dumber' person because you do not know how to get by (I assume) without a leg or an arm?

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[FesterWim]

I think it will make us smarter. Image walking in a forest, you have no clue about the names of the trees. With augmentent reality showing you the name of the tree, you will learn the names I think? Or maybe you just keep relying on your phone, I agree that might be possible also, but you will at least have the oppurtunity to learn.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Ruvim]

For those who doubt that phones are making us dumber: can you recall by memory phone numbers of 5 of your friends?

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[johno.ie]

I think that using tools makes people smarter, not dumber.

That's because you're dumb.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[csartanis]

Damn those carpenters and their hammers! Why can't they get by without them?!

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Manax]

So in your opinion, rote memorization is what intelligence is all about? Not problem solving, not creativity, not being able to come up with better generalizations, or whatever? Rote memorizing? Really?

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[7 digits]

This is an exert from the article:

> Already Japan is an avid consumer of location-based services and thanks to a 2007 law all Japanese phones must come with GPS to help with "law enforcement".

I'd say that mobile phones might play the role of a kind of personal Big Brother.

Anyone have details on that law ? It must make all the other countries salivate, I guess...

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[bitspotter]

Drop a guy in the wilderness, and prohibit him from making of tools.

Real smart.

The question is, how cheap ubiquitous are what tools? Sure, you might lose your phone - but teaching kids to weave cloth is not exactly an efficient use of their time.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Anonymous Coward]

GPS is already hard at work dumbing down my family. We took our bi-annual family trip to the beach in NC. There isn't a direct route when you get into the small towns near the shore. This is our 4th year. 3 out of the 5 drivers either took the long route or missed a turn because 'GPS' was confused. Last year no one used GPS and 100% of the cars found the beach using the shortest/quickest route.

I used GPS on a business trip recently. It worked great getting to the client's location and finding restaurants in the evening. I used to pride myself in being able to get back to a location after having only driven there once. I don't know if I'd even recognise the city I was in if dropped in a car without the GPS. Kind of sad, I think.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[bennomatic]

that is, increasing interdependence on each other

That sounds like communism! Are you an Obamanaut shilling his health care "reforms"?

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[timeOday]

Tell me whether or not you're serious so I can decide how to respond.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[CannonballHead]

I agree. But that's getting into the knowledgeable side of things, which I would argue is different from being "smart."

A "smart" person, at least the way I use the word, is someone that genuinely understand what he is talking about. One can understand calculus and use a calculator for all of problem solving. One could also understand almost nothing about calculus and do the correct thing with the calculator and get the correct answer. Are those two people equally smart?

For the "knowledgeable" bit, let's say you have a history question. One person knows it and simply answers it (let's say, uh, the rough dates for the Medo-Persian empire). The other person does not know it but can go to google and look it up. Who is knowledgeable about history? I would argue that the person that actually knew the fact is knowledgeable; the other is simply resourceful. Is one better than the other or a more desirable "trait"/skill than the other? That depends. But I think the way we use the words needs to be correct.

The underlying understanding of something seems to be more important than being able to do something manually.

Another easy example would be programming. It seems to me that it's more important to have a "software engineer," one that understands the concepts of programming and good software practices, design, etc., than someone who can whip up programs (programming skill) using IDEs and existing libraries, etc., with little understanding of what he's actually doing, how the various modules/parts work together, etc. I would not put those two people on the same level simply because both can use the same tools.

I agree that we have become more specialized and, because of the work of those before us, we don't need to understand everything to use something... don't need to understand electrical engineering to use a computer anymore. But my point was that if we want to talk about someone being smart, the use of a tool does not necessitate being smart or dumb, nor does knowing how to use a tool make you ... smart in the "tool's field." Knowing how to use Dreamweaver does not make you smart in the web field, etc.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[element-o.p.]

Well said -- we're on the same page. Understanding what you "know" is far more important than simply being able to regurgitate facts on demand.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[geekoid]

Not dumber, just ignorant.

Many smart people can't start a camp fire without a lighter.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as you learn how to build an Archimedes screw and a fire (bonus points if you combine them somehow) you should be good for the coming societal collapse :)

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[JoCat]

At the advent of the printing press, academic minds were concerned that people would become dumber. They thought people would fill their minds with useless knowledge instead of trying to understand the material.

At the advent of the internet, people were concerned generations of people becoming morons with no memory or knowledge at all.

People will continue to get smarter and more connected. Reliance on technology does have drawbacks, but to see only the problems provided by this technology and not the benefit is silliness, too.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[stonewallred]

Yes. 2 is a friend's wife, 3 is my #2 buddy, 4 is my #1 buddy, 5 is the GF of the month, and 6 is my sister. Just press the number and hold it for about a second and it connects.

Re:Supplementary Brain?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pocket calculators are smarter than 98% of the population already.

GUI for a map.

[gurps_npc]

That's all this really is - a fancy, visual Graphical User Interface, for a map.

That is not an insult, it is a compliment. The best ideas are usually simple at heart.

Re:GUI for a map.

[BenihanaX]

Would you also call a GPS (the direction-giving kind) a fancy interface for a map? You might be correct but that distinction has little benefit, like calling a motorcycle a motor vehicle.

Re:GUI for a map.

[musefrog]

Yes, a map that apparently uses the iPhone's internal compass to orient it. Which means you can only use it on the new 3G iPhone.

Re:GUI for a map.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that the GP think at something like seeing a building trough the iPhone, using the GPS and compass, make it point an arrow to that building and write "This is where you can buy food".

May have some interesting applications, but nothing revolutionary.

Re:GUI for a map.

[genner]

That's all this really is - a fancy, visual Graphical User Interface, for a map.

That is not an insult, it is a compliment. The best ideas are usually simple at heart.

Exactly. The sad part is it would work just as well without the real-time video overlay. There's no practical need for this tech it's just looks cool.

Re:GUI for a map.

[BlueKitties]

No, that's not true. This is an *application* of augmented reality. AR is the idea that computer interfaces can interlace with the environment. This isn't just a fancy way of managing a map, it's a method of interfacing with computational systems. This has the potential to change the way we use computers all together -- instead of phones, or PCs, people might have glasses which work as a personal assistant. This has the potential to be as important as the PC revolution.

Re:GUI for a map.

[maxume]

The pda Val Kilmer has in Red Planet is a nice presentation of the concept, just having such a tool means you would find all sorts of reasons to use it.

Also, by analogy, technically speaking, early farmers had no practical need for steel.

Re:GUI for a map.

[nametaken]

There's no practical need for this tech it's just looks cool.

How many times have I heard this? ;)

Re:GUI for a map.

[gurps_npc]

It does NOT interact with the environment. It refers to a keyed map via the internet. Zero interaction with real life.

Glasses are uncomfortable, people would not use them. A better system would be a projector of some kind to do this kind of thing.

I do agree that it it can change the way we use computers - Remember I said it is not an insult.

But this is NOT AR. Real AR does not refer back to a map, it recognizes the actual object - whether by bar code, RFID, or by light based recognition. The ability to recognize a car is far far more valuable than the ability to identify your locaiton by GPS and refer to a look up table that tells you what SHOULD be there, but because of something unsual, is nto where it is supposed to be.

Re:GUI for a map.

[genner]

The pda Val Kilmer has in Red Planet is a nice presentation of the concept, just having such a tool means you would find all sorts of reasons to use it.

Also, by analogy, technically speaking, early farmers had no practical need for steel.

The steel plow allowed people to plant on land that previously couldn't be farmed. What does this iphone app do that hasn't been done before?

Re:GUI for a map.

[maxume]

I took "this tech" to mean using a device to overlay information on a view of the world in realtime, not this iPhone app.

The app looks like a gizmo. Information overlay that works well will enable all sorts of neat stuff.

Re:GUI for a map.

[Ambitwistor]

I think a map is a graphical user interface for a map.

Re:GUI for a map.

[cheekyboy]

But at least if you walk and look at the map at the same time, you can still see in front of you so that you dont get hit run over by a bus, or something.
Plus you can add temperature overlay and more future things.

Re:GUI for a map.

[BlueKitties]

" Glasses are uncomfortable "... please tell me you didn't honestly just say that on geekdot.org. As a glasses wearer, I can tell you that you get used to them very quickly. Especially when you have a sexy rimless pair like what I have (I'm 6'2, dark hair, pecs like Fabio.) Anyway, what I meant is that this is trying to achieve AR, which is more than just a fancy GUI.

On a side note, I'm currently working on an Augment Reality project myself. My first step is to create structure from motion, which is proving to be a pain in the ass. At the moment, I'm trying to make a primitive version that uses the cvHoughLines2 function together with 3D orientation (x,y,x pitch yaw roll) of camera motion -- I figure if I can have coordinates for my camera motion, I have that much extra data to deduce structure.

Of course, I'd be surprised if I can get it to run in real time without a disgustingly powerful computer. Eh, it's still fun to attempt, even if I fail horribly. I'll probably need to pre-scan areas before it can function, and then it won't be able to update... still, I shall one day have dancing cat chicks in my living room!

Re:That's great, but I can't use it on my Linux bo

[ae1294]

Linux runs on blood... You must make a blood sacrifice... Slit your wrists and repeat after me...

All hail master Torvalds, I offer up my life blood to you O great and powerful Master. I, a humble troll, ask only that you find it in your dark heart to grant me the power! The power to scan one last fury fandom so as to complete my life's work.

Then wait 15 to 60 minutes for the source(tm) to recompile...

Important, do not call paramedic during this time or the compiler will fail and you will have to start over.

Don't worry if you die before the compiler finishes. Linux will simple restore you from the tarball file stored in /dev/null

Youtube Link / mirror

[timeOday]

The BBC video doesn't seem to work for me - I think this is the same.

Launched or not?

[BenihanaX]

The article says it has launched.
The summary says it has launched.
The Acrossair page says they need beta testers.
The app page (on the Acrossair site) says it will launch when Apple approves it.

Does anyone know which is correct? I tend to believe it has already launched since the article and summary corroborate.

Perhaps someone on the other side of the water could try to pull it up in the iTunes store.

Re:Launched or not?

[CmdrSammo]

Not launched yet, the app "Nearest Tube" is awaiting Apple approval...

Re:Launched or not?

[IndieKid]

I wonder if the delay is caused by the fact this will only work properly on a 3GS, since other iPhones don't include a compass. I'm not aware of any apps that require a specific model of iPhone (or even iPod Touch) at the moment despite the hardware differences.

Re:Launched or not?

[Verdatum]

I wonder if the delay is caused by the fact that this article is hype that invokes concepts like a Terminator style overlay in hopes of being Slashdotted.

Re:Launched or not?

[prestomation]

There are plenty of apps that won't install on my 1G Touch because they "Require features not available"

I'm assuming they make a similar distinction between 3G/3GS

Re:Launched or not?

[sunderland56]

Beta testers?

• any Londoner knows where the nearest Tube station is already. Useless app for them.
• a tourist will only use it for a day or two - not a useful test period.

Re:Launched or not?

[LucidBeast]

I wonder if the delay is caused by the fact that application will drain your battery in about 15 minutes and all the beta testers are now lost in London.

Please Stop.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is there any particular reason that we receive daily updates on all the crap Iphones can do? I can sum the device up in one short sentence "It does cool crap." Now can we please get some articles that aren't Iphone related?

Camera?

[RalphSleigh]

Zoe Kleinman tries out Acrossair's software that uses a phone's camera to tell you where the nearest London Underground station is.

It's using the phones GPS, compass and accelerometers to decide what to draw on the screen, NOT the camera, if you watch the video the bloke even says as much. Mush more impressive would be applications that can use what the camera sees by reading text/barcodes or recognising objects and combining it with GPS and internet data to offer more infomation on the world around us.

Re:Camera?

[BobMcD]

Yes, this, exactly. You could turn the camera off and overlay the same data over a blank screen, and it would make no difference.

Its a fine app, but not nearly 'augmented reality', at least not by way of a camera or in the way depicted in the film.

Re:Camera?

[XcepticZP]

Good luck doing ALL of that using any processor that is currently put into any smartphone.

Re:Camera?

[Anonymous Coward]

Won't somebody think of the cloud?? Do all the heavy processing away from the device and the only thing the device needs to be able to do is show it saving enormous power.

Re:Camera?

[sgrover]

Check out this video. It is closer than you think, and using off the shelf products. http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Re:Camera?

[Verdatum]

GPS, Compass, and Accelerometers combined are only a few bytes of data. Crunching the numbers to result in Forward/Left/Right fast enough to update once or twice a second doesn't sound too hard...

Re:Camera?

[Anonymous Coward]

Google could do this in combination with their street view to offer up some interesting information. Match their cached images to present camera views and return the results.

Re:Camera?

[Hurricane78]

Interestingly, such software exist. I have seen a library with a demo, some years ago, where they used a webcam, and the library automatically found fixed points on things. You were then able to name them, and add notes. When that object came into view later, that info box popped up. It even was able to recognize things that were relocated... As long as there was enough visual cue to know that it's the same object. Much like with the human brain.

Unfortunately, I can't find the link anymore. Anyone care to provide it?

Re:Camera?

[geekoid]

Not yet.

I have an App on the G1 that lets e place a virtual item on a spot. While I can see that item while covering the camera, I can't see any information I might be getting from the image.

I have fukll cionfidence that thuis is the ground work fer a more interactive AR session.

Re:Camera?

[stiller]

Indeed, it's not augmented reality, as this implies using the visual feed itself for analysis. In fact, I would go as far as saying that using the term for this particular product is a bit misleading. The video feed has no practical application here whatsoever. I am perfectly capable of translating the information onscreen onto the real world.
Basically, this is Google Earth with a redundant video background.

Re:Camera?

[XcepticZP]

I totally agree with you. But. I'm not sure you understand what I was referring to. I'll quote it so we're clear...

[...]that can use what the camera sees by reading text/barcodes or recognising objects and combining it with GPS and internet data to offer more information on the world around us.

Reading barcodes is one thing, but "recognizing objects" is near impossible for a processor that tiny. And the guy is suggesting it searches the net and provide info on that item on top of all that.

What I can easily imagine is if you took a picture with the camera, and then give it ample time to process that image. Good luck getting anything but rudimentary image recognition in real time, even on an average desktop computer, let alone a smartphone.

Re:Camera?

[Verdatum]

ah, agreed :)

Would be cool for SatNav

[IndieKid]

I want to see a SatNav application for the iPhone that makes use of AR.

I imagine mounting my iPhone on my dashboard with the camera pointing forwards and having the driving directions, road names/numbers, driving statistics etc superimposed over the top of the live images.

This is probably unrealistic at the moment due to hardware limitations (sampling rate for the built in GPS, compass etc) but I'm sure we'll get there one day. It's probably more realistic that TomTom or similar will come out with a SatNav that includes a camera for this purpose.

Re:Would be cool for SatNav

[sensationull]

Get an Android phone then, this kind of stuff would work on your iPhone if Apple actually allowed it on its app store. They just don't want you to have it yet, how cool of them is that???

Re:Would be cool for SatNav

[IndieKid]

I agree that Apple's approvals process for apps sucks balls.

I was very close to getting a HTC Magic (might be called something different in the US, basically the 2nd Android device), until I actually tried one - too slow (compared to iPhone 3GS), dodgy touchscreen and rubbish as a media player. Maybe the newer Android devices are better, but they weren't around when I was ready for a new phone. I'm open to the idea of getting an Android device in the future if one of those devices meets my needs better than the iPhone 3GS can.

Re:Would be cool for SatNav

[Trashman]

I've always wondered why automobile makers don't make use of the Windshield as a HUD for GPS directions/Dashboard info, etc.

That would be a better than having to look down slightly to glance at a screen a few inches below on the Dash. I'm sure someone is doing this but I haven't seen or heard of a car that has this.

Re:Would be cool for SatNav

[IndieKid]

I'm sure it's being worked on - I've seen a few home DIY type solutions on the net before

Embedding some kind of display technology in the windscreen is one option, but I imagine this would be very expensive and might not be very easy given the way windscreens are manufactured (laminated glass I think)

The cheap option would be to project up onto the windscreen, but shining light up out of the windscreen would probably be very distracting for other drivers at night!

Re:Would be cool for SatNav

[SkimTony]

I've seen a couple models (I think one was a Pontiac, but I could be wrong) which projected the speedometer on the windshield. It was just a bright digital readout recessed into the dashboard, and you could see the reflection. This was a fairly small display, and only on the very lowest part of the windshield, but it did work.

I think the biggest hurdle to overcome with projecting HUD info in cars is adjusting for driver height and position; once you get much more complicated than a simple speedometer/odometer readout, you have to take into account those adjustments, and compensate for them. Different drivers of the same vehicle will have completely different perspectives (someone who's 188 cm tall, vs. someone who's 162 cm sharing a vehicle). Even by myself, on long rides I adjust my posture to avoid fatigue, and I move around within the cabin to try to see around SUVs and trucks at traffic lights. Any kind of overlay display would have to adjust for that, and the more complex the display, the harder it would be.

Kind of wish this was in the videos but...

[Zakabog]

I watched the video in TFA and another video of the same app on youtube, and in both videos the iphone is moved very slowly. What happens if you turn quickly? Does the app completely lose it's place and heading? I would imagine most people wouldn't want to turn that slowly if they wanted to know where the subway behind them was.

Re:Kind of wish this was in the videos but...

[timeOday]

Apparently it relies in a compass in the device, so my guess is it would regain its bearings even after a rapid turn. The accelerometers in the iPhone are way too crude for inertial navigation so I can't imagine it's based on that.

Re:That's great, but I can't use it on my Linux bo

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft tech support?

Oh come on..

[jmerlin]

looks like just some fancy GPS and orientation coding (and that's kindof iffy, the overlays slide when you pan the view). What's so "terminator"ish about this?

Re:Oh come on..

[CoFran]

yup nothing short of it, there's no analysis of any kind, just user submitted info.

Re:Oh come on..

[Verdatum]

Geeks like terminator. Invoke it and be popular on teh slashdot.

Re:Oh come on..

[musefrog]

Well, you could always use the similar, launching-at-the-same-time TwittAround to hunt down and slaughter Twitter users... that's pretty terminator-ish.

The only thing that would save them is stopping tweeting, then moving location... but how likely is that?!

Source http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/twitters-enters-meatspace-the-end-is-nigh/

can the iphone get any stupider?

[FudRucker]

n/t

Re:can the iphone get any stupider?

[Fross]

Only if used to view your post on /.

Heh.

[Cpt_Kirks]

Best use of "Terminator Vision": Picking the right reply.

"Say, buddy, ya got a dead cat in there?"

(Decision List...)

"Fuck you, asshole."

Re:Heh.

[kerrbear]

> (Decision List...)

Even funnier was that I believe the original quote of the landlord was:

"...you got a dead cat in there, or what?"

And one of the response choices on the list was "Or what."

Halting State

[martijnd]

Plenty of cool applications to think off; the race is on to build the first Netscape of Augmented Reality, and then we can all quickly build a whole new World Wide Web.

When visiting a new town just Google for a suitable set of layers.

Tube stations, Tourist information (with guided tours), traffic, dating (heh! I'm available).... i'm sure that is just the beginning.

Coincidently I Just finished reading Halting State (Charles Cross) -- set in Edinburgh 2017 AR was already standard -- in fact the protagonist had difficulty imagining not being able to know where she was all the time.

Re:Halting State

[Darkeye11547]

I'd like to imagine Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End" would be a better version of AR layering.

Re:Halting State

[ColdWetDog]

I'd like to imagine thousands of people squinting into their iPhones running in lamp posts (hey GPS isn't that accurate) and getting run over by cars. YouTube here we come!

Re:Youtube Link / mirror

[musefrog]

Yeah, the same tech, different video. Horrible clipped audio though!

Re:I'll be first...

[Anonymous Coward]

Should that be spoken in a Sean Connery voice? "Yesh, I'm looking for a Shara Connor. It's Bond, Jamesh Bond."

One sale now

[Faux_Pseudo]

Is anyone else seeing this as a way for shopers to find out were the sales are happening? Either on the street or even in a store itself. This could be the replacement for the vanishing newspaper that stores need for their ads.

Might also be really handy for finding houses of ill repute when traveling to other countries. :)

Re:One sale now

[Civil_Disobedient]

Except because the augmented information is geo-spacial, you'd have to actually be in front of/next to the building before you can see the sale. Which makes it less useful than a newspaper. Or the internet.

Re:One sale now

[Faux_Pseudo]

I don't see it that way. If you are a shopping minded person [conspicuous consumer] and walking through the mall you can hold your phone up and get info loaded on all off the sales in your path.

Any marketing person knows it doesn't have to be better than signs in the window. It just has to offer an edge over the signs in the window next to yours or reinforce the sign in your window.

When everyone is wearing AR contacts...

[John Hasler]

...(all running Windows for AR of course) a few clever hackers will make themselves invisible [1]. A system that can add to reality can subtract from it as well.

[1] Except to old people, but everyone knows they hallucinate.

Re:When everyone is wearing AR contacts...

[Hailth]

Been watching Ghost In The Shell, haven't we Mr. Laughing Man?

Re:When everyone is wearing AR contacts...

[Logical Zebra]

Why can't I see who this post is by? Stop hacking my eyes!

Simultaneous Data+GPS+Camera = Battery Fail

[zbend]

I suspect you can "augment reality" for about 30 seconds, unless plugged in.

Re:That's great, but I can't use it on my Linux bo

[ae1294]

No, but all your bases belonging to us now.... Karma Kabooom!

Chuck!

[Anonymous Coward]

I want the arm band that Orion used in Chuck (Chucks Dad - haha spolier for those who havent seen well any....)

That was bad ass, kill the click sound though.

And the glasses with the intersect in them - very MI

Re: Krama KABOOOOM!

[ae1294]

Should that be spoken in a Sean Connery voice?

MAAAAAAACLOUD!!!!

Interaction

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to be able to interact with the meta-data instead of having holding the clumsy, square iBrain in your hand:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
...combine the above with a HUD, like Johnny Lee's Wii remote hack:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html

It's about a year away, right? Less, maybe? Every time I read William Gibson's latest book, his science is no longer fiction.

They cheated - not quite augmented reality

[MobyDisk]

Judging from the video, the software doesn't use the camera at all. It uses the GPS and the compass. Overlaying the information over the camera is just eye candy. This is "augmented reality" in the same way that a satellite map is. Or displaying any information over a camera image. It sure feels cool though.

Re:They cheated - not quite augmented reality

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes it uses GPS, Digital Compass, and Accelerometer in order to accomplish what it does to be precise. No video recognition or anything like that.

Intresting Hack Idea

[ae1294]

With the revelation of the iPhone SMS exploit at the last 'black hat' get together more 'hackers' will be looking for such flaws.

I think it would be extremely funny if someone finds another bug and pushes out a 'Rule 34' update to every iPhone that would superimpose naughty things when people try and use their iPhone's camera. Extra points if it's kitty porn complaint.

It will never happen though, crackers are only interested in getting paid now days. I miss the days of DOS virus coders....

Re:Intresting Hack Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

that, and your idea is completly retarded and puerile. Are you that detached from reality and daily social interaction that showing questionable material is amusing to you?

Re:Intresting Hack Idea

[ae1294]

that, and your idea is completly retarded and puerile. Are you that detached from reality and daily social interaction that showing questionable material is amusing to you?

The really really short answer is yes...

Re:Intresting Hack Idea

[Mister Whirly]

I think the real question is - Are you so detached from humor that showing questionable material wouldn't be amusing to you?

P.S. "retarded" is offensive to call someone who really isn't a retard. Making fun of retards is pretty puerile. How dare you sir!

I like how this is it arriving.

[lattyware]

There have been a number of apps that do this on the Android platform for some time now. Has to be an iPhone app to get coverage of course. The BBC really annoy me with their tech coverage, the only things that ever get covered are microsoft/apple stories, or the whole violent video games thing.

Re:I like how this is it arriving.

[GuerillaRadio]

Article about 'Augmented Reality' on Android from last year.

Re:I like how this is it arriving.

[GuerillaRadio]

Darn it, that was supposed to be a link

Re:I like how this is it arriving.

[Anonymous Coward]

True. And as I have a G1 Android, I can only say that such applications are impractical. The only one that really makes a difference is the google sky map on my android. Basic constellation recognition, friends at party willing to bet on the wrong name and that last application proved to be some fun and then just a toy to impress people who don't have yet such a phone.

Re:I like how this is it arriving.

[mdwh2]

I agree. There was a recent classic case where the BBC covered a "purity ring app" for the Iphone. All it does is display a spinning image. And they get free national advertising, thanks to the licence-funded BBC (which is supposed not to do advertising!).

I am tempted to write such an application for Windows, and ask if the BBC can give me free advertising.

And yes, it annoys me the way they give so much time to a fringe group of lobbyists complaining about violence in games. Heaven forbid what they'd do if the "controversy" came to the Iphone - it'll be the headline on the 9 o' Clock News...

OS 3.1 API in Beta

[geomobile]

This is done with an API method that is only available in iPhone OS 3.1 which is still in Beta. Consequently the App cannot be officially published in the App Store.

There'll be a whole wave of Apps using this as soon as 3.1 is finally released.

Oh, of course we're working on something, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGq69Nyi6p0. Not as fancy yet, but it has spaceships.

Re:I'll be first...

[ae1294]

Alex Trebek! You bloody wanker, it's not offtopic and I'll kick your limie ahss next time...

MIT Media Lab was trying this

[peter303]

I recall the MIT media lab doing location-sensitive overlays on video goggles (unable to find web page). These would be a lot like Google Map mashups. Having an iPhone and Google Map would simplify heir engineering- they wouldnt have to invesnt as much hardware from scratch as they did in their project.

Augmented Vision

[Kr4u53]

I keep seeing all of these articles saying that new phones are going to revolutionize the way we see things. Where is my HUD at as of now? When can I expect to have a HUD showing my health bar and ammo without having to use a phone camera to see the world instead of my own eyes?

Re: Glasses too clunky

[Anonymous Coward]

When I have an overlay display on disposable contacts, it's ready. Before then, forget it.

What?

[Anonymous Coward]

No "homersexual" tag?

Nearest?!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got no audio, and I might be wrong, but isn't that Picadilly Circus? In which case, there is a tube station a few feet from where she is standing that isn't listed......

I have this already...

[Anonymous Coward]

... on my android phone. Its called wikitude.

Only problem is that wikitude doesn't have any interesting things around my present location(s) - if only I lived a more exiting place :)

Re:I have this already...

[OutOfMyTree]

Try adding your own (hopefully factual) content at https://services.mobeedo.com/wikitude/current/

"Wiktude.me will be implemented under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License"

Killer APP is here!

[amiga3D]

I believe this might actually be enough to get me to buy an iPhone.

Re:Killer APP is here!

[OutOfMyTree]

I love my new G2 -- HTC Hero. "There's an Android app for that"

Re:Killer APP is here!

[geekoid]

There are several things like this for the G1.

Re:Killer APP is here!

[Syntroxis]

Also on the new MyTouch from T-Mobile. Android will be showing up all over the place soon.

In related news

[gmuslera]

our sources had confirmed an increase in murders in the London. All victims were blonde and with surname Connor. One of the killers, handling his brand new iPhone, commented "Target terminated"

Augmented Astronomy

[StikyPad]

The StarWalk app does this as well, albeit for astronomical rather than terrestrial objects. It's just a shame that the accuracy of the iPhone compass is so appallingly low.

From what I saw...

[bill_kress]

From what I've seen, It takes your compass heading, GPS location and combines tilt information to print text where the tube location should be.

Using the camera's current viewfor a backdrop is just a cute trick that has nothing to do with the rest of the process, but they are basing all this "Augmented Reality" discussion on that little trick.

The fact is, the iPhone has no where near the capability to dissect a picture and actually give you information on what's in it in real time--that would take some serious CPU power and a very restricted set of functionality (like just analyzing a single object like the new XBOX will).

However, it gets people thinking about possibilities and that's all that really matters.

MOD PARENT UP

[carn1fex]

This is ridiculous, my friend showed this to me on his G1 along time ago.

Re:MOD PARENT UP

[indiechild]

So instead of complaining now, why didn't you submit a Slashdot story back then?

Re:I'll be first...

[damien_kane]

"Yesh, I'm looking for a Shara Connor. Trebek'sh motheh would like to have a threeshome with her and I."

There, FTFY

There is no justice like angry mob justice...

[Anonymous Coward]

This will be fun when tied to the national registered sex offender database.

Android

[Anonymous Coward]

Somehow I think it's annoying how everytime a phone that is not the iPhone gets a new feature the news says "like the iPhone" or "unlike the iPhone". Here they could have at least mentioned that this has been available on Android for quite a while now.

Re:Android

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Phew. Everybody who watched the movie knows that Terminator was an android, not an iPhone.

... , but I just don't know why.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just take a look at all the digital lemmings who use a tomtom.

Re:Youtube Link / mirror

[NickDngr]

The BBC video doesn't seem to work for me - I think this is the same.

Yeah, but the volume control on the BBC player goes up to 11.

Why the video?

[jemenake]

I didn't watch the whole demo, but it strikes me that the integration with the video camera is pure fluff. It knows where you are through the GPS, and, when you point your phone at the ground, it uses the compass to figure out which way to point the arrows. The app, itself, does not seem to be gleaning any location/orientation info from whatever the camera is seeing. So, the camera integration is just for an interesting "backdrop" to the info... because it's more snazzy that just a black background.

And, once you realize that it's just a program that knows the GPS locations of the metro stations... there are already plenty of apps for that for any major city for the iPhone. Next contestant, please...

Terminator-vision wasn't augmented reality

[axl917]

It has been awhile, but I thought the Terminators's vision there was looking at its surroundings and providing deconstruction and analysis. i.e. The targets running away, and it sees distance, relative speed, etc... or the famous "fuck you, asshole" chosen from a list of possible responses, generated by the context of the landlord's question. Actual AR in fiction would be like the locative tech in Gibson's "Spook Country".

Was I supposed to be impressed?

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't use the camera to identify anything..Its just a cheap looking camera overlay which boils down to a gimmick better expressed on a normal map (see google earth).

When an iphone can use an IR camera to detect individuals carrying consealed weapons and automatically identify the type and characteristics of each wake me up.

Tubular?!

[Anonymous Coward]

What the heck is a tube station? I'm assuming it's a metro stop or something, but I've never heard that word.

Virtual Light!

[ekran]

This really makes me remember Virtual Light by William Gibson. YAY! Finally we have telepresence!

Bah, Terminator.

[antdude]

I want RoboCop's visual HUD. :)

Finally, a reason to get an i-Phone

[joshuao3]

Ok, this is the first app compelling enough to get me to buy an iPhone. Now, if only I live in London and paid 1/5 the rate that we pay in the US.

Terrible demo

[benwiggy]

"The page features an impressive video demonstrating AR in action."

Impressive? The demo suggests that Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street are the nearest tube stations to Piccadilly Circus. It doesn't even mention .... Piccadilly Circus.

Google Earth plug-in for air travel?

[Frobisher]

How about an "augmented reality" Google Earth plug-in that would allow you to see EXACTLY what cities you're passing over from an airplane window? (Assuming you can be using your phone up there)

Re:Google Earth plug-in for air travel?

[geekoid]

I ahve said for years that airplanes should ahve a camera pointing down that the passengers and look through. Add AR to that and it's golden.

Camera pointed up to, so you can AR varies astronomical sights.
Tie in a display of aircraft near by just for interest.

Re:Google Earth plug-in for air travel?

[vaporland]

I took my Garmin GPS on a flight a while back. It was very entertaining. My travel statistics were totally bonkers. The "car" was traveling in excess of 350MPH. I had to hold it near the window to receive a signal, but I could tell exactly which cities, towns and highways we were flying over.

For large portions of the flight, we followed interstate highways. The most fun was watching the GPS as we taxied for takeoff - it dutifully followed our path off the end of runway "to infinity and beyond."

My wife won't let me do this anymore. I tried to explain that the GPS does not transmit a signal that could interfere with the aircraft avionics - it merely receives one. She was not convinced.

!Skynet

[kale77in]

How is it that every vaguely futuristic or Orwellian article on here gets tagged "skynet"... And an practical article on building terminators doesn't?

Layar

[dsnbaka]

Check out Layar.com for a cool Android application that has the exact same vision. Their video on the site shows a demo with houses for sale in Amsterdam.

"Star Trek Com Badges" Is Here For the iPhone

[mdwh2]

The BBC is reporting that a so called augmented reality has arrived - in the UK at least. From the article: 'Via the audio function of a mobile phone's speaker it is now possible to combine regular hearing with added audio data from the phone just as the fictional Captain Picard was able to overlay his view of the world with vital information about his starship. For example, UK-firm Acrossair has launched an application for the iPhone which allows Londoners to call their nearest friend using their iPhone, and actually speak to them in real time.' The page features an impressive video demonstrating AR in action."

There..

[thexile]

That's an app for that.