Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Augmenting Reality With Your Mobile Phone

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the evolve-no-neck dept.

blackbearnh writes "With the release of the 3.1 iPhone OS, application developers will finally be able to develop augmented reality (AR) apps. In other words, Terminator Vision is right around the corner. O'Reilly Media recently talked to Chetan Damani, one of the founders of Acrossair, about how they developed their new AR application, Nearest Tube, which displays the closest London Tube stations over a live video overlay on an iPhone 3GS. According to Damani, developing AR applications on the 3GS is dead easy, and the real trick will be developing good augmented reality apps. 'It's all about who's going to have the most amount of data and the most valid data. So there's the obvious types of apps which you're going to launch and those are the find me my nearest bar, find me my nearest event, find me the nearest tube stop, find me the nearest ATM. And those sorts of apps are all going to be around. But they're only going to be useful for when you're trying to look for things. So if we want to get users to use augmented reality a little bit more, we have to start introducing other bits of functionality, things like show me the offers available in a particular high street. Show me when I'm walking down a high street if there's a table available at a particular restaurant. And it's that sort of interactivity and providing that real-time data in this augmented reality view which is going to start getting people to use it a lot more rather than just for show me where the nearest area is.'"

111 comments

  1. MOAR! MOAR! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More stories about Terminator Vision! MOAR! If you don't have an iPhone, no point in reading Slashdot!

  2. what we need by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Great! Just what we need! More ways people can walk around staring at a device in their hands while being utterly oblivious to their surroundings. And yet this is all about informing them of their surroundings. Oh, the irony...

    --
    This guy's the limit!
    1. Re:what we need by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Funny

      Great! Just what we need! More ways people can walk around staring at a device in their hands while being utterly oblivious to their surroundings. And yet this is all about informing them of their surroundings. Oh, the irony...

      I enjoy driving while looking through Terminator Vision on my iPhone. I have an app that tells me the year, make and model of the vehicle I'm about to make contact with. Then I use my iGun application to finish them off.

      --
      My work here is dung.
    2. Re:what we need by KingSkippus · · Score: 2, Funny

      Great! Just what we need! More ways people can walk around staring at a device in their hands while being utterly oblivious to their surroundings. And yet this is all about informing them of their surroundings. Oh, the irony...

      Sounds to me like a great AR app. You walk around with your iPhone in front of you, and periodically, a message flashes up that says something like, "Move, dumbass, you're about to hit something."

    3. Re:what we need by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I look at it somewhat differently: It's going to be hilarious.

      People holding up their iPhone's looking for a subway or resturant.
      People staring down at their phone texting somebody.
      People lying on the ground trying to get upskirt photos.
      People flailing their arms around in circles, hitting anyone in reach, trying to use body language whilst talking through a bluetooth headset.

      The rest of the world trying to take videos of all that and uploading them to YouTube.

      What ever happened to our jet packs?

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:what we need by lawnboy5-O · · Score: 1

      So my eyes, ears, and nose don't do that already?

      I'd be more apt to have the app recognize the face of the people around and discretely let me know what i am not perceiving already with my uber-human sensory organs. Like understand the turkey quotient of someone's flatulence, or the true emotion - as opposed to the deceiving portrayal of one - sneaking around in the salesmen inflections of speech that can not be perceived by the human ear.

      The real scary part about this effort is these ARE the tools that will enable more big brother bantering and espionage.

    5. Re:what we need by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      I'd be more interested in hearing what the hell a 'nearest tube' is?? Are these internet tubes someone is trying to find with an iPhone?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    6. Re:what we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      can't wait for the AR face-to-face video chat!

    7. Re:what we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I'm pretty sure that tube means subway station, thats what they call it in england. They also make sure to tell you to "MIND THE GAP", which means to look out for the space inbetween the train and the station, but for some reason people have started putting it on underwear.

    8. Re:what we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People flailing their arms around in circles, hitting anyone in reach, trying to use body language whilst talking through a bluetooth headset.

      I've often observed that in New York, it's now very difficult to tell the difference between someone using a bluetooth headset and a crazy person. They have very similar one-sided conversations.

    9. Re:what we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If this is what they mean by "augmented reality" then I must confess I am singularly unimpressed. Every single use case discussed in the summary is done better and much quicker with a simple top down map/gps interface like Google Maps.

      Until an AR interface can be embedded into your full field of view such as in a pair of eyeglasses or a retina projector, it will be little more than a crude toy. This will be something worth paying attention to when I can use it for a real life ad blocker where billboards turn up looking like trees and my house looks like a middle ages castle, or I can be working on my car and the display will respond to what I'm doing and overlay a 3D image of how the parts are supposed to fit together directly over what I'm doing, i.e. actually augment my reality in a meaningful and useful way.

      Wake me up in about 20 years.

    10. Re:what we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ever since Apple announced their Amazing New Buttonless iPod Shuffle I've waited for somebody to make a commercial that shows a person flailing around like an idiot, trying to make their PMP do what they want.

      The commercial opens with a series of dance music videos. Each time the dancers make a sudden move, it skips to the next video. One video includes a triplet beat and it goes back to the previous video.

      The commercial cuts to a street scene with no music, just street sounds. A man on one side of the street flailing around and randomly clicking the headphone remote. Across the street are two people sitting on a bench and staring at him like he's as crazy as he looks. "Must be the new iPod Shuffle," one comments.

      The two then put on headphones, simultaneously press play on their PMPs, and music starts up.

      Tagline: "Buttons. Simple. Functional."

      Cut back to the man with the Shuffle. He taps out F-U in morse code, and we hear a good old Star Trek "Self destruct sequence activated."

      I could work in advertising...if I didn't have a soul.

    11. Re:what we need by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      So my eyes, ears, and nose don't do that already?

      "You damn kids with your iPhones and Androids. Back in my day, we had to actually use our eyes, ears, and nose to avoid walking into things or getting run over!

      Now get the hell of my lawn!"

    12. Re:what we need by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      I use my Iphone-like device to "augment" my reality with auditory information received as if by magic from someone not in the same room for me, which is then transmitted directly into my ear. The device features voice-control, to allow me to respond to the other person merely by speaking.

      I haven't seen this on Slashdot yet - maybe we'll get a story when it's On Your Iphone.

    13. Re:what we need by bluesatin · · Score: 1

      People lying on the ground trying to get upskirt photos.

      I wear a kilt, you insensitive clod!

  3. Not Sure by parallel_prankster · · Score: 1

    With Apple's current attitude acting as a moderator for all apps and trying best not to anger anybody, I wonder how any of the above dreams will be realized. So someone makes an app for showing which restaurant has available seating. Next day restaurant sues apple for some privacy invasion crap. Next thing apple pulls app down.

    1. Re:Not Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surely any app that can reliably tell you whether there's seating available would have to tie into the restaurant's booking systems.

    2. Re:Not Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Duh!!!

  4. Wouldn't a map suffice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the features mentioned in the summary would work as well when shown on a map. What they're talking about is not really augmented reality, I've seen way cooler stuff (like people selecting an advertisement and blocking it from view). You only need the camera when you get the kind of precision that you can say "Aim the camera at the hotel, and I'll show you behind which windows are free rooms."

    1. Re:Wouldn't a map suffice? by fastest+fascist · · Score: 1

      And, of course, the logical conclusion: porn-o-vision. "Aim the camera anywhere and I'll show you people fucking.

  5. similar to this... by networkz · · Score: 1

    http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/06/24/160204

    1. Re:similar to this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AH, i was going to post about this and AR games on mobiles in general.
      It is so much fun playing AR mobile games, there was a cracker of one that was featured on The Gadget Show in the UK earlier in the year (if i remember correct)

      It gets you out and about, you get to explore your town, nearby towns if you really want to, or even another country.
      It literally is an IRL MMO game.
      You don't even need to build a game world either, you just use real map data and GPS, place some game stuff around the place (like items, quest points), mash them together and instant game.

      Almost makes me wonder why more companies haven't made AR goggles for gaming in general.
      AR tennis anyone? Or how about AR baseball? AR FPS? Never have to hide a paintball bruise ever again.
      Who knows, maybe this is the right time?

  6. Awesome! by Joe+Snipe · · Score: 1

    It's like the slashdot tag system for your neighborhood! What could be better?

    --
    Sometimes, life itself is sarcasm...
  7. Re:MOAR! MOAR! by localman57 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, Slashdot is on the verge of releasing their own augmented-reality iPhone app.
    It will use the camera to visually assess the person you're talking to. Using various AI and fuzzy-logic techniques, it will assess the things the person most likely feels self-conscious about that day.
    It will then use the 3g to access a database of previous slashdot comments, and suggest 10 appropriately snarky things to say.

  8. Impressive. by Rhaban · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now iphones will have the same crappy apps android phones have had for months. totally worth the front page.

    1. Re:Impressive. by Tyr_7BE · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's news when something is invented that runs on a smart phone. And then it's news all over again when Apple copies it. I'll never understand that.

    2. Re:Impressive. by zary · · Score: 1

      One word helped me understand: Fanboys Especially with the app store, the idea had already existed for a long time, but pretty much wasn't used. Somehow, when apple comes out with something innovative, all previous existences of the same idea are wiped from the collective puiblic's mind, much like 1984, but controlled by a corporation and not the government. Nokia had an app store for a long time, t-mobile had T-zones, and there were probably others that i dont know about, including nintendo's online store(even though its not mobile). The way i see it, apple took Nintendo's online store (because it was the best) and put it on a phone with a touchscreen, which wasn't an original idea from apple either.

    3. Re:Impressive. by zary · · Score: 1

      Oh, sorry, i forgot one thing: people have made AR apps for java-enabled phones since before android. There's even a really fun tower defence that i play on my E71x

  9. Also avaliable for Symbian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ARound is also now availiable for newer Symbian/S60 device which does something similar but for twitter and wikipedia
    There is a video over at youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HvTTFuVmSc&feature=player_embedded)

  10. Already on Android? by abies · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://layar.com/press-release-layar-reality-browser-announces-global-launch-and-new-features-in-the-latest-release/

    It seems that Android already got something from the next generation of AR applications (multi-topic, interactive). They hope to port it to iPhone soon. It looks to be considerably more advanced compared to what is given in original story.

    1. Re:Already on Android? by Rhaban · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wikitude, while not as advanced as layar, is available since october 2008 with similar features.

    2. Re:Already on Android? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but that's nowhere near as glossy and trendy as the iPhone, so that doesn't count.

      Stupid iPhone. *grumble* I loves me trusty G1.

    3. Re:Already on Android? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just modded you up and grabbed layar. HOLY CRAP! Thanks for the link!

      Can't wait until I can get this in a contact lens. Rainbow's End here we come!

      rf

    4. Re:Already on Android? by pwfffff · · Score: 1

      Android? Is that like some kind of new iPhone prototype?

    5. Re:Already on Android? by nloop · · Score: 1

      http://slashdot.org/submission/1057877/Augmented-Reality-browser-goes-global

      Yeah, I posted that when it went live. Apparently it wasn't cool enough then and was declined. When put more in iPhoney terms it becomes MUCH cooler, even though it doesn't exist yet.

  11. Think of the possibilities! by Flea+of+Pain · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just whip out my phone and BAM! There's the nearest drug dealer. BAM! There's the nearest hooker! BAM! There's the cops, with a red outline so you know they are baddies. I think I could get used to this...

    --
    Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
    1. Re:Think of the possibilities! by gnick · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, even though you might be a way from finding hookers and blow (I assume those apps would be invite only), there are already apps for identifying speed traps and DUI check-points. The cops (for some reason) have been whining about them.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:Think of the possibilities! by Pulse_Instance · · Score: 1

      If they're complaining about them maybe they should stop posting the locations.

    3. Re:Think of the possibilities! by StreetStealth · · Score: 1

      (I assume those apps would be invite only)

      Given the rigors of the App Store approval process, there would have to be some kind of pretext to the app, like a "social AR friend locator." Perhaps then, from within the app's network, invite-only social networks could be built and expand, with users "recommending" other users to each other, then seeking them out. Users could post statuses, used in this case to say what they have in stock... Hey, real-life AR Dope Wars!

      --
      Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
    4. Re:Think of the possibilities! by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      This would be pretty cool if it generated a wire frame box that changed in size in relation to how far away it was from you. The next step with this sort of software is to have it find 10 distinct points on the video feed, and keep the (whats the noun here? "targeted location"?) tube station, pizza shop or whatever in direct relation to the video, rather than having the lag of constantly polling the GPS + magnetic compass, leaving the targeted location lagging badly behind the video on a seperate layer which makes this (admittedly cool) tech demo seem very tragically alpha.

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    5. Re:Think of the possibilities! by Animaether · · Score: 1

      I think they may be complaining more about the DUI ones than the speed trap ones. I'm sure it depends on locale, though.

      They post them in NL as well - mostly - and there's services on radio and on the web where you can get the locations that are spotted by other drivers, load them onto your TomTom, etc. etc. the cops don't really care much as it means that people -will- slow down in those areas... which would have been the general point anyway (not to make more moneys; if they wanted that, I can point them to 4 intersections in the area where they could ticket several thousand bicyclists at E90 (~$120) each day. That'll add up a heck of a lot quicker than the hand full of people that get ticketed speeding.

      I reckon it's a bit of a test, really. If you get ticketed speeding - hooray, you failed the "Are you smart enough to check for speed traps?"-test. ( The alternative - not speeding in the first place - is impossible to discuss on /. ;) )

      But DUI... do you really need some drunktard (yeah, I don't care if you think you can drive like Schumacher at the peak of his career when you've downed 8 beers, nor does the law - quit whining, pay the fine, and work to get the law changed if you feel so strongly about the injustice of a fixed blood alcohol level as the guideline) getting a notification saying "DUI test in 5km" and change from the highway through a residential area, etc. just so they can evade it?
      ( Cue the "That's why they shouldn't DUI test at all - it just invokes such dangerous behavior!" responses.. *sigh* )

    6. Re:Think of the possibilities! by S3D · · Score: 1

      This would be pretty cool ... find 10 distinct points on the video feed, and keep the (whats the noun here? "targeted location"?) tube station, pizza shop or whatever in direct relation to the video, rather than having the lag of constantly polling the GPS + magnetic compass, leaving the targeted location lagging badly behind the video

      Actually what you are describing is the definition of augmented reality according to Azuma - "registration in 3d"
      This GPS and compass thingie is kind of self-proclaimed AR, and sadly this understanding of AR as anything overlaid on a video and loosely attached to location substitute now Azuma definition. Azuma definition was even purged from wikipedia.

    7. Re:Think of the possibilities! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I just whip out my phone and BAM!

      Someone has just stolen your phone. Unlucky dude.

    8. Re:Think of the possibilities! by maxume · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure the checkpoints are worth it (but that doesn't say anything regarding how I feel about traffic stops for errant driving).

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  12. How often do you post this story on slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is at least the second time that this story has been posted here.

    1. Re:How often do you post this story on slashdot? by Ultra64 · · Score: 1

      A dupe? On Slashdot?!! NO WAY

    2. Re:How often do you post this story on slashdot? by wjsteele · · Score: 1

      To me, what is amazing is that CmdrTaco did it himself!!! Now, I must admit, since the buyout, I personally think he was actually replaced with a robot anyway. ;-)

      Bill

      --
      It's my Sig and you can't have it. Mine! All Mine!
  13. I think I know somebody... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    who would pay good money for a find the nearest open manhole app.

  14. Beating MSFT to the punch! by SixDimensionalArray · · Score: 1

    Microsoft demonstrated a similar application at CES 2008, although they called it "software camera recognition" (Bill Gates in fact did the demo at the keynote). There are pictures at Engadget

    Looks like Apple and the iPhone are beating them to the punch for RTM!

    SixD

  15. Re:MOAR! MOAR! by gnick · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It will then use the 3g to access a database of previous slashdot comments, and suggest 10 appropriately snarky things to say.

    I'd be happy if it would just keep track of their (personally tailored) karma status. If a Jehova's Witness shows up at my door and my head's-up display says DFTT, it would save me about an hour a month. (Not that I don't enjoy feeding the trolls, it's just not productive).

    Additionally, if I'm looking at some building/statue/whatever and somebody walks up with a comment that I interpret as 50% BS/50% Insightful and has 'Super-kadooper-excellent-karma' floating above his head, I may actually listen to what he has to say.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  16. memevision by rarel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Frankly could we stop with this stupid "Terminator Vision" meme? I understand it's an easy simile to make for the masses but until we have our phone chips embedded in the brain, just looking at the stuff makes it clear as day that it's nowhere near as advanced as it sounds, it's just a stupid way to advertise the stuff...

    1. Re:memevision by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      And anyway, who wants to be continuously reviewing the same 6502 Read/Write Track Sector assembly code over and over again?

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    2. Re:memevision by snspdaarf · · Score: 1

      What if we could bluetooth it to a display on the inside of your glasses? I know people that have the bluetooth aware sunglasses for audio, why not video as well? That might get me interested enough in the phone to buy one.

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    3. Re:memevision by Plekto · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Frankly could we stop with this stupid "Terminator Vision" meme? I understand it's an easy simile to make for the masses but until we have our phone chips embedded in the brain, just looking at the stuff makes it clear as day that it's nowhere near as advanced as it sounds, it's just a stupid way to advertise the stuff...

      I agree somewhat, but it's not going to be long before you can get essentially an iPhone in a pair of sunglasses or a device that does this sort of information overlaying. Of course the first application will probably be language translation.

    4. Re:memevision by GenP · · Score: 1

      3Mbps doesn't buy you a lot of video. You can just barely do 640x480x30FPS over USB2.0 if you JPEG it first.

    5. Re:memevision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean: I agree somewhat, but it's not going to be long before you can get essentially a phone in a pair of sunglasses or a device that does this sort of information overlaying.

      It might be an iPhone, it might not.

  17. My App Master Plan by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    I plan to write an app that shows you guard positions in a prison - then I simply send out cakes with iPhones baked in to inmates across the land, and wait for the $999 purchases to start rolling in.

    It brings Jailbreaking to a whole new level!

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:My App Master Plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Make sure you also set the ringtone to a suitable track.

    2. Re:My App Master Plan by CannonballHead · · Score: 1

      For a minute, I thought you were going to say "cakes with files baked in them" in the fashion of Monkey Island's cake that Guybrush gets from Otis...

    3. Re:My App Master Plan by mjwx · · Score: 1

      I plan to write an app that shows you guard positions in a prison - then I simply send out cakes with iPhones baked in to inmates across the land, and wait for the $999 purchases to start rolling in.

      Your plan is fail.

      Unless you can take payment in cigarettes.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  18. The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by LibertineR · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I want an app that tells me in real time, how long the line is at the closes In n Out Burger, knows all the archane jargon to help me order my Double-Double(s) with grilled onions, and tells me exactly WHEN I should drive over to collect it. I want it smart enough to send me video of the hot, big chested chick with the clipboard, for when the line gets too long, and NOT send video when the ugly fat chick is out there sweating in the sun, baby!

    Oh, and I need it for a BLACKBERRY, fuckers.

    1. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by Minwee · · Score: 1

      order my Double-Double(s) with grilled onions

      I'm hoping this is just a language barrier at work, but why would you want to order your coffee with two sugars, two creams and grilled onions in it?

    2. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

      Double Double probably means 4 meat patties on the burger. Which is frightening. /american, but don't live within 1000 miles of an in-and-out

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    3. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

      Blackberry is for old people.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by LibertineR · · Score: 1
      Did the word BURGER escape you?

      For those of you who dont know what an In n Out Burger Double-Double is, it is simply the most delicious cheeseburger you can find for the money. I realize that 99 percent of the world does not live or work near an In n Out Burger location, but that is your unfortunate problem.

    5. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by Maniacal · · Score: 1

      Actually, a double-double is just a double burger with 2 slices of cheese. You're describing the "Monster" which is 4x4. Not on the menu but they'll know what you mean. Oh, and grilled onions are a must.

      --
      MG
    6. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by maxume · · Score: 1

      The first hint that he wasn't ordering a coffee was that he was asking for something in it.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    7. Re:The Killer App? In-n-Out Burger, baby. by Minwee · · Score: 1

      Most people in the civilized world order their double-double at a doughnut shop. That doesn't mean it isn't coffee either.

  19. Re:MOAR! MOAR! by localman57 · · Score: 1

    I don't know about that whole karma thing. But my iPhone says you shouldn't wear those black shoes with your brown belt.

  20. 1% of what AR actually is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    What Apple and the new iPhone lets you do is to augmented reality what jumping from a high place is to flying.

    Apple still completely locks access to the video. So basically, it allows you to display something over the video, yay! But there is absoolutely no tracking possible, the information most of those AR applications use tends to mostly be limited to compass or GPS. The nearest subway application fore example just uses GPS and gyroscope information to print an arrow over your video, but it is as much AR as what the google maps application already provided. The video is just a ice animated background, but provides zero information, the application works EXACTLY the same way with your finger on the camera lens.

    More interesting tracking or "Terminator Vision" would require Apple to allow you to actually access the video data for any kind of post-processing treatment to occur, which they're still blocking so far. So if you want to see some augmented reality, i'd watch towards Android rather than Apple, whose SDK and appstore policies are starting to become more than a little tiresome.

    1. Re:1% of what AR actually is. by StreetStealth · · Score: 1

      There are several APIs that I can't see any reason for Apple not to make public apart from simply wanting to get them right on the first try. Along with real-time bitmap data from the camera is the calendar. It's kind of silly that apps can't add an entry to your schedule right now, but I think it's only a matter of time until Apple has this stuff stable and ready to set loose with developers.

      --
      Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
    2. Re:1% of what AR actually is. by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      Apple still completely locks access to the video. So basically, it allows you to display something over the video, yay! But there is absoolutely no tracking possible, the information most of those AR applications use tends to mostly be limited to compass or GPS.

      ARtoolkit on iPhone. Still unreleased I think, but it's starting to look good. IDK about the whole locked video stream deal... this seems to contradict your statement. Jailbreak?
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M-oAmBDcZk

      It seems like the biggest technical hurdle at this point is natural feature recognition. I know that it's working to a point with printed material, but that's a far cry from recognizing a person, building, mountain range, etc...

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
  21. New App for Augmented Reality Released! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    SiGNS.

    Apple announced that they have patented a fully integrated Augmented Reality device for 2009, SiGNS.

    "SiGNS will revolutionize the way we live by displaying pertinent information to the use about a local area." claims technological wizzkids at Apple.

    SiGNS can be made from almost anything, opening potential for new and old businesses. Apple claims that creative individuals will be able to make their own SiGNS for free to advertise their own services, or to simple shout out to the world.

    Need money for drugs or hookers? A SiGN can tell the world.

    Businesses will be able to directly advertise to people in the local area. Users can see if stores are offering sales, look at local restaurants, even find bathrooms, tube stations, or police and medical help.

    SiGNS can easily be made multilingual. In fact, some signs can be made in such a way to be universal among users.

    "We think SiGNS are going to change your life"

    1. Re:New App for Augmented Reality Released! by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 1

      SiGNS, SiGNS, everywhere are SiGNS. Fucking up the scenery, breaking my mind...

    2. Re:New App for Augmented Reality Released! by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      Apple claims that creative individuals will be able to make their own SiGNS for free

      Ah, you had me going until this bit - for free? Not for "only $99", which will then need Apple approval to see whether you're allowed to put up your SiGNS?

  22. Not an Englishman... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "...find me the nearest tube stop..."

    It's Tube STATION, not Tube STOP!

    If you want to sound like a native, you'll have to do a lot better than that....

  23. What we need by elsJake · · Score: 1

    Computing power is not a problem anymore , what we need is an unobtrusive and decent resolution head mounted display. Until we have that these applications are nice and fun , no-matter the platform they run on , but they're really not all that useful. Maybe adapt one for a car windshield HUD. It's already possible to apply a semi reflecting foil to the windshield and have a screen beneath it project real time data on it.

  24. The voyeur app by RemoWilliams84 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Show me which of these girls in skirts isn't wearing underwear.

    Then, show me where to hide so I can take pics with my iPhone.

    --
    "I don't have to think. I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news." - Meat Puppets
    1. Re:The voyeur app by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Show me which of these girls in skirts isn't wearing underwear.

      Ahem. It's much more fun to discover that without a app. Trust me on this one.

  25. why can't I post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why do none of my slashdot posts show up?

    1. Re:why can't I post by megamerican · · Score: 1

      Because you are not really Anonymous Coward, but an imposter!

      --
      If you have something that you dont want anyone to know, maybe you shouldnt be doing it in the first place -Eric Schmidt
  26. Going to augment my foot up your ass by synthesizerpatel · · Score: 1

    'Augmented reality' has now replaced _ZIf1WelcomeOverlords as the cliche that'll get you punched in the face if you say it near me before I've had my coffee.

    1. Re:Going to augment my foot up your ass by fred+fleenblat · · Score: 1

      whew, for a minute there I thought I was in gdb again.

  27. dup by Wannabe+Code+Monkey · · Score: 2

    "Terminator Vision" Is Here For the iPhone

    "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."

    http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/08/11/1442239

    You're EDITORS! So start EDITING!

    --
    We always knew Comcast was corrupt, here's the proof: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1909890&cid=34545432
  28. Finally? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So 'developers' can now build augmented reality apps because the iPhone has now got these amazing features?

    I guess they couldn't possibly have developed something like Wikitude or Layar for commercially available developer-friendly handsets before the iPhone suddenly had these great abilities, right?

  29. Kids from Planet Oblivious by Animats · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People on phones are bad enough, but I've noticed that a significant fraction of young kids, mostly boys, seem to have zero situational awareness outside of a wedge about 90 degrees wide in front of them.

    I notice this because I have horses. Parents are always bringing kids to horse barns. Usually, the girls are interested in the horses, and the boys would rather be playing a video game. Some have portable games with them. In a busy, working stable, there are people leading and riding horses all over the place. Occasionally there's a loose horse (not a big deal; they'll head for their friends or food). Some awareness of large, moving, three quarter ton animals is needed to survive, or at least not to tie up traffic. I've had kids not notice when a horse came up behind them, clicking steel shoes on cement. I've seen horses, being careful of the kids, trying to get them to move out of the way. Some kids don't notice a horse breathing down their neck, literally. (To a horse, breathing down your neck is a polite hello. A nudge with the nose from behind is a demand for attention comparable to yelling at someone. People who still don't get it will usually be shouldered aside if the horse really wants to get through.)

    How will these kids ever survive a bad neighborhood or heavy traffic? Will they need a heads-up display with a tail warning system, like fighter aircraft?

    1. Re:Kids from Planet Oblivious by rgviza · · Score: 1

      I've seen adults with the same problem. I think you mean "People" from planet oblivious. I ride my bike in the park for exercise. I had one guy that was walking toward me, facing me turn right into my bike. Then there are the crowds that take up the entire 12 foot wide path walking side by side towards you, and can't give you 2 feet to get by. Then at the last second they are surprised and jump out of the way.

      Based on personal experience, at least 30% of people are dangerously oblivious.

      Sorry but I pay taxes, I'm entitled to 2 feet of path out of 12, especially when there's a perfectly good walking path right next to the bike path.

      They come in all shapes and sizes and most of these people aren't playing a DS while being oblivious. I wish the world was a little crueler. They'd be dead by now due to natural selection instead of being in our way and maybe the oblivious gene would die out. It's funny but the inconsiderate and oblivious genes seem to be in the same set of people. Maybe they are related.

      --
      Don't kid yourself. It's the size of the regexp AND how you use it that counts.
    2. Re:Kids from Planet Oblivious by chochos · · Score: 1

      Sadly, some great thinkers would die off as well, presumably well before they could reproduce.

      --
      Go hug some trees.
    3. Re:Kids from Planet Oblivious by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      It's a feature, not a bug - the parents have just fitted their children with a more technological version of blinkers.

    4. Re:Kids from Planet Oblivious by maxume · · Score: 1

      I am a reasonably solid 6 feet 210 pounds. It is a regular feature of crowds that I have to adjust to avoid knocking puny people around. It has nothing to do with them being kids or playing video games, not paying attention is simply a feature of many people.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  30. RJDJ has been around a bit... by moxley · · Score: 1

    I've had an app for a while that I use sometimes that provides an augmented reality experience; it's called "RJDJ Album" and it's pretty cool in that you fire it up and put on your headphones, and it's got several different "tracks" which are actually different audio filters and effects set up in a way to provide extremely cool, rhythmic and interesting "music" out of whatever the microphone picks up.

    It may sound like something only a stoner would love, and it's definitely got that going for it - but it actually is a lot cooler and more fun then you might imagine. All of the "tracks" are different and many of them, instead of just being trippy or weird actually do create a sort of song - and it's never the same thing; some of them are very complex and rhythmic and sound like they could be off of an Aphex Twin album or something.

    The instant art aspect of it is really cool - it would be interesting to see something visual that works in a similar way....

  31. iPhone App "Nearest Tube" by jokewallpaper · · Score: 1

    If "Nearest Tube" told me where the closest TV set was I would buy it in a second.

  32. Android have problem of it's own by S3D · · Score: 2, Informative

    You can't have non-trivial mobile video tracking in java - I mean anything more than unstable tracking of single rectangle. Android native code kit - NDK have some promise, but camera class access still not officially supported in NDK. As I understand you can still use it, unofficially, but you can have unofficial access to camera API in iPhone as well.

    1. Re:Android have problem of it's own by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      "[...] you can have unofficial access to camera API in iPhone as well."

      Unless you actually want to sell your App. When you submit it, you'll get the little note back from Apple saying that you cannot use undocumented APIs.

    2. Re:Android have problem of it's own by sashako · · Score: 1

      It's not possible with J2ME (I've tried last summer with N82 and failed exactly as you've described. But Android is different story. Now I can do complex tracker-less recognition once every second while simultaneously rendering 3D scene on top of camera output and processing user input with 20FPS. All in Android Java. Should be even better with NDK. P.S. Your tower defence game is great, I have it on my cell since it was released first :) http://vivifypicture.com/

  33. Battery power is still a problem by Colin+Smith · · Score: 1

    Which makes CPU power a problem...

    Good luck with your truck battery.

    --
    Deleted
  34. how about accessibilty augmentation? by two+basket+skinner · · Score: 1

    Play captions/subtitles while in a movie theatre. Speech to text for the hearing impaired. Camera zoom for those with bad eyes.

  35. Been there, done that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With the release of the 3.1 iPhone OS, application developers will finally be able to develop augmented reality (AR) apps

    I've been playing with AR stuff on Symbian for years, oh I remember now iPhone + existing variants of technology = new and innovative

  36. Exciting possibilities for hacking by parallel_prankster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Imagine all the possibilities for hacking this AR system can provide!! How about sending everyone in the area to the same restaurant by showing them empty seats ? How about sending people in the wrong buses ?what about leading people to a dark corner of the street so they can be mugged ? The security questions that this can raise are enormous !

  37. Cool by 4D6963 · · Score: 1

    You know what would be a cool? An augmented reality iPhone app for snipers that detects the source of gunfires (possibly from the data given from an already existing such system) and overlays them.

    This being said, it now seems obvious that this augmented reality thing is going to get big within the next few years. Regular GPS on your phone is nice, but sometimes when you reach your destination you can't actually see where you're supposed to go. Things like AR would make it more obvious. I also can't wait the AR apps that will show people in the streets as naked, or even AR games that will take place in the outside. So it sounds to me like we'd better get used to people holding their phones in front of their face.

    --
    You just got troll'd!
  38. Spook Country by William Gibson by __aagmrb7289 · · Score: 1

    This reminds me of the VR stuff that Gibson was talking about in Spook Country. Basically, combining GPS and VR, "artists" are able to create "channels" that "augment reality" so that you can see something interesting, depending on where you were. For example, one "artist" created a work that showed River Phoenix face down where he died that you could only see standing in front of the door to that club. It seems kind of cool to me, though obviously fraught with problems.

    1. Re:Spook Country by William Gibson by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      Vernor Vinge's book Rainbows End is probably the best description of a world with ubiquitous AR. It's also a great story.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
  39. Back in my day it was just called a by geekoid · · Score: 1

    reality distortion field.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  40. WTF by Alarindris · · Score: 1

    Is a tube station??

    1. Re:WTF by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Is a tube station??

      A station on the London underground railway

      Wikipedia is your friend.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  41. No, it's the Augmented Reality Distortion Field by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

    If this is what they mean by "augmented reality" then I must confess I am singularly unimpressed. Every single use case discussed in the summary is done better and much quicker with a simple top down map/gps interface like Google Maps.

    But it's not On Your Iphone! That's what makes it augmented reality - because a feature that's been commonly available for years is "augmented" with the reality distortion field. TFS must have missed a bit off - it's "Augmented Reality Distortion Field", something that no other phones have.

  42. Re:My App Master Plan - SPOILER!! by Wizworm · · Score: 1

    ..."cakes with files baked in them" in the fashion of Monkey Island's cake that Guybrush gets from Otis...

    SPOILER!! Thanks for ruining that for the rest of us

    --
    I always thought of Creationism as the Raving Right's version of the Loony Left's Anthropogenic Global Warming-brightmal
  43. Been augmenting for years by Boawk · · Score: 1

    I've been augmenting reality for years with my mobile phone--just dropping it down the front of my shorts. For an added bonus, set your ring to vibrate. Ah, for the days of the old brick phone.

  44. Palm app has been doing this a few years now. by Polo · · Score: 1

    This palm-based augmented reality game has been out for many years (since early 2007)

    http://www.toyspring.com/arcade/index.php

  45. Killer App for Virtual Display Headsets? by severn2j · · Score: 1

    If this takes off then I expect virtual display headsets like in the link below will become very popular...

    http://www.gizmag.com/golden-i-headset/11666/

    I cant really see this being usable without something like this..