TEDx goes Layar augmented reality with TEDxPortraits

A couple of weeks ago we at TAB Worldmedia met this incredible creative group of people that were working on a concept called TEDxPortraits. The title of the concept alone immediately grabbed our attention. One evening we made an appointment with them to meetup at Canvas in Amsterdam to talk about their ideas. There we were introduced to @vijfke @supertaboo @ikbendAF.

TEDxPortriats is a new collaborative initiative of the three of us, @ikbendAF told us. “The concept of TEDx Ideas worth spreading immediately triggered us to come up with TEDxPortraits. We will be using this incredible camera that we got sponsored by Polaroid to make beautiful analogue sepia style pictures of keynote speakers and thought leaders. We will ask them to write their “ideas worth spreading” on the Polaroid picture. We will publish these pictures in a printed book and online version for people to see.”

As you can imagine we were totally inspired by this concept because we  believe that this is exactly the kind of storytelling idea that needs to be brought to a mobile augmented reality concept. After an inspiring talk we decided to bring the digitized Polaroids portraits to Layar so everybody that has Layar installed on their phone can view these inspiring thoughts in augmented reality.

The TEDxPortraits Layar is sposored by TABWorldmedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How it works:

1. Install Layar on your Android-, or iPhone 3Gs/4.
2. Open the Layar augmented reality browser
3. Go to search & type: TEDx
4. Open the TEDxPortraits layer & enjoy!

Open the Layar directly with this mobile link:

http://m.layar.com/open/tedxportraits

Or use this QR-code

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TABlets are the breakthrough for augmented reality in Museums.

{Blogpost by: Natural History Museum} 

The Museum’s new interactive film, Who do you think you really are? uses cutting edge technology to recreate the past and bring to life the story of evolution.

For the first time ever, you can bring a dinosaur and an early human to life before your eyes with the totally unique, state-of-the-art interactive film Who do you think you really are?, now on show in the Attenborough Studio at the Natural History Museum.

Guided by Sir David Attenborough, Who do you think you really are? uses 3 independent screens, web cams and specially designed handheld devices that allow you to take part in a virtual journey back through your evolutionary past to where extinct creatures will appear to roam around you in the studio.

Intel Labs shows how Kinect will boost augmented reality

We are among the lucky few who get lots of sneak peeks from cool tech leaders like Intel Labs. Unfortunately most of the time we are under strict NDA so we can’t share the future developments with our readers. But since there are lots of Kinect videos popping up all over the web we can finally speak freely and share some cool stuff with you.

For those that don’t know what’s going on with Microsoft Xbox Kinect… there is a true hype going on with underground hackers and tech labs like Intel Labs and Metaio that are tapping into this new technology and finding back doors to make it work in ways that will force a breakthrough for Augmented Reality to the mass.

Got your attention?

Also check out this vid. from our friends in the lab over at Metaio

Artist ‘Jan Rothuizen’ augments his art in a permanent exhibition in Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Today Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam presents an Augmented Art Exhibition by Jan Rothuizen. You might know Jan from his fantastic arworks or his famous TEDtalk in Rotterdam. Jan Rothuizen literally “walks through the World’s cities”, absorbing all of the information that the city is rubbing off on him. He describes and visualizes his walks in a unique way.

The Dutch artist who’s artworks must be amazingly inspirational to Augmented Reality fans have now been visualized in AR for the first time. We, TAB Worldmedia, were given the opportunity by Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, to work closely with Jan over the past few weeks to make sure that his artistic approach of is projected to augmented reality perfectly.

Especially for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam he spend a night, all alone, in the museum. Everything that he experienced during that night and the days before and after, Jan has visualized in artpieces that we were fortunate enough to “translate” to augmented reality. Actually it wasn’t such a hard job because Jans’ work IS augmented reality. Only it was a jewel waiting to be published in Augmented Reality…

Layar mobile augmented reality scores $14 million in funding…

Layar, creator of a mobile augmented reality (AR) platform, today announced a $14 million funding round led by Intel Capital. The Layar platform combines the location functionality and integrated camera built into many smartphones; users can view their actual surroundings through the camera, but the view is supplemented with additional visuals and data.

Although Layar emerged as a downloadable app / browser first for Google Android and later for Apple’s iPhone, calling Layar an app is incomplete. Layar is also a platform that supports informational layers of virtual data. Think of these layers like those on Google Maps: You can view or hide the traffic layer, for example. Developers can build their own layers for the Layar platform to show pictures taken nearby or where the closest ATM is.

Earlier this morning, I spoke with Layar co-founder, Maarten Lens-FitzGerald to get a sense for how the new funding will be used. “We have three main plans,” he told me over the phone. “First, we want to upgrade our infrastructure and ensure we have a good organization in place. Second, we’re looking at creating a new interface to the world. For example, how does a bookmark work in augmented reality?”

Take a virtual roadtrip with Google Streetview

Google Streetview is one of the best features that Google has been working on. The impact of this Free service on the development of the location based marketing industry is enormous. 

Offcourse when developing mobile augmented reality solutions and concepts we work a lot with Google services like streetview. For example: a cool additional feature of Tweeps Around 3D, on Layars mobile augmented reality browser, is the free usage of Google Navigation and Google Streetview. When using this feature you can get a realistic impression of the whereabouts of the Tweeps when they posted their geo-tagged messages to Twitter.

Today Google posted this awesome video of a group of people that uses Google Streetview to make a rouadtrip in the US. Enjoy and let your mind take a trip into what this can mean for creative concepts. 

Muppets use Social Augmented Reality

Just check this out…

Recon Instruments brings mobile augmented reality goggles to the slopes.

Introducing  Transcend, Recon Instruments’ collaboration with Colorado’s Zeal Optics. Transcend is the world’s first GPS-enabled goggles with a head-mounted display system.

Minimum interaction is required during use, sleek graphics and smart optics are completely unobtrusive for front and peripheral vision making it the ultimate solution for use in fast-paced environments.

H&M showcases new collection with GPS-linked augmented reality app.

Retailer H&M has debuted a virtual fashion show featuring selections from its fall/winter collection within the GoldRun application as part of the ten-year anniversary celebrations for CondeNast’s Style.com.

The H&M promotion allows iPhone users to view, interact with and take pictures of virtual H&M apparel and accessories in front of any of the fashion retailer’s 10 Manhattan locations. Users simply select the items they want to view and then capture them by snapping a picture to receive an instant 10 percent discount on any H&M purchase.

“The most innovative aspect of the H&M promotion is related to its combined use of augmented reality and GPS, and its ability to deliver an immediate, context-sensitive reward,” said Shailesh Rao, vice president of creative at GoldRun, New York.