Noah Zerkin gives AR a touch of awesomeness, with his Zerking Glove.
The low-cost data glove (under $300) allows 3D interaction with virtual objects in augmented reality (AR) environments, with accurate 1-to-1 tracking of ones entire arm from shoulder to knuckles without external reference infrastructure .
Despite all my pet peeves with all the hype surrounding AR, i’ve been lately more thoughtful of the subject and there’s a few interesting projects being hacked, like this one from @noazark, who’s looking for investors.
2009 has been abuzz with Augmented Reality, and what was once novelty is now on the verge of becoming a fad, a “Me Too” marketing strategy. As i still think there’s a lot of bright people researching new ways of interaction, here’s a short selection of videos collected in the last few months, featuring the best augmented reality examples used for marketing purposes.
Mini.de
One of the first AR examples used in advertising, by Mini.
Papervision meets FLARToolKit for a digital hologram of GE’s Smart Grid technology. Developed by North Kingdom.
Wear Your World
The Fluid Interfaces group from MIT showcased their work on a recent TED Talk, with Pattie Maes demoing the sixth sense, a step towards the ubiquitous computing vision of Mark Weiser.
Topps 3-D Live cards
One of the quickest ways for AR reaching a mainstream audience is definitely sports. With Topps 3-D Live cards by T-Immersion, you can bring life to players, with the help of a webcam.
Wikitude AR
The iPhone might get all the buzz, but one of the promising AR integrations is on Google’s Android, with Wikitude, a mobile travel guide based on location-based Wikipedia and Qype content.
A virtual toy, with their 64 page instructional manual, with all the Japanese idiosyncrasy, developed by Geisha Tokyo Entertainment.
Sekai Camera
Mainly a mobile technology, but with a promising marketing future, the Sekai Camera is a system for using online data to navigate the real-world, featured on the latest Techcrunch 50TechCrunch 50.
While this kid of experiences has all the eye-candy, the real trend that interests me is “The Internet Of Things”, with technologies like Arduino or companies like TikiTag and Violet.
For related information, check out this great resources:
Johnny Holland, about the interaction between people and products, systems or processes.
