Posts Tagged augmented reality
Hello Kitty iPod Dock
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets, iPod Gadgets on September 2nd, 2010
I can’t say that I’ve ever quite understood the Hello Kitty trend. However, I am a big believer in companies offering several docks and speakers to fit a wide range of tastes. You shouldn’t be stuck with a plain black set of speakers if you’re a pink and white fanatic. Those of you that are into Hello Kitty or have a relative that is can pick up this dock for a not too bad price.
It comes in white as well as an all over pink version. This Japanese dock has surface mounting technology and lossless energy amplication technology. It offers 360-degree sound output that’ll keep it from sounding like a novelty speaker that you just picked up because it featured your favorite cat. It quite obviously features an iPod dock, but you can also plug other audio devices in through the stereo output. You can pick one of these up for 14,800 yen or about $175.
Source: Gizmodiva
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[ Hello Kitty iPod Dock copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Hello Kitty iPod Dock
Virtual Mirror for augmented reality cosmetics
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on September 2nd, 2010
We have reported on a lot of interesting tech that begins with the mirror, such as the interactive Magic Mirror. This system called EZFace uses both mirrors and augmented reality technology.
EZFace is powered by IBM technology. Simply put, EZFace allows customers to see what makeup looks like, without having to try it on for themselves.
It begins when a customer has their picture taken in a virtual mirror, which looks like nothing more than an ordinary webcam. The customer can then scan the barcode of the specific make-up product such as foundation, mascara, and eye shadow. The program takes into account the user’s eye color, skin tone, and lighting to make an image of what the product might look when put on the face.
No more having product samplers in front of a mirror. Granted, that is probably the best way to see if make-up really works, and I don’t know what kind of margin for error this program has. After all, the program might make the cosmetics look better than they actually do. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
Still, it is a step in the right direction for digital makeovers. EZFace is currently working on expanding this idea for hair. So now you can see what the style is going to look like before it is on your head for the next month or so.
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[ Virtual Mirror for augmented reality cosmetics copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Virtual Mirror for augmented reality cosmetics
Augmented Reality Billboard shows us our ignorance
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on May 1st, 2010
I personally think that this is a terrible situation, but the people of the Netherlands have a problem with public service employees such as paramedics being attacked while doing their job.
What makes this problem even greater is those who see such crimes often do very little to stop them. I can understand why people would want to avoid being hurt, but some people who pass by such scenes don’t even bother to call for help.
There is a new public service message that involves a billboard and augmented reality technology. I’ve discussed augmented reality before, and this is the first time I have seen it used like this. Check out a video after the jump to see it in action.
What happens is that the billboard shows some studio-made footage of an assault on some paramedics, but the augmented reality adds people passing by and doing nothing. These people who are passing by are shot by hidden cameras and placed in the footage in real-time.
Talk about an object lesson! Man, if this doesn’t show people that they should get involved, I don’t know what will. I wouldn’t mind seeing this billboard outside of the Netherlands. Something like this could prevent any more Kitty Genovese cases. For those of you who aren’t aware of Kitty Genovese, she was a woman who was stabbed to death near her New York home. This incident was witnessed by thirty-eight people, and not one of them called the police.
In the video, it shows four steps of what to do if you see something in the augmented billboard. It would probably be best if we all did them. Whoa, that got preachy. Then again, it’s hard not to be preachy when talking about issues like this.
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[ Augmented Reality Billboard shows us our ignorance copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Augmented Reality Billboard shows us our ignorance
Cherry And Leather Belt Earphones
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on February 19th, 2010
These earphones don’t just have a cherry pattern printed onto them. Instead they look like cherries dangling from a stem. Of course it’s a little easier to tell what they are if you buy the maroon or bright red versions, but the other colors look good too. Thanks to one Japanese company not only can you get cherries, but Leather Belt Earphones too. Yes, they are actually shaped like the end of a leather belt. Not the side with the buckle, the one with the notches. Why? I’m really not sure.
It’s entirely possible there’s a rhyme or reason to the belt earphones, but I sincerely doubt it. Both versions of the earphones come in 4 different colors. The cherries you get white, maroon, red and light pink. Then the belt you’ll get brown, black, blue and a very strange shade of yellow. They’ll go on sale sometime in the middle of next month within Japan. At that point the Pioneer earphones will cost right around $30.
Source: Crunchgear
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[ Cherry And Leather Belt Earphones copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Cherry And Leather Belt Earphones
Nooka’s ad campaign uses augmented reality
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on February 19th, 2010
We’ve already talked about how a mirror at a Japanese store can show customers what make-up looks like without putting it on their faces.
This conceptual ad campaign from Nooka also uses augmented reality, and it shows how a watch will look like without actually wearing it.
As you can see by the video, Nooka wants to put this weird paper band in major magazines. This band is removable, and it is full of QR codes. The user puts on the band, and he or she can then go into front of a webcam and the Nooka site.
From there, far out augmented reality takes over as the user figures out what watch goes well with them. In other words, it’s augmented reality accessorizing!
I don’t really see the effect being at all realistic. I mean, it looks like the Nooka is super-imposed on the wrist like an old-school special effect. However, does it have to look that realistic?
No, this is just a way to see how something looks, which means that it doesn’t have to look all that good.
Unfortunately, my Source does not have any word on when this new ad campaign is starting, or if it is starting. However, videos like these just don’t make themselves, which means that it had to be made for a reason.
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[ Nooka’s ad campaign uses augmented reality copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Nooka’s ad campaign uses augmented reality
Japanese customers’ augmented reality mirror to see what makeup looks like without trying it on
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on February 6th, 2010
And now for another interesting application of augmented reality, and it’s pretty practical, too.
Not only that, but it is already in use. At the Takshimaya department store, there is a Digital Cosmetic Mirror that allows customers to see what make-up will look like on their face, without putting it on.
I find it hard to believe that this would work very well. I saw a similar demonstration of augmented reality at CES 2009 that allowed me to have glasses and a mustache, but it looked pretty fake. I mean, it looked like the ’stache and shades were just super-imposed there.
I can’t imagine that this Digital Cosmetic Mirror could do a good job putting makeup on a person and make it look good. However, there seems to be some sort of program that gives personal recommendations and its it put on a virtual version of makeup on your image. However, technology is getting better all the time, so who knows, maybe the augmented reality image really is what the makeup looks like.
If so, then why can’t they make augmented reality to see what clothes look like without trying them on? Hey, they could put these in clothing shops and completely remove the need for dressing rooms altogether.
Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
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Japanese customers’ augmented reality mirror to see what makeup looks like without trying it on
Vuzix 920AR augmented reality glasses
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on January 29th, 2010
Some of you might remember yesterday’s post, which showed a short film with some advanced (maybe even too advanced) augmented reality. However, at no point in the short film did we see what sort of interface the main character was wearing.
Well, if he wanted his augmented reality today, he could have probably used the Vuzix Wrap 920AR glasses. We have covered Vuzix’s products before, and their present models simply have LCDs at the eyes as well as headphones on the frames, so a user can watch their video on the road as a very private experience.
The last time we cover Vuzix and augmented reality, it was at GDC 2009. Well, they were up to some new tricks at CES 2010. Hit the jump if you want to see a video of it.
The Wrap 920AR has a camera that can capture video a 752 x 480 resolution at 60fps, and combine it with a 1504 x 480 stereoscopic 3D image. You can see on the video some guy playing some sort of game with the goggles.
You will notice the man playing the game is doing nothing but looking at a bunch of strange symbols. These are the augmented reality codes that we have seen before on other entertaining applications, and the Wrap 920AR has many uses, but we already covered that with the short film. It should be out in March, but my source doesn’t have a price.
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[ Vuzix 920AR augmented reality glasses copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Vuzix 920AR augmented reality glasses
Augmented Reality short film might be an accurate representation of the future, but I hope not.
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on January 28th, 2010
The image that you see here is from a short film called “Augmented (hyper) Reality: Domestic Robocop”. It is a short film by Keiichi Matsuda, a Masters student at the Bartlett School of Architecture in the United Kingdom. I think he deserves top marks for his effort to show us what the future could be like.
I believe that I have praised augmented reality on this blog before, I even called it the “Coolest Gadget Ever” at CES 2009. I’ve since seen many variations of it, which were mostly entertainment, save for the X-ray vision app for drivers. However, I have now seen the dark side of augmented reality, and it will hopefully never be our future.
You can watch the video of it after the jump. You will notice that the viewer is bombarded by corporate logos, that must be waved away in order to become virtual posters on the wall. The user then was able to pull up a window with a tea recipe, and the goggles, or whatever interface he was wearing, knew exactly where the ingredients were.
My source compares this concept kitchen to something out of Alice and Wonderland, but in all honesty, I would compare it to the dark cyberpunk worlds of early-nineties science fiction, like the works of William Gibson. Just imagine being bombarded with corporate ads as we go through our day. I mean, do we really want our augmented reality programs giving us an inventory of our refrigerator? In all honesty, I feel that perhaps this is the end result of augmented reality: a dumbed-down society where our interfaces are constantly telling us what to do next.
Okay, I don’t want to end this article on a negative note and claim that our humanity will be conquered by our technology. However, I think there is a limit to how much augmented reality should be used in a person’s daily life, and the main character of this short film is overdosing.
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[ Augmented Reality short film might be an accurate representation of the future, but I hope not. copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Augmented Reality short film might be an accurate representation of the future, but I hope not.
Augmented Reality could give drivers some much-needed X-ray vision
Posted by admin in Car Gadgets on January 18th, 2010
I have written several posts about Augmented Reality and how cool it is, but I’m sure that most of you are wondering what it is good for, other than some entertaining special effect.
All that is about to change as Yaser Sheikh of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has figured out a way that Augmented Reality can save lives.
Just watch the video to see what it is about, and you will see how useful AR technology could be. Haven’t you ever had to make a left turn into a blind corner? Wouldn’t it be handy if you knew that there was a car coming? An accident could be prevented.
The technology uses two cameras in order to make this X-ray vision trick possible. One camera has to be placed around the corner, and the other would have to be in the automobile that the user is driving. From there, the two images are synced together, super-imposed, and the driver can now see through walls. I am assuming that the driver wears some specialized helmet or has a display on their dashboard.
I suppose that the proper implementation of this tech could rid the world of blindsiding accidents as we know them. Howerver, using AR technology like this could flood the driver with multiple images that could make make one doubt what is reality, and what is augmented reality. Still, I think that drivers could get used to it, maybe.
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[ Augmented Reality could give drivers some much-needed X-ray vision copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Augmented Reality could give drivers some much-needed X-ray vision
SCOPE uses augmented reality to make one highly-technological kid’s game
Posted by admin in Games Gadgets on December 18th, 2009
I’m sure a lot of you are wondering what you are seeing in this picture. Don’t worry, this is not the point-of-view of a Terminator who is trying to kill John Connor, but a new way of gaming.
This is the SCOPE, a game system designed by France-based game designer Frantz Lasorne that uses augmented reality. You can see a video of it after the jump of the modded device with viewer and webcam tied together with rubberbands.
If you look closely in the picture, you can see a Lego man that is surrounded by some hexagonal piece of paper. Each of the six sides has a different augmented reality code for the user to interact with such activities like choosing a weapon.
As the video shows, the user can see in realtime a Lego toy with the chosen weapon, firing it at a bowling pin-shaped opponent. The video even shows the opponent using some sort of force field.
Clearly, this takes those little imaginary games that you played as a kid to a whole new level, doesn’t it? I suppose it would make an interesting game of Pokemon.
The technology is still in concept stage, so who knows when it will be available. Maybe they will actually have glasses like the kid is wearing in the photo when the SCOPE gets mass-produced.
SCOPE – Augmented Reality Toys.v3 from Frantz Lasorne on Vimeo.
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[ SCOPE uses augmented reality to make one highly-technological kid’s game copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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SCOPE uses augmented reality to make one highly-technological kid’s game