This ScienceBlog article reports researchers at the University of Missouri are studying ways to integrate technology into design learning bu using 2dn Life. From the article: "Rapidly improving technology is changing everyday life for all generations. This constantly changing environment can be a difficult adjustment for older generations. However, for the current generation known as “Generation Y”, this sense of constant technology adaption isn’t an adjustment; it is a way of life. A University of Missouri researcher says a widening gap is occurring between educators and students due to the difference in how older and younger generations approach evolving technologies. Newton D’Souza, an assistant professor of architectural studies at MU, is looking for ways to move beyond traditional teaching methods and to bridge the technology gap between teachers and students.

This NewScientistTech article looks a iAPLS system: an augmented reality application for iPhone which helps the police track suspects. From the article: "PICTURE the scene: armed police officers are warned on their radios that a suspected male terrorist has been tracked to a crowded football stadium. Even with a full description, it's all but impossible to pick him out amid the match-day melee. Perhaps smartphones fed augmented reality (AR) data by the police control centre could help focus the search.

This RawReplay article includes a video of an homebrew Xbox Kinect software which integrates a 3D TV and manages shifting perspective, allowing the viewer to see a thing from all angles through physical movement alone. From the article: "Images displayed on a flat, two-dimensional screen are not 3D. Even so-called “3D” with stereoscopic glasses is not real 3D, but it’s close. “Real” 3D would require a shifting perspective, allowing the viewer to see a thing from all angles through physical movement alone.

Turns out, that’s just around the corner too, thanks to some homebrew developers and Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect camera.

This video was published to YouTube on Feb. 26, 2011. "

This Computer Vision Central article reports the new NVIDIA CUDA 4.0 toolkit includes a computer vision library. From the article: "NVIDIA announced the latest version of the NVIDIA® CUDA® Toolkit for developing parallel applications using NVIDIA GPUs.

The NVIDIA CUDA 4.0 Toolkit was designed to make parallel programming easier, and enable more developers to port their applications to GPUs. This has resulted in three main features:

NVIDIA GPUDirect™ 2.0 Technology -- Offers support for peer-to-peer communication among GPUs within a single server or workstation. This enables easier and faster multi-GPU programming and application performance.

This DailyMail article reports the Ministry of Defence unveiled its latest piece of equipment, a parachute jump simulator, which is designed to bridge the gap between dry training and live jumps. From the article: "State-of-the-art technology costing £500,000 is helping parachute troops leap into the virtual world.

The Ministry of Defence today unveiled its latest piece of equipment, which is designed to bridge the gap between dry training and live jumps.

The 'pivotal piece of equipment' will help members of the Armed Forces master the art of parachute jumping by showing them exactly what it is like lining up in the back of the plane, jumping out and landing safely.

This Los Angeles Times article reports Microsoft plans to open up its Kinect motion-sensing controller for the Xbox 360 to a wide array of engineers with the release of a Software Development Kit planned for this spring. From the article: "The Kinect SDK will be made available to noncommercial users such as enthusiasts and academic researchers.

"Microsoft's investments in natural user interfaces are vital to our long-term vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us," said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, in a company blog post. "The fruits of these research investments are manifesting across many of our products, Kinect for Xbox 360 among them."

A commercial version of the Kinect SDK is planned for a later date, Microsoft said.

This Perspectives article looks at a virtual learning environment for manufacturing engineering. From the article: "Already as an undergrad in Beirut, Ziad (the real person on the picture) was passionate about manufacturing engineering and member of the Institute of Industrial Engineers student chapter at the Lebanese American University.

Ziad came to France for his graduate studies. In September 2010 he defended his Master project at Nancy University. The project completed his Dassault Systèmes internship.

This NexGengadget.info article looks at the Situated Virtual Reality for Telerobotic Control system, developed by Stéphane Bersot, which allows an operator to control a piece of machinery in a remote location by viewing a 3D representation of the remote scene. From the article: "The cool thing about this is since you are looking at a representation of the remote location you are able to see everything at any angle you want including positions that the physical remote cameras are unable to see. There’s a bit of lag between the remote condition and the 3D model but if you aren’t performing anything that needs very fast visual feedback I can see this working very well.

This Computer Vision Central article looks at an interactive art installations made by Petronio A. Bendito that use computer vision software to analyze the motion and appearance of visitor-participants. The nstallation called Action//Musique plays music according to the visitor's movements and determines colors in a wall projection according to the visitor's clothing. Additional information can be found in a JConline article.

This EETimes Europe article looks at the VW video-based position system which determines the correct position of a projector as well as the observers relatively to the vehicle. From the article: "For the training of technical experts in the field of car service, Volkswagen increasingly employs augmented reality technologies. The digital projections enable the company to convey the complex technical inner life of the vehicles to the trainees much better than conventional methods.

The company employs a video-based position system which determines the correct position of a projector as well as the observers relatively to the vehicle. The computer-generated image is then projected precisely to the vehicle's surface; participants can see what's under the car's skin without specific data goggles.