Augmented Reality

This Escapist article reports japanese researchers have successfully made a device that can change the flavor of a plain cookie to just about anything. From the article: "The future of augmented reality is in pastries that can taste like other pastries.

I had always thought that virtual reality devices would someday be used to make us think we could travel to unimaginable worlds through the depths of time and space. We haven't gotten there yet, but we're making progress through pastry. Japanese researchers have successfully made a device that can change the flavor of a plain cookie to just about anything.

This ZDNet Emerging Tech article reports GM has developed a working heads-up display that turns an ordinary windshield into an augmented reality information dashboard. From the article: "Over the past ten years, General Motors has poured over $11 million into a research partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, and there are signs that the relationship is bearing fruit.

The human/machine interface department at GM has developed a working heads-up display that turns an ordinary windshield into an augmented reality information dashboard.

This Physorg.com article reports "NEC and Brother are both developing wearable prototype devices that use Retinal Imaging Display (RID) technology to project images directly on the wearer's retina. NEC's gadget is designed to interpret foreign languages and project a translation onto the retina, making it possible to have a conversation without an interpreter. Brother's device will project images of documents, allowing the wearer to read them in complete privacy.

From this Science Daily article: " "Augmented reality" involves mixing the real world with computer-generated images. The result is a kind of visual Walkman. Jurjen Caarls developed a prototype, which is the subject of a doctoral dissertation that he recently defended at Delft Univesity of Technology (The Netherlands).

One example of augmented reality is a special helmet, in which images are projected into the wearer’s eyes, thereby creating the illusion that these images are part of reality. It is as if extra elements are being added to reality.

This Science Daily article reports how a "visual time machine" offers tourists a momentary view of the past combining augmented reality (AR) content with location awareness on mobile devices. From the article: "A ruined temple, ancient frescos and even a long-dead king have been brought to life by a “visual time machine” developed by European researchers.

The 2nd International Workshop on Blending Physical and Digital Spaces on the Internet will be held in conjunction with the Future Internet Symposium 2009, September 1-3, in Berlin. From the OneSpace 2009 website: "One of the most important effects of the Internet and of the Web has been to relax spatial and temporal constraints on human activities – the so called “space-time collapse” – allowing fast global access to information as well as to physical resources and services.

Take a look at this project by Kit Webster. Here is what he send us:

"This is an early proof of concept for an art installation I am working on:
Rotation Mapping from Kit Webster on Vimeo.
Early stages of a rotation mapping prototype. Rear space is imaged producing transparency."

This ZDNet article reports "a team of scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden, Germany, is working on a device which incorporates eye tracking to influence the content presented to the viewer. Without having to use any other devices to enter instructions, the wearer can display new content, scroll through a menu or shift picture elements simply by moving her eyes or fixing on certain points in the image.

“We want to make the eyeglasses bidirectional and interactive so that new areas of application can be opened up,” says Dr. Michael Scholles, business unit manager at IPMS.

From this ScienceDaily article: "The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT just presented an Augmented Reality system for use under water. A diver's mask with a special display lets the diver see his or her real submarine surroundings overlaid with computer-generated virtual scenes.

In the pilot application, an AR game, the player sees a coral reef with shoals, mussels and weeds, instead of a plain indoor pool. Applications for professional divers are being investigated.

This ZDNet article talks about Microsoft's augmented reality new tool. From the article: "At TechFest, Microsoft’s annual research event, the company demoed its “Core Tools for Augmented Reality (AR),” software that superimposes data and graphics onto a display with real time footage, essentially linking the information world and the physical world.