Oct 23, 2010

Bokode: bokeh used to transmit info

What an interesting idea: researchers are using bokeh (lens blur), instead of sharpness, to transmit lots of data into cameras (think barcodes/QR codes on steroids). Check out the demo:



Check out the project page for more details.



Via John Nack

Aug 8, 2010

Living life in augmented reality

Augmented reality smartphone apps allow users to view the world through their phone's camera with an overlay of useful local information. But with the advent of augmented reality games, could fantasy finally become reality?

A shadowy organisation is stalking a lone individual across London. Its goal? To capture a young woman who has knowledge which could blow the lid off this outfit's nefarious activities in Zambia.

Can a group of ordinary people protect this whistleblower and expose a conspiracy involving oil, a sinister multinational and a library in an African village?

This is not a movie script, but it is the scenario being played out in an augmented reality game called Conspiracy For Good.



This interactive game invites players to engage in a modern day treasure hunt, and springs from the mind of Tim Kring, the writer behind superhero television show, Heroes.

Source: BBC News

Jul 17, 2010

Augmented Reality Becoming More Like the Read/Write Web

This week, augmented reality (AR) took a significant step toward becoming more like the read/write Web with the launch of an online mobile AR CMS for creating content on the Layar platform.

"Augmentation" - a Web-based tool for generating mobile AR content - was created by Layar Partner Network member Hoppala. With a Layar developer account, users of Augmentation can easily and instantaneously place their content in Layar with zero code and a few clicks on a map. Custom icons, images, audio, video and 3D content can all be added by way of a full screen map interface, and Hoppala will even host all of the data.

The company has been providing content management solutions for Layar since launching a beta test of its Layarserver in August of 2009. This project, however, is new in that it provides a tidy user-friendly GUI for adding myriad AR data instantly to Layar. For a more detailed look at how the Augmentation Web app works, watch the video embedded below.

As more tools like Augmentation lower the bar of entry for augmented reality, a flood of AR data will begin to fill platforms like Layar, junaio and Wikitude. This progression is not unlike that of the Web with the widespread popularity of blogs. With the Web, however, powerful search engines make finding relevant content much easier and Websites are (for the most part) browser agnostic.



Source: Read/Write Web

Jul 10, 2010

Situated Simulations

«Situated Simulations»-applikasjonen, utviklet gjennom Inventio-prosjektet ved UiO, har fått en innebygd nettleser som viser fram relevante nettsteder uten at 3D-omgivelsene forlates. Applikasjonen kan også gi mer informasjon om objekter som brukeren peker på med mobilen.



Applikasjonen utvikles i samarbeid med svenske CodeGrind. Det arbeides også med en applikasjon til iPad, og i løpet av høsten skal det også komme en versjon for Android.

Kilde: Situated Simulations

Jun 30, 2010

Transformerbare skjermer??

Bruksområdene kan være mange for denne teknologien, som riktignok bare er på forsøksstadiet:



En kan for eksempel se for seg fleksible skjermer, som så kan endre form ved hjelp av løsninger som dette.

Kilde: Nature News

Jun 18, 2010

sound:frame Festival Lightrails

The interactive audio-visual installation ‘Lightrails’ was a project that Strukt created together with unheilbar architektur for Project Space inside the Kunsthalle Wien, commissioned by sound:frame festival.

‘Lightrails’ is a light sculpture with the intention to re-define and re-interpret the exhibition room. An easy but effective mapping technique was used to create seamless projections on both sides of the object. Light-beams were triggered by the visitors and ran through the room, following the surface created by the sculpture. Each ‘reflection’ of the light-beam was accompanied by sound. The speed and brightness of the beam was directly influenced by the force the visitors used when triggering the beam stepping on pedals on the floor. This also influenced the volume of the sound-effects. The audio signal was played back on a surround sound system that allowed a spatial positioning of the sounds and created a truly immersive experience.

The sound-design was courtesy of Digitalofen Audiobakery, which also created the ambient sounds that were pervasive through the room. As usual, we used our favorite real-time multipurpose toolkit to create the installation.


sound:frame Festival Lightrails / Strukt

May 26, 2010

StreetMuseum iPhone app

The Museum of London has launched an iPhone app which cleverly brings its extensive art and photographic collections to the streets of the capital.

The really clever thing about this app is that if you are in the location pictured, you can click on the "3D view" button and the app will recognise your location and overlay the historic image over the current view - augmenting the reality that the built in iPhone camera perceives.

More info on the app can be found at museumoflondon.org.uk/

Creative Review

May 16, 2010

Robert Rice - Augmented Reality

Robert Rice talks about Augmented Reality and its position and function in the evolving spectrum of developments. The future of mobile is not the phone, AR changes everything. He shows current examples and also what AR might look like in the future. He talks about tags, markers and glasses. Wearable displays will have a huge impact on the reach of AR.

May 3, 2010

Strømsgaten 30. april 2010



I wiped the table-top
Mother layed you down on it
I sticked you together
by the pieces
and now you`re waiting
for the blade
I will cut your
hair, eyes, nose and lips out
but I'm saving heart
So the wall could absorb
the essence hidden inside

pss pss
Can is wispering softly

Apr 27, 2010

Podcasts from the Network as a Space and Medium for Collaborative Interdisciplinary Art Practice

These are recordings of talks and performances from the Network as a Space and Medium for Collaborative Interdisciplinary Art Practice Conference (http://elitineurope.net/network2009). You may listen to these files as streams, download the the invidual recordings, or subscribe to them as podcasts by clicking on the itunes icon to the left. The conference was supported by the University of Bergen, the Research Council of Norway, and the City of Bergen. All audio recordings were made by Chris Funkhouser. NOTE: The first panel discussion is towards the bottom of this page, because of the order the files uploaded. More recordings of performances and video podcasts to follow.

Podcasts from the Network as a Space and Medium for Collaborative Interdisciplinary Art Practice Conference

Apr 16, 2010

Plasmaskjermen får nytt liv

Winscape kombinert med sensorer

Slik er det hele satt sammen:

Apr 6, 2010

Danmarksplass 16. mars 2010



Her er det interessant utvikling over en måneds tid:



Ny versjon den 14. mai 2010. Det hele har fått et navn Danmarksplass Streetart Gallery

Apr 4, 2010

Nå kommer mobil super-virkelighet

Sekai Camera er en helt ny applikasjon for iPhone lansert i Japan i september i fjor som gjør det mulig å få informasjon om produkter, bygninger og omverden gjennom telefonen ved bruk av kamera og GPS.

Applikasjonen legger informasjonsgrafikk på toppen av den virkeligheten du filmer med kamera på telefonen og vips så dukker nyttig og unyttig meldinger opp.



- Du kan også selv tagge informasjon du vil dele med andre. Jeg kan enten taste inn en kommentar eller lese inn en melding jeg tror andre vil være interessert i, forteller Akisa. Men det er mye virtuelt søppel som er lagt igjen.

DN.no

Mar 22, 2010

Augmented reality: it's like real life, but better

Don't act too surprised if, some time in the next year, you meet someone who explains that their business card isn't just a card; it's an augmented reality business card. You can see a collection and, at visualcard.me, you can even design your own, by adding a special marker to your card, which, once put in front of a webcam linked to the internet, will show not only your contact details but also a video or sound clip. Or pretty much anything you want.

It's not just business cards. London Fashion Week has tried them out too: little symbols that look like barcodes printed onto shirts, which, when viewed through a webcam, come to life. Benetton is using augmented reality for a campaign that kicked off last month, in which it is trying to find models from among the general population.

Augmented reality – AR, as it has quickly become known – has only recently become a phrase that trips easily off technologists' lips; yet we've been seeing versions of it for quite some time. The idea is straightforward enough: take a real-life scene, or (better) a video of a scene, and add some sort of explanatory data to it so that you can better understand what's going on, or who the people in the scene are, or how to get to where you want to go.

Technology | The Observer

Mar 18, 2010

Augmented Reality i biler

Nettstedet Mashable skriver om General Motors tanker om hvordan ny teknologi kan forbedre biler og trafikk. GM ser for seg at en rekke systemer i bilen hjelper sjåføren: GPS-navigasjon, kamera som ser i mørke og bildeanalyse. Det hele knyttet til et display, integrert ifrontvinduet.



BMW vil også være med på utviklingen:



Via NRKbeta

Mar 12, 2010

Kravlende display

Dessverre er det bare et konsept utviklet av Julia Y. Tsao. Hun kaller det “Curious displays” og sier selv:

The project explores our relationship with devices and technology by examining the multi-dimensionality of communication and the complexity of social behavior and interaction. In its essence, the project functions as a piece of design fiction, considering the fluctuating nature of our present engagement with media technology and providing futurist imaginings of other ways of being.

og…

Curious Display “blocks” are tangible and tactile. They occupy and move through physical space, and are thus subject to the same spatial rules and limitations faced by any other physical objects. These constraints lend themselves to potentially interesting outcomes in terms of interactivity and negotiation. An abundance of questions quickly begin to surface–how do they move? How do they behave? Does this movement and behavior begin to allude to the development of a type of personality? How does one communicate with them? Where do they go when you’re not using them? What role do they take on in our daily lives?

Spennende og veldig kreativt. Jeg liker spesielt hvordan uttrykket “out of the box” nå faktisk er 100% sant. Les alt om “Curious displays” på Julias blogg.

NRKbeta

Mar 7, 2010

Illegal Art

Resirkulering av en gammel bloggpost, som synes relevant her...

Opphavsrettslovgivningen har blitt så omfattende at kunstnere må ha juridisk bistand for å finne fram i rettighetsjungelen. Å bruke deler av et kunstverk eller annet medieuttrykk for å skape noe nytt har vært en viktig del av kunsten, ikke minst den som kommenterer og kritiserer samtiden. Sjangre som collage, hiphop, og Pop Art hadde kanskje aldri eksistert om kunstnerne skulle forholdt seg til dagens opphavsrettslovgivning. Sitat- og kopiretten er basale rettigheter i et demokratisk samfunn, rettigheter som nå er i ferd med å bli ofret på grunn av internasjonalt press fra store økonomiske interesser.
Stay Free! Illegal Art er et tiltak som utfordrer det rådende regimet. Festivalen er sponset av magasinet Stay Free!, Internet Archives, Prelinger Archives og Center for Media, Culture and History ved New York University.

Se Illegal Arts artikkelsamling, mye interessant.

Mar 4, 2010

Skinput Turns Your Body Into a Touchscreen

Skinput makes use of a microchip-sized pico projector embedded in an armband to beam an image onto a user’s forearm or hand. When the user taps a menu item or other control icon on the skin, an acoustic detector also in the armband analyzes the ultralow-frequency sound to determine which region of the display has been activated.

You can check out more specifics on the technology behind Skinput in the paper the group will present [Warning: PDF link] in April at the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Atlanta.



Mashable.com

Mar 2, 2010

The Language of Landscape

The Language of Landscape argues that landscape is a form of language with its own grammar and metaphors and that all can learn to read landscape and to cultivate the power of landscape expression.

The Eye Is a Door is a call for visual literacy and a guide. Essays of photographs and words explore seeing as a way of knowing and photography as a way of thinking.

KNOWING WHERE TO STAND WEBSITE

Feb 18, 2010

HiBook

En ufullstendig sammenfatning av potensiale og noen utfordringer knyttet til et mulig system for "e-bøker på steroider".

Augmented-reality maps

In a demo that drew gasps at TED2010, Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos new augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas is an architect at Microsoft Live Labs, architect of Seadragon, and the co-creator of Photosynth, a monumental piece of software capable of assembling static photos into… Full bio and more links

Feb 4, 2010

Getting all bionic



Wired

Homefront Dissolve



Keiichi Matsuda, a student at the Bartlett School of Architecture, produced this fantastic short video in the final year of his M.Arch. It was, he writes, "part of a larger project about the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality."

BLDGBLOG

Feb 3, 2010

Se bygninger i 3D gjennom telefonen

Det er det nederlandske arkitekturinstituttet (NAI) som har utviklet applikasjonen Sara til mobiltelefoner.



Applikasjonen er tilgjengelig gjennom en browser for augmented reality (AR), Layar, og viser informasjon om eksisterende bygninger og 3D-modeller av bygninger under oppføring - alt mens du spaserer rundt i Amsterdams bygater.

Alt du behøver å gjøre er å peke på interessante bygninger eller tomter i nærheten med kameraet på mobiltelefonen, og applikasjonen finner automatisk informasjon om bygningene.



Dagbladet.no

Jan 29, 2010

EU to monitor deviant behaviour in anti-terrorism fight

The EU is funding ambitious programmes to monitor human behaviour in the fight against crime and terrorism. Some people are afraid this will turn us all into suspects.

Say you are a frequent flier and you check in faster than most people. A network of advanced cameras at the airport can measure your speed and alert the control room. The system knows terrorists tend to be nervous and almost never stop for coffee. This makes a speedy traveller a suspicious traveller.

You may also want to think twice about using the airport bathroom more than once. There is a good chance you will be picked out for an extensive security check.

These are some of the things being studied by an EU-funded project for detecting suspicious behaviour, Adabts (Automatic Detection of Abnormal Behaviour and Threats in Crowded Spaces.)

nrc.nl - International - Europe

Vil avsløre "unormal" atferd

Avanserte algoritmer, videoovervåkningsutstyr og grafikkprosessorer står sentralt i forskningsprosjektet ADABTS (Automatic Detection of Abnormal Behaviour and Threats in crowded Spaces).

- Tanken bak ADABTS er å avdekke unormal atferd på offentlige steder der det ferdes mye folk. Slike steder kan ha mange videokameraer, men det kan være vanskelig for kameraoperatørene å følge med på alt, sier forskningssjef Mats Carlin, som leder Sintef IKTs avdeling for optiske målesystemer og dataanalyse, til digi.no.

Løsningen skal for eksempel kunne fange opp situasjoner der personer ferdes i forbudte områder, eller om noen begynner å løpe på en flyplass.

Ifølge Carlin skal man bygge et system som fanger opp slåsskamp på en idrettsarena, om noen skriker, glass som knuser eller personer som agerer voldsomt.

digi.no : Juss & samfunn

Jan 14, 2010

Blinkenlights Stereoscope



YouTube - Blinkenlights Stereoscope

Siftables, the toy blocks that think



MIT grad student David Merrill demos Siftables -- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, and talk to their friends, too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning?

YouTube - David Merrill

Jan 4, 2010

Presentasjon - seminar kunstfagdidaktikk



Med vekt på tre av de opprinnelige delprosjektene:

1. Space to place – locus and platea ( TEORI )
Tar utgangspunkt i skillet mellom locus og platea,
begreper som tradisjonelt har vært brukt om fysisk rom, men som også er anvendbare for å beskrive egenskaper ved virtuelle rom.

Diskutere og eksemplifisere møter mellom fysisk og virtuelt rom, også i vekslende virkeligheter (Augmented Reality).

Med dette som utgangspunkt vil en arbeide med en stedsontologi, som et utgangspunkt for å diskutere ulike former for stedsdannelse.

2. Visual expressions and space ( EMPIRI )
Undersøke hvordan ulike visuelle uttrykk påvirker de inntrykkene som brukerne danner seg i møtet med visuelle stedsbaserte uttrykk.

Estetiske uttrykk i fysiske rom, spesielt "uautorisert" gatekunst, uttrykk som ofte er i dialog med, men også i opposisjon til, kommersielle uttrykksformer, som reklame, og autorisert utsmykning av et byrom.

Som et supplement til artikler og presentasjoner tar vi sikte på å formidle funn fra delprosjektet i form av en utstilling, både i et fysisk lokale og på egne nettsider.
Hvordan romlige, nettbaserte uttrykk blir brukt for å uttrykke tilhørighet til et sted, og beskrive hvordan slike steder fremstilles.

Bruk av Memoz og andre systemer for spatial publisering. Systemene gjør det mulig å kombinere egenskaper som en kjenner fra personlige publiseringsformer, som weblogger (kommentarfunksjoner), wikier (samarbeid om felles produkt), samt geografiske informasjonssystemer (kobling til sted).

3. How Places Learn ( ANALYSE )
Hvordan ulike teknologier knyttet til vekslende virkeligheter er med på å utvikle et steds innhold over tid, spesielt med tanke på samvirket mellom digitalt medierte uttrykk og et byrom.

Mobile enheters innvirkning på forståelsen av et sted, og som bindeledd mellom virtuelle og fysiske representasjoner.

Hierarki der et definerende arkitektonisk element betraktes ut fra samvirket mellom en rekke delelementer – en bys visuelle struktur sammelignet med hvordan vi orienterer oss i en digital tekst.

Forbindelser mellom fysiske og virtuelle omgivelser.
Endringssykluser / variasjonsgrader
  • Kontekst
    – koblinger mellom forskjellige steder (fysiske og virtuelle)

  • Struktur
    – koblinger mellom elementer innen et sted.

  • Innhold
    – det fysiske og virtuelle elementenes form.

  • Plassering
    – elementenes plassering (fysisk og virtuelt)