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metaio accesses iPhone camera API into AR

July 12, 2010 By

The Unifeye Mobile software development kit from metaio now take advantage of the new camera access API in the iPhone iOS 4 “to create image-based augmented reality experiences,” the company says. “The camera access is the next step towards an ever present and highly accurate information overlay on the real things around us.”

Metaio says developers were limited on the iPhone due to restricted access to the live camera data in the previous iPhone SDK. “The lack of image based recognition has led to a proliferation of augmented reality apps using GPS as the only tracking mechanism, which made certain experiences impossible.”

With iOS 4, Apple opened up more direct access to the phone’s camera. “Now, not only may the user obtain information on nearby points of interest like shops, restaurants or train stations, but also the camera’s eye is now able to identify objects and to “glue” object specific real-time, dynamic, social and 3D information onto the object itself,” metaio says. “Information may be called up based on places or objects around you. Multimedia experiences can be triggered by images, product packages, signs, posters, magazines or newspaper pages, or any other object around the user.”

metaio GmbH of Munich, Germany, says it offers the only software development kit for creating mobile augmented reality applications, supporting all major platforms: Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and now iPhone.

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Total Immersion offers Flash-based AR

July 12, 2010 By

Total Immersion says the Adobe Flash Player version of its D’Fusion augmented reality lets users avoid the need for an AR specific plug-in download.

Total Immersion integrates real time interactive 3D graphics into a live video stream. The player uses existing 2D and 3D materials to directly recognize images printed on packaging or a product, and so does not require additional AR-specific markers to trigger the AR experience, the company says.

An online demo is here.

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Most TVs to be 3D models

July 12, 2010 By

Within five years, the majority of high-end large-screen TV sets and Blu-ray disc players are likely to offer 3D capability, reports IMS Research.

It is study “3D Video & Gaming in the Home,” the firm says  5.99 million 3DTV sets will ship worldwide in 2010, and more than 218 million 3DTV sets will ship cumulatively from 2010 to 2015.

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VisionCare implants telescope in the eye

July 12, 2010 By

VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its Implantable Miniature Telescope, which can improve vision in patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration.

Smaller than a pea, the $15,000 telescope is implanted in one eye in an outpatient surgical procedure. In the implanted eye, the device renders enlarged central vision images over a wide area of the retina to improve central vision, while the non-operated eye provides peripheral vision for mobility and orientation.

The devices wide-angle micro-optics combine with the optics of the cornea to create a telephoto system that magnifies objects in view approximately 2.2 or 2.7 times their normal size, depending on the model used. The magnification allows central images to be projected onto healthy perimacular areas of the retina instead of the macula alone, where breakdown of photoreceptors and loss of vision has occurred. This helps reduce the ‘blind spot’ and allows the patient to distinguish and discern images that may have been unrecognizable or difficult to see.

The VisionCare telescope is implanted in an eye.

VisionCare is headquartered in Saratoga, Calif.

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Unified Color Technologies exposes HDR

July 12, 2010 By

Unified Color Technologies says its HDR Expose is the only app that utilizes the full range of 32-bit color data to better combine multiple exposures into one realistic image.

The $99 software adds new de-ghosting algorithms which the company says provide more control over the initial multi-exposure merge process: photographers select from presets to quickly address large areas of movement such as waves or individual moving vehicles.

Also new is a brightness histogram to maintain highlight and shadow details.

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Samsung Galaxy features 5MP camera, 4-inch screen

July 5, 2010 By

The Galaxy S camera phone made by Samsung will soon be offered by the top four U.S. carriers.

However, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless will each offer the Galaxy under a different name: Captivate, Epic 4G, Vibrant, and Fascinate, respectively. Sprint’s version adds a front-facing VGA camera for video calling.

The Android 2.1 phone has a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, autofocus, and HD video recording at 720p. It also has a six-axis sensor that combines the accelerometer and gyroscope functions.

The 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen offers “the best representation of color on a mobile phone that matches original content,” the companies say, “with more than 100 times the contrast quality of other leading displays,” as well as faster response time that reduces “ghosting” images, and wide viewing angles.

The phone will be priced around $199 with a two-year contract.

Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, is the Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

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Qualcomm rocks, socks AR

July 5, 2010 By

Qualcomm has big plans for AR

The biggest radio chip vendor for mobile phones is moving into what we believe to be the most important upcoming use of mobile imaging: Augmented Reality, overlaying content atop live images viewed through camera phones.

San Diego-based Qualcomm says its augmented reality platform, initially available for Android devices, “will enable developers to build applications that merge reality and cyberspace.” The software development kit will be made available at no charge to developers for use in the development and distribution of commercial applications.

Vision-based augmented reality enables mobile applications that merge reality and cyberspace, giving consumers a compelling new interface to the world, Qualcomm says. The opportunities provided by augmented reality are opening new markets and extending others, including:

- Immersive reality gaming that allows 3D game experiences to occur on real world surfaces

- Innovative new media and marketing experiences that enable traditional print media and product packaging to come alive

- Informational applications that turn complicated instructions and diagrams into interactive tools for tasks such as setting up a new home entertainment system, assembling furniture or changing the oil in your car

• Toy maker Mattel used Qualcomm’s SDK to bring its “Rock ’Em Sock ’Em” game to life “in a whole new way,” the company says. Mattel’s proof-of-concept Rock ’Em Sock ’Em game using augmented reality technology “extends traditional play into the mobile environment, making it even more relevant to a new generation of technology-savvy consumers. We are always looking for technology solutions that complement and extended physical toys into new engaging experiences that are relevant to today’s kids — and this technology is ideal for this purpose.”

• Qualcomm says it is “challenging the industry’s most creative application developers to show their skills by creating the next generation of mobile applications based on augmented reality.”

The Augmented Reality Application Developer Challenge is an international competition to spotlight the best applications developed using Qualcomm’s augmented reality platform and software development kit. Awards totaling $200,000 are up for grabs and will be awarded to individuals or companies demonstrating the most effective, entertaining and functional new application products, the company says.

• Qualcomm joined with the Georgia Institute of Technology to establish the Qualcomm Augmented Reality Game Studio, a research and design center aimed at pioneering new advancements in mobile gaming and interactive media.

Located on Georgia Tech’s Atlanta campus, the game studio will build upon Qualcomm’s augmented reality platform and related graphics technologies to produce new application concepts and prototypes.

Georgia Tech operated its Augmented Environments Lab for more than 12 years, “researching ways to enhance a user’s senses by creating interactive computing environments,” the university says.

Qualcomm is the leading wireless chipmaker, selling about 1 in 4 of the radios used in mobile phones last year, according to Business Week.

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Cisco to offer HD videoconferencing tablet

July 5, 2010 By

Cisco's upcoming tablet features video conferencing.

Cisco bill its new Cius as “a first-of-its-kind mobile collaboration business tablet that delivers virtual desktop integration with anywhere, anytime access to the full range of Cisco collaboration and communication applications, including HD video.”

The tablet also has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera which can transmit streaming VGA quality video and capture still images, Cisco.

The Cius weighs 1.15 pounds and provides “full telepresence interoperability,” the company says, with HD video streaming and real-time video, multi-party conferencing, email, messaging, browsing, and the ability to produce, edit and share content stored locally or centrally in the cloud.

Running the Android operating system, the portable business computing tablet has a seven inch widescreen super VGA touchscreen, single-button TelePresence interoperability, and dual noise-canceling microphones.

Pricing was not announced, with general availability set for the first quarter of 2011.

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3D update for Sony’s NEX cameras

July 5, 2010 By

With a firmware update, Sony adds 3D panoramas to its NEX interchangeable lens cameras.

The update  “makes it easy to capture dramatic panoramic images in 3D with an extra-wide field of view,” the company says. “Just press the shutter button and sweep the camera from side to side. The NEX shoots a high-speed burst of frames that is automatically combined inside the camera to create a seamless panoramic still image containing depth information. Sweep Panoramas can be enjoyed in 3D when the camera is connected to any standards-compatible 3D TV.”

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Facebook finds faces, improves photos display

July 5, 2010 By

Online social network Facebook is living up to its name a bit more: it’s added recognition technology to tag faces in the photos it displays.

Facebook says its been “spending a lot of time on photos.” And with good reason: Ninety-nine percent of people using Facebook have uploaded at least one photo. More than 100 million photos are uploaded every day.

Two months ago it acquired photography startup Divvyshot, and Sam Odio, who is now Facebook’s product manager for Photos. Odio says most users spend time uploading, browsing and tagging photos, and “we’re working to improve your experience in each of those areas.”

On the company’s blog Odio writes that, “People love tagging their friends and family in photos, but we’ve heard that it can be a tedious process. You now can add tags with just a couple of clicks directly from your home page and other sections of the site, using the same face detection technology that cameras have used for years. We’re running a limited test of this technology so you may not see it yet. If you do, you’ll see the following box while browsing Facebook:

“With this new feature, tagging is faster since you don’t need to select a face. It’s already selected for you, just like those rectangles you see around your friends’ faces when you take a photo with a modern digital camera. All that’s left for you to do is type a name and hit enter.

“The tagging feature is just the start of improvements we’re trying out. Stay tuned for future posts about other work on browsing, uploading and tagging.”

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Kodak, Facebook analyze Golf swings

July 5, 2010 By

Kodak will better your golf swing on Facebook.

Kodak is offering a Facebook application to which golfers can upload videos of their golf swing for free online analysis.

Fans can comment on each other’s videos, and Callaway Golf teaching pros will offer expert advice on selected videos. Users will also be able to view their swing video online and compare it to golf swings of Callaway staffers.

Kodak says the ‘Swing Tips HD Facebook application’ is the perfect complement to its Playsport video camera, “which gives golfers unprecedented access to HD video right in their golf bag.”

Also, Kodak and Callaway are jointly offering golf fans a promotion whereby purchasing one of five new Callaway Drivers before July 31 earns a Playsport camera.

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Shutterfly: Private sites on the rise

July 5, 2010 By

Among its customers, Shutterfly reports, private sites have grown 82 percent faster than public sites. “Consumers are becoming more private with their images on the internet,” the photo service observes.

All told, Shutterfly says more than two million sites have been created since its Share personalized website service launched in August 2008 — and close to half of all owners leverage the privacy controls like secure photo and video sharing, password protection, and tagging notifications. current privacy concerns

“Shutterfly Share sites are a free, easy and secure way to connect without privacy concerns,” the company says. “Shutterfly offers an experience complementary to social networking, a safe place to not only share photos and video but to confidently store them for a lifetime.”

Shutterfly Share sites also store photos in their original resolution, “making it easy to create photo books, prints and other photo products in just a few clicks,” the company adds.

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TweetToGo brings twitter, photos to Verizon

July 5, 2010 By

Developer Pelago says it offers the only photo and location Twitter app for Verizon 3G multimedia handsets.

TweetToGo is a Twitter client on Verizon Wireless camera phones that takes advantage of the GPS chipset to attach location coordinates to a Tweet (if the user checks Add Location).

Pelago also partnered with TweetPhoto to incorporate photo sharing support; TweetPhoto says it empowers third-party application developers to add media sharing capabilities to their applications without incurring the resources to build, innovate and manage a media sharing infrastructure.

Pelago was founded in 2006, and is based in Seattle.

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Fujifilm printing 3D photos at Universal Studios Singapore

July 5, 2010 By

The Universal Studios Singapore theme park is making commemorative 3D photos with Fujifilm’s 3D Print System.

An image captured in the 3D mode is combined with a template featuring Woody Woodpecker and other popular animation characters, and output as a 3D print on site. “The result is a holiday photo with a natural 3D feel that captures fun moments at the theme park more realistically than ever before,” the company says.

Fujifilm says it plans to further expand worldwide deployment of the 3D Print System “in a continued drive to offer printing services of high added value.”

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Free anti-piracy service

July 5, 2010 By

ImageRights now helps professional photographers and illustrators discover the illegal use of their intellectual property on the web, and protect their copyrighted works — free of charge.

The company says its visual search technology detects photo copyright violations. It scans the web for images to compare to its database of images provided by customers to check for matches. The “crawler” indexes millions of new images every month and uses powerful image recognition technology to compare customers’ photos and illustrations against images found on the Web. It then detects where the customers’ images have been used, even if the stolen photos have been altered, cropped, rotated or color adjusted.

The customer receives a full report, including a picture of the original image, its use online, and the URL and ownership information for the website where it was found.

The free offering allows up to 10,000 images to be monitored for reuse.

ImageRights offer basic, standard and pro packages for monthly fees of $9.95, $19.95 and $39.95.

Founded in 2008, ImageRights International is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.

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E Ink enhances image quality

July 5, 2010 By

E Ink says its next generation Pearl electronic paper display improves the contrast and sunlight readability over previous models.

The reflective displays now have the “whitest reflective displays in the industry,” E Ink claims, “and a contrast ratio now approximately 50 percent greater than today’s products.” Text on Pearl now “pops” from the page, the company says, “enabling a reading experience most similar to reading text on printed paper.”

eReaders will go from a contrast ratio typical of newspapers, the company says, to a higher contrast ratio typical of paperback books. With 16 gray level depth, E Ink claims Pearl offers “the sharpest rendering of images and allows product developers to display images with smooth tones and rich detail.”

The electrophoretic displays are now “more lightweight and eco-friendly than ordinary paper, with less eye strain and longer battery life than an LCD,” E Ink says.

DisplaySearch forecasts the market will grow by 44 percent in 2011, reaching $1.2 billion.

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Image sensor sales to grow

July 5, 2010 By

Image sensors sales will rise 31 percent this year, forecasts IC Insights — and reach a record high of $8.5 billion.

CMOS-based sensors will account for 61 percent of sales, rising 34 percent in 2010 to a high of $5.2 billion — up from nearly $3.9 billion in 2009.

Sensors sales fell 19 percent in 2009 due to weak demand in the economic recession, after regular high sales including a market surged of 76 percent in 2004, the research firm says.

IC Insights’ 2010 O-S-D Report is $2980.

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