Microsoft IllumiRoom fleshed out: Gaming and movie AR for your living room

Microsoft’s IllumiRoom immersive projected gaming system, first shown off at CES, has broken cover again for a more comprehensive demo, complete with more details of how the “TV expanding” augmented reality works. Still described as a proof-of-concept, though thoroughly whetting appetites for what the next-gen Xbox might one day evolve into, IllumiRoom will be presented at CHI 2013 [pdf link] this week, complete with learning the topography and design of your living room and then digitally manipulating it.

illumiroom

The Microsoft Research team responsible for IllumiRoom is currently using a standard projector with a wide field of view, and a Kinect for Windows sensor bar, though any commercial implementation would probably be designed to sit on a coffee table. Automatic room calibration is included, projecting various patterns and sequences which map the outline of the TV, furniture, and the room’s geography in 3D; future iterations could even identify and track moving objects, such as people, as they move through the projection.

illumiroom_effects_1

Once the layout of the gaming arena is understood, IllumiRoom’s real magic can begin. Various implementations are proposed, from fully extending what’s on the TV to greater fill the room – making for a more immersive environment – to picking out specific elements to highlight them, such as weapons fire that escapes from the primary display. By changing how physical objects in the room have their own textures projected, furniture could be made to ripple and wobble, change color or desaturate, or have their lighting adjusted.

Alternatively, the IllumiRoom system might just expand on the theme of the current game: having virtual falling snow spread across the living room, perhaps, building up on the actual furniture. The three possibilities, Microsoft Research suggests, are “negating”, “including”, or “augmenting” real-world objects: either digitally masking them, allowing them to remain visible, or adding to them with projected graphics.

“Ideally, IllumiRoom would be directly integrated into a next generation console and new games would be designed for IllumiRoom from the ground up. We envision an API that enables triggering illusions, changing surface appearance, controlling room lighting, inserting objects into the physical environment, etc.” Microsoft Research

While the best result would be if games natively supported, and integrated, IllumiRoom functionality, the system could also fashion a suitable AR scheme by analyzing gameplay in realtime, similar to how Philips’ Ambilight system tracks on-screen colors and matches them with its periphery of multicolor LEDs. The developers also suggest that audio cues could be used, such as triggering a ripple of the surrounding projection whenever the system hears a gunshot sound.

illumiroom_effects_2

There’s also potential for how IllumiRoom could work with non-game content, such as movies and television; the team fashioned a prototype extended field-of-view camcorder – in effect pairing a standard camcorder with one that has a wide FOV – with the main screen showing the core video and the IllumiRoom projector showing the peripheral footage.

“Can a grenade from the latest Bond film explode in your living room? How would such content be authored? It would be im- portant to investigate how the movie director should deal with the fixed nature of a film and the randomness imbued by the system adapting to the user’s living room” Microsoft Research

Unsurprisingly, there’s still no (public) talk about how IllumiRoom tech and Microsoft’s Xbox ambitions might work together. As it stands, the current projection system relies on a PC for its brain, though it’s worth remembering that Kinect itself started out as a proof-of-concept peripheral, and only later evolved into an Xbox 360 add-on.

[via The Verge; via CHI 2013; Thanks Zak!]


Microsoft IllumiRoom fleshed out: Gaming and movie AR for your living room is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Moverio BT-100 augmented reality glasses creators talk taking on Google Glass

The Epson Moverio BT-100 is a pair of augmented reality glasses that, in the wake of the future success of Google Glass and the Occulus Rift, keeps itself unique with its own combination of abilities. This week SlashGear had a chat with Eric Mizufuka, Product Manager of New Markets at Epson and Scott Montgomerie, CEO and lead developer of Scope Technologies about the newest use of this still very developer-stage pair of futuristic glasses: augmented reality industrial product training.

firstup

As Eric Mizufuka explained this week, the Moverio BT-100 is “a wearable display – smartglasses – with a shade that’s removable.” What you’re seeing with these glasses is an image that can get as large as an 80-inch display depending on what you’re using them for, and they’re able to work with apps such as the one presenting 3D device augmented reality training that Scope AR is showing off this year.

sdfds

At it’s base, this device is powered by an Android control unit – it’s able to run and launch Android apps just like a smartphone would, so to speak. This product in its current form was launched over a year ago, and according to Mizufuka, the unit was and is “seen originally as more of a developer platform so developers could take the lead on creating apps that would eventually shape the device.”

Epson’s Moverio BT-100 glasses are not yet consumer market ready – they’re not yet in a place where they’re meant for the consumer market, instead concentrating on developer efforts to create “that one killer app” to start the machine that is the succssful launch of the platform.

As for how they fit into the augmented reality or “smart” glasses universe thats coming to light here in 2013, Mizufuka suggests that there’s a four-point set of categories that each unit in this new market fall into, each pair of said glasses working with two.

Binocular / Monocular
Transparent / Non-Transparent

While the Epson Moverio BT-100 unit falls into the binocular and transparent category, Occulus Rift is a binocular, non-tranparent device. Google Glass, on the other hand, is a monocular tranparent device.

agwe

Epson’s product makes its way in the market with features that are, as Mizufuka suggests, rather unique. “[Moverio BT-100] is unique in that you can see 3D, and unique in that it’s in the center of your field of view so you can overlay 3D images over real objects.” This is what the company calls Real Augmented Reality.

“Glass is a beautiful product and it’s miniturized very well, but you still have some consumer kickback saying it’s too geeky.”

Mizufuka let SlashGear know that they’d be creating the final consumer units as a product that people will want to use, one that they intend to be able to be worn by everyone. “Glass is a beautiful product and it’s miniturized very well, but you still have some consumer kickback saying it’s too geeky.”

CEO and lead developer of Scope Technologies Scott Montgomerie let us know that as soon as they discovered Epson’s augmented reality glasses, they knew they had to collaborate. Their need for such a solution for their idea to overlay machine parts in 3D for users training in the industrial market seemed like a perfect fit. “Industrial Augmented Reality for machinery, overlaying 3D images over real machines seemed impracticle at first – until the idea of augmented reality glasses, like Moverio BT-100, came up.”

Mounting a camera on top of the optics they’d already had, they created the device you see demonstrated here:

Montgomerie continued: “Our strategy is in the near term to focus on these verticle market applications. I think the consumer is just getting comfortable now with wearable displays, as soon as we’re able to find that killer app in the market, we’ll be there.” Sound like the right path to take to you? Epson’s Mizufuka let it be known that the final consumer product would be both affordable and made for the mass market – and we’re hoping for more soon!


Moverio BT-100 augmented reality glasses creators talk taking on Google Glass is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Gibson meets Glass: Cyberpunk creator dons Google’s wearable

Neuromancer author and arguably the father of wearable tech in fiction William Gibson finally met up with Google Glass at the weekend, donning the headset and finding – to his frustration – himself left intrigued by it. Gibson – whose 1984 novel coined the term “cyberspace” as well as kickstarted the cyberpunk genre – got to try out Google’s developer-version of the wearable at an event at the New York Public Library, after one member of the audience brought along their new unit.

william_gibson_google_glass

As fitting meetings go, the intersection of Gibson and Glass is a hugely appropriate one. In Neuromancer, Gibson described a wearable display embedded in eye-lenses fused to central character Molly Millions, and through which a cyberspace-immersed hacker could communicate through text messages.

Although former MIT researcher Steven Mann is best known for translating augmented and mediated reality concepts to real-world hardware, having spent several decades refining his wearable techn, Gibson’s role in describing “the dystopian future in which humans are augmented with computer implants,” as MIT described it, makes him equally important. However, Gibson is also known for being only tangentially interested in technology, a fact which apparently led to some consternation after he had a chance to wear Glass.

“I also got to try Google Glass, if only for a few seconds” Gibson tweeted after the event. “Was faintly annoyed at just how interesting I found the experience.” Asked how well it worked, Gibson commented that the “focal-point tech was impressive.”

The headset itself was brought to the NYPL by Dow Jones consumer technology head Erin Sparling, who was himself surprised that he was the first to help Gibson experience Glass. The Explorer Edition began shipping earlier this month to those who put down $1,500 at Google I/O last year, though Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said that it is likely to be 2014 before a consumer version hits shelves.

[via BoingBoing; Image used by permission of Joe Kendall]


Gibson meets Glass: Cyberpunk creator dons Google’s wearable is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Meet Genesis Angels, A New $100M Fund For AI And Robotics, Co-Founded By Investor Kenges Rakishev And Chaired By Israel’s Ex-PM

Genesis Angels logo

For those startups in newer areas like robotics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality who complain that VCs are too focused on consumer internet companies, help is at hand: Genesis Angels is a new VC that has raised a fund of around $100 million, with a large chunk coming from co-founder and serial investor and Kazakh petrochemical mogul Kenges Rakishev, which it plans to use for early stage investments in emerging areas like these and others. Based in Israel, but looking for startups worldwide, Genesis launched just this week, naming ex-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert as its chairman.

Moshe Hogeg, the other co-founder behind Genesis Angels (and founder and CEO of mobile video/photo startup Mobli, pictured here with Rakishev, left, and Olmert, center), says that the idea for Genesis came out of his and Rakishev’s observation that while the market for consumer internet services is saturated with a lot of me-too companies, there is a flourishing world of R&D in areas like robots and artificial intelligence that is not getting enough attention. It’s mostly giant tech companies like Google and Microsoft and academic institutions that are putting money into the very cutting edge of technology.

(Indeed, it was just yesterday, during Google’s earnings call, that CEO Larry Page talked about the “big bets” that Google wants to make on new technology. Google is not afraid to make big investments, he said, because the fear is that if it doesn’t it may miss out on the next big thing.)

The problem with this is that it leaves little room for startups. And although more recent developments like Kickstarter and Indigogo are creating a new groundswell of interest and financial support for some of these projets, there are yet others that will not want that kind of public profile for what they’re working on.

Hogeg describes Genesis’ role as something between the concept stage and when a VC may typically become interested in a company working on cutting-edge technology. “You can send the most brilliant scientist to a VC, but often it might take that scientist and his startup five years to create their products,” he explained in an interview. “VCs will say, ‘No problem, come back in four years.’ Genesis will invest in those companies in the meantime.” Typical investments will be in the range of $200,000 and $2 million.

If you visit Genesis Angels’ site, you will see that it already lists a number of companies in its portfolio, including Hogeg’s. These are listed, he says, because they are some of the investments Rakishev himself has made. Genesis, he notes, is still raising money for its first fund, with the total in play currently close to $100 million. Among those contributing to the fund are merchant bank Forbes & Manhattan, as well as private individuals who are well-known in the space of angel investments specifically around areas like hardware and new technology. The first three investments that are being made out of the new fund, Hogeg says, will be coming out shortly.

Ehud Olmert’s appointment as chairman is about laying the groundwork for the kind of assistance that Genesis Angels will be able to offer its portfolio companies, Hogeg says.

“He is a big believer in technology. Irasel invested the most in this area when he was still prime minister,” he notes. The relatively small country currently has some 3,000 tech companies, according to this report from the AP on the launch of the new VC.

Olmert took office in 2006 but left in 2009 under a corruption scandal cloud that he is still fighting. But that, apparently, has not affected his wider influence. “Mr Olmert is a very powerful man and he can use his contacts to help us and our companies, for example in partnering and joint ventures. He can open any door in the world.”

There have been other VC funds focused on these emerging areas. Dmitry Grishin, for example, the CEO of Mail.ru and founder of Grishin Robotics, last year started a $25 million fund dedicated to investing in other robotics companies (examples of his investments here, here and here).

It may be that Genesis teams up with people like this to cooperate on investments. “He shares a vision with us about this space,” says Hogeg.

Windows Phone 8X By HTC Makes Microsoft More Attractive

The Windows Phone 8X By HTCThe Windows Phone 8X By HTC is a sleek, high-performing device that might be one of the best Windows phones on the market.

Experience “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” At The Tech

Enjoy Star Wars features at The Tech museumGet ready to play with the sci-fi technology that’s fascinated audiences
for decades when the “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination”
exhibit lands at The Tech Museum of Innovation starting October 19th in
San Jose, California. You don’t want to miss out on hanging out with
R2-D2, Chewbacca and Yoda!

Vuzix unveils Star 1200XLD all-digital augmented reality glasses

Vuzix has been peddling all sorts of video glasses and other products for a number of years. The company was showing off augmented reality glasses before Google ever stepped into the game with its Glass project. Vuzix has announced the launch of its Star 1200XLD all-digital see-through video glasses.

vuzix1200xl

These glasses promise all the features of the company’s Star 1200XL Wide Field of View See-Through Augmented Reality Video Eye Wear with some notable enhancements. The new 1200XLD has a new HDMI interface and supports content featuring DRM. The new glasses also support 3-D video sources.

The augmented reality features of the new glasses include 3DOF motion tracking sensors and an integrated full HD resolution camera for tracking and recognizing real world objects. That camera allows 3-D computer-generated content to be locked in place and overlay on top of the users direct view of the real world. The glasses also feature a USB interface and are described as a see-through AR-enabled an ocular video eyewear with a 35-degree field of view.

The displays used for the glasses have a 16:9 aspect ratio, support full color, and have native resolution of 852 x 480. The glasses simulate a 75-inch display as seen from 10 feet away. The glasses are also adjustable with customizable eye-separation and AccuTilt for visual clarity and display quality. They sound really cool until you get to the end and realize the retail price is $4999 putting them out of the reach of pretty much everyone.

[via Vuzix]


Vuzix unveils Star 1200XLD all-digital augmented reality glasses is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

What’s The Least Expensive Way to Get A Smart Home?

A look at the least expensive way, for now, to start on your path to smart home. We will take a look both at the least expensive of the custom system options that are out there and how you might want to hookup with your wi-fi carrier in your area to get the best deal on the start to a smart house. Just be ready for some DIY steps if you do.

Google Glass SXSW Demo: Seeing Eye to Screen

Perhaps not wanting to leave a bad impression on the 2013 SXSW attendees, Google also previewed the much hyped Glass wearable computer at the festival. Videos of the talk given by Google Senior Developer Advocate Timothy Jordan about their wonder device have now made their way online.

google glass sxsw demo by timothy jordan

Below is an excerpt from Jordan’s presentation, as edited by YouTuber lifechannelable. In it Jordan demonstrates the ways you can interact with Glass. Most of them are swipes made on the plastic surface of the computer as well as voice commands. Jordan also shows the appropriately minimal user interface as well as sample programs written for Glass.

Here’s the full 50-minute presentation:

I’m still not sold on the value of Glass, but if there’s anything to take away from the demo, it’s how impressive Google’s voice recognition technology has become. Seriously. That’s all I could think of while watching the videos.

[via Daily Mail]

Meet PepsiCo10: A Delicious Way To Get Digital Start-Ups Off The Ground

PepsiCo looks around the world for business helping innovators

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP),
the makers of the iconic American soda, has recently become the
second-largest food and beverage corporation in the world. An abundance of
innovations helped to make PepsiCo the industry giant that it is today. The Sultan
of Soft Drinks hasn’t stopped striving to discover innovative start-ups
across several areas to throw their support behind, leading to the
creation of PepsiCo10.