Hasta La Gadget!

Augmented reality isn’t just a gimmick for Google Glass and Nokia City Lens, but could make industrial work safer and improve visibility for those with partial sight, according to new research. The team at Eyetap, led by “father of AR” Professor Steve Mann, has cooked up a so-called quantigraphic camera for a new WeldCam HDRchitecture (HDRchitecture) helmet that rather than simply mask the bright lighting produced by welding equipment, actually uses HDR photography techniques to pick out the details the wearer most needs to see.

Traditional welding helmets use a sheet of smoked glass for the eyepiece, cutting down on the dangerous glare from the welding process itself, but also reducing overall visibility. The HDRrchitecture system, instead, processes images coming from one or more cameras, rendering a Full HD, 30fps stream with the brighter elements stripped out but the core details retained, all in real-time.

Professor Mann actually developed HDR (high dynamic range) photography several decades ago, and has been making heavy use of it in his own Eyetap wearable computer. There, three simultaneously captured images at different exposures are combined – again, in real-time, and at 120fps – to produce a more detail-rich view of the world than could be seen by the human eye alone.

“By capturing over a dynamic range of more than a million to one,” the Eyetap team says, “we can see details that cannot be seen by the human eye or any currently existing commercially available cameras.” They’ve also come up with a standalone hardware device, small enough to fit into “a large shirt pocket,” which can process two HDMI camera inputs – one for each eye – and two HDMI outputs for separate eyepieces, with the processing done using GPUs and multicore CPUs.

Although the initial work is being presented as ideal for welding helmets, Mann & Co. believe the true usefulness is yet to be explored. Since the system is self-contained, and requires no user-controls or connected PC, it could be evolved into a set of HDR eyeglasses, for instance, aiding those with less than perfect eyesight. There’s more detail in the full research paper [pdf link].

[via Hack A Day]

Quantigraphic camera promises HDR eyesight from Father of AR is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time for the greatness of Nokia’s own City Lens technology to be released into the wild, the same powerful beast shown earlier this year at CTIA and more recently on the Lumia 820 and 920 lineup! This software brings the power of Nokia Maps to the virtual universe showing an overlay of places and attractions on your real world view through your device’s camera. City Lens will be available for several Nokia devices for real, in a v1.0 version out of Beta, starting today!

If you use the Nokia Lumia 900, 800, or 710, you’re in luck. These devices will have access to City Lens starting today. All you’ve got to do is follow the following directions to grab it quite quickly! You’ll be using your device’s camera to see a QR-code first and foremost – from there you’ll get the download and you’ll be on your way! Note that you do need an internet connection to grab this download, so make sure data or wifi are on!

1. Press the Search button on your Nokia Lumia and then tap Vision
2. Scan the barcode
3. Tap on the link when it appears on the screen
4. Install the application from the Windows Phone Marketplace

You could also, of course, just go straight to the Windows Phone Marketplace, but that’s not nearly as fun a process! Have a peek at our hands-on with City Lens through the eyes of the Nokia Lumia 920 here, and note that the final version for the 920 and the 820 will vary just a bit from the version you’re seeing for your 900, 800, or 710 today.

With Windows Phone 8 as it appears on the 920 and 820 you’ll find some features that only appear on Windows Phone 8 devices and above. With this version of City Lens, you’ll be able to pin to start any category tile. You’ll also be able to add your own favorite searches, and you’ll be able to use City Lens in both portrait and landscape modes. Check our timeline below for more City Lens action!

[via Nokia]

Nokia City Lens released from Beta for Lumia devices is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony‘s new Wonderbook project has left some scratching their heads, but if you’re a Harry Potter fan, you may be pleased to know that the first game in the Wonderbook series will launch on November 13. That first game is dubbed Wonderbook: Book of Spells, and in it, players will use the augmented reality capabilities of the PlayStation Move and Eye to learn about and cast spells from the Harry Potter series, including Incendio, Wingardium Leviosa, and Harry’s own signature spell, Expelliarmus. Dark wizards should probably look elsewhere, as we doubt the family-friendly nature of Wonderbook: Book of Spells will allow for incantations such as Crucio and Avada Kedavra.

To help celebrate this launch date announcement, the folks at Sony have pulled together a developer diary all about Wonderbook. In this first dev diary, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the evolution of the idea behind Wonderbook, and how the developers came up with the product some of us will be taking home on November 13. Regardless of your feelings about Wonderbook, the video is actually quite interesting, so it’s suggested that you give it a watch.

When Wonderbook: Book of Spells arrives on November 13, it’ll come in two different forms. If you already own a PS Move controller and a PS Eye camera, the game and the book will be available in a standard package that runs $39.99. For those who are new to the realm of motion gaming on PS3, Book of Spells also comes in a bundle pack that includes the game, the Wonderbook peripheral, a PS Move controller and a PS Eye camera for $79.99. Those are some pretty attractive prices, especially if you already have a Move controller and an Eye, so even though some may be wondering why Sony is even releasing Wonderbook at all, the company can probably count on some pretty healthy sales.

That’s the thing too – hardcore gamers won’t understand what Wonderbook is all about, but that’s okay because it isn’t aimed at them. One look at the developer diary above and you can tell that young children are going to be all over this, and the team-up with J.K. Rowling to make a Harry Potter-themed Wonderbook game certainly won’t hurt. Who’s picking up Wonderbook: Book of Spells when it launches on November 13?

[via US PlayStation Blog]

Wonderbook: Book of Spells lands on November 13 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It was at Nokia’s New York event that saw the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 unveiled to the world, in addition to an offline version of Nokia Maps that delivered voice guided turn-by-turn navigation and venue maps, making it function more or less like a dedicated GPS unit. This is made possible thanks to the ability of both smartphones to obtain a GPS or GLONASS fix within seconds without the help of any data connection. Not only that, Nokia City Lens which was introduced in May 2011 is finally out of beta, and the augmented reality app has been released to the Windows Phone Marketplace in order to cater for Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 devices. Folks who are already thinking of purchasing the latest Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 need not fret as a special version is in the pipeline.

To recap, Nokia City Lens will require you to press the Search button on your Nokia Lumia device and then tap Vision, before you go ahead and scan the barcode. Should a link appear on the screen, tap on it, and install the application from the Windows Phone Marketplace. This location-based augmented reality application will rely on your device’s viewfinder so that you enjoy an augmented reality overlay view of buildings and instantly highlights places of interest. Just make sure you concentrate on where you’re stepping on, as this augmented reality app does not look out for poo on the ground!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia City Lens brings augmented reality onto Lumia phones, Instagram For Windows Phone May Arrive Soon,

Google Glass‘ early luxury brand pricing appears to have put it in good stead, with the elite at New York’s Fashion Week getting an early close-up look at Google’s wearable camera future. Diane von Furstenberg, who’s no stranger to a tech tie-in, has added the lightweight frames to her latest show, using them to make a documentary about fashion’s creative process. The project is set to appear on von Furstenberg’s Google+ page later this week, but if you’re not a world-renowned fashion designer (or model), we’d be paying more attention to that two-year wait.

Filed under: Wearables

Google Glass makes catwalk debut at New York Fashion Week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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