Weekest Links 4/08/13 – 4/14/13

I don’t want to Week, I just want to bang on the drum all day. 

Sony announces Invizimals will ship with Augmented Reality on the PS Vita

metaio | junaio recap

Pixories brings your memories alive [blog]

Start your coin collection with Junaio [blog]

Metaio is hiring all over the place- check out our available positions on our website [careers]

Metaio’s interns love their experiences- check out this testimony [blog]

there are things that are happening

Augmented Reality Poised to Disrupt an Extremely Competitive Chip Sector [Seeking Alpha]

Would you let China Augment Your Reality? [Washington Post]

Caterina Fake’s Augmented Reality: Content before Gizmos [Forbes]

Why the sudden rush to bring Google Glass to market? [Forbes]

Will Augmented Reality drive Apple Stock? [Daily Finance]

Vuzix leads the drive for Augmented Reality standards and compelling content [press release]

webinars

Upcoming webinar: Advanced Session for the Metaio SDK – Android [Sign Up!]

events

InsideAR, the most exciting augmented reality event in the world, will be October 10-11 this year. Not familiar? Check out some photos from last year!  [event site]

Ever wonder what Metaio gets up to On The Road? [photo album]

Registration is open for the Augmented World Expo, June 4-5 (formerly ARE). Get in with Early Bird discounts before it’s too late! [registration] (If you read this after April 9, use code AWE3META to get a special discount)

Want to meet Metaio? Make sure to check out our Events page as we update it through the year [events site]

pick of the week: the internet of 1995

Recorded nearly 10 years ago, right here in San Francisco. Fascinating as it is cringe-worthy.

Pixories Brings Your Memories Alive with Augmented Reality

A magician once brought my memories alive. Once. 

Brought to you by the same minds that brought you- well, Augmented Minds, this is a brand-new service that allows people to attach real-life sentiment in the form of digital greeting cards, anchored to everyone’s favorite snail mail: postcards. With pixories, friends and family can upload their own special videos and send them anywhere in the world (hopefully, to someone you know) to be accessed through the pixories app in true augmented reality fashion.

Pixories is currently available as a free download for iPhone and iPad, with an Android version soon to follow. This incredible app was built with the powerful Metaio augmented reality software, available for free download right from our website, http://metaio.com/products.

From pixories:

“Many of us tend to store their postcards in special places like a picturewall or on front of the fridge and with pixories the memories stored in those cards can be accessed fast and easy”, states Markus Ambrus, CEO and cofounder of pixories. “The possibility of storing digital data in real, common objects like printed postcards fascinates me. Digital Videos now can be wrapped in a real gift without the need of hardware like USB-Sticks or CDs and DVDs.”

Video:

“But where do they get these wonderful postcards?!” you might be saying to yourself as you wring your hands through your hair. Fear not! You can make them yourself through the pixories website, right here. “What about shipping?!” Well, they do that, too.

Wondering what they’re doing now? Stay up to date with this great new service at their blog, on Facebook, or even on Twitter.

Blog Carnival #IfIhadGlass from We Wear Smart Wear and metaio

As Google announced Project Glass last year, we thought this is the most logical step after the invention of smartphones and tablet-PCs. As digital natives we are either sleeping or online. But there are situations when we find mobile devices quite disturbing, for example during jogging, shopping or, let’s say cooking. With the Google Glasses we would have our hands free again and could use all of the applications which we already enjoy on our smartphones and can enjoy Augmented Reality.

Starting the 28th of February this year, Google started a competition “asking prospective Google Glass buyers to take to Twitter or Google+ using the #ifihadglass hashtag to explain why they deserve one of the first-ever Google Glass Explorer Editions” (Techcrunch.com). Eventually, the application phase was closed by Google after thousands of people reacted and shared their ideas.

The blog We Wear Smart Wear has started a Blog Carnival with the Hashtag #IfIhadGlass to continue asking for expectations and visions people have for using Smart Glasses. We, at Metaio, really like the idea of a BlogCarnival (Don’t know what it is? Have a look here!) and want to support it.

 We want to know from you and all our clients, developers and blog readers:

What would you do with Google Glasses? And what is your vision of Augmented Reality?  

Publish a short story or make a video on your blog about what you expect from Smart Glasses and send the link with the hashtag #IfIhadglass until 30th of April 2013  to press@metaio.com.

Please, link your article with http://www.wewearsmartwear.de! 

We will also collect all the blog entries and publish the best texts and videos on our Augmentedblog and on the Junaio Blog.

The Return of “Weekest Links”

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. 

Yeti CGI showcasing Augmented Reality game prototype built with Metaio SDK  at the 2013 Game Developer’s Conference

Hello again! Though we haven’t had a Weekest links since (shhh) November 2012, Spring can be a fresh start for everyone. We’ll renew our regular Monday schedule starting next week and on- until then, check out the list below and don’t forget to subscribe!

metaio | junaio recap

Metaio shows off awesome Augmented Reality at GDC 2013, TweakTown [video]

Metaio Augmented Reality Interview @ the ARM booth, 2013 Game Developer’s Conference, featuring @traklord [video]

ARM exhibits Metaio Augmented Reality Product at GDC 2013, featuring @twitt_AR [video]

A Sneak Peak at HP Support’s Augmented Reality App (powered by the Metaio SDK) [video]

“Augmented Reality: What do businesses need to know?”, NetworkWorld [article] 

10 Augmented Reality technologies you should know about [slideshow]

SmarTech Publishing Report Says Google Glass Heralds a New Era For The Augmented Reality Business [press release]

Metaio to participate in annual European Satellite Navigation Competition [press release]

Our former intern Sebastian tells us how awesome we are [blog post]

Slanted Magazine, a fully augmented edition powered by Junaio [blog post]

webinars

Even though we have extensive documentation for all of our augmented reality software, we thought it was important to give developers, both experienced and new to our platform, the ability to get in-depth explanations on certain topics in the form of weekly webinars. You can sign up for the next Webinar, an advanced SDK session for iOS developers, right here on our dev portal (http://dev.metaio.com), along with recorded versions of all the other sessions, with topics like Content Creation, Intro to SDK, Intro to Junaio, Intro to Creator and more.

events

Next week is Aumenta.me 2013- the annual meeting point in Spain for the exchange of ideas, experiences, projects and developments of Augmented Reality in Education. Taking place April 20th in Valencia, Spain, it will showcase the best educational AR experiences, including workshops and seminar sessions. Learn more here: [event site]

Dates announced for InsideAR 2013, the most exciting augmented reality conference in the world [event site]

If you missed them, photos from the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona [album]

Registration is open for the Augmented World Expo, June 4-5 (formerly ARE). Get in with Early Bird discounts before it’s too late! [registration] (If you read this after April 9, use code AWE3META to get a special discount)

Join us at the annual AR Summit in London, June 20th [event site]

To follow Metaio on the road, make sure to check out our Events page as we update it through the year [events site]

pick of the week: April Fools 

Out of all the 4/01/13 shenanigans, these were some of our favorites: 

Guardian launches Augmented Reality specs to offer immersive liberal insight [article]

Google launches GMail Blue [video]

Nokia turns up the heat with its first microwave oven [article]

Improv Everywhere: Reverse Times Square

Not entirely sure what’s happening here, but it sure seems “augmented”….

Internship at metaio offices in Munich: Sebastian tells about one of his best weeks in his life

My name is Sebastian and I did a one-week internship in the Munich offices of Metaio. Since I have been interested in Augmented Reality (AR) for a long time, I discovered metaio because I already enjoyed their app, Junaio. My main advisor and “personal coach“ was Matthias Greiner, who was extremely hospitable, showing me the company and explaining everything that they do at Metaio. From the first day, I had my own computer and workplace where I could explore different Junaio channels. Especially in the beginning, I was very happy that Matthias spoke German with me, but with most of the international staff I had to speak in English, which was a good chance for me to practice my language skills.

After these “first contacts” with Metaio and Augmented Reality I got my first tasks and was really part of the team. I was allowed to use, for the whole week, the very powerful software Metaio Creator and learned more and more about this program and its potentials. As time flew by, I learned a lot about tracking and finally I was allowed to create my own channel. Eventually, on Friday my channel had been published in the Junaio AR browser.

The picture shows Sebastians trackables of his business cards

Too bad that this was also my last day! I hated to go, but – if I get the chance and Metaio agrees to give a “bothersome” scholar trainee a second chance – I really want to come back for another internship in this great company.

This, unfortunately only for one week, internship was one of the best weeks in my life and that is not a lie!

Sebastian

Dear Sebastian,

We really enjoyed your company and were definitely amazed at how fast you grasped the Metaio idea! It was great to see how quickly you managed to work with the Metaio Creator and understood what is important to know. We hope you are proud about your own junaio channel and will surprise your classmates and teachers with it!

As soon as you are free to join the Metaio team we would be happy to welcome you again!

 The Metaio team 

InsideAR Mag Snapshot: Accelerating Augmented Reality

If you haven’t already heard the news, we went and did something no one has ever done before- Metaio has successfully designed and released a chipset architecture for accelerating augmented reality experiences on semiconductor platforms (like the chips in smartphones).

To coincide with the 2013 Mobile World Congress, we released the third edition of the InsideAR Augmented Reality Magazine featuring the all-new AREngine. If you missed picking one up at MWC, you can download the full version at the previous link, but I thought I’d post our cover story right here. So without further ado, here is the story on the “shot-heard-round-the-world” of the entire Augmented Reality Industry: 

Nearly a decade ago, to the day, Thomas Alt and Peter Meier founded Metaio with the intent of advancing Augmented Reality (AR) as the primary interface for experiencing the digital and online worlds. This was a time when the most popular mobile device’s (the Nokia 1100) features were limited to SMS and a calculator. The dawn of the era of the smartphone really did change everything for the Augmented Reality industry, as suddenly the average user could experience through mobile cameras the same visual elements formerly restricted to factory-floor AR installations running on offline high-powered PCs.

Back then it was clear that computer vision and Augmented Reality experiences would greatly benefit from optimizing the software for individual handsets and chipset platforms. It was then that Metaio embarked on developing relationships with OEMs, handset manufacturers and chipset platforms in order to one day realize a fully optimized device, ready for Augmented Reality from the moment the consumer removes it from the shelf.

Despite hardware limitations, Metaio was able to make leaps and bounds with applied research and lowlevel optimizations. Their award-winning R&D team was responsible for the first commercial deployment of 3-D tracking and recognition on a mobile device. Metaio’s engineers were also the first to align a given smartphone camera with gravity, educating the sensor on how to better perceive its surroundings like the human eye. In fact, Metaio has made incredible software developments in 2012 alone.

In 2009, it was no less than a technological feat to get a top-of-the-line HD camera connected to an offline desktop PC to recognize a single pre-designed image and render a single 3-D model in real-time. With the latest low-level optimizations, Metaio has achieved recognizing 100 unique images and overlaying 100 unique 3-D models, all on a mobile device. If Metaio can accomplish these things without having any prior access to the processors and sensors inside these devices, imagine what mobile users could do with a fully AR-ready smartphone.

Whether it’s Google’s Project: Glass concept or popular movies like Minority Report or Terminator, nearly all of the popular references to Augmented Reality depict an “always on” interface. The camera is constantly scanning, detecting, recognizing and overlaying information and content onto the real world. In order to achieve this vision (something Metaio refers to as the “Augmented City”) of ubiquitous interaction, it is imperative that the groups developing the hardware are working with those developing the software.

For this reason, Metaio began developing a piece of hardware IP now known as the “AREngine”, an architecture designed specifically to accelerate Augmented Reality performance in mobile hardware, and one of Metaio’s longstanding platform partners, ST-Ericsson, will be the first to adopt and deploy it on silicon. The AREngine will propel Augmented Reality into the future and will do for the industry what the addition of the GPU did for the gaming industry.

Before the populace sports head mounted displays that resemble eyeglasses; before society adopts wearable computing; before contact lenses come in 16, 32 and 64 gigabyte models; before we exist in an Augmented World – there must be the first step. The future of Augmented Reality starts now with the first ever introduction and implementation of the AREngine.

Welcome to always on, always augmented - powered by Metaio. 

Metaio introduces first Augmented Reality IP, “AREngine” at Mobile World Congress

Lord I was born a Rambla man. 

Metaio brings world’s first Augmented Reality Accelerated chipset to market, signs agreement with ST-Ericsson to integrate future mobile platforms

SAN FRANCISCO – FEBRUARY 21, 2013: Metaio today announces an agreement with ST-Ericsson, a leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors. Under the terms of the agreement, ST-Ericsson will integrate Metaio’s Augmented Reality hardware IP, the so-called “AREngine,” into the next generation of ST-Ericsson mobile platforms resulting in the first application processor accelerating Augmented Reality performance on mobile devices.

Metaio’s cutting-edge technology inserts nearly any 3-D and virtual content into the real world by recognizing images, objects and entire environments. In a mobile future that clearly requires smart devices to be ‘always on’ and connected, the Metaio AREngine drastically reduces power consumption making all-day AR experiences possible… read more.

Check out this video and learn more about the exciting new AREngine for accelerating Augmented Reality experiences.

Download the Full Press Release

Join the Metaio Team @MWC 2013

Are you headed to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress?
Members of the Metaio team will be located at various booths and locations throughout Mobile World Congress 2013. For locations of the Metaio booth and sponsor booths visit www.metaio.com/mwc or download the Metaio @MWC 2013 map below. If you would like to schedule a meeting with one of the team members from Metaio, visit www.metaio.com/mwc and fill out the meeting request form at the bottom of the page.

• Metaio - App Planet, Hall 8.1, Stand 8.1E39
• Intel - App Planet, Hall 8.1, Stand 8.1E20
• Imagination - Hall 7, Stand 7I110
• ST-Ericsson - Hall 7, Stand 7E111

Download the Metaio @MWC 2013 Map

Meet the Metaio Team @MWC 2013

Many team members from Metaio will be on hand at MWC 2013 at various booths throughout the exhibition halls. Meet the team behind the Augmented Reality technologies shaping the future of how we interact with digital information in the real-world. Visit our booth at MWC and get the chance to meet:

• Thomas Alt, CEO of Metaio
• Daniel Gelder, SVP Marketing
• Sudhanshu Kapoor, BD Manager – OEM’s
• Trak Lord, Marketing & Media Relations

 And last but not least, don’t miss us at the 2013 Global Mobile Awards Ceremony, Tuesday, February 26 in Hall 4 at the Gran Fira in Barcelona. For more information, check out our last blog post.

We’ll be posting news and updates live from the floor of Mobile World Congress, so make sure to stay tuned on our Twitter and Facebook feeds. And who knows, we might even have time to write a couple posts about our experiences there next week.