This post by John Tolva is heralded as “critical reading if you have any interest whatsoever in networked cities and citizenries” by city-ubicomp expert Adam Greenfield.

As Chief Technology Officer for the City of Chicago, he uses examples from city initiatives (Bus Tracker, Train Tracker and potential other civic startups) to propose the future of urban cities:

… [think] of the city itself as an open platform with an API. Physical objects generate data that can be combined, built upon, and openly shared just as it can be from the data portal. The difference in this scenario is location. Where much of the data in the portal is geo-tagged, data coming from the built environment would be geo-actionable. That is, in the city-as-platform scenario certain data is only useful in the context of the moment and the place it is accessed.

Just don’t call it an ‘urban OS’:

… I’m growing skeptical of calling all this an operating system, at least in the sense we traditionally do. Much of the talk of an urban OS focuses solely on centralized control. But if you’re true to the analogy of a computer operating system it would have to be a platform for others to build applications upon. In truth, this is a lot more like a robustly deployed, well-documented set of fault-tolerant API endpoints than it is an OS.

There’s been a lot of interest in urban spaces in the last few years from people such as Adam Greenfield,  Andrea Resmini and Luca Rosati (who we also covered in this year’s EuroIA conference notes), and Dan Hill (who we also covered at Interaction 10). However, Tolva’s perspective is particularly heartening given that he represents the public sector, and represents a growing number of authorities realising the future role of open data.

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City of Chicago image NC-BY-CC by accentstage

Earlier this year we discussed Volkswagen’s superbowl ad and some of our observations around emotions and design. Now, the innovative automobile company does it again, this time with a mobile application. (Note, you cannot access the application through iTunes in all regions).

The application is quite simple in design – offering a brief description of a vehicle and details around some of Volkswagen’s innovative technology. As their video describes though, it is difficult to simply describe the function so the remainder of the application allow customers to test drive the functionality. By selecting a function, one may place their phone over the printed ad and steer their avatar – in this case a Volkswagen vehicle. Depending on the feature selected – lane assist, adaptive lights, and adaptive cruise control, the car reacts differently when the mobile device is placed over the street in the printed ad. Watch the lights follow the curve of the road, the vehicle vibrate when touching the edge of the lane, and more.

While augmented reality isn’t new to the cell phone, with applications allowing you to type while still seeing what is in front of you, superimpose social network information over people’s heads, and more, this is one of my first experiences with it as a strictly marketing technique. In reality though – this goes beyond marketing. The Volkswagen ad is a simple prototype. As interaction designers we spend a lot of time talking about sketching, prototypes, and development. Often that is defined as a tangible representation of a model. In this case though, holding a phone is nothing like driving a car. Still, this simple prototype, or tool, demonstrates a complex interaction, can inspire conversation, and excite people to invest in the product, and ultimately purchase a vehicle. Aren’t these the same goals we aspire to when developing websites and software? What tools can be used to create prototypes outside of the screen to communicate what a technology might be like, without building the entire system, or by building a different one entirely?

_{Images from VW Innovations}

It’s hard to look back at 2009 and ignore the rather sudden blooming of augmented reality. What was it that made AR suddenly so popular? The rise of ‘mobile’ apps helped. But was that all there was to it? I don’t think so.You can learn so much about a culture by observing how they take in new information. It’s easier than ever to watch how the internet community responds to new things; whether it be a new president, a new episode of Fringe, the death of a pop icon, or ‘new’ technologies. When something happens you can literally watch the connected swarms absorbing the news, assimilating it into their lives, and regurgitating it in the form of comments, tweets, articles and other hip ways of communicating.

With technological innovation

This cycle of assimilation from inventor to news source and eventually the public (who then sometimes become secondary inventors) can be a frenzied and often frustrating thing to observe. Especially for user experience designers. Until the true benefit of a technology becomes its most prominent usage, it will continue to wallow in worthless gimmicky applications, and this makes me sad. If, instead of embarking on a futile development voyage, we thought about it a little bit first, we might actually be able to figure out how to make good use of a new technology in, say, under a few decades.

ARead All About It

Although the ‘news release’ of augmented reality’s invention may not have ever actually happened, the current frenzy is reminiscent of what happened when the first visions of connected personal computers starting popping up in the 60′s. That is, to put it bluntly, uninspired exhibitions of the technology with little to no regard for a particular user need or everyday application. That said, I really can’t blame people for iterating and trying to hone in on the most viable use, I just wish they could be a little more thoughtful about it, that’s all.

Parading around claims that the latest issue of your magazine is capable of telling the time, that you, the reader can control the weather, wins you no points in my book. The fact that the editor in chief says, “What you’ve seen so far is that, you can control what happens with the issue…” Excuse me, but couldn’t I already control what happens with every other issue of every other magazine I have owned? How does this augmented reality issue suddenly empower me to decide what to do with it? Does it contribute any new meaning in my life? The answer, sadly enough for Esquire’s last ditch effort to save its print embodiment, is that it doesn’t. As much as I love Robert Downey Jr.: this is a gimmick. Albeit a nicer gimmick than some of the other augmented riffraff we’ve seen of late, but it’s still a gimmick. It does not contribute to the value of your print magazine any more than a shiny coupon for a store that you don’t even have in your town.

Now I’m not saying I have all the answers

In fact, I really don’t have any answers. But if I were to think about this, I might arrive at the conclusion that instead of tacking on some fiducials that enable a computer screen-bound fashion model to shed some sweaters, Esquire maybe could have tried to enhance the reading experience of…oh I don’t know…the articles? Come on people, let’s put our heads together and figure out what to do with this goshdarn AR stuff. Why is it so hard to come up with a useful application that everyone can and wants to use?

A few months ago

I found myself optimistically answering someone else’s utterance of this same plea with specific examples of a few really cool AR applications. Just so this rant isn’t entirely ranty, here are some of my favorites:

USPS’s Priority Mail Virtual Box Simulator

You gotta love the simplicity of purpose and beautiful execution of USPS’s Priority Mail Virtual Box Simulator. This, to me it is an ideal example of a company identifying a user need (finding the right box size for some goods). It is answering that need with a technological solution that uses augmented reality, not because its popular, but because it allows for a really great in-home solution to their customer’s problem. Now, instead of trying to fix the user experience in every one of their thousands of store locations, USPS allows users to go to their site, print the USPS eagle image on a piece of paper, turn on their webcam, launch the simulator and hold the eagle icon up to your camera to see what size box to purchase. Voila, value added and problem solved.

Topps 3D Live trading cards

Whoever thought that cutting edge technology couldn’t be nostalgic is being proven wrong with Topps 3D Live trading cards. Talk about reincarnating a dead pastime. Not only do these new cards give sports fans a reason to go out and purchase new cards to supplement their dad’s handed-down mega collection, they also include games. Whether this concept successfully popularizes baseball card collecting or not, it’s certanly an admirable attempt at using new technology to add value (and a more complete service) to a nostalgic product.

Living Sasquatch

While this example may not be as clear cut about adding value to an exisiting product or service economy, the Living Sasquatch project proves once and for all, that Big Foot is indeed real, augmentedly at least.

BMW

It’s likely that this BMW augmented reality video was made almost entirely with video effects, however the concept behind it is a powerful one. A future in which life’s instructions are simply a layer ontop of reality (seen through hopefull less dorky glasses) is a future I’m excited to live in.

Zugara’s shopping tool

Zugara claims that this webcam-based shopping tool is the meeting point of augmented reality and utility. I’d actually have to agree. With the goal of enhancing the online retail shopping experience, the site allows users to ‘try on’ clothes in the comfort of their computer room, all without needing a keyboard or mouse. The tasty blend of motion capture and AR gives this concept a ton of style points.

Tellart 2008 Holiday Card

While there were no doubt several examples of AR holiday cards from the past couple years, I couldn’t help but insert this musical number, made by my multi-talented coworkers at Tellart.

AR Drum Kit

Continuing with the music theme, I really enjoy this drum kit demo for its ability to work with the parameters of AR and maintain the gestural feeling of drumming. It may not be a game changer just yet, but I think it’s one of the most interesting directions I’ve seen.

I really do believe that AR has a place in our world

Science fiction novels have long predicted a future in which everyone sports AR glasses, navigating the real world with varying layers of virtual. And this future is exciting; people SHOULD be excited. I just hope developers get all the useless crap out of there system soon so we can move on to the augmented future we all dream of. The key, I think, is to calm down, think about how to make game changing applications that users will crave, and facilitate the assimilation of new technologies into everyone’s lives in the most exciting and useful way possible.

Top image by: cubistcarborough

How would you like to tap your wrist to engage the clock embedded in the OLED wall? Rub your fingers together to request a text message with your bank account’s balance? Or rub your ear to have the speaker phone in the center of the table adjust the volume?

The Hasso Plattner Institute out of Potsdam, Germany recently published a paper on Disappearing Mobile Devices. The paper does not attempt to act as a proof of concept but instead outlines the possibilities of interactions with mobile devices as technology becomes smaller and embedded into the very fabric of our lives, whether it be our buildings, our clothing, or ourselves.

A brief history of mobile devices

Focus has changed over the last few decades from the development of Notebook computers to PDAs and mobile smart devices to wearable technology and gestural interfaces. Wearable technology is starting to pick up momentum with niche items like the Bluetooth headset that doubles as a ring (scheduled to be available early in 2010). Likewise, gestural interfaces have received acclaim in the media—thanks to the box office success of movies like Minority Report—and have begun receiving more attention in the IxD field itself as books like Dan Saffer’s Designing Gestural Interfaces have become available.

Opportunities

By focusing on how a user interacts with a device over what the device looks like, Ni and Baudisch outline three main interactions that disappearing mobile devices could make possible. These are:

1. Touch Scanner
2. Motion Scanner
3. Directon Scanner

The image below illustrates some of the key factors that differentiate each scanner type.

Types of Scanners

• On a high level, touch scanners can sense if the device is being touched by an input device or if any input device is out of range. This simplifies to binary input of On/Off. While this is not a practical method of inputting long streams of data such as text, this allows simple switches to be engaged and simple combinations, such as two long taps followed by one short tap, to allow slightly more complex actions.
• Motion sensors are one step more advanced than touch scanners, where a touch and motion sensor work in union. Rather than simply measure On/Off, motion scanners can also detect general direction. Complex interaction such as drafting text it still limited with motion scanners but the technology would allow scrolling through a list or setting a dimmer switch with more ease than a simple touch scanner.
• Still more complex, direction scanners employ three non-linear touch sensors. With this triangle pattern, the technology can sense more complex shapes and gestures. This allows for not only the capabilities of touch and motion scanners but allows with more ease complex data input such as shapes and basic text.

Possible applications include embedding sensors under a person’s skin for text input and signalling different applications within an environment. Studies performed by the authors investigated opportunities of using Graffiti style of input methods with various degrees of success. Implications surrounding the dexterity of individuals, memory of a purely gestural system, and tiny finger constraints are just a few breakdowns of this new technology. Still, the studies performed outline a lot of potential for where embedded sensors and interfaces can move on both a personal and a social level.

Applications

Amy and Dr.Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh), Congo, 1995

Think back to the 1995 movie Congo and the backpack the gorilla Amy wore to sign to the human cast. Now imagine the same technology with embedded sensors: no more heavy backpack or intrusive technology reminding others of a physical limitation. On a more casual level, imagine your public transit pass being embedded into your fingertip. No more fumbling for a metro card, taking off gloves to get into your pocket; instead, you could simply swipe your finger over the scanner as you hurried to catch your train.

While we won’t see this technology implemented at our local grocery store just yet, it is interesting to see how the simple models outlined by the authors can open the doors to new interactions and technologies in a more natural and social manner than mobile devices presently allow.

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Image from Disappearing Devices

Lately Microsoft keeps exploring what our future might look like. This time they aren’t looking at the near future, but are taking us over the edge. They illustrate a place where the digital and physical spaces are one. A world where augmented reality is the only reality.

The video was made for Microsoft by Invivia, who got the following assignment: “explore in a poetic narrative way how certain developing technologies could begin to blend and augment our daily lives”. When you check out the video you see what their ideas are. Personally I like it, but also find it hard to imagine ever having a future like this… What do you think?

Lately I keep posting articles about augmented reality. And although I really like it, I have to admit that it still feels a bit quirky. Printing out a strange symbol and holding it in front of the camera is not the submersion people are looking for. Fortunately I came across a video that showed me that a true experience can be reached.

The video shows a photobook like any other. It doesn’t contain strange symbols with extreme contrast, but is realistic. When holding it in front of a camera magic seems to happen. I really like the simplicity of the graphics used. It’s not 3D, but kept simple… making it a nice experience. A great detail about this video is the camera. Notice how it is combined with a desk lamp, making it natural for people to aim at the part you are reading. This way you don’t have to hold up the book in front of the camera anymore. Really nie.

Hopefully this example will become a standard on which we can experiment further.

For the last months we’ve seen dozens of augmented reality applications. The technology has become so low-level that more and more companies and individuals are playing around with it. This results in a lot of funny and (sometimes) interesting applications. But the low-levelness also caused a good side effect: virality.

First: We, designers, get to experience so many new technologies and possibilities that we are easily bored… This ‘curse of knowledge’ blinds us, making us not see how the audience will respond. For example: for us the iPhone is the most normal device in the world, multi touch is something we know and we are already looking forward to the next thing. But ‘the masses’ don’t experience it like this, for them it’s still a novelty… and most of them see it as unreachable for now. Augmented reality is quite similar.

Designers may be used to the technology behind augmented reality and understand how an icon on paper can be transformed into a 3D animation you can move yourself. But we must never forget how our target audience thinks. For ‘the masses’ augmented reality feels like magic. They don’t think in technologies, but just experience the result. And when they do this, they are overwhelmed by the coolness of augmented reality.

Check out these video from somebody experiencing augmented reality for the first time:

For me it’s really important to keep the above points in my mind. The ‘curse of knowledge’ is very strong and can make a designer fail totally. What triggered this thought was an article I read on theory.isthereason where the writer referred to the great number of home made videos on augmented reality. When looking at the different video’s you see how people perceive the result they get. They don’t know how it works, just that it is really cool. So cool, that loads of them decided to make a video of it and spread it on the internet. Freely promoting companies and products, like the GE campaign. In the case of the GE augmented reality stuff, it resulted in a viral campaign (which I am joining right now): check out the number of videos people uploaded. Amazing.

For me there are two lessons: let’s stay curious and not be blinded by the ‘curse of knowledge’. And the other one is more direct… augmented reality is a great starting point for a viral campaign, since it impresses people.

Augmented reality is hot… new uses seem to pop up every day. In the last months we’ve seen augmented Japanese slaves, Mini cars driving in magazines and many other interesting solutions. This time it’s LEGO’s turn to try out this interesting technology worldwide in toy stores.

While many uses of augmented reality leave me in doubt of their success, this one is interesting. Everybody knows the frustration of being in a toy store… all the LEGO looks nice. You’ve got all these cool boxes with photos of the product inside. But what does it look like on the other side? Is it really that big? Metaio developed a digital box which will solve these questions. They will place this box in a store. When someone walks up to it, with the packaging facing the box, a 3d-model appears which can be manipulated by twisting and turning the packaging.

This is one of the first times this technology is applied on such a large scale (another product is the PS3 game ‘Eye of judgement’. Thanks Stephen Cox for mentioning it). After applying it in various more or less experimental ways, this finally looks like a match which really adds value. This because it shows something which we can relate to, something which we can confirm later on.

I hope they’ll be putting on in a toy store nearby. This will give me a good excuse to go inside.

How many times by now have you come across a discussion in which people argue wether print is dead or not? Despite which side you’re on, there is something which can’t be argued with. And that’s that Metaio has put print in an entirely new perspective by combining it with augmented reality. For the first time ever (that’s what they claim) it is possible to enhance print with interactive 3D information.

To realize this, Metaio uses what they call the ‘Unifeye’ platform. All the experience required is a computer and a simple webcam. The webcam recognizes patterns amongst the printed content and enhances it directly with virtual content.

It’s a beautiful combination of the ‘new’ and the ‘old’. Marshall McLuhan showed us how new media tries to copy the old. It’s interesting to now see how old media can be enhanced using the new. It’s print made interactive. Just think of all the possibilities this technology offers. Reading a novel could evolve into an interactive cinematic experience in which you can participate. An ensemble between interactive film and printed media without losing the detail which is often lost when a novel is filmed. And don’t forget educational purposes; learning might never be the same again.

Here is a short video of the technology two years ago when it was still in a more or less experimental phase. They released their first real product on the market now which is an atlas. A small video of that can be seen here on their website.

We used to be happy with a small keychain holding a tamagotchi, but that won’t happen again. From now on we can own a virtual pet that actually looks and moves like a pet. Sony is currently developing EyePet, an augmented reality virtual pet. I can explain what I want, but just watch the video and be amazed.

EYEPET from Michele Bertocchi on Vimeo.

Isn’t it great? Of course it’s a promotional video, so we have to wait if it’s really this cool. But for now: I’m pretty impressed. The reaction time looks good and the facial expressions of the monkey look fabulous. I can really imagine that EyePet can help children to learn and experiment with social behaviour. Would it be possible to reflect situations on the child’s relationship with the pet? Like neglect, sadness, aggression… Interesting to see what the effects would be.

Thanks to the EyeToy we finally have a commercial use for augmented reality, merging the digital and physical world in an interactive experience. I think this interactivity could help child development. I wonder what Sony is doing with this aspect…. Are they using didactics?

Unfortunately there is also bad news: the game is scheduled to release in Q4 2009. Hmmmm.