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Layar Vision Arrives

paullewis — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:16:16 +0000

Today Layar announced the news we’ve all been waiting for – image recognition!

It’s called Layar Vision and it looks fantastic. There’s no need to scan the image as Layar automatically reads the image ‘fingerprint’, which then opens up the augmented reality content.

Combine this with geo-coded markers and you’ve got one of the most powerful mobile AR systems available.

Watch this video to learn more.

And for a more technical breakdown.

Bath Fringe 2011: Return of the Layar

paullewis — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:57:17 +0000

The Bath Fringe festival returns in May, and for the second year running we’ve created an augmented reality festival guide for revellers, to help them quickly and easily locate venues and find out what’s on at this years event.

Download Layar for smartphones and look up the Bath Fringe layer for a fresh looking guide, with easy links to the listings and to the venue websites.

Since we developed last years guide, it was simply a matter of updating the graphics and locations using the existing content management system. We also made a few tweaks to the back-end to grab as much incoming data as possible so we can see how many people have logged in, what devices they’re using and where they’ve logged in from. No personal data is captured, just in case you were wondering!

We’ll publish the results in June following the festival. In the meantime, we’re getting our tickets in for what looks like a fantastic line up of music, dance, and ‘other’ performance which even the Fringe office have yet to classify.

If you are viewing this page on your Layar enabled mobile phone, you can open this layer directly by clicking on the following link. Open in Layar

Cantata, Denbighshire AR Tourism Layer

paullewis — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:31:30 +0000

If you’re thinking of taking a weekend break any time soon, we can’t recommend the beautiful county of Denbighshire enough. Why? Because we’ve just completed work on a new augmented reality concept around tourism and found the area to be full of fascinating history, stunning scenery and an ideal place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the daily grind.

The concept is quite simple – help make visiting Denbighshire fun, provide easy access to local history and things to do, and increase tourism in the area.

Ok, so the last part is the tricky bit, but with the use of augmented reality and Layar, we’ve managed to build a system that’s easy to use and rich with local information which has the edge on traditional tourism methods.

The layer consists of many of the local places of interest (and there’s a lot to see), from churches and monuments, to the many castles and ancient ruins across the county.

There are videos to watch from local people describing their favourite places, and tourists can get involved through the social feedback links where they can show their appreciation for any of the locations.

Another great feature allows visitors to view historic photographs in the place where they were taken, at some point in the past. Many of the photo’s date back almost 100 years, so the fun of finding them and seeing the way the area has changed will be a day out in itself.

The whole layer is managed through a customised content management system that allows easy updates to the places of interest, management of user accounts and full analytics for reporting the usage.

If you are viewing this page on your Layar enabled mobile phone, you can open this layer directly by clicking on the following link. Open in Layar

Layar 5.0

paullewis — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:35:00 +0000

Layar released version 5.0 of the reality browser this month with some great new features, bug fixes and a shiny new interface.

We’ve been waiting eagerly for the update for the iPhone, as previous versions were buggy and didn’t deliver the full experience as seen on Android. Tests we’ve done show a greatly improved app which will hopefuly prove to be more stable.

New features across the 5.0 client includes a new feature to allow easy sharing of Layar content to Facebook and Twitter, an updated graphical interface to make using the app much simpler, and finally a feature that allows basic animations on the POI markers.

We did our own tests with the animation kit (Joe 90, Virtual Balloons) and found them easy to implement and great fun to use.

Joe 90 Meets Augmented Reality

paullewis — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:29:52 +0000

Joe 90 is a great British TV show from the 1960′s, which was repeated in the 70′s (I remember watching it as a kid and loving it).

It was from Gerry Anderson’s world famous ‘Supermarionation’ studios where they also created Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.

Joe 90 was memorable for the rotating cage in which Joe would sit to get special skills downloaded to microchips in his specs (think Augmented Reality meets the Matrix).

It turns out that Joe 90′s world was set around 2012-13, so it would seem Mr Anderson (hmm, some connection there?) had some lucky guesses as to what the future would hold.

Using the latest beta update from Layar (5.0) for Android, (sorry iPhone users you’ll have to wait), we’ve tapped into the new animations API to get Joe 90 back in the BIG RAT.

If you are viewing this page on your Layar enabled mobile phone, you can open this layer directly by clicking on the following link. Open in Layar

Layar Launch Layar Player for iPhone Developers

paullewis — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:19:31 +0000

Following a lengthy beta testing phase (a good thing to iron out the bugs), Layar announced today the launch of the Layar Player, a simple tool to be embedded in iPhone apps to deliver the Layar augmented reality experience.

Read Layar’s press release here.

Get your hands on the tool here.

It all sounds very exciting and I’m sure we’ll see a plethera of new AR apps in the App Store very soon.

AR You Ready? A Special Report from Reuters

paullewis — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:19:35 +0000

It’s not that often that a new technology arrives that is clearly ground-breaking, yet at the same time remains a mystery for many – they just don’t get it.

Maybe they’ve become blasé about technology, and unless it can change the orbit of nearby planets or send birds flying towards egg-stealing pigs, it just doesn’t excite them any more. Which is a real shame because just around the corner, quite literally, is a new world where knowledge and reality meet.

I’m talking about Augmented Reality, in particular Layar, the reality browser for smartphones.

Maarten Lens-Fitzgerald was interviewed recently for a special report from Reuters. Read it here (PDF).

Layar Raises $14M in Funding from Intel Capital

paullewis — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:47:17 +0000

It’s always comforting to know that a start up company who’s products you’ve been supporting, are capable of not only making great products in the first place, but also of raising enough capital to continue trading for some time to come.

Layar announced yesterday that they have raised EUR €10M/ USD $14M from their newest investor Intel Capital. They join Sunstone Capital and Prime Ventures as Layar’s partners and from reading Layar’s blog, they’re looking to spend most of it on salaries. I think it’s time to get a job at Layar!

Read the full Press Release here

Goodbye Lions of Bath 2010

paullewis — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:29:52 +0000

The Lions have now left the streets of Bath and they look much emptier now they’re gone. The auctions took place over the weekend of the 15th/16th October with the star of the show being Euan the Lion with his coat of 2000, 10 pence coins. He sold for an amazing £15,000.

We thoroughly enjoyed creating a layer for the Lions of Bath art project, which had almost 5000 people use it to find their way around. The Highest number of users was over 600 in one week!

Thanks to Megan and the team for getting us involved, and to everyone who used the layer and sent us kind words.

Urusen band layer

paullewis — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:55:55 +0000

This has got to be one of our most exciting layers to date!

Not only did we get to work with the great guys who make up London-based, indie folk band Urusen, but we managed to create a unique experience for their fans.

Using their phones, Urusen fans can quickly find gig locations, listen to the latest MP3s, watch videos and download wallpapers designed by Urusens lead singer, Peter Beatty.

They can also try on virtual T-shirts before buying them, which can be done directly through the layer.

This is the first time augmented reality has been used by a band to provide gig locations and band info on Layar, the worlds leading reality browser.

This step towards mobilising the band is aimed at creating a closer relationship with the fans, as well as providing a quick, easy and fun platform on which to engage.

About Urusen

London-based indie folk band Urusen originally started in Bath and Somerset with the home recordings of cousins Peter Beatty and Ben Please.

Joined in London by Nick Ullmann, Jay Darwish and Kieran Houston, since 2008 they’ve have risen from grass roots into the current indie folk scene and have signed a publishing deal with RealWorld.

They’ve also been building a reputation as the highlight for numerous festival goers at festivals such as Glastonbury, Womad and Secret Garden party, as well as some of the smaller boutique festivals such as 2000 Trees, The Trowbridge Pump Festival and Larmer Tree. They’re currently working on a new album which they hope to release in the near future

With guitars, drums, cello and double bass, and an eclectic array of instruments such as harmonium, mbira, banjo and charango, rousing harmonies are woven into their modern folk-tinged arrangements.

Singled out as ‘one to watch’ by Metro, their lyrical, story-telling signature and stirring delivery is, as the Telegraph put it ‘terrifically atmospheric’ – if you haven’t caught them live yet, then make sure you do ~ they’ll make you an eager companion on a captivating journey, that’s wistful, spirited, and one you’ll probably want to join them on again and again.

http://www.myspace.com/urusen
http://www.facebook.com/URUSEN

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