Augmented Reality

Harrry Potter is about to get the Pokemon Go treatment.

Niantic Labs, the Google spin-off that developed the  Pokemon Go augmented reality game, has announced they have a deal with Warner Brothers to produce a game called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite:

We’re incredibly excited to announce this next step in the evolution of AR mobile entertainment. With Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players that have been dreaming of becoming real life Wizards will finally get the chance to experience J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. Players will learn spells, explore their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover & fight legendary beasts and team up with others to take down powerful enemies. We’re thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and WB Games San Francisco’s development team to bring this magical and beloved series to life in a brand new way. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will leverage the full stack of the Niantic Platform while also providing an opportunity to pioneer all new technology and gameplay mechanics.

We look forward to seeing you outside on your next adventure. Stay tuned to our social channels for updates as we work to bring this game to life.

David Haddad, president of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, said: "With Portkey Games, we are thrilled to answer the fans’ requests for more games inspired by J K Rowling’s Wizarding World. We are working with talented creators to build games that focus on player-generated stories, which will live alongside the magical universe created by J K Rowling."

There’s no word on the price, release date, or game play, but I for one am hoping they will find a way to enable wizard duels. Casting spells is fun and all, but playing against another wizard would be better.

Between the Echo, Dash Button, and the Dash, Amazon is no stranger to novel gadgetry, and here’s one that could be turned into an ereading device.

Re/code has the scoop on a patent that describes Amazon’s take on augmented reality goggles like the Magic Leap or Sony Smart Glasses.

Originally filed in 2013,

The patent explains how the smart glasses might be wired or wirelessly connected to a device such as a tablet and display video or images from that device in front of the wearer’s eyes. Tapping on the tablet, it explains, transitions a surface in the display from opaque to transparent, making it possible to interact with the real world without taking the glasses off.

"On the one hand, a large screen is beneficial for watching movies, playing games and even reading email comfortably," reads the patent. It continues: "On the other hand, the larger the screen, the bigger the device, which may be less desirable for a light and portable product. Another problem consumers experience with portable devices, like tablet devices, is the lack of ability to immerse themselves in a tablet experience, such as watching a movie on an airplane."

Basically Amazon has a patent on a pair of glasses so smart that they can either block out the world around you or be transparent and let you see the display’s contents superimposed over the real world surroundings.

To be clear, the patent describes the glasses as a new form of display for video, but it also suggests that the same tech could be used as a HUD for displaying info (think Google Glass), or it might be used for augmented reality uses (like the Magic Leap or MS HoloLens).

But I wouldn’t expect to see it any time soon. Rather than release a commercial product, Amazon filed for the patent. That tells us that they’re interested in the tech and that they think it could be valuable one day – it’s just not ready yet.

And given the indefinite status of Magic Leap, the hottest player in this niche, that’s no surprise. This firm raised half a billion last fall to fund the development of cutting edge augmented reality tech very similar to the Amazon goggles mentioned above, but no one knows when it be on store shelves. According to the latest details shared earlier this week when the company announced it was shifting operations to CA,  Magic Leap isn’t saying when they will launch their first product (it is filing a lot of patents, however).

And so I wouldn’t expect to be reading your Kindle ebooks on the Amazon Embers any time soon.

When it comes to developing new book tech, few compare to Disney. Its researchers have developed several new ideas for interactive augmented reality, and they’re back again this week with a new take on coloring books.

With its Color Alive line, Crayola has found a way to merge paper coloring books with apps to let kids bring their artwork to (digital) life. And now Disney is taking the idea a step further.

Crayola let kids bring a finished drawing to life, while Disney researchers have taken the idea a step further. They have developed tech that lets you see an augmented reality version of the drawing while it’s still being filled in.

Point a mobile device running the companion app at the drawing, and you can see the 3d character take on the colors and texture chosen by the artist while the drawing is still in progress.

That’s a nifty idea, but I don’t know how popular it will be. Gizmodo said it was "a brilliant way to bridge the experience of coloring with crayons or pencils (which has yet to be perfectly recreated on a touchscreen device) with the apps and games that more readily grab a child’s attention these days", which is true.

But with the way that old-fashioned un-augmented paper coloring books are making a comeback, I don’t know that anyone is going to want a mixed media experience.

Half the fun in filling in a coloring book is that you’re not holding a gadget in your hand. This would seem to defeat that purpose, and that is perhaps the greatest distinction between Craolya’s tech and Disney’s demo.

Crayola has found a way to add to the finished drawing, which is nice. Disney’s idea, on the other hand, feels like it complicates the drawing process – gilding the lily, as it were.

Would you want to use it?

Disney Research via Gizmodo

Google Glass may have been shoved in a closet, but that doesn’t mean Google’s competitors have similarly given up. Earlier today Sony revealed that it would be offering  its Android-compatible smart glasses to developers early next month.

"As a hands-free device, SmartEyeglass can be a promising product with many practical uses,” a Sony spokesperson told PC World. "But since we recognize the need to explore applications at this stage, we’re releasing this developer edition."

Unlike Google Glass, the Sony SmartEyeglass can only display monochrome text and images in a user’s field of view, and not off to one side. There’s no way to interact by voice, winking, or blinking; instead Sony went with a  a separate wired controller unit that houses a speaker, microphone, and an NFC module.

That sounds a little old school, but considering how completely the SmartEyeglass covers a user’s vision it might  not be a bad idea. And as you can see in this promo video, the physical interface looks well-designed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx7O_h09HKA

The glasses also have Wifi, Bluetooth, a 3MP camera, a g-sensor, and an accelerometer. It’s going to be sold through the Sony Developer World website, and will be released in Japan, Europe, and the US on 10 March.

Sony plans to charge $840 for its augmented reality SmartEyeglass, and it is targeting developers and industrial applications ahead of a planned commercial release sometime in 2016.

If you don’t want to wait for the release, Sony has already released an SDK for the SmartEyeglass Developer Edition SED-E1. You can find more info on the website.

If you haven’t gotten enough of augmented reality in books after reading about the Bridging Book, textbooks, or Marvel’s garnishments on their comic books, then you might be interested in the latest project from Disney Research.

A research team located at a Disney facility in Pittsburgh and at Carnegie Mellon University has developed what is probably going to be the next great innovation in gaming controllers.

They have a prototype handheld device that combines a projector with an image sensor. The HideOut, as they are calling it, can use the image sensor to see what it is being pointed at and then respond by changing the image it is projecting:

Okay, this isn’t even close to being an ebook story, but when I first heard about it a few days ago I was intrigued. This concept solves many of the problems I have seen when someone’s tried to integrate augmented reality into books.

By placing the projector and the sensor in the same position HideOut avoids the awkwardness and technical problems that can be caused when AR projects depend upon a computer’s webcam (here, here, here).

And as you can see here, it can work quite well with a paper book:

Of course, the cost of all the extra hardware is probably going to remove any chance that this might show up as a book-related product, but this could still become a gaming controller. That future controller could build on the idea of the Sony Wonderbook, which launched last June,  and the Microsoft IllumiRoom.

That last project is basically the same idea as the HideOut, only scaled up to include an entire room (clearly Microsoft and this Disney/CMU research team have been working in the same direction) while the Sony Wonderbook was a much simpler game for the PS3 that let players cast spells from Harry Potter and see the effects on screen.

I don’t know when we’ll see HideOut integrated into a gaming controller, but I do expect it to happen. If it is produced on the same scale as the XBox or the new PlayStation then the cost will drop significantly. It would also be fun to play with, don’t you think?

Disney Research

The Japanese newspaper Tokyo Shimbun has launched a new app which they hope will attract beginning readers into an aging customer base.

The app, AR News, uses augmented reality to promote certain stories published in the print edition of the daily newspaper. Kids can scan selected articles with an iPhone and the app will show them a "kid-friendly" version with animated characters and graphics, pop-up headlines and explanations about the topics being discussed. The online version of the stories are rewritten so they are easier for beginning readers to understand, with the Kanji characters replaced with the simplified Hiragana alphabet.

Here’s a video demo of the app:

It’s an interesting idea, and I have to say that it’s a better option than the dumbing down of articles that can be found in many US newspapers. But as technically interesting as this may be, I don’t see why the old, analog newspaper needs to be included. Why not just post the news stories online, where everyone is already reading them?

What’s more, the blue graphic used to mark some of the compatible stories is IMO visually distracting. If I were reading the newspaper (I can’t recall the last time that happened) and came across one of these graphics on a story, I would tend to skip it rather than work to decode the text under the graphic. If I really wanted to know about the story I would probably look for it online. In either case, the graphic has cost the newspaper a reader.

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The kids books publisher Goosebottom Books is planning to release a ghost-themed augmented reality book next month and they’ve just posted a demo on their website.

The book is called Horrible Hauntings, and it’s a cute look at some of the more famous ghost stories like the Headless Horseman, the Amherst Poltergeist, the Flying Dutchman, and Bloody Mary. All in all there are ten historical ghost stories in this book (pity there’s no Myrtle), and they are  brought to life via the tricks of augmented reality.

You’ll need to buy the book and download the iOS or Android app, but once you do you’ll be able to use the rear facing camera to see and interact with the ghosts. There’s even going to be a scene where you can take the role of a poltergeist and send objects (chairs, an umbrella, vases, and chamber pots) flying around the room.According to one of the developers, there are other simple games embedded in the app, including a spot where you can have the skeletons play ball or blow on the sales of the Flying Dutchman, which fill up when you blow on them.

You can check out the demo video at the end, but I don’t think this is going to work out very well. First and foremost, I’m going to have to agree with one of my readers in that I don’t see the point of requiring an iPad as well as the book in order to use the better parts of the book.

But more importantly, this particular AR trick isn’t working well for me because I’m having issues with the camera on my iPad 2. But that’s a sub-1MB camera anyway, so I wouldn’t expect it to do much in the first place. Here’s what I see on my screen:
As you can see, it looks awfully fuzzy. Assuming this is par for image quality on the iPad 2, I really don’t see the point of using it to support augmented reality apps. It’s just not worth it.

Once again augmented reality is little more than a gimmick. I think this app would be better off if the publishers simply dropped any requirement that the book be involved. But then they wouldn’t be able to pitch the app based on the gee-whiz value of augmented reality, and without that I’m not sure anyone would be writing about them today.

Do you recall how I like to describe augmented reality in books and ebooks as a gimmick? I found an example today that deserves the ridicule. On Friday BoingBoing posted a video of a new cover from a new comic book series. This series actually launched a couple months back, but the trick cover is so cheesy that no one cared to write about it.

As you can see in the following video,  Manowar #1 comes with a QR code and a a dotted outline that is about the size and shape of an iPhone. You’re supposed to scan the QR code and be directed to a website where a video clip will be played full screen on the iPhone.

I think it’s cheesy, but apparently I am the only one who does.

There was a link in the BoingBoing comments section that led to a collection of similar "iPhone over mouth" augmented reality tricks. This has been used a lot, and some weren’t bad. For example, one guy used it in his resume; he couldn’t get his foot in the door but he could still get the recruiters to listen. Now that was clever.

And a couple of the other examples look like they’re ads. I’m not sure what they’re saying, but do you know what? It’s still cheesy.  If you want to do a video, link to it. Don’t try some Clutch Cargo kind of gimmickry.

Marvel is at SXSW today and they just unveiled a couple new tricks they’re dding to their comics  starting next month. This post just looks at the less interesting gimmicky one, namely, augmented reality.

If you’re not familiar with augmented reality, let me give a brief explanation. Do you know how movie makers can add all sorts of visual imagery around real actors? With augmented reality, you can kinda do the same thing and you can do it in real time. You just need the right computer, camera, and software.

Starting in April, Marvel is going to add AR codes to their paper comics. Download the iOS or Android app, and once you point your camera equipped device at the code you will see various neat features pop up on the screen. Here’s how Marvel describes it:

By opening this app and scanning select Marvel products featuring the Marvel AR logo, you’ll unlock exclusive content starring the world’s most popular Super Heroes–including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and many others! Go behind the scenes of your favorite comics, see new footage, hear from creators, catch yourself up on past events and more!

You can watch the video at the end of the post for a demo.

I’ve been playing with AR book features for a while now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is ether a gimmick or a toy.

I’m afraid that this one is a gimmick because of the content Marvel is including. Some of it will be cool 3D stuff that you’ll like the first time, and maybe the second time, but the third time will bore you. I’d say that it falls in the same category as 3D Movies, and you know what The Oatmeal said about them.

And some of the features you’ll get via the AR code will be behind the scenes videos. Those would work just as well if you posted them to Youtube; hiding them behind the AR code is a gimmick. Ditto for anything that could have been posted to a blog.

People are putting video, audio, and interactive content in t

heir books, but I’m pretty sure that we’ll never see augmented reality added to an ebook.

A couple weeks back I posted on a new augmented reality book that was just published. The authors had posted an augmented reality demo that you could try, and I had a poor experience. The idea didn’t seem to work all that well, but it did get me interested in the idea.

I got to wondering on how well this would work with an ebook.

I hadn’t heard about anyone having tried this before, and that was a surprise. We live in an experimental era. Lots of developers are trying new things but none have tried this.

Now, if you’re not familiar with augmented reality, let me give a brief explanation. Do you know how movie makers can add all sorts of visual imagery around real actors? With augmented reality, you can kinda do the same thing and you can do it in real time. You just need the right computer, camera, and software.

In this case we need a webcam, a book with the right symbols (AR keys) printed in it, and we need the right app (provided by the publisher). We also need a live internet connection. If you’d like to see a demo, you can check out this old post on The Search for WondLa, a children’s book that was published in 2010. Or you can watch the demo video on Youtube.

But this post is about augmented reality ebooks, so that print demo doesn’t really help much. Luckily for us, the ebook version of WondLa also has the AR keys found in the print edition.  You can see them in the lead photo; that’s my KDX and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

I bought the ebook and then went to the WondLa website to try it. Things went downhill from there. First I had to install the necessary software and restart my web browser. Then I was prompted to do it again because it didn’t work the first time.

I have the software installed correctly now, and it looks like it is running.  But no matter how I hold the AR key, the software just doesn’t seem to recognize it. All I see on my screen is me waving around an ereader, not the augmented reality map which is supposed to appear.

It turns out that the website that is supposed to support this particular project hasn’t been updated in a couple years, and it has since stopped working. But I’m not sure how much that mattered because I feel that simply setting this up just to try an augmented reality ebook was more effort than it was worth (even if it had worked).

Why not make it easier on the reader? Since I am already staring at my laptop screen, why not just put the content on Youtube or wherever and let me watch it there?

In fact, I’m growing less and less fond of the whole idea. I’m not sure that there is any value in augmented reality in a paper book, either. It’s beginning to feel like it’s just a gimmick.

If you ask me, I think it will go the way of the optical illusion. It’s an interesting trick but really not much more than a distraction.

P.S. If anyone knows of other books that use augmented reality, please let me know. Two data points isn’t enough to make a final decision.

You’ve seen a pop-up book before right (a paper one, that is)? Here is the digital equivalent.

Over the past couple years a number of publishers have been experimenting with augmented reality apps. Do you know how movie makers can add CGI to  film and insert imagined creatures in among the real actors? In augmented reality, you can do that in real time with your webcam.

Check out the video below. This is something that is easier to show than say.

[contact-form][contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="true" /][contact-field label="Email" type="email" required="true" /][contact-field label="Website" type="url" /][contact-field label="Message" type="textarea" /][/contact-form]

As you see, the video shows a digital pop-up book. It’s a demo for Between Page and Screen, a new book that has just been released.

The gimmick here is that the pop-up words are poems that are sent between 2 lovers. You hold the book in front of your webcam and you’ll be able to see the poems on your screen. If you want to see it in action, there’s a sample that you can try.

I like the idea but I don’t think this implementation works all that well.

I tried the sample, and I found that I had to hold the sample at a minimum of  30 degree angle for it to work. The demo video above fudged a number of details; I could not hold the sample as flat as that book was held. It stopped working when I tried.

The angle and position of the sample wasn’t terribly convenient. I did eventually figure out where to position it between me and the screen, but the book wouldn’t be as convenient.

But don’t take my word for it; go try it. It’s worth a few minutes of your time.

All in all, I like the idea, just not this particular book. But I recall seeing something similar back in 2010. That book was called The Search for Wondla. It seemed to work better, so I’m going to go get a copy and try again.