Over the years there have been many attempts at producing the next Elite clone, all of which have failed to live up to the original. Even when the original creators tried to recreate their success with the truly dreadful Elite 2 and Elite 3 they failed to be anywhere near as successful.

You may be wondering why I mention Traveller AR and Elite in the same breath. When you load the Traveller AR game its clear to see where the inspiration has come from. The game is very Elite like, you start with a basic ship, travel between the numerous space stations located in the galaxy while trading cargo in an attempt to build up your money and to equip your ship. Along the way you’ll meet with alien races and humans alike that want to relive you of your precious cargo forcing you to engage in combat.

Traveller AR picks up some of the best bits from Elite and the other wannabe clones. For example, when you dock you are able to access a message board where you can sign up for special missions that earn you money or equipment. Additionally, the game is a MMORPG that supports thousands of users so you have that social aspect of encountering real people as you play. You can send them messages too via the in game chat system.

It is difficult not to compare the game with Elite as there are so many similarities, but rather than dwell on those and as this is an AR blog we should focus on the augmented realityness of the game. The games use of AR in my limited playing time has been of the superficial kind, eg. It turns on your devices camera window so the action takes place around you rather than on a space backdrop. I’m never really a fan of this as playing with your living room as the backdrop provides no value to the gaming experience in my opinion. However, the games designers do claim that the AR feature utilizes your GPS position and providers you with bonuses based on your playing location. While I haven’t seen that in action yet, presumably it’s open to scenarios where visiting your local Starbucks earns you special rewards. They also say that you’ll be able to use the AR functionality to discover and interact with nearby players.

Traveller AR is currently billed as being a beta release which means it is still undergoing development and ironing out some of the bugs. As such the price is currently £0.69/$0.99, but that will increase once the game is out of beta.

Without doubt Traveller AR is an ambitious project and I am expecting great things, if you like space trading games, or want to remember those good old Elite days then this could be the game you are waiting for so get it now while is on special offer.

Traveller AR is currently available for iOS devices and can be Installed from here: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/traveller-ar/id463521846?mt=8

Related posts:

1. Look-Up the Aliens are coming
2. AR! Pirates
3. AR Invaders

To spice up your iPhone movies and to convince everyone that you’re a budding Spielberg, take a look at the new, free Action Movie FX application from Bad Robot Interactive. The application uses augmented reality to overlay computer-generated graphics such as explosions and crashes directly into your movie.

The application is extremely simple to use, just record the scene, add the effect and then share with friends via Facebook or email.  The application comes free with two effects, missile attack and car smash but other effects are available as in-app purchase. (£0.69 / $0.99).

You have probably seen similar applications that overlay AR generate graphics in the camera window but the production values in this app are of a whole new quality. Check out the video below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiXwNqOWXj8

You can get it from here.

Related posts:

1. Mosimo Camera – What If Camera
2. Augmented London – The New iPhone App
3. Augmented Reality Dating For The iPhone

Augmented Planet: Jack, firstly thank you for taking the time out to answer our questions. Before we get to Webcam Social Shopper, tell us a little about Zugara

Jack Benoff:  Sure thing. We’re a Los Angeles based augmented reality software development company focused on creating solutions that will change the way people shop online.

AP: We have written about Zagara a number of times and particularly about Webcam Social Shopper, but before we go too far,  can you tell us a little more about what is is for those that haven’t yet experienced it.

JB: The Webcam Social Shopper is a piece of software that integrates directly into an apparel retailer’s site. It uses an online shopper’s webcam, a motion capture interface, augmented reality, and social media integration to replicate that offline moment at the rack where a shopper holds a dress or blouse up to herself, turns to a friend (or the mirror) and asks “what do you think, is this me?”.  If you’re interested, you can demo it at www.webcamsocialshopper.com

AP: How did Zugara get involved with AR and retail?

JB: We saw a problem with online shopping. Namely, it’s a process not an experience. I mean, if you think about how you validate a purchase online, it hasn’t changed much since Amazon went live in 1995.  You look at thumbnails and you click on them to see a larger image.  We found it ridiculous that it’s still the same process. People are visual, social.  And for many, shopping is visual and social. So we decided to solve that problem, and make shopping an experience. In 2009 we built a prototype, filed for some patents, and we’ve been iterating & productizing ever since.

AP: AR in my opinion is still somewhere between gimmicky and useful. What value does AR bring to the shopping experience?

JB: A ton.  We’ve released some of the data on our corporate blog www.weareorganizedchaos.com, but two key metrics I’d point to are conversion rates and brand engagement. Once they add our software, retailers are seeing 50% more people adding items to their cart. And over 40% of their site visitors actually use our software. We know that experiences create brand loyalty offline and it’s not any different online.  So the ROI that retailers are seeing is not only immediate, but long lasting.

AP:  Is AR only for online shopping do you ever see it as being something that we’ll see in stores?

JB: There is absolutely a place for it in stores, and we definitely have a vision for what that will ultimately look like. I think the key is to make sure that the in store experience provides real value for the shopper.  It needs to be its own experience, not just a port of what we’ve already built.  If a dress is three feet away on a hanger, and a shopper can pick it up, and feel it… why would they stand in front of a digital representation of it?  Sure, maybe for some initial novelty, but will there be long term value for them?  I don’t think so.  No.  The in store solution must be much smarter, and must provide much more value.

AP: Webcam Social Shopper uses gesture recognition a lot, do you see it as being a core part of the overall experience?

JB: First, just to clarify, and I’m sorry if this comes off as nerdy but our technology is motion capture. Not gesture recognition. But to answer what you’re really asking:  yes, it’s a core part of the shopper’s experience. And at the end of the day, it’s really about creating a great experience for shoppers. If a woman is standing five feet away from her computer checking out dresses, she don’t want to be running back and forth to her mouse and keyboard.

AP: Is there a typical profile of a consumer who engages with an AR shopping experience? I.e. old, young, boy girl?

JB: We’re definitely seeing a trend where the retailers that are adopting our technology tend to target younger shoppers.  Gen Y and Z.  And this makes sense.  These shoppers grew up digitally and expect interactive experiences. They’re usually the early adopters.

AP: An aspect of the Webcam Social Shopper application is uploading photos of potential purchases to a social medial site for your friends to see. Does this impact the buyers purchasing decision?

JB: Absolutely. And it’s not just social media sites. Shoppers can send a picture via email too if they wish.  We’re seeing 50% more shoppers adding items to their cart once a retailer integrates the Webcam Social Shopper.  But friends and family impact on a purchase decision is no secret.  There’s a Nielsen report on ecommerce that’s pretty relevant to this question. When looking at variables that can affect purchase intent, they stat that “shoppers still trust the recommendations of friends & family most.”

continued on page 2 (link below)

Related posts:

1. The Future Of Home Shopping
2. Augmented reality and the shopping mall of the future
3. Tissot Augmented Reality Shopping Campaign

Thanks to Bruce who sent me this link for an AR stunt that took place at Munich airport. I’m not entirety sure what Fujitsu are advertising, presumably just brand awareness but it looks fun nether-the-less.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=daYTW-vzr5I

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KQuNcxsqsc

Related posts:

1. insideAR Munich Event
2. Air Guitar Augmented Reality Style
3. Adidas Augmented Reality Scotland

Before we get to the winners we would like to thank our awards sponsors NAVTEQ for their support and prizes.

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D) empowers application developers with the knowledge and resources needed to create the hottest, most differentiated location-based products. You can access technical resources, support and business development services to build and market location-aware apps for Web, mobile, automotive, GIS and enterprise markets worldwide. Join NN4D for free at www.NN4D.com.

As NAVTEQ enable developers to build powerful location aware applications we invited them to select the very best augmented reality application built using their platform to receive a special award.

Best Augmented Reality Chosen by NAVTEQ
NAVTEQ have chosen Virtual Cable from MVS as the winner of the special award. Virtual Cable is an in-car navigation application that displays the route via a custom fitted HUD on the dashboard. Unlike traditional GPS devices which require the user to take their eye off the road to check the route, Virtual Cable users are able to see the route overlaid directly on the road. Augmented reality and navigation go together like hand and glove and this is an excellent example of a compelling production ready solution in action. We’ll do a follow up on the Virtual Cable solution in the New Year, but for now congratulations to MVS. For more information including videos take a look at their website. www.mvs.net

Best Augmented Reality Browser 2011
There are literally hundreds of AR browsers available for the iPhone and Android but this category was always going to be a three way fight between junaio, Layar and Wikitude as these three giants have a huge community of users.  Wikitude has been crowned best augmented reality browser for two years in succession, this year our readers have voted as followed:

• Winner Wikitude (41.1%)
• 2nd junaio (24.5%)
• 3rd Layar (11.9%)

Yet again our readers have voted Wikitude as the Best Augmented Reality Browser for the third consecutive year. Amazing stuff, Wikitude obviously have a excellent community of users behind them to continue to dominate this category. Wikitude is available for iOS, Android, Symbian and BlackBerry. Click here to install for your mobile device.

Interestingly, last year over 28% of voters had not used an augmented reality browser. This year that figure has fallen to just 14% showing a big increase in usage of mobile AR browsers.

Best Augmented Reality Game 2011
We asked you to vote for your favourite augmented reality gaming experience across mobile and the web. With so many excellent games to choose from voting was tight.

• Winner AR Pirates by Optricks (6.6%)
• 2nd Rise of the Undead by Samsung (5.8%)
• 3rd Drop Defender by National Guard (5.0%)

Congratulations to Optricks on their ground breaking natural feature tracking iOS game which uses coins to create the gaming surface. You can read our review of AR Pirates here, If you haven’t already downloaded the game it is available for free from iTunes (link).

54% of responders have yet to experience augmented reality gaming so there would appear to be a huge opportunity for the games developer.

Best Augmented Reality Marketing Campaign 2011
In 2011 the use of augmented reality in sales and marketing has continued to increase with some excellent examples of interactivity. This year we asked to you vote for your favourite campaign and you voted as followed:

• Winner Galileo interactive TV by junaio (19%)
• 2nd Red Bull Racing by circ.us (12.6%)
• 3rd Harry Potter (10.2%)

The Galleo interactive TV campaign created using junaio was amongst my favourite campaigns of 2011 and a worthy winner.  You can read more about how this campaign impressed us here, we have no doubt this is going to change the way we intact with TV in the future. The Red Bull Racing campaign was also among my favourites, congratulations to circ.us and if you haven’t done so already, grab a can of Red Bull and the Red Bull Racing app from the store and have some fun.

Best Augmented Reality Application 2011
This category was open to everything except augmented reality browsers as being so popular they have a tendency to skew the vote. In this category you voted:

• Winner Wikitude Drive (33.7%)
• 2nd Google Goggles (28.1%)
• 3rd Magic Mirror by Total Immersion (11%)

Congratulations to Wikitude who scoop their second award by beating the category favourites, Google.
Wikitude Drive is a revolution in mobile navigation with its unique display providing the driving route over a live view of the road. Available exclusively for Android devices with maps covering multiple countries you can learn more here.

With both Wikitude Drive and Virtual Cable scooping awards for in-car navigation,  I think these products are definitely changing the navigation game.  Using an old fashioned device will never be the same.

Best Augmented Reality Developer Tool or SDK 2011
Many of Augmented Planets readers are developers or content providers so this year we invited votes from this segment of the community to find out what tools developer are using to build their augmented reality experiences. There are a lot of excellent tools on the market and the landscape for developers is certainly changing with many of the tools now becoming free.

For this category we asked our readers to vote for their favourite AR developer tool or SDK. 78% of those that responded to the survey are developers/content providers and the votes were as followed:

• Winner Wikitude (25.3%)
• 2nd metaio Mobile SDK (19.2%)
• 3rd d’Fussion – Total Immersion (9%)

These results threw up some surprises as we were expecting the votes to be contested by String, metaio, Qualcomm and Total Immersion as these tools represent the most powerful options for building natural feature tracking application.

My opinion here is Wikitude is the clear favourite amongst the content provider community as it is one of the quickest and easiest ways to build location aware browser content while the metaio Mobile SDK is the favourite with the natural feature tracking developer community. Therefore with that in mind we’ll make a somewhat last minute but ever so slight revision to the award category:

Best Augmented Reality Developer Tool or SDK (Location Aware) 2011

• Wikitude

Best Augmented Reality Developer Tool or SDK (Natural Feature Tracking) 2011

• metaio Mobile SDK

Summary
So there you have it, the official list of the best augmented reality from 2011 as chosen by our readers. It’s been another great year for Wikitude who retained their status as best augmented reality browser for a third amazing year in succession and for metaio who also scoop two awards. It just remains for us to say thank you to everyone that took the time to vote and congratulations to all the winners and of course to Marie Geffroy who was the winner the Parrot AR Drone.

Related posts:

1. Readers Choice Awards 2010
2. Readers Choice Awards 2010 Winners
3. Augmented Planet Readers Choice Awards Nominations

Undoubtedly one of the industry leaders in the area of augmented reality tools is metaio who have been leading the way for over 10 years. metaio are responsible for many of the showcase applications that we talk about here at Augmented Planet and are the brains behind the junaio augmented reality browser.

Significant news today for developers interested in building powerful natural feature tracking applications is metaio have announced that they are making their latest augmented reality tools available for free. These tools are professional developer kits for iOS and Android that will enable you to build cutting edge mobile applications, including applications that use metaio’s award winning gravity-awareness technology.

You can get your hands on the tools from the metaio website: www.metaio.com/software/mobile-sdk

Watch the tools in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDR3TcthdZw

The full press release from metaio is below which contains some insights into their collaborations with ARM, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI).

Press Release

metaio Releases Most Advanced Mobile Augmented Reality Software For Free

The world leader in advanced augmented reality solution releases its advanced mobile software to the entire mobile developer ecosystem

MUNICH AND SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER 8, 2011- The worldwide leader in advanced Augmented Reality solutions, metaio, will today release a free version of its advanced mobile development tools for iOS and Android to the entire application development ecosystem. This will be the newest version of the SDK that already powers the world’s most advanced AR browser and over 70 applications, driving more than 10 million downloads. The metaio Mobile SDK is the first mobile developer kit to enable gravity-aware AR experiences and the only AR developer kit that includes a 3D rendering engine, making it the first truly free AR SDK available.

Industry Proven With More Than 10 Years in Development

The metaio Mobile SDK  is developed by a software company with over 10 years of experience producing professional augmented reality, ensuring both the current caliber of the technology and the promise of continual advancements in research and developments. The metaio Mobile SDK has been implemented by brands, agencies and developers with an established professional track record of almost 70 mobile applications running on iOS and Android devices. The world’s most advanced AR browser, junaio, was built on the metaio Mobile SDK, and now empowers almost 10 million mobile-AR-enabled magazines delivered every month.

Most Advanced Augmented Reality Technology Available

The metaio Mobile SDK is as powerful as it is professional. Designed for natural AR experiences, the metaio Mobile SDK brings with it patented gravity-awareness and award-winning (tracking competition winner at ISMAR 2011) visual tracking technology for 2D and 3D objects, now three times more robust than the previous version. These features combined with metaio’s ongoing devotion to research and development will ensure AR experiences that are more natural, more intuitive, and more realistic. In addition, metaio has presented a clear roadmap towards both an Augmented World and AR on every smartphone by the year 2014, including working with chipset manufacturers to optimize metaio’s software for mobile devices.

Optimized AR-Pipeline for Major Mobile Chipsets

Though just weeks ago metaio proudly announced formal collaborations with ARM, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), the broad developer community benefits today. While the available hardware is becoming more and more AR friendly, metaio has long been cultivating a network of contacts and technical exchanges with companies of the mobile processor industry, such as ARM, ST-Ericsson and TI. With these key industry partnerships metaio is ensuring that next generation mobile devices are fully AR capable.

“The powerful and flexible hardware of our partners enables us to deliver the software that will create the most innovative and compelling apps in AR,” said metaio CEO Dr. Thomas Alt. “We are happy to announce that we reached our first concrete short-term measure by porting our mobile SDK to the platforms of ARM, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments.”

From ARM: “ARM’s roadmap for ARM® Mali™ graphics and compute IP not only addresses the challenges in Augmented Reality today but also sets a benchmark for the next generation of mobile AR”, says Kevin Smith, VP Strategic Marketing, ARM Media Processing Division. “The combination of ARM processors and ARM Mali graphics processing units along with the strength of the Mali Ecosystem puts ARM in a unique position to provide enabling technologies to AR industry pioneers like metaio and we are working together to meet the future demands of mobile devices”.

From ST-Ericsson: “With our collaboration on a series of joint research projects, we are working to bring the latest AR capabilities to a broad developer community,” said Björn Ekelund, Head of Ecosystems and Research, CTO and Strategic Planning Office of ST-Ericsson. “Applications like AR are where the Nova™ and NovaThor™ product families excel since they deliver a combination of mobile processing performance, advanced graphics cores and powerful multimedia all at extreme power efficiency. We believe AR will become a basic demand in mobile devices in the future.”

From Texas Instruments: “Mobile augmented reality requires high processing performance with superior graphics and imaging capabilities that run on ultra-low power-features delivered by TI’s family of OMAP mobile processors. We work closely with metaio to ensure its AR SDK effectively leverages the OMAP platform’s end-to-end advancements. In turn, our mutual customers can focus on delivering compelling mobile devices that capture the promise and excitement of augmented reality-driven experiences,” said Fred Cohen, director, OMAP user experience team, TI.

Free of Worry and Cost

Compared to other augmented reality software kits, the metaio solution is the most complete and worry free available. The metaio Mobile SDK includes its own 3D rendering engine – now with advanced shader support – meaning there are no hidden development costs. At the same time it provides developers with a plugin to make use of Unity3D, one of the most established and powerful gaming engines currently on the market. Unlike other current augmented reality SDKs the metaio solution does not require the developer to upload and or encrypt any files before publishing a project, making the development process incredibly straightforward. For those who want to go further in customizing and development, metaio will also release a Pro version of the mobile SDK within the next months. The pro Version will include additional advanced features, greater customization potential and direct support by the metaio development team. Additionally, developers that prove their skills through the development of professional AR applications using the metaio Mobile SDK can register to become Certified Developers, giving them direct access to business offers and opportunities through the metaio network.

• Watch the metaio Mobile SDK release video on YouTube
• Download the free metaio Mobile SDK
• Visit the new metaio.com

about metaio

As the world-wide leader in Augmented Reality technology, metaio develops software products for visual interactive solutions between the real and the virtual world. Based on the advanced software suite, 3-D animations can be integrated seamlessly into live-video streams respectively into pictures of the user’s real environment. Founded in February 2003, metaio currently employs 75+ people at two different locations. The company is headquartered in Munich with the subsidiary metaio Inc. located in San Francisco USA. metaio has accumulated over 500 projects has been working with more than 450 renowned customers from different industries and geographical locations, such as: Macy’s, Toyota, Universal Pictures, Volkswagen, Adidas, BMW, LEGO, Audi, Bauer Media, USA Today, Bosch, Domino’s Pizza, The National Guard and Absolut Vodka. metaio is also the producer of the world’s most advanced mobile augmented reality browser, junaio, available for free download on Android and iOS. for more information, please visit metaio.com and junaio.com

Related posts:

1. Metaio AR Vision Video
2. Metaio change the game with junaio glue
3. Popcode natural feature recognition SDK

As part of BlackBerry® Dev Con Asia taking place in Singapore this year, Wikitude has announced additional support for smartphones running on the BlackBerry® 6 operating system (OS). With Wikitude being preinstalled on all new smartphones running the BlackBerry 7 OS, bringing Wikitude to smartphones running BlackBerry 6 will help answer considerable demand expressed by users who want to experience Wikitude’s extensive content offering including more than 2,000 content Worlds consisting of approx. 150 million places around the globe. Users of the popular BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700, 9780,9788 and BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphones can download Wikitude on BlackBerry® App World™ starting today.

Although smartphones running BlackBerry OS 6 do not support the Augmented Reality view, which requires specific hardware features available in BlackBerry 7 based smartphones, the Wikitude app does fully integrate with BBM™ enabling users to find their BBM friends on a map and to communicate with one another based on their location. Users opting to allow their whereabouts to be displayed can even make new friends.

After being crowned “The Most Addictive Social App Using the BBM Social Platform” at BlackBerry DevCon Americas in October, Wikitude most recently won the BlackBerry® EMEA Innovation Award for “Best BBM Connected App”, awarded in Alicante 1^st December. “Extending the Wikitude platform to millions of BlackBerry 6 smartphone users will make the BBM experience richer than ever before. We are extremely happy to finally bring this version of Wikitude to even more BlackBerry smartphone users,” says Martin Herdina, Wikitude’s CEO.

Alec Saunders, VP Developer Relations, Research In Motion, said: “We’re delighted that Wikitude has integrated BBM support within their app. Integration with BBM can allow much greater viral discovery for apps, as well as enrich and transform the user experience with important social elements.”

About Wikitude
Wikitude GmbH are the creators of the world’s first mobile augmented reality (AR) platform and the company behind the internationally renowned Wikitude World Browser for iOS, Android, Symbian, and BlackBerry devices. The browser has been voted “Best Augmented Reality Browser” by the readers of Augmented Planet for both 2009 and 2010. Wikitude is leading the international AR technology standardization as part of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OCG). More information on Wikitude here:www.wikitude.com

Wikitude is available on BlackBerry App World here: appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/50381

Related posts:

1. Create your own World in the Wikitude World Competition
2. Visualize Earthquakes with Wikitude
3. Augmented Reality On Symbian – Wikitude Arrives

The app enables you use your iPhones camera to watch the Eagle lander descend and land in your own  garden (or where ever you choose). These are not tiny little graphics that you can experience on your living room table, you’ll need a large outdoor space to view the action. Being an augmented reality application you are able to walk around the action and view it from different angles. You can toggle between real world action, ie the action takes place on your immediate surrounding, or you can enable the virtual moonscape mode which will give the action the authentic feel.

Unfortunately, for me the app requires an iPhone 4/4S or iPad 2 with 3G or this would be on my purchase list. Being a space buff, I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who gives this one a go. It looks like fun.

Get it here:

MoonWalking

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OWnyFS81DQ

Related posts:

1. Farrago augmented reality experience creator

Over the last few days I have had a few announcements from various source informing me about some of their latest campaigns. In one of those weird coincidences we rented the Smurfs movie a few days back and one of the campaigns was promoting the Smurfs so I decided to take a look.

The Smurfs GoldRun campaign gives you the opportunity to have a photo taken with your choice of Smurf. Once you select the Smurf campaign from the GoldRun app the Smurf is placed in the camera window giving you the opportunity to capture a photo. Unlike some of the other campaigns this one is not limited to any particular city so you can try it from anywhere.

The great thing about GoldRun is it really is a fun way for you to explore your city as some campaigns are specific to a particular location. For example, if you are in the LA area you can experience the Swarovski ‘Let It Sparkle’ campaign where you can have your photo taken with Swarovski merchandise. Once you have completed the campaign you win a free gift with a purchase from a Swarovski store.

If you are not in the LA area but fancy winning some jewellery you can also try Tweeting a holiday greeting with the hashtag #letitsparkle. Tweets will be shown on Rodeo Drive and fans around the world can watch the tweets via a livestream camera on the brands’ Facebook page. Every Friday there will be a prize draw for some sparking goodies. Here is a link to the Facebook page with all info: http://on.fb.me/uahwgj about the competition.

GoldRun is a unique combination of exploration, shopping and marketing, it’s free and covers content from various cities and countries so take a look and see what you can win.

Grab GoldRun for the iPhone here

Related posts:

1. Shop till you drop with GoldRun
2. junaio and Augmented Reality Revolutionize Print Advertising
3. The Gorillaz – Plastic Beach Augmented Reality Campaign

This year the number of augmented reality marketing campaigns that have taken place in outdoor environments has increased. Marketers are definitely starting to see the potential and are cashing in on the viral aspect. I haven’t managed to stumbled across a live example myself yet but would be interested in hearing if you have.

Adidas Scotland

www.youtube.com/watch?v=61W_D-ipBUI

Related posts:

1. Tron Augmented Reality Demo
2. Tissot Augmented Reality Shopping Campaign
3. AR Hockey – 3D Shootout Game

Fuego’s River Adventure is an iPad 2 only game that detects your movements to control the onscreen character. You’ll need to stand about 4-5 feet away from your iPad so it has good field of vision of your movements. Once setup, to move the character left or right simply make the corresponding movement in the real world and your character will follow suite. The game is a basic 3D scroller were you move left, right, jump and duck to avoid obstacles like rocks or alligators while trying to pick up rewards like coins or fruit.

At various points during the game the app will automatically take a few photos of you, which can be uploaded to your Facebook account to share with friends.

Fuego’s river Adventure, release yesterday is on sale for £1.49 ($1.99) to celebrate its release. You can grab it here

Motion Tracking In Action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTDiHrrZKeU

Related posts:

1. Total Immersion To Launch iPad AR App
2. Hoops AR Android Game
3. Red Bull Racing – Amazing Augmented Reality Game

Technically there is no reason why iOS or Android can do this, but Sony have done a great job in whetting the appetite for more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=45MY-U09KQE

Related posts:

1. Find your perfect TV using AR
2. Augmented Reality Jigsaw Live
3. Zombie ShootAR – Augmented Reality Game For Nokia Devices

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTV9kDtzi1U

Related posts:

1. Top 10 Augmented Reality Concept Games – Part I
2. AR Monopoly Concept
3. Some Cool Educational AR Demos

AR Defender is a marker based game with the simple concept of defending your tower from invaders.  In the latest release this puts you up against hordes of Halloween style invaders intent on overrunning your tower. Fortunately you have at your disposal a range of weapons to keep the hordes at bay, but you’ll need to use your weapons wisely to reach the end of the level. Enemy hordes will come at you from all angles and you’ll need to take them out before they get close enough to do any damage.

Being an augmented reality game you are able to move around your tower and view the action from any angle. Unlike other games you never feel that augmented reality has been used for the sake of it, here it adds real value as the ability to quickly move around your surroundings is essential to the game-play.

int13 have done a great job in creating this classic shooter. It’s great fun and should be considered an essential game for any gamer.

AR Defender

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k56ZtfZYG7E

AR Defender is available as a universal iOS app for £0.69/$0.99, the Samsung Wave II (bada) for free, and is slated for a November 2011 Android release.

Get it here: 

iOS
bada
Android (coming soon)

If you are new to augmented reality then no doubt you’ll find the experience of bringing a rather impressively rendered 3D object to life just by pointing your device at the special marker rather magical, but if you are one of this blogs regular readers you’ll no doubt think that AR has moved on a long way from what these applications do. For example, the AR Bike application simply displays a 3D bike with no interaction. The AR C-Class application fares a little better as you are able to customise the 3D model with a limited number of trims and spoilers, but the effect on the car is so negligible they are hardly visible.

Good AR campaigns should offer some interactivity to encourage users to come back for more and enough wow factor to make them want to show them to their friends. Both these apps are a classic example of a failed opportunity. How much better would the C Class app have been with the option to customize the cars colour, change the allow wheels, open the hood/bonnet, trunk/boot or doors?

The apps are free if you want to give them a go. Download from the respective store here:

• iPhone/iPad App – Fitnessbike
• iPhone/iPad App – C-Class MercedesSport
• Android App – Fitnessbike
• Android App – C-Class MercedesSport

Print or view the respective marker from here

• Fitnessbike
• C-Class MercedesSport

Mercedes-Benz Apps In Action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzNc-n-jvrc

Related posts:

1. Farrago augmented reality experience creator
2. Audi A1 Layer Marketing Campaign
3. junaio and Augmented Reality Revolutionize Print Advertising

Zugara has been busy it seems, In the UK the Webcam Social Shopper technology is now live and being used by online retail outfit, Banana Flame. Visitors to the Banana Flame website are able to try on a wide range of outfits simply by using their webcam and exploring the product range. Using gesture recognition the user is able to adjust the size of the garment and take pictures.

There are a lot of companies try to crack this ‘tryvertizing’ space where consumers are able to interact with products before they buy. Until now many of these installations have largely been gimmicky or prototypes but the Social Shopper functionality used by Banana Flame seems to have got the mix just right.

Thanks to Social Shopper this coat wont be on my Christmas list.

Its incredibly intuitive to use and being Flash based it doesn’t require any special downloads.

You can try the solution for yourself at www.bananaflame.co.uk, just browse the catalogue and you’ll come across the option to “see how it looks”. This is not a phrase I thought I’d be saying when I woke up this morning, but in the interest of testing the software I was able to try several dresses from the comfort of my living room and the wife didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Zugara are leading the pack when it comes to the gesture lead tryvertizing shopping experience and the website is definitely worth viewing to experience the future of shopping, but if you’re not a modern man in touch with your feminine side, you can see the solution in action below.

Social Shopper

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocVEvK9Sl34

Zugara have published some interesting usability data to support the fact that this technology adds real value to the shopping experience.(source: http://weareorganizedchaos.com/index.php/2011/05/23/augmented-reality-for-ecommerce-data-from-our-usability-testing)

USER PROFILE:

• Females that shop online, age 17 – 24.

KEY FINDING:

• Nearly 2/3rds of participants said that WSS would help them in making a purchase decision.

SOME ADDITIONAL FINDINGS:

• Users were asked the question: “if an online store had this product, how interested would you be in using it?” Over 83% of users answered between “Interested” and “Very Interested”.
• Users were asked the question: “How interested do you think your friends would be in using it?” 88% of users answered between “Interested” and “Very Interested”.
• When the users first viewed WSS “the typical initial reaction was a surprised exclamation.”
• It took first time users about two minutes to understand, and become comfortable with the motion capture interface.

UI LEARNINGS:

• We also were able to learn where our product needed improvement.  Much of our learnings have already been integrated into our brand new online demo: www.webcamsocialshopper.com – we’d love to know your thoughts on it!

If you’d like more details on the usability testing, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Zugara.

Related posts:

1. Zugara Interview: The Future of Shopping
2. Metaio change the game with junaio glue
3. Shop till you drop with GoldRun

The app comes in two flavours. A free lite version which includes 1 car and no gaming aspect. Here you get to drive the car around any flat surface much like you would any RC car.  The full version which retails for £0.69 ($0.99) includes 8 cars, each of which can be customized and a gaming aspect which involves avoiding obstacles and collecting virtual coins.

vCars

• Formula 1
• Nascar
• Go-cart
• Baja Ram pickup
• Audi racer
• Pink convertible
• Police car (with working light bar)
• School bus (with working stop lights)

As the game doesn’t require a marker it can be played anywhere and on any surface. The augmented realityness of the game reminds me of early AR shooters such as AR Invaders. The gameplay takes place in the camera window but there is no interaction with real objects so it’s possible to drive off a table or through objects. Still for the meagre asking price it a bit of AR car based fun.

Try the lite version here or jump straight into the full version here.

RC vCar In Action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIOcfaM42mA

Related posts:

1. AR Invaders
2. Augmented Reality Golf – But Not What You Think
3. AR! Pirates

Don’t forget, NAVTEQ are giving you the opportunity to win a Parrot AR Drone in the Augmented Planet Reader Choice Awards. See the link at the end of this post.

The AR Drone if you haven’t heard of it before is a remote controlled quadcopter. To control the drone you’ll need to pair it with an iOS or Android device. Simply install the Free Flight mode application from the respective app-store, connect to the wifi network broadcasted by the drone and its ready to fly. What makes the AR Drone something special is the two onboard video cameras that display a live video feed back to your device. You get a huge thrill of excitement as the device connects and you see yourself on screen via the forward facing camera ready to press the take off button.

Once you press the take off button the drone will lift off to around 2 feet and hover there until you tell it otherwise. Thanks to the 4 rotors it will pretty much stay put hovering in place.

Taming the beast
When the AR Drone arrived I had a goal of stealthily flying the drone up the stairs and navigating using the camera to spy on one of my cats sleeping on the bed. We adopted a stray cat some years back that shows no fear of anything. He is the type of cat when you vacuum the house he takes a few nudges with cleaner before be budges.

As I was setting up the drone he happened to be watching with normal catlike curiosity. That was until I pressed the take off button. The drone sounds like a million angry bees trapped in a jam jar, for a cat that knows no fear he was a blur of movement heading towards the door. Stealthy and drone are not words you are going to hear in the same sentence, it’s a pretty noise beast so you can rule out the idea of hovering over your neighbours garden and using the downward facing camera to spy on unaware sunbathers. The amount of power that the 4 rotors put out is incredible and will easily lift the drone up to over 30 feet. Of course in the house anything you have laying around the floor as the drone passes over is going to be scatted into the wind thanks to the powerful downdraught.

Controlling the drone takes a bit of getting used to. Controls such as up, down, and rotate are control by virtual buttons on your device while the forward and back movements are control by the accelerometer. The first few attempts saw me being slow backed into a corner while trying to nudge the drone away with my hands; it actually takes a lot of effort to move, particularly as you trying to avoid putting your fingers into the rotors. Trust me, that is something you’ll only do the once.

After a week of playing with the drone I never did mange to get it up the stairs using the camera view alone. Having collided with several light fittings in my attempts which resulted in spectacular crashes from ceiling to floor and bouncing down several stairs the drone is remarkably robust sustaining no damage thanks to its foam indoor body shell that protects the rotors. Of course crashes are not recommended which is why should you sustain any damage, all the parts are easily replaceable.

In door drone action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG1yvv1BABQ

I didn’t trust my flying skills to try flying outdoors but if you have an outdoor space then the internal body shell can be removed and the drone equipped for outdoor flight. This body shell (supplied) makes it more aerodynamic and less likely to be blown about in the wind. Outdoor flying I am sure is a lot of fun as you’ll be able to fly the drone at full speed without fear of colliding with internal structures.

Battery
The drone comes with a single battery that takes about an hour to charge but only gives around 30 minutes of use. You’ll definitely need a spare battery to get the most from flying. While 30 minutes may not seem like a lot, is probably in-line with what other remote control flying gadgets offer.

Games
The great thing about the AR Drone is the fun doesn’t stop at the free flight application and it can be used as a gaming experience. In the Apple and Android app-stores there are an increasing number of applications that can be downloaded. These include multi-player games where you can launch rockets at friends in an attempt to destroy (virtually of course) their drone, or games where you race around a race circuit trying to beat your friend’s time. And if that’s not enough, there is an SDK where you can create your own games.

Multi player gaming

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcuPdraxiRc

Cost
Now that I have whet your appetite I’m sure you’ll want one, so lets talk about the cost. The drone which comes with the 2 built in cameras, battery, charger, indoor & outdoor body shells will set you back £299/$299 making it a pretty pricy toy but the ultimate Christmas present.

Now is a good time to remind you that you could have a Parrot AR Drone sitting under your Christmas tree on Christmas morning thanks to NAVTEQ, our sponsors of this year’s Augmented Planet Reader Choice Awards. Simply vote for your favourite augmented reality applications of 2011 and you’ll be entered into the prize draw. Click here for more info:

Summary
The AR Drone is the ultimate flying experience and the most fun I have had with augmented reality for sometime. The added bonus of cameras and dedicated augmented reality games just takes the fun to the next level.

Related posts:

1. AR Drone Hits Android
2. AR Drone + Vuzix Wrap 920 = Serious Fun
3. AR App Gun

Each of the  events featured is either dedicated to augmented reality or will have AR related content.

Geoweb Summit
Brooklyn, USA
10^th November 11

Register now for the GeoWeb summit using the discount code: GeowebForum and save 30% off the standard ticket price

Apps World
London, UK
29^th & 30^th November 11

Register now for the 2 day Apps World event using the discount code: AUG15 and save 15% off the standard ticket price.
This is a must attend event for anyone remotely interested in the world of applications.

• 2 day ‘Marketing Track’ – full of leading brands, case studies, and leading mobile marketing strategies
• Dedicated ‘operators track’ – for global mobile operators to work on mobile apps strategies – over 30 global operators speaking
• 2 dedicated developer tracks, 4 days of content! Free to attend for all developers covering Android, Bada, iOs, Blackberry, Windows, Nokia, Gaming Apps, Web Apps, TV Apps, Enterprise Apps

Mobile Mondays
Detroit, USA
12^th December 11

If you are running events please let us know and we’ll add them to the calendar.

Events @ augmentedplanet . com

Related posts:

1. AR Events Coming Soon
2. Augmented Reality Events – April – June (Updated)
3. Augmented Planet Event 2011 Countdown

The prize draw

This year the awards are sponsored by the nice guys at NAVTEQ. NAVTEQ are the leading global provider of maps, traffic and location data (digital location content) enabling navigation, location-based services and mobile advertising around the world. Not only that but all their content is accessible through their API so take a look at their website to learn more and how you can take advantage of their resources in your own applications.

The prize for one lucky Augmented Planet reader is with out doubt the ultimate Christmas gadget. We are please to announce that someone will be annoying the hell out of friends and relatives over Christmas dinner with their very own Parrot AR Drone. In our opinion it’s the ultimate AR accessory. You can learn more about this fantastic prize here.

This year you can vote for your favourite augmented reality applications across the following categories:

Best Augmented Reality Browser

• ARappli
• junaio (metaio)
• Layar
• mTrip
• Tagwhat
• Wheremark
• Wikitude

Best Augmented Reality Game

• AR Pirates (optricks)
• AR Zombie Gate (Pantech)
• Billjet AR (Beyond Reality)
• Drop Defender (National Guard)
• Hoops AR (Big Playar)
• KickAR (Ioncomm)
• Paparazzi (Pizel Punch)
• Rise of the undead (Samsung)
• Zombie Room AR (No, You Shut Up Games)

Best Augmented Reality Marketing Campaign

• AR Jewellery (Holition)
• Galileo (Metaio)
• Harry Potter
• Juicy Juice (Zugura)
• Pocky
• Red Bull Racing (circ.us)
• Sony TV Finder (Sony)
• Tron (Expresso Design)
• Sexy Lynx

Best Augmented Reality Application (non Browser)

• disguise AR (Play Nicely)
• Farrago (Holo Labs)
• GoldRun
• Google Goggles (Google)
• Konstruct (James Alliban)
• Magic Mirror (Total Immersion)
• Social Shopper (Zugara)
• Wikitude Drive (Wikitude)
• World Lens (Visual Quest)

Best Augmented Reality Developer Tool/SDK

• ARToolkit
• D’fussion
• DroidAR
• In2AR
• Layar
• Qualcomm
• Qoncept
• String
• Wikitude
• metaio Mobile SDK

The Augmented Planet Readers Choice Awards 2011 are sponsored by NAVTEQ

The NAVTEQ Network for Developers™ (NN4D) empowers application developers with the knowledge and resources needed to create the hottest, most differentiated location-based products. You can access technical resources, support and business development services to build and market location-aware apps for Web, mobile, automotive, GIS and enterprise markets worldwide. Join NN4D for free at www.NN4D.com.

Competition rules: The rules are pretty simple. By making a vote you have the option to enter into the draw. One prize draw winner will be drawn at random. To be eligible to enter you will need to enter a valid email address so we can contact you should you be drawn as the winner.  No cash alternative is offered. The Parrot AR Drone requires either an iPhone or Android device to act as a controller. The draw is for the AR Drone only. Only one vote is allowed per person. Augmented Planet will cover the cost of the prize and shipping costs. Any other costs incurred (eg income tax) will not be covered. The winner will be announced in early December and we’ll aim to get the prize to you shortly after. The winner must respond within 1 month of being notified to claim the prize. Augmented Planet reserve the right to amend/change or withdrawal the competition rules at any time, and our decision regarding the award is final.

Related posts:

1. Win With The Augmented Planet Readers Choice Awards
2. Augmented Planet Readers Choice Awards Nominations
3. Readers Choice Awards 2011 – Results

iOS 5 added some new face tracking APIs but overall it was a little disappointing that we didn’t see any of the technology from the recently acquired Polar Rose implemented in a bigger way. If you happened to have been following the launch of the new Galaxy Nexus from Samsung, running the about to be released Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, you may have spotted that face recognition is also part of the OS.

In the teaser video below its difficult to see how deep face recognition goes and how else it can be used, but we do know you’ll be able to unlock your phone by looking at the camera.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_ke3rxopc

Related posts:

1. Mobile Face Recognition Coming Soon?
2. 2012 The Year of Face Recognition
3. Augmented Reality Face Recognition

If you have used augmented reality before, this is the kind of demo that places a 3D image on a marker. You have probably seen many flash based demos in the past doing exactly that. If you haven’t used augmented reality before, simply print the special black and white image and whenever the application sees that image, a 3D image is displayed. For example, stick the marker on someone’s head and it is instantly replaced with a zombies head in the camera window. Hold the marker in your hand and you’ll be holding a ray gun. As the marker is moved it is tracked and the view of the 3D object changed accordingly.

In a world where the current technology enables real-time face tracking and directly overlaying 3D without any kind of assistance this may not seem that impressive, particularly for iPad 2 owners. But there are a couple of interesting features to make this app worth a look.

Firstly you can record video of your marker in action. Most apps only allow you to create a screenshot so you can have endless fun creating videos and sharing them on your social media sites.

Secondly and perhaps the biggest selling point is you can upload your own content. This enables you to create your own custom experiences with pictures from either your photo album or from the camera, which is a novel, twist. It even comes with some reasonable tools to help you crop images and to create the relevant transparencies.

For £1.49 it’s a fun app particularly and if you’re searching for some marker based AR fun you can install it from here.

Farrago in action

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGGbrX6fLec

Related posts:

1. The Mercedes-Benz AR Experience
2. iPhone Markerish Augmented Reality Games
3. The Gorillaz – Plastic Beach Augmented Reality Campaign

This year we’ll do things a bit differently and are inviting you to nominate the nominees for each category. Last year we had open voting and had a disturbing amount of people entering Firefox as their favourite AR browser, so this year we’ll be a little more restrictive.

If there is any app, tool, hardware or marketing experience you think must be included please nominate it here.

This years categories are:

• Best Augmented Reality Browser
• Best Augmented Reality Game
• Best Augmented Reality Hardware
• Best Augmented Reality Marketing Campaign
• Best Augmented Reality Application
• Best Augmented Reality Developer Tool / SDK

Voting will open in November via the Augmented Planet website for the community to vote for their favourite from the list with the winners being announced in December.

Please do take the time to nominate who should be entered into the voting.

Related posts:

1. Win With The Augmented Planet Readers Choice Awards
2. Readers Choice Awards 2011 – Results
3. Readers Choice Awards 2010 Winners

So with two serious fun piece of hardware we have to ask the ultimate question; just how much fun is connecting a pair of AR glasses to an AR Drone? The answer if the video is anything to go by, tons.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7R7i3yKfI

Both the AR Drone and the Vuzix Wrap 920 should be on your AR shopping list this Christmas.

Related posts:

1. AR Drone Hits Android
2. Parrot AR Drone Review
3. The Stark Hud 2020

OEMs are climbing over themselves to put NFC into the latest and greatest mobile phones and within just few years we are expected to pay for items just by pressing our smartphone against the special receivers. It’s surprising how many people (especially here the UK) think that NFC is a new technology. That Oyster card you use everyday to pay for your ticket to work is a good example of NFC payments in action. In the very near future handset manufactures will be vying for you to ditch the Oyster card, and your credit card and make payments using your phone instead.

Before I get to the AR part, the talk this morning was around pushing NFC into mobile. Of course credit card companies will be pushing NFC enabled cards too (there are some available already) so which system becomes the most popular is anyone’s guess. Phones are pretty much ubiquitous and an item that is always with you, but becoming my digital wallet at the same time is a little to much of ‘too many eggs in the one basket’ for my liking. The other an answered question is what kinds of phones will we be using in the future. Will our mobile devices continue to be smartphones or will we see AR enabled glasses with calling capabilities?

Assuming it’s the latter, and my disclaimer here is I still think glasses are 15 years away. It’s never a popular view particularly with those that want them now or those that are making them, but show me something that works with the services I want and I’ll reconsider. In our AR enabled future where glasses have replaced the smartphone, AR glasses would be able to use GPS  or NFC to determine the wearers current location to validate payments. Taking your glasses off and waving them over a receiver is not going to be practical but combing payments with GPS is interesting,  If your wallet is attempting to buy something from the high street but you are 100 miles away then it’s a good indication that it’s a fraudulent transaction. For those high value purchases using eye tracking or gestures enable you to make secure payments by entering a pin in a virtual world that only you can see.  If your glasses are stolen, without your pin  the thief would be unable to go on a spending spree.

Such a system could also be used to automatically validate a payment, for example if the system detects that you have entered a train station the fare could be deducted from your wallet as soon as you begin travelling. There is of course no real reason why a smartphone can’t provide a present day version of this, but it interesting to imagine the ticket inspectors with a Layar or Wikitude showing who has a valid ticket and who is trying to avoid the fare.

When I think about augmented reality I think more towards GPS for location than NFC, but perhaps AR will enable us to learn more about individual objects. For example, AR thanks to image recognition enables me to identify a chair as a chair, but it wont give me the history behind that individual chair. Could NFC and AR become a way to store an objects identity and history?

Perhaps there are even better ideas on how augmented reality and NFC complement each other or do you think they are mutually exclusive?

Related posts:

1. Mobilizy Shape The Future Of Augmented Reality
2. Augmented Reality Advertising – A Possible Future
3. Augmented Mapping The Future Of Maps?