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- Ogmento Lets You Shoot Like Jordan Or Fire Like A Tank Commander Thanks To Augmented Reality
- Yer A Wizard, Reader: Kickstarter Game Uses A Real “Magic” Wand
- Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission: Why Dish “Ad-Skipping” Tech Irks TV Execs
- LayerNation’s El Tirador Makes Classy Layered Drinks With Science
- Ikea’s Upcoming Uppleva HDTV System Further Detailed
| Ogmento Lets You Shoot Like Jordan Or Fire Like A Tank Commander Thanks To Augmented Reality Posted: 15 May 2012 01:09 PM PDT  Ogmento is a gaming company dedicated to the creation of high-quality augmented reality games. Although AR games aren’t that rare – the 3DS does a few quite well and there are a number available on mobile phones – Ogmento is focusing on higher-end experiences. The demo above shows how they’re able to track targets in real time and, with a few button presses, have a tank fire into a crowd of luminaries including Will Wright and Bruce Sterling. The company currently sells an AR game called NBA: King of the Court. The tank game, above, is a prototype. The company is using a number of cool rendering technologies to make the AR experience more compelling. For example, the tank game includes an “x-ray” feature that will fill in space that is destroyed in the game, creating engrossing gameplay. “This is the first time in history of mobile phones a technology like SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) is running in real time and in parallel to high-end rendering and reconstruction of the physical space,” said CEO Ori Inbar. “SLAM is a technique typically used by robots and autonomous vehicles to build up a map within an unknown environment (without a priori knowledge), while at the same time keeping track of their current location. It is now being understood in game play environments where the computer can drop in digital assets that understand their physical environment including surfaces, walls, etc.” Inbar and his co-founder, Brian Selzer, have experience in gaming and augmented reality. Selzer worked with Fox, Activision, EA, and Marvel creating online and mobile content. The company raised $7 million Series A in a round led by Chart Venture Partners with participation from CNF Investments, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and other private investors. As this demo shows, AR is more than just greasy kid’s stuff. Although it’s really hard to see where the space is headed, it’s clear that games like this one become more interesting once the entire environment becomes fully mapped and trackable. The added x-ray fun is just gravy.
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| Yer A Wizard, Reader: Kickstarter Game Uses A Real “Magic” Wand Posted: 15 May 2012 12:43 PM PDT  If you’ve ever wanted to swing a magic wand around and make things happen (besides encouraging the cool kids to give you a swirly, that is), here’s your chance. A new game on Kickstarter called Incantor promises some real-live olde timey majicke fun for your iPhone. Built by a Rhode Island company, Movable Code, the game will allow you to cast spells and plan tactics by waving your wand around. The wand is actually a motion control device with haptic feedback and you can “shape” spells in the air to cast them. You can also use the wand to lock onto targets on the screen. The designers include Nicholas Napp and Kevin Mowrer, formerly head of R&D for Hasbro. Mowrer is also a noted designer and artist while Napp was an “external technology scout” for Sony Ericsson. They have been working on the product for over a year and it’s very close to completion. A pledge of $100 gets you a wand and a copy of the iPhone game. They’re about $6,000 into a $100,000 funding request. “The premise is magic made real. It’s a game you play in the real world with a smartphone, a magic wand and your friends. We are aiming to bring the gaming mechanics of an MMOG and the strategy of a trading card game into the real world,” said Napp. Hopefully we’ll have a hands on with this thing shortly so dry your hair off and stay-tuned.
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| Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission: Why Dish “Ad-Skipping” Tech Irks TV Execs Posted: 15 May 2012 10:32 AM PDT  When Dish announced their new ad-skipping tech, response was fairly muted. Sure it was some cool technology – the experience is seamless in that you notice maybe the first second of a commercial and then a little notification pops you over the commercials entirely – but TV execs are reportedly upset by Dish’s unilateral decision. Fox’s Peter Rice said it was “a strange thing to do” and NBC is still evaluating it. However, what is really interesting is that Dish decided to go ahead with the service at all. The system works because Dish is currently recording all prime-time network content onto its Hopper DVRs. This content consists of all of the big shows – Grey’s Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, etc. – parceled out and ready to watch. The consumer doesn’t even have to set a reminder. The content is just there. This is amazing news for broadcast TV. It allows a few unique things to happen. First, it ensures content discovery is forefront in the consumer’s mind. When you roll into the ABC channel, for example, you might want to watch your favorite ABC show (that I can’t think of any ABC shows off the top of my head is a testament to the problems broadcasters are facing right now, but that’s a different post) and you pop into the ABC folder. There, next to your favorite show, is another show that’s gotten great ratings or at least good word of mouth. There are a couple of episodes saved so it’s easy to just drop into the show without any problem. Imagine if, a few years ago, Lost or another huge, sprawling epic drama was available online immediately after it aired. This sort of episode saturation is a new paradigm for TV watching, one that even time-shifting advocates didn’t foresee. Second, it ensures that every show will get a fair shot and, more important, broadcast shows will be seen in a different, more “premium” light than cable shows. As it exists today, the service only works for prime-time broadcast networks. You can always pop over to HBO GO and the like, but what about the rest of those reality shows like American Pickers, Real Housewives Of Reseda, American Gothic Skull Pickers, and Man Vs. Food Vs. Wild? If you want to view the entire season at once, you’re going to have to figure out some alternative source. Now we come to the ad skipping. Considering Dish’s Hopper is a win-win for broadcasters and consumers alike, what’s the problem? Dish tried something new and made the unilateral decision to programmatically simulate what consumers are doing anyway. Clearly the networks see this feature as going just a bit too far. Obviously everyone with a DVR skips over commercials. It’s a given and it’s the way things work now. However, for Dish to formalize the process programmatically is a wild move. It’s akin to a movie theatre allowing folks to vote on whether the audience will see those inane pre-feature ads and previews. I personally believe the value given by making entire seasons available immediately far surpasses any damage ad-skipping could do. By recording every single prime time TV episode, Dish creates fans. These fans will eventually watch that broadcast content live and maybe watch previous episodes in the ad skipping interface. For TV execs to even consider this technology to be bad for the media is evidence of an unnuanced and calcified worldview. But, then again, what else is new?
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| LayerNation’s El Tirador Makes Classy Layered Drinks With Science Posted: 15 May 2012 09:52 AM PDT  Ask and ye shall receive: when I put a call out for cool hardware start-ups, little did I know that we’d be barraged by some amazing stuff. Case-in-point: the LayerNation El Tirador, a unique drinks maker that automatically creates layered drinks using different liqueurs. LayerNation is part of the Yes Delft! incubator and is currently being tested in Europe as a fast and easy way to make clever drinks for soccer games and special events. The initial version, shown above, has been replaced by a more commercial-friendly system that looks like it would be at home in an Ibiza club. Systems like this – systems that solve a very simple and unique problem quite elegantly – are the core of hardware hacking. Besides, what geek doesn’t like to drink lots of sugary, syrupy red and white “Polish flag” shots?
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| Ikea’s Upcoming Uppleva HDTV System Further Detailed Posted: 15 May 2012 06:03 AM PDT  Taking the term home theater in a box to a new level, Ikea made waves a few weeks back when it announced plans to start selling a self-branded HDTV and home theater system with a starting price under $1000. However, the company didn’t out all the tantalizing details at the time. Gigaom managed to get a bit more info on the system including the type of apps included on the rather impressive HDTV. The Uppleva system, as it’s called in traditional Ikea fashion, allows buyers to customize their whole entertainment system starting with the screen size but also including the type and size of cabinet and so on. The approach takes the focus away from the TV and instead on the owners space. Each Uppleva system will ship with a Blu-ray player, 2.1 audio system with a wireless sub, and some sort of media cabinet. As detailed in the original announcement, the HDTV isn’t a slouch. The 1080p display has a 400Hz response time and built-in apps. GigaOm learned that the system will launch will at least 15 apps including YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, TuneIn Radio, and a browser (possibly Opera for TV). That puts this Ikea set on the same level as sets from Sony, Samsung and LG. The original plan is to systemically roll the HDTV system out starting in select European stores this year followed by a broad launch in 2013 that includes the US. If this system lives up to its potential, it could be the most disruptive force in home theater since the advent of buying from Internet vendors. Best Buy better have an answer in place.
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:22:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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Posted By e Readers Tips to e Readers Reviews at 5/16/2012 05:23:00 AM
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