Get Augmented in Person: AR Event Scheduled
Posted: February 08, 2010
By Ken Liebeskind
You may have seen augmented reality used as an online advertising application and thought about utilizing it to promote your own product, but didn’t know how to do it. If you attend the Augmented Reality Event June 2-3 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California, you’ll get a few ideas. The conference is not just about how to create augmented reality online advertising apps, but how to utilize augmented reality in the mobile space and as a way to demonstrate how to use your product.
Ori Inbar, CEO of Ogmento, a publisher of augmented reality apps and president of event sponsor, Augmented Reality Consortium, says the two-day show will focus on the business side of augmented reality, not the scientific side. The show will attract companies in the space, developers and agencies.
A year ago, General Electric was one of the first to use augmented reality to promote its Smart Grid technology with digital holograms that appeared after a paper panel was flashed in front of a computer screen. Inbar says the GE execution and subsequent efforts unleashed a “wow factor,” but augmented reality is expanding now. “Mostly we’ve seen webcam-based executions but it gets more interesting when you use mobile devices. When Apple opened up the ability to do overlay graphics, a new set of apps and games came to the Apple Store. You can point the iPhone in front of you to see what’s going on around you.”
To view augmented reality on a computer, users flash a paper panel in front of the screen to activate the content. Mobile phone cameras, GPS and sensors generate mobile augmented reality content that is overlayed on top of other content on the screen. A wide variety of mobile augmented reality apps are now available that show the locations of nearby restaurants, subway stations, tourist attractions and even the location of Twitter users.
Another new use of augmented reality is to demonstrate how products are used. Lego stores invite visitors into kiosks where they see 3D graphics super imposed on video footage that shows them the contents of the toy package. Topps has utilized augmented reality to show avatars of baseballs players from their playing cards that actually bat, catch and pitch on the screen. “Augmented reality injects new life into traditional games and it’s a great tool to teach customers what’s in their products,” Inbar says.
Inbar says the Augmented Reality event will focus on three key themes: the business side will help start-ups learn how to fund their companies, license their products and understand the legal issues; technology will be covered to understand the latest innovations; and product and design issues will be discussed with case studies to help agencies learn how to incorporate augmented reality in their campaigns.
Inbar is one of the scheduled speakers at the Augmented Reality event. Bruce Sterling, a science fiction novelist and Wired columnist is the keynote speaker. Bruno Uzzan, CEO of Total Immersion, an augmented reality software firm and Robert Rice, CEO of Neogence Enterprises, will also speak. For additional details on the show, please visit the site.
Ken Liebeskind is a freelance reporter and copywriter who specializes in digital advertising.
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