meta is a wearable computing and augmented reality venture that has emerged from Columbia University and is actively advised by professor and long time AR research leader Steven Feiner. They have developed a pair of stereoscopic glasses combined with super low latency gesture tracking.

meta’s fully augmented reality glasses are the first device allowing visualization and interaction with 3D virtual objects in the real world using your hands.

Steve Mann is a fan.  According to Steve, “meta is the most relevant platform for the future of computing”.

meta knows natural computation is the future, and their “goal is to bring a beautiful, flawless, and intuitive user experience to the world.”  Want to get in on the campaign?  Click here to find out more.

- Kevin

Moving on to a ‘Who?’:  The Maker Lab in the Humanities at UVic and Western University’s Lab for Humanistic Fabrication have organized an AR Makerspace (sponsored by OARN) for the HASTAC Conference, which takes place at York University (for more information click here). The Makerspace will explore the intersections of, and tensions between, augmented reality and desktop fabrication.  The participants will contribute their unique perspectives and expertise toward experimentation with desktop fabrication and broadly construed augmented reality.

Please join us in the Accolade East Concourse (across from CIBC Lobby) Friday, April 26 (10:30am-1:30pm) and  Saturday, April 27  (10:30am-5:00pm).  If you are unable to attend, but are interested in putting together your own Makerspace here are some thoughts on: i. the tools and equipment required; ii. attendees to include; iii. questions to ask.

Tools and Equipment Required

The Makerspace should be outfitted with various tools and equipment.  Some of the resources we will be using at HASTAC, and that you might consider including, are:

• 3D printers
• microcontrollers
• RGB depth cameras
• Webcams
• Sensors
• Actuators
• Hand tools

Attendees to Include

The Makerspace provides infrastructure and time for creative collaborations, but it is important that you bring together a range of attendees.  Consider inviting:

• Scholars
• Artists
• Technologists

As well as someone who is already involved in a maker community.

Questions to Ask

Our AR Makerspace will explore the following questions:

• In what ways can augmented reality be materialized through fabrication techniques?
• What types of things do we want our realities to be augmented with?
• How should our realities change, under what assumptions, and to what effects?

A Makerspace works especially well in a conference setting, bringing together people with different perspectives for a brief time. In addition to reporting on their work, the forum could also be put to creative and collaborative use through sessions of applied practice in principle and design.

We hope to see many of you at the HASTAC Conference.  If you do organize your own Makerspace, or have any thoughts to help us improve ours, please tell us in the Comments section.

- Kevin

Here’s what I liked about what Ori called “Great AR”:

• Great AR doesn’t just overlay graphics and information; it provides the user with the opportunity to look around, and the power to digitize interaction with the world.

• Great AR doesn’t isolate the user from the real world; it enhances the user’s relationship with the environment.

• Great AR draws on our vision and other senses to “hack the brain” and helps us master skills instantly.  To illustrate this point Ori referenced ARPool, developed by The RCVLab at Queen’s University. You can watch it here.

Upgrading our senses and enhancing our relationship with the world are noble goals for AR.  My question: when designing our AR applications, what criteria should we use we determine whether our applications are adding to the real world experience, rather than obscuring it?

Have you experienced Great AR results, a result of designers succeeding (or bad AR, that results from designers failing)?

Ori’s perspective is a valuable one, and one to keep in mind when coding or experiencing AR in the future. Watch his talk here.

Register for AWE2013 here.

- Kevin

We also recognized a need for recommendations for training the next generation of AR researchers and developers, and decided to respond.  We organized conferences and workshops dedicated to training, and interviewed leaders in the field.  This report captures what we heard and learned.

We acknowledge and extend our thanks to Tim Compeau (Western University) and Mathijs Gajentaan (Winvolve) for their help in preparing the report, our many partners and collaborators for their generosity and support, and everyone who gave their time to be interviewed.  We also acknowledge the Ontario Media Development Corporation for its support of OARN, on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

We hope you find this Training Report helpful. The AR industry is changing rapidly, and we will update these recommendations on a regular basis. Your feedback is welcome; please contact us at info@oarn.net

- Kevin

Qualcomm is the developer of the leading augmented reality platform Vuforia.   The main complaint Jacobs has with the glasses is that a larger percentage of users report getting headaches.   Obviously, this is a complicated challenge, and it’s going to take time to work out.

But are watches the solution? And how will watches be a step up from mobile phone screens? We’re looking forward to seeing how Qualcomm takes on these new challenges.

-Kevin

“As for the too-geeky issue, it’s ridiculous. Nothing is “too geeky” any more. Look how people really behave nowadays.”

-Bruce Sterling on Google Glass, Wired

Best Augmented Reality App:

http://www.bestappever.com/v/arap/1/533816549

Best Use of Hardware App:

http://www.bestappever.com/v/hrdw/1/533816549

So far we’ve run three workshops in the GTA, three workshops in London, three workshops in Niagara, and conferences in Niagara (June 2011) and Toronto (October 5, 2012).

Most – about 80% – of you wanted OARN to continue to organize events like these on a quarterly or annual basis.  Please join us at HASTAC 2013 – The Decennial on April 25-28, 2013 at York University in Toronto.

Training is an important issue in our rapidly-changing field, and you thought the best way to deal with the challenge of training was through live workshops and online content (including videos).  We’re finishing our training report, and will post it in a couple of weeks.  We’re going to present that material on the Web site in a variety of ways, and provide opportunities for you to post your videos and share your training advice. (Let us know if you’ve got something that you’d like to put up right away.) Watch for changes to that part of the Web site in the next few weeks.

About half of you thought we should continue to feature job opportunities in the Employment section of the Web site.  Please continue to send us postings so that we can share these with the AR community.

Finally, you were evenly split on whether OARN should continue to focus on the Ontario community, or go international, so we’re going to do both. AR in central Canada will continue to be a top priority, but we’re now talking with international AR organizations about how we can share our resources and expand our network.  More on that soon.

- Kevin

I don’t know if we’re in the hell curve, but it’s been quiet lately. Last year at this time we received substantially more Google Alerts about new AR apps. Retail AR development typically follows the advertising cycle, with new apps launched in time for holiday shopping. What’s happened this year?

Perhaps there are fewer launches; or maybe AR apps are now taken for granted. Clearly, some of the hype has passed. Most journalists and commentators are focusing on the stumbling blocks to great AR (usually hardware and recognition problems). On the positive side, compared to a year ago we’re seeing significantly more interest in wearable AR.

Whatever’s happening, the “trough of disillusionment” can focus the mind. We know that we need to figure out a few things before we can move forward. If that’s the case, we need to keep working, and get through it. The Slope of Enlightenment, whatever that looks like, is next.

Are there any new exciting AR apps that you’ve used recently? Let us know in the Comments section.

- Kevin