Titan

Yesterday during my talk at the Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara, California, one of the questions I brought up was whether or not QR codes continue to be used because of their association with AR. Should we prolong the use of these large black and white codes in order to help users and customers identify augmented reality experiences? This morning, during his keynote before the second day of the event, Bruno Uzzan, CEO of AR titan Total Immersion, announced the creation of a logo the company hopes will become a standard for identifying AR applications.

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Dubbed, AR Plus (or AR+), the logo is designed to be a beacon that will signify when an interactive augmented experience has been implemented into an application. In the same way standardized USB or DVD devices brand the same logo on their devices and products, Total Immersion hopes AR developers will place the AR+ logo on their products.

Uzzan's keynote this morning focused on the creation of standards within the AR community - a popular topic at the conference so far. Uzzan says the time is now for standardization for augmented reality because major technology players are considering AR experiences, and a lack of standards may temporarily keep them from adopting the technology. He believes standards are what the community needs to breakthrough into the mainstream.

"With the new AR+ logo, the industry can give consumers, developers, brands, and others a consistent framework for encountering and understanding augmented reality solutions," said Uzzan in a press release Thursday. "There's a sense that the AR industry has grown up too fast, that it has at times felt like the 'Wild West.' Today, the industry consists of multiple players, multiple platforms and easier access to AR. The new AR+ logo affirms that we're working with a new human interface, now going mainstream."

The benefits of standardization, Uzzan said, include stability and compatibility across platforms for AR experiences. Large downloads and poor quality have deterred users from using augmented reality in the past, and standardization will streamline development, providing higher quality to the user experience. The AR+ logo, he says, is a suggestion open for discussion, and a first step toward standards for AR.

AR developers can download the AR+ logo by visiting Total Immersion's site where they can also find guidelines for the logo's use.

Discuss

Blob and Flow keeps you company —

Sometimes when you’re sitting at that computer screen it gets awful lonely.  No amount of social networking or online chats will give you the companionship that you need and crave.  Just tap this silver little pet and he’ll respond to your touch in all sorts of pleasant ways.  Then when you’re tired of his bouncy little personality, you can force him to fall asleep.

These lights come in a blue and red form.  Tap them once while they’re asleep and he’ll pop to life.  You can also lightly tap him and make him wink as well as make him go a little crazy.  To make him sleep again just hold down with your finger a little bit longer.  It plugs directly into your USB port to keep it up and powered.  This won’t be available until about the mid point of June.  You can pre-order the Mathmos creation for £35.00 or about $50.

Source: NerdApproved

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[ Blob and Flow keeps you company copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

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There are still a lot of hidden details being revealed in Apple’s upcoming iPhone OS 4.0, and some of them might including deeper integration of Facebook. In particular, there seems to be evidence that Facebook events, contacts and possibly email will be handled at the iPhone User Accounts level.

Engadget dug through some some of the .plist code files from a jailbroken iPhone running OS 4.0 and found several supporting details including mention of “SocialKitInternal.framework,” which, as they mention, could allow other service integration. Facebook events could be integrated with Apple calendars, and there seems to be support for mail. Given that Facebook is working on its own real email client, Titan, it would also make sense for the iPhone OS to prep for that, though there is already enough Facebook user account data to warrant being integrated with Apple User Accounts, as Gunning For Safety says (yes, a nail gun safety blog).

What I’m really looking forward to is Apple’s social cover flow patent to be integrated with Facebook for browsing profiles. If OS 4.0 or an upcoming version of it supports the newly-granted social cover flow feature and it’s opened up to developers, then surely it’ll get integrated into Facebook and other social media apps on the iPhone. Thankfully, OS 4.0 for the iPhone and iPod Touch comes out this summer. iPad users will have to wait until fall.

Ever since Google announced last month that it would build its own high-speed fiber optic Internet network, there has been a fierce competition between countless cities and communities to become ground zero for the Google Fiber experiment.

Earlier today, the technology titan posted an update on the status of the experimental Google Fiber project. While the company didn’t divulge many new details, it did release some interesting numbers.

The most notable: More than 600 different communities have expressed specific interest in Google Fiber. While “community” can be hard to define, it likely still means that hundreds of cities, towns and other locations in the U.S. have told Google that they want it to be their high-speed broadband network. More than 190,000 responses from individuals have come through the search giant’s doors on the subject as well.

Google’s about to start the next step of the process: reviewing the different communities, conducting on-site visits and meeting with local officials in order to pick the first community to get Google Fiber.

The final decision from Google won’t be for some time, though. The company’s announcement says that it will have a decision “by the end of the year.”

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Tags: Google, google fiber, internet service provider, ISP, Topeka

Sumatran montane rain forests - Encyclopedia of Earth. Both of those stinky flowers (Rafflesia & titan arum) that I posted the other day can be found in Sumatra. This place sounds amazing. It's like Australia. There are many life forms that can only be fo —