HTC Advantage

The latest cutting edge mobile device is the HTC Advantage PDA with high-speed global connectivity and PC-style power. The HTC Advantage is unfortunately based again on Windows Mobile 5.0 operating systems but comes with inbuilt GPS and navigation software. The main advantage of the device is that it comes as two magnetic pieces that ‘glue’ together if required: the main processing unit with a touch screen and a keyboard.

The main processing unit is a 5-inch VGA 640x480 colour touch screen, which is challenging when performing navigation compared to other windows mobile 5.0 PDAs (i.e. MIO A701, HP 6915, HTC Universal). The second component of the PDA is a full detachable keyboard, which allows to be used as a small computing device (when not navigating) and can replace some of the laptop operations. However, when navigating it is much easier to use the virtual keyboard and leave the physical keyboard in your pocket. An example of virtual representation of City University campus running in Pocket Cortona is shown below.

Another advantage of the HTC Advantage is provides excellent communication facilities. Users may connect anywhere with 3G/HSDPA and Wi-Fi®; and stereo Bluetooth® 2.0 which is excellent for wireless audio. The HTC Advantage has up to 8 hours’ battery life and an 8GB hard drive and miniSDTM are the main options for storage. The on-board 3.0 megapixel camera (and second VGA camera) allows for the implementation of augmented reality applications. Finally, the last interesting feature of the device is the VGA output capability.

More information:

http://www.europe.htc.com/products/htcadvantage.html

VAIO UX Handheld PC

VAIO UX is the smallest, lightest, fully functioning VAIO PC ever made. Some of the technical characteristics include: Intel® Core™ Solo Processor Ultra Low Voltage U1500, Intel® PRO/Wireless 802.11a/b/g, 32 GB hard drive (Flash memory), 1 GB DDR2-533 SDRAM, 1 GB SDRAM, 4.5" touch panel LCD, Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950, 2 built-in digital cameras, and Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g.

The main advantage of this computer is that it puts the world in your pocket, and at your fingertips. For this reason, it is the most perfect device currently in the market for navigation and wayfinding. Compared to PDAs it has almost the same size but it is much more powerful, allowing this way to develop robust virtual and augmented reality navigational applications.

More information:

https://www.sonystyle.co.uk/

Rome Reborn

Rome Reborn is a collaborative project between the UCLA Cultural Virtual Reality Laboratory (CVRLab), the UCLA Experiential Technology Center (ETC), the Reverse Engineering (INDACO) Lab at the Politecnico di Milano, and the Institute for Advanced Technologies in Humanities (IATH) at the University of Virginia in order to create a digital 3D model of ancient Rome as it appeared in late antiquity. The notional date of Rome Reborn is June 21, 320 A.D. An example screenshot of the Rome Reborn 3D model is shown below.

The main objective of the project was to spatialize and present information and theories about how ancient Rome looked at this particular moment in time. Spatialization and presentation involve: (a) the knowledge used to digitally reconstruct the topography, urban infrastructure (streets, bridges, aqueducts, walls, etc) and individual buildings and monuments and (b) the sources of archaeological information behind the digital reconstructions. Furthermore, the 3D model consists of two types of materials (a) highly detailed models of buildings that can be reconstructed on the basis of reliable archaeological evidence and (b) buildings and other features that are known only by type and frequency in the particular region of ancient Rome.

More information:

http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/

Myvu Viewer

The Myvu head-mounted display (HMD) designed by MicroOptical Corp., was made specifically for the 30G, 60G and the 80G Apple iPod® with video capabilities. Like other HMDs, the Myvu provides a hands-free, big-screen personal viewing experience but unlike most of them it is one of the smallest and lightest eyewear displays available today.

Myvu contains built-in video viewing and audio systems for high quality viewing. Users can connect it to the iPod or other mobile processing unit and perceive eight hours of immersive visualisation. A small pendant provides easy access to playback and brightness controls. Currently the price is around $300 but the company will try to reduce the price to $99 and put the optics into ordinary prescription glasses.

More information:

http://www.myvu.com/

http://www.myvu.com/pdf/TIMEDec2006.pdf

Microsoft Surface

Earlier today, Microsoft has announced a new product called ‘Microsoft Surface’ which marks the beginning of a new technology category and a user-interface revolution. ‘Surface’ provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural hand gestures, touch and physical objects. It aims in changing the way people interact with all kinds of everyday information — from photos to maps to menus. The key concept behind ‘Surface’ is to have a tangible way of interacting with every day objects. Technically speaking, ‘Surface’ uses cameras to sense objects, hand gestures and touch and it is similar to the concept of tangible augmented reality.

Surface computing, features four key attributes including: direct interaction; multi-touch; multi-user; and object recognition. In direct interaction, users can actually “grab” digital information with their hands, interacting with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard. In multi-touch, surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger like a typical touch-screen, but up to dozens of items at once. In multi-user, the horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience. Finally, in object recognition, users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses, including the transfer of digital content.

More information:

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/3026

'Theseis'

‘Theseis’ is expected to be coming out sometime in 2007 and it is the first Greek adventure video game for personal computers developed by Track7games. The company was established in 2003 and it is an independent game development team, based in Athens Greece, dedicated to creating innovative game play experiences. The aim of the game is to bring the Greek mythology to the 21st century and the greatest difference with other modern adventure games is that there will be no guns and no killing. However, the focus appears to be very heavily on puzzles and avoiding threats rather than confrontation.

In terms of game play, Theseis features the exploits of Andronicos and Pheve as they try to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of their stepfather. The game combines the realms of the natural and supernatural as brother and sister join forces to put to rest the struggle between good and evil that his disappearance brings about. The areas that are modelled (around 20 locations including areas like Monastiraki and Knossos) are looking very realistic and will be incredibly varied, spanning from the vibrant streets of Athens to the very bowels of Hades.


More information:

http://www.track7games.com/

http://www.theseisgame.com/

http://www.qj.net/Interview-Track-7-s-Demetris-Papdopoulos-on-Theseis/pg/49/aid/91725

LOCUS Testing: 2D Map vs. 3D Map

The official testing of LOCUS project has started last week and it is taking place at a residential area near City University campus. Position and orientation information is acquired by the LOCUS system and used to indicate to the pedestrian where is located inside a digital 2D map or a virtual 3D map. The main objective of the study is to test responses of pedestrians when performing navigation and wayfinding operations in urban environments using a personal digital assistant (PDA) equipped with a GPS and a digital compass. The GPS is embedded inside the device while the digital compass is located inside a blue tube as shown below.

In the above screenshot a user is performing a wayfinding task using the VR 3D map. A red line, which is overlaid on user-demand through the client-server architecture, represents the virtual route that the pedestrian has to follow in order to navigate from one position to another and thus complete the task. In a similar way, a red line is superimposed in the digital map. In addition, the digital compass is used as a pointing device allowing pedestrians to alter their orientation in an intuitive manner. As soon as the navigation and tests are finished, then the cognitive workload and the feeling of presence will be qualitatively and quantitatively measured.

Relevant posts:

http://fotisliarokapis.blogspot.com/2007/04/intuitive-pedestrian-virtual-navigation.html

http://fotisliarokapis.blogspot.com/2007/03/lon-lis-seminar.html

http://fotisliarokapis.blogspot.com/2007/02/jvrb-article.html

http://fotisliarokapis.blogspot.com/2006/12/locus-in-google-earth.html

http://fotisliarokapis.blogspot.com/2006/11/virtual-navigator.html

http://fotisliarokapis.blogspot.com/2006/11/locus-project-in-ft.html

3D Puzzle in AR

One of the most exciting applications of AR is in interactive gaming. At City University, an experimental AR educational application for geography students called ‘an interactive 3D puzzle’ was designed. The objective was to provide a combination of educational and entertainment experiences which can be available in the future to full-time, part-time and distance learning students at City University. For the purpose of the interactive 3D puzzle scenarios a big part of the campus of City University campus was modeled in 3D and two versions were created: one with 3 pieces and one with 6 pieces. Using the functionality of MRGIS the puzzle can be visualized in both VR and AR environments. Students can pick up the marker cards and examine the geometrical and geographical information in a tangible manner.

An advantage of this gaming application is that it is possible to collaborate with other users that could stand around the table-top environment and either give advice or play the game. Multiple users can naturally experiment with different combinations by randomly placing the marker cards close to each other. Meaningful textual feedback can be also provided during the game. Furthermore, this application has been demonstrated in GeoInformation Group’s Cities Revealed Event 2005 conference as well as informally to a number of postgraduate students in the department of Information Science (City University). The feedback we have received was that the AR interface is very easy to use even if there is much more work required for an educational application that can be used in practice.

More information:

http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~fotisl/AREL/gaming.htm

http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~fotisl/publications/IV2005.pdf

http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~fotisl/publications/gw2005.pdf