In a continued effort to help make all interested parties into expert Layar Vision developers, we’re hosting another webinar this Thursday at 5pm Amsterdam time (CEST), this time to provide examples of the best and worst types of reference images.

Join Layar Vision expert Michael Hofmann to make sure you’re choosing the most augmentable reference images possible for your Vision layers. Register now!

In case you weren’t able to attend the Introduction to Layar Vision webinar that King Yiu Chu hosted last Friday, September 9, we posted the audio recording and presentation slides here for download.

This year I once again had the privilege to attend WPP’s Stream, an unconference event hosted by Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, and Yossi Vardi. It was a month earlier than last year, which resulted in tropical weather. This contributed nicely to the event.

I like Stream because it is a very relaxed atmosphere where everyone is in shorts and flip flops, the egos are left at the door, and everyone is very open, willing to engage and share. For me it’s great to get an idea of what’s going on in the world of digital advertising. Almost all of WPP’s digital directors and managers are there, which is a lot, as WPP is one of the world’s biggest agencies. Next to that they bring their clients and partners. I get to talk to all parties in this ecosystem and learn from them.

A day at Stream has two parts. The first part, the daytime, is when workshops and discussions take place. I hosted a discussion on AR (see below for the learned insights and used demos). The second part is the evening program. Here everyone gathers in the Big Top (the main tent) for various entertaining activities. On Friday night it was time for the Ignite talks.

Ignite talk: Augmented Reality is the Great Equalizer

The format for the Ignite Talks was originally thought up by Tim O’Reilly. It’s a format where all can climb the stage and share an idea or vision, anything basically, as long as they adhere to the format: 15 slides that automatically forward every 15 seconds.

It was great to use this format to challenge myself to fit our vision about why Augmented Reality will be an important part of our life in the coming years, and what the effect will be, into only 5 minutes and 15 slides! Plus, the added pressure of being in the midst of other presenters like Esther Dyson, Andrew Keen and David Rowan. There is only one remedy for these situations, and that is to practice… and practice and practice (which i did). The presentation went well; people liked it. Anyway, the slides are below. Go here to see the transcript in a separate post.

Insights

The main insight that I gained from Stream is that Augmented Reality is about to break though with Vision. As soon as people see how it works, just holding a phone over an object or magazine page, they realize the potential. Readers, users, consumers, publishers, advertisers—everyone. As soon as they see it they get it, and start coming up with use cases themselves.

For Augmented Reality to break though, it’s important that large media titles as well as brands start adopting it in their work. That’s the way for the public to get acquainted with it. They will help and show that it’s worth doing by offering a valuable experience. I especially think magazines and newspapers will play a big roll initially. They know content and also have a great existing channel and audience.

Another learning, and advantage for publishers and brands to use Augmented Reality, is its short lead time and no need to change original assets. Packaging doesn’t need to be altered to add an experience on top of it. The Augmented Reality experience can be added later and much more quickly than it takes to produce the packaging itself or the article. For example, the poster campaign mentioned below was developed in less than a week.

Layar Vision Demos

I brought several demonstrations with me in the form of posters as shown below. If you have a beta build (Android only) of the Layar Browser then look for “Stream11” and hold it over the poster to experience it.

For those who don’t have the beta: with the girl you can try out several pick-up lines to get her attention. You see this when you hold your phone up to the poster. You can scroll though the pick up lines and try them out with different results.

The Lolcat poster had a lot of success. Everyone likes them 8-). In this demo you again just hold up your phone over the poster and see several options: share the cute cat love with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, watch a cute cat video, donate to a cat cause and… (yes the best one is the last) give the cat laser eyes!

Many thanks to WPP, the Stream team and all who were there. It was a great weekend!

Maarten Lens-FitzGerald
twitter.com/dutchcowboy

Below are the slides and the transcript of the Ignite talk Maarten Lens-FitzGerald gave at this year’s WPP Stream event (read what else he did, in his own words, here).

Read more »

Throughout the summer, we’ve covered some of the highlights of Bruce Sterling’s Layar-sponsored AR design class at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

As all good things must come to an end, so has this class, but not without some impressive final student projects! Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing videos of these projects as well as footage from the class presentations with Layar strategist Gene Becker making a guest appearance to offer comments and feedback. You can read all our posts related to the Design Class here.

This next concept was created by Riccardo Valerio and showcases his location-based AR game called BitHunt (there’s also a BitHunt layer currently in testing). The game is centered around real-world exploration, clue finding, puzzle-solving and treasure hunting (with BitCoins that you can turn into cash!). 

This video will make you want to rush out the door with nothing but your phone and a Tintin-like sense of adventure—check it out!

Here at Layar, we like to stay busy creating new concepts, improving existing products, and sharing our hopes, dreams and coolest new endeavors with our community.

Some days we do all of these things at once—and last Thursday (Sept. 1) was one of those days.

First, we hosted a webinar for developers interested in the Creation Challenge, and had a great turnout! You can download the audio file for the September 1 Creation Challenge webinar as well as a PDF of the presentation here.

If you missed last week’s webinar, do not despair! We’re hosting another one, this time an Introduction to Layar Vision, this Friday, September 9. Register now!

After the webinar, we kicked off another Augmented Reality Thursday (ART), a monthly meetup we host to share news, exchange ideas and visions, and meet others interested in Augmented reality. 

Check out this video of last week’s ART presentations from Layar Co-founder and General Manager Maarten Lens FitzGerald, Layar Research and Development’s Michael Hofmann and renowned ARtist Sander Veenhof. These fellas show off some cool new Layar concepts!