Boing Boing » augmented reality

Short sf film about future augmented reality graffiti

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:46:18 +0000

Tim Maughan and friends produced a short film based on his excellent story Paintwork, which is about graffiti and augmented reality (see my earlier review). It was a project for New Scientist's Arc Magazine. (Thanks, Tim!)

Augmented reality card routine

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 02:16:35 +0000

MagicPeaceLove sez, "'Virtual Magician' Marco Tempest is a pioneer in fusing the magical with the technological and he blows it out of the water with this augmented card routine recently posted at TED. The routine is an updated version of a classic called 'Sam the Bellhop,' in which a clever narrative story follows random cards dealt face-up one-by-one from a shuffled deck. Tempest, however, spins a much more poetic narrative and the augmented reality element is a wonder to behold."

Marco Tempest tells the secret story of a deck of cards (Thanks, MagicPeaceLove)

Spacecraft 3D: Nifty robotic space travel augmented-reality app from NASA JPL

Xeni Jardin — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:45:21 +0000

I recently had a chance to visit NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory with Miles O'Brien. At the NASA center in Pasadena, engineers are readying for the long-anticipated landing of the Mars Curiosity rover on Aug. 5. During our visit, we met with the team behind a cool new iOS app from JPL: NASA's Spacecraft 3D, an augmented reality application that allows users to "learn about and interact with a variety of spacecraft that are used to explore our solar system, study Earth, and observe the universe."

Using a printed AR Target and the camera on your mobile device, you can get up close with these robotic explorers, see how they move, and learn about the the engineering feats used to expand our knowledge and understanding of space. Spacecraft 3D will be updated over time to include more of the amazing spacecraft that act as our robotic eyes on the earth, the solar system and beyond!

The app is really a ton of fun. You can download it here for free, iPad and iPhone and iPod Touch. Here's the JPL press release announcing its release.

Paintwork: cyberpunk++ stories of killer augmented reality mechas and QR code graffiti writers

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:21:50 +0000

Tim Maughan's self-published short story collection Paintwork collects three of his stories, including the British Science Fiction Award-nominated story "Havana Augmented."

In an era of "post-cyberpunk" science fiction, Maughan is firmly cyberpunk -- or maybe "cyberpunk++," a genre that captures all the grit and glory of technology with a higher degree of plausibility and respect for real computers and networks than the genre had in its glory days.

"Paintwork," the first story, is a noirish, Gibsonian story of a graffiti writer in an econopocalypse-scoured Bristol, whose specialty is elaborate augmented reality animations that he inserts into the public consciousness by overwriting the QR codes on advertisements. "Paparazzi" is a story of gaming celebrity and global economics, with a wry and funny take on gold-farming that went to a place no other writer has ventured. The final novella, "Havana Augmented," is justly famed as Maughan's best work today: a political games/AR thriller set in Havana, where a bootleg augmented reality mecha combat game becomes part of the Communist Party's plan to liberalize the country's economy, and the young rebel gamers who are caught up in the plot.

Maughan has a keen eye for the fictional possibilities of technology, a good hand with the what if/ten seconds in the future mode of storytelling, and he's quite adept at filling his work with hyper-cool eyeball kicks. These stories are fun and thought-provoking, a great combination.

Paintwork

SVK Warren Ellis/UV ink comic is back on sale

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:34:36 +0000

SVK, the fab Warren Ellis/D'Israeli comic published by London's BERG with hidden UV ink action, sold out in hours. The second printing just came back from the printers and it's back on sale.

Bruce Sterling's Augmented Reality project

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:33:30 +0000

Bruce Sterling has launched an augmented reality product with Layar coder Menno Bieringa, German media artist Aram Bartholl and Layar artist-in-residence Sander Veenhof: "With Sterling’s 'Dead Drops Layer,' users can scan the horizon for handy Dead Drops that might be lurking nearby. A few taps and clicks create a map that will lead to the site. Network users can then plug their laptops directly into the 'Dead Drops,' which are commonly embedded in brick walls and almost invisible."