Augmented Reality Renders Concrete Block Invisible

 


Clever augmented reality applications are becoming the natural byproducts of our modern computers--computers that are tiny, have eyes and other location-aware sensors, and are able to place a synthetic layer of information on our view of the world around us.

The latest is this "invisible" block of solid concrete dreamed up by artists Daniel Franke and Markus Kison. So how does it work?

When a viewer approaches the fixed concrete block mounted at an angle on a pedestal in the middle of a gallery, a rotating cameras on top picks up his/her face and calculates the viewer's exact line of sight. Custom software (written with the visually-oriented openFrameworks platform) then computes the exact angle and composition of the scene being blocked by the cube and projects it onto the face of the concrete. So, if you're aligned properly, you see right "through" the block at the uninterrupted forms of the chair and bench on the other side.

The project is called "Durchsehen, Exp. 01 (augmented perspective)" and was displayed at a gallery in Berlin this year.

Durchsehen Exp. 01 (Docu) from Daniel Franke on Vimeo.

LG G-slate in 3D..

De LG G-Slate tablet heeft met twee camera's voor de 3D opnames foto/film en afspelen. tijdend de CES wilde T-mobileer niet veel over kwijt, maar de inhoud van dit tabletje kan wel eens grote gevolgen hebben voor de manier hoe wij de komende jaren tegen video en fotografie aan gaan kijken.

Snel en vol met leuke hardware..iPad mag wel stevig in zijn schoenen staan (wat hij inmiddels ook doet natuurlijk).

Engadget zegt:

Though it was technically announced back at CES, T-Mobile just barely talked about the LG G-Slate there, spending more time chatting up Dell's Streak 7 and letting Motorola's Xoom get virtually all of the Honeycomb attention.

Well, that's changed today with a handful of official new details: turns out the G-Slate features a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 32GB of internal storage, both a gyroscope and accelerometer, and -- this is key -- stereoscopic rear-facing video cameras capable of 1080p 3D capture, one of which doubles as a 5 megapixel still camera with LED flash.

There's also a third 2 megapixel camera up front for video chat over T-Mobile's HSPA+ network or WiFi. Going back to that 3D business for a moment, you'll need glasses (it's unclear if they're active or passive) to enjoy recorded or downloaded 3D content on the G-Slate's 8.9-inch display -- but you'll also be able to output 1080p video over HDMI to the external display of your choice. Pricing is still an open question, but the companies are now comfortable enough to say that we can expect it "this spring," so go ahead and start thinking about all the blooming springtime plant life you'll be filming in three glorious dimensions.

Update: While T-Mobile hedges its bets with a "spring" launch, LG says that it'll be hitting US soil in March as one of the first Honeycomb tablets. The honor of being first will almost certainly go to the Motorola Xoom -- Google's in-house "dogfooding" tablet.