Proximity-based augmented reality social network games and how they improve communities

It's an exciting time to be a gamer. In the next year or two there will be an explosion of new games for augmented reality and Articulated Naturality-capable devices. One of the most interesting is the potential for a hybrid between a first person shooter game and a social network game.

Imagine the Zynga game Mafia Wars. Millions of people connect every day to button click their way to the top. In areas with a high density of Mafia Wars players there is a possibility that two people will walk past each other as they go about their day. Knowledge of location and predicted location means the users' smartphones can sound a proximity warning and the users quick draw their phones in a show down to see who's the best mobster. The game is also based on having a mafia, i.e. other players who are part of the individual's network, and this could extend into the proximity game by providing a boost to attack power based on the number of local mafia members. This creates a reason for people to add local players to their account much like social network gamers often collect other gamers on their Facebook profile.

The new games aren't just for kids. The trip to the office can be an opportunity to have a little excitement. People who often walk past each other have a new way to break the ice. This new form of gaming will make for many more of those serendipitous moments that lead to strangers becoming friends. The social network game has also significantly broadened the age group and demographic of gamers such that these new games could be a way to make business contacts or even find the love of a lifetime.

The benefits for an enhanced real social network allied with an online social network is exciting. Whole new gaming communities and social groups located near each other will be created and there will be a significant increase in social cohesion through these new forms of games.

The stars

Use the phone to explore the night sky.

This is a simple application that allows people to access information using the advanced capabilities
of the Ouidoo Gaian.

The phone can recognise star patterns even in a city sky. It can brighten them and access information about the different constellations with a touch of the touchscreen or use of the
gesture interface on the Ouidoo Gaian AN. It can access astronomy images so you can explore the cosmos at home just like a NASA scientist.

The Ouidoo

The augmented reality market is predicted to explode over the next two years and this is because the modern smartphone has become a barely capable device. The user experience from the current tranche of AR-smartphones is lacklustre because of poor quality sensors and the
exciting applications can't run because of the low performance processors which are overspecified general processors. Organic progress will see a capable AR device in 2012 however the capability to design an AR-capable phone is possible today.

The Ouidoo Gaian from QderoPateo seems to be the best attempt at bringing the technology together and making it market ready ahead of its time while other manufacturers are watching to see what happens. The vision is admirable and it's clearly driven by the passion of the team
at QderoPateo. The Ouidoo range and the Divinitus platform at its heart have been custom-designed to be Articulated Naturality-capable. The platform was desperately needed
and without it the mobile processor would have evolved at a snail's pace.

The Divinitus has two general purpose processing cores for handling the standard smartphone functions and 26 signal processing cores for handling AR and Articulated Naturality Web applications. It's the Scene cores that make the Ouidoo the first AN-capable phone because
these provide the power for the overlay of 3D images and what make it the world's first 8 gigaflop mobile processor.

The Ouidoo is a Scene device which is a significant leap ahead of it's competitors. Google Goggles and Nokia's Point-and-find applications attempt to give smartphones a basic ability to sense their environment and understand what they're being pointed at. The Ouidoo takes this one
step further and uses the latest technology to really sense the environment. This is an ambitious attempt to make significant leap forward in pervasive mobile computing and create a new device. The results will be interesting and it is likely the second offering in the
Ouidoo range will see this capability better realised.

Eye interaction for the ANW

The opportunity for interaction with the environment using eye movement is possible with scene devices like the Ouidoo Gaian. Canon debuted this technology in the semi-professional EOS 5 film SLR over a decade ago which could track eye movement using a low resolution digital sesnor
near the eye piece. This technology evolved to its epitome in the EOS 3, the last of Canon's professional film cameras.

The 1 megapixel video camera could be used to track eye movement. The SLR provides a better opportunity with the close proximity of the 1 kilopixel sensor and the eye. A phone held 30cm away from the eye could be close enough for accurate recognition using the latest algorithms and
high available computational power.

It would be an extraordinary interface. Simply looking at a building on the screen brings up the articulated naturality information. The experience is science fiction. Hand, touch or phone orientation gestures could also be used to provide pan and zoom functions interfaces. The
user can interact easier and with one less step. It will make the interface with the ANW exciting and novel as well as functional.

This technology could be extended to modern digital video cameras and could enable a new standard of creativity and high quality output.

Proximity social network applications - the future of Facebook?

Websites like meetups.com already provide a platform for likeminded people in a local area to get together. An upgraded version would bring this to a phone interface and locate meetups within easy distance of the user.

Would this be the AR application that takes over from Facebook? The proximity-based social network platform has a wealth of opportunities for convenient socialisation. This may be a natural progression of the Facebook platform or a usurper may capture the market.

The smarter phone

The first mobile phones did one thing: they handled calls. SMS was developed for the engineers to recieve a 'ping' from the base station but the obvious opportunity was quickly brought into the feature set. The first Nokia Communicator brought mobile phone computing and internet
access to the masses in the late 1990s and its in the 21st century that the phone is changing into a multipurpose mobile computing device.

Today sees people reach for their phone for more than answering a phone call. The Blackberry brought pervasive business email. The iPhone is succeeding in mobile gaming where the Nokia N-gage series failed. Almost every new phone has a music player as well as a Swiss army knife
of useful digital utilities like diaries and alarm clocks. Mobile TV has becoming commerically viable and the next step will see people reaching for their phones to access the Articulated Naturality Web.

The mobile phone has evolved beyond its inventors' visions. The modern smartphone is a powerful, portable computer that is connected to voice, text and digital networks. The additonal of sensors, applications and advanced algorithms to sense the world around the phone is a significant leap of evolution for the cellular device. These new capabilities are the tools for the architects of the future to build the applications and the new channel for the content creation herd.

Questions about ownership of the ANW

The ANW exists upon real space. Someone's house can have all sorts of articulated spaces or advertisements but does the owner of the house own that space? The answer is yes I think. It may not make sense for it to be otherwise.

At the moment there are no laws about the new virtual world of digital overlaid on physical objects. What would the future bring?

Would an AN billboard automatically be owned by the owner of the physical billboard? Yes. I guess that would make sense. The alternative would be a free market in ANW space and the potential for new 'stolen' billboards or other aggressive marketing tactics is high.

Anywhere where reviews are posted could delete unfavourable reviews? Yes. That would be inevitable unless there was a free 'layer' of the ANW that was unmoderated like alt. newsgroups.

And for free? If the law was the ownership of property came with the ownership of the land area and body of the property in virtual space then it would be hard to justify a charge unless the business take tried to exploit this opportunity was successful long before a legal challenge.

But what about the street? Who owns that? Would that be left anarchic or would it become moderated by a large, provider that sold advertising space to fund the free ANW platform for users?

And what if a company wanted to advertise using the sky in the ANW? I don't know who would own the sky in the ANW.

Progess in AN and ANW

At the moment there's a perception amongst some people that theAR ANW is going to be a gimmick. The same potential risk existed with the first internet. Back then few but the visionaries and early adopters could see the potential of an interconnected world wide computer network but even they couldn't dream of what it would become a decade after the internet boom hit the public consciousness.

The ANW requires a shift in thinking and many do not have the imagination to take that leap. The big brands like Microsoft and Qualcomm are out buying all the imagination they can, and in Qualcomm's case they've actually bought an Austria R&D company called Imagination, because creativity doesn't grow in these levianth organisations. They will take the ideas from the true innovators and mass produce them, and that's how the ANW will succeed. Most modern smartphones are already equipped with the basic featureset for AR applications and by the end of the year more products will meet the requirements for the ANW.

The big companies have already seen the potential for AR applications and they're starting to hear about AN and the ANW. Microsoft is poaching Oxford AR researchers, Google's beta-testing basic AR software and Apple have patented an AR headset. Each one is looking to get their hands on the expertise, patents and market share. Its basic business sense:
they're looking for the cash cow of their future and its AR.

The real innovation is happening elsewhere. Leading the pack is QderoPateo. They're introducing a range of smartphones designed to make the reality of the Articulated Naturality Web happen today. Its being launched with a series of signature applications, a new chip and new AN software at the Shanghai Technology Expo 2010.

What do people think of AR?

I spoke about augmented reality and Articulated Naturality to a friend of mine who works at a major gaming company. He said "All the AR stuff is very interesting - very curious to see how it
evolves... It's all a bit niche so far but I can see how there could be some really useful and fun applications."

Its a good summary of the general attitude to AR outside the fanboy culture.

Those in the industry can see the possibilities and some people can see the potential but perhaps a generation burned by the dotcom boom and bust are more cynical about new technology.

To the uninformed public consciousness augmented reality is an iceberg with a tiny tip they can see. The huge mass of research and specialised product development that's been going on for the last 30 years and has accelerated in the last decade as the realisation of virtual continuum
consumer technology quickened represents the unseen mass. Those who can see the whole iceberg can see a positive collision with the Titanic that will create a wealth of "really useful and fun applications."

The state of play today is "a bit niche" for the majority of AR applications and most of the world outside the US. For many reasons they've been the earliest mass-adopters of AR technology. The UK is far behind as it was with the dotcom revolution which is why my friend's
view may be different from a Californian's.

The development of the Articulated Naturality Web

The Articulated Naturality Web (ANW) is slowly coming into existance however its only a tiny percentage of the population that have experienced the potential of location-relevant online information let alone the extraordinary new experience of a virtual world of information
overlaid on real. The speed of uptake of the ANW will be moderatedby the speed at which useful applications are developed, the speed with which the necessary hardware becomes pervasive (and usually cheap) and the unpredictable development of a "killer application" that will take
the market by storm. Like any technological revolution it requires advances in a wide range of engineering, from software to hardware through to manufacturing technology and intelligent algorithms capable of applying the new data usefully.

The certainty of uptake, in my opinion, is without doubt. Its inexorable.

The pieces to the Articulated Naturality (AN) revolution are already in place. Smartphones will continue to improve on the basic features required for augmented reality and they will soon have the specification for accessing the ANW. AN will mean users will be closer to the information they want, when they want it and that's a strong selling point for people living in a the modern, information-empowered environment. AR navigation is a simple, useful way to get around though it will take a change in user behaviour to see people walking around viewing the world through their phone. Its likely that an audio-AR browser such as Toozla will be successful with people who prefer to be discrete or are sensitive to the risk of theft. The browser wars are really hotting up in early 2010. Layar is the most popular and is now preinstalled on Samsung's latest smartphone and other Android devices. Sites like Wikitude are offering geotagging to the mass market. Consumer digital cameras have GPS built in. The modern smartphone is capable of basic AR.

Its an exciting time for early adopters. Its an exciting time for businesses ready to access the new medium of AR and ANW marketing. Entertainment and social venues are likely to benefit from the potential of proximity-based electronic marketing. Magazines like Esquire have
already produced AR editions. New AR games are being released and it won't belong before the market sees releases from major games manufacturers. Slowly the industry behind AR and eventually behind the ANW will grow and the AN-capable phones will become the next must-have consumer gadget.

There is no immediate threat to the new augmented reality market and ANW other than a totally unheard of technology being developed that rapidly achieves the benefits and uptake. The consumer consciousness is fickle as always looks for the next fad and its likely that this factor may divert its attention away from the new ANW however it is merely a blank canvas for the architects and artists to create exciting and innovative ways to apply the potential of the invisible information world to every day life.

Does the ANW mean the death of the business card?

A business card represents the brand and provides basic information about the business. The cards are an expression of individuality as much as a way to create leads to new business.

Last year saw a lot of hype around a marker-based AR business card which when viewed with a smartphone brings up business details, runs an 3D animation and offers new opportunities to add content from social network platforms.

http://jamesalliban.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/ironic-business-card-becomes-accidental-viral/

But in the Articulated Naturality Web the need for a physical representation of contact details disappears. Two people meeting can swap virtual business cards. This is already possible with Bluetooth on many phones so no real revolution. The ANW will make it easier by the user simply being able to hold up their phone and click on an icon above the users head either on the touchscreen or hand gestures. A physical business card becomes a superfluous throwback and one that doesn't integrate with electronic systems without an OCR program to make the
data electronic.

There are still many possibilities for the virtual business card in the ANW. The brand identity can be communicated through the icon with animations and virtual art, with demure subtly or vibrant creativity depending on the desired image.

Negative applications of AR and AN: Warfare

The military are usually leaders in applying advanced technology from the jet engine to the internet right through to the modern day and 3D printers. Killing people is now a fine art from thanks to the electronic age but its also helped reduce civilian casualties through smart munitions. It was the Heads Up Display (HUD) pioneered in military aircraft in the mid-20th century that was a very early practical implementation of AR.

Augmented reality is a technology that comes at a time when technology is empowering the world superpowers' ability to wage wars. Information is the new gunpowder. Radar provides early warning but stealth technologies make the weapons of war invisible. Precision weapons allow targeting of important installations with a handful of munitions instead of a sending hundreds of bombers as in WWII and assists the media war with images of bombs destroying military targets without harming civilians. Remote controlled reconnasiance drones provide real-time video and complement high resolution satellite imagery that can see through cloud. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is the latest toy and could mean the end of the human bomber pilot.

The possibility for Soldier 2.0 upgraded with overlay of information upon their senses is a clear opportunity for the application of AR and AN technology. The other arms of the military will benefit from improved targeting and navigation but its the army that will benefit the most. War is ultimately about conquest of land and this means troops on the ground. No technological solution in our lifetimes is going to change that paradigm as its changing on the sea, in the air and in space to teleoperated robots that developed from Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile research.

The foot soldier has always faced the harshest conditions with the greatest risk to life. UN peacekeepers have it worse because they are often under orders not to return fire unless absolutely necessary. The potential for information generated by micro-reconnassance drones is
already being explored. Robocop-esque visual interfaces and headmounted devices are offer potential for the ordinary troops and specialists to be safer with lookahead-type vision, automated threat recognition and display, intuitive GPS interface, knowledge of friend or foe idenitfication, visualisation of machinegun fire spread, troop orders visually displayed, comrade camera view and a multitude of other lifeprotecting advantages.

The advantage of informatiuon is too much for the human brain much like the data from the senses is too much for the conscious mind. The brain has an important part where sense information is preprocessed and vast amounts removed to allow the realtime processing of the real world and application of conscious decisions to respond to stimuli. The preprocessing function reduces sensory saturation and overload and is a vital part of any augmentation of human sensory systems with digital information. Presenting the right information in the right way at the right time will be the advances in military technology that provide the
true leap for military and civilian applications.

The huge military funding budgets and the resulting research that permeates into the commerical world will inject leaps of technology and reductions in price that would otherwise be decades away as has happened with so much of the technological revolution seen in the 20th century as much as centuries before. It is perhaps better this way rather than as in Alfred Nobel's case where research aimed at bettering mining science ended up with making the bomb better and wracked by the guilt of the misuse of TNT he started the Nobel Prize. The advantage of AR and AN has undoubtably already benefited from the military and it a technology that
has clear benefits for their purposes so it is an inevitability, though not one I can say I'm happy with.

an insight into what an AN first person shooter game might be like

http://www.visbox.com/caveQuake/
This is actually a VR game but it shows the simplicity with which AN technologies could be realised in the Quake-type game.

Its just an example of what's to come. The mobile phone of the future becomes the new games platform. Modern smartphones have the GPS sensors required for basic location data and as new systems increase the accuracy the opportunity for new FPS AN games is obvious.

The small phone screen is a poor interface for gaming compared to a VR or AN headset. Sadly the commerical AN headset is a way off in the future with consumer demands of size, looks and price being major obstacles.

An early useful AR app

https://www.prioritymail.com/simulator.asp

From UPS. Its not sexy or cool but its a useful, successful early implementation marker-based augmented reality.

Augmented Reality finally gets some mainstream media coverage in the UK

An article printed in The Observer last weekend is getting the idea of AR to the UK's intelligensia who read the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/21/augmented-reality-iphone-advertising

one line summary of Articulated Naturality Web

An invisible world of relevant objects and information overlaid on the real world and accessed through an Amiphone.

The evolution of the interface of digital information with organic senses to make a new World Wide Articulated Naturality Web.

AN, signs and food

In the Articulated Naturality Web information can be hidden from the real world for reasons of aesthetics and minimalism or for covert signs accessible to a limited user group.

Simple examples are menus available through viewing the restaurant through the phone view rather than placed at every table or displayed on the wall. Linking with electronic information means the menu can have more information. Currently its just the name and price of a dish
however many people would be interested in the nutritional content to maintain a healthy, balanced diet. People with special dietary requirements either by their own choice or through a medical condition can see just the items that meet their needs.

The outernet information opportunity provided by the addition and logging of nutrition information at eating establishments means everyone can check they are getting the nutrition
they need to lead a happy, healthy and long life. It can also help doctors identify causes of illness through accessing the food log offering new opportunities for accurate diagnosis.

The opportunity for additional information tailored to the user available through AN devices is an exciting prospect for the consumer movement. People who only eat locally-sourced or organic food can automate their shopping and reduce the effort it takes to find establishments that serve their needs, and this can extend to other products.

Often new innovations in captialist cultures require organic growth to succeed (whereas socialist paradigms can use inorganic, centrally-driven change) but for early adopters it can be a poor experience, for example a new payment system with low uptake or a new type of fuel with few fuel stations will inhibit the consumer experience. The ANW will enable the convenience of being guided to the retailers and suppliers who support the new service and bypass the nightmare of
searching for a vendor. The integration with navigation software, the overlay of footprints or directional arrows and the indexing of vendors and product variables will create a digital guide that whisks the shopper to their perfect purchase.

Another small benefit of AN signs is interior designers can be freed from the aesthetic nightmare that signs create once all their prospective customers are using AN-capable devices. Everything will exist in the virtual world of the ANW and spaces are free to be formed as a beautiful aesthetic experience.

The AN sign may create a new role for AN sign designers. The sign is a small display of important informaton. In the real world clarity and visual impact are key strengths and these will be continued to the ANW sign. In the ANW the opportunity for additional, relevant content is the new arena where specialists will provide both the creativity to apply new sorts of
information that influence buyer choice and tailor the content so it is relevant, easy and intuitive to access as well as memorable in innovative ways. AN designers will create beautiful signs in the unfettered digital world where clutter can disappear at a click and relevant information appear at another. The AN designer will have the benefit of interactivity to engage potential customers longer than a typical sign in the non-AN internet or real world.

The covert application of AN signage has exciting and perhaps sinister potential. Its not an expectation that a future technology will only be used for good purposes. Its something I will expound on in a later post.

Where are the toilets?

An amusing application but one that makes life that little bit easier for everyone.

Many establishments poorly signpost toilet facilities and this is common in cities too. This exceptionally simple application locates the nearest public convenience and guides the user there using standard navigation.

The importance of this concept is its high utility. It is a common experience, one that is unnecessarily stressful and one that can be simply solved using an AN application.

Its a tiny way that AN makes life that little bit better. Its a giant leap in how technology makes life better.

AN furniture shopping

Its a banal but useful application of the technologies involved in AN for consumer culture and can extend to other industries.

A trip to find a new piece of carpenter's couture usually means guessing how an item will look and hoping that the piece fits well with the surrounds. Its only on delivery that the piece turns out to be incongruous to its surrounds.

The future will see the shopper "trying on" an item before they buy. A recent image of their living room and a 3D model of the item overlayed upon it will mean furniture shopping will become as easy an experience as clothes shopping.

In the short term this will likely be achieved by desktop AR applications in the shops rather than distributed throughout the consumer base of AN-capable smartphones however the AN device is likely to be the final platform. A fully AN-capable phone capable of sensing and understanding its environment is a concept dubbed the Amiphone and it can comprehend a room in 3D, perhaps using an algorithm that asks the user to move around the room in a circle with the phone facing inwards to generate a 3D map so the item can be viewed from all angles and with different lights.

In fact this development may sound a final death knell to the high streeet furniture shop. The web will become the high street, the designs viewed in home rather than in a showroom, the fabrics and textures selected and the unit created bespoke - the epitome of Toffler's third
wave consumer culture. The 3D design is the valued content like the computer code of Microsoft is the valued content, not the materials like second wave products such as the Model T Ford.

Democratisation of furniture design will be the unintended consequence of the proliferation of AN shopping as new designers need only create models using their AN applications, the prosumer tailors it to their individuality and requirements then a product manufacturer creates the physical object.

The 3D image of the room can also be translated into a digital space for those who want to integrate their real life seamless with their digital life in applications like Second Life. The blend between the real and the virtual becomes blurred through the application of AN.

Articulated Naturality Gaming

AR gaming has seen the first major successes of desktop AR with Sony Playstation games like The Eye of Judgement which premiered as far back as 2007. This used a matt and special cards with a matrix printed on for recognition by the software. Mobile AR gaming was the
next step and 2009 saw a few interesting games from cutting edge developers but nothing took the burgeoning market. Games Alfresco hosted a poll last year to discern the early adopter's game of choice and this gives an idea of the state of the industry last year.

Articulated Naturality gaming is a step beyond these basic implementations and its maturation will see AN gaming become the raison d'etre of smartphones and a significant factor in the mass-takeup of virtual continuum technologies. The First Person Shooter game immediately lends itself to AN. Social network gaming, one of the unexpected successes of the growth in social network platform use, will have a new dimension of interactivity and immedicacy through the new dimension of physicality and proximity. Edutainment applications will become empowered by interactivity with 3D objects hanging in the real world space. Location-data and movement sensig presents lots of opportunities for turning back the clock on multiplayer gaming so it
returns to physical spaces and children once again run around outside A future version of Tomb Raider in the future may see it played in local cities with puzzles leading to clues that get Lara to the next level or. Combined with social network platforms it won't be long before communters on the train connect with other passengers to place racing, puzzle or other games to pass the time.

These simple examples elucidate on the potential but its likely that a new gaming concept only available through AN-capable devices and platforms will be the 'killer application'. It may be through adult or children's treasure hunt or puzzle games reinvented for the ANW. Predicting the fad is the job of seers and sages but the creativity already shown in the AR gaming industry will mean the must-have AN game will be here sooner than thought possible.

The future

The Articulated Naturality Web is the future of the internet. Its Web 3.0 but its more exciting than a version number increment.

The internet and digital information have been accessed through fixed terminals since the original ARPANET. The last decade has seen a change to mobile internet access through laptops and phones. The content wasn't location-sensitive so a restaurant review would have to be searched for even if someone was standing right outside the venue. The addition of GPS
available on most modern smartphones gave the device the ability to know where it was and incremental evolution of the technology has increased the accuracy. Other sensors such as tilt, pitch and compasses are also adding to the tools for knowing the orientation of the user and capturing movement. The near-term future will see a profusion of content linked with physical
location and this means relevant information when its needed.

The Articulated Naturality Web is a step further. Its a leap in how people interact with information combined with knowing location. Currently we still rely on text entry and view to use digital information. The ANW will apply the information in different ways. The
key advance is the intuitive interface provided by gestures replacing the mouse and offering the option of a three dimensional work space. A person can interact with digital objects of information hanging in mid-air so they can reach out and touch and advertisement to zoom in and find out more or view a review left by someone else stuck to the restaurant.

The show-stopping applications are yet to be dreamt of but its an exciting future to be living in. 2010 is truly the dawn of a new era.

A beginning

Articulated Naturality is the most exciting revolution about to explode
across the world in 2010 and here's the home of everything to do with
Articulated Naturality and the Articulated Naturality Web.

Its an exciting future we're all about to experience where the real
world becomes melded seamlessly with online information and digital content then made relevant through sensing the real world.