Don't think the festivities surrounding Pong's 40th are limited to official channels. Sander Veerhof of the Netherlands is marking the occasion in his own way with an augmented reality version built as a Layar plugin. Instead of batting the ball across a TV screen, players play across whole continents: anyone who's been online recently is fair game as a fresh target, and the camera's field of view gives a sense of where opponents reside in real life. Games won't be nearly as fast-paced as you might remember from that classic system from the arcade or living room. However, they'll still be reminders that people worldwide have a soft spot for the Nolan Bushnell title that arguably started the video game industry -- and global Pong sure beats a game of global thermonuclear war.
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Layar previously signaled that it wants to get into augmented reality print media, and its founder Raimo van der Klein is putting his money (or at least, his title) where his mouth is. He's leaving the CEO position in favor of Quintin Schevernels, who comes from the print publishing world as VNU Media's COO. Van der Klein will hang around as Creative Director to keep the company pushing forward in new directions, but he sees most of the money-making coming from print-friendly tools like Layar Creator -- it only makes sense to have someone who's well-steeped in the medium (and who can turn a profit) running the show. Schevernels hasn't signaled any grand strategy changes in his first few hours on the job, although he might not be in any rush following the launches of apps like Stiktu. We'd just be ready for a whole lot of augmented reality magazines and cereal boxes in the near future.
Layar chief exits CEO spot in favor of print guru, edges closer to augmented reality magazine dreams originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Layar's no stranger to the AR game. The company's been acting as an enabler of sorts, putting its Player and Creator dev tools into the hands of the masses across iOS and Android for some time. Now, the outfit's making Stiktu -- a social app that attaches augmented reality tags on everyday objects -- available outside of its previously defined European borders for worldwide consumption. Users who download the platform will be able to set virtual drawings, images or text to objects and leave those invisible markers behind for other curious parties to scan and discover. The practical applications aren't exactly obvious, but as a crowd-sourced scavenger hunt, it'll do just fine. Hit up the source below to download the goods on your platform of choice.
Layar lays the AR on thick with worldwide Stiktu app rollout originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Heavy hitters across several industries have tried to find the perfect balance between the old and the new to breathe some life into what's been described as a dying medium. Layar "wants to make the world clickable" with its augmented reality software and doesn't plan on letting paper-based media go the way of paying for long distance or total privacy. Instead, it's opted to fully welcome it into this brave new digital world by letting publishers embed videos and interactive buttons onto existing printed materials. A mobile app can then display superimposed content that pops right up on the page when viewed through a device's camera. The new web app, Layar Creator, is free if you can get your stuff published and all Layared up before August 1st, but if you're a procrastinator, a 100-page bundle will run €999 ($1,242), or €15 ($18.65) per page. You can see the Layar Creator and AR app in full effect right after the break.
Layar Creator sees an interactive future for print media via augmented reality (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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