The Natural User Interface – In The News

Looks like 2013 is shaping up to be the year of the Natural User Interface (NUI).  Here at Zugara we’ve been following this space closely for a few years now, and thought you might be interested in seeing some of the recent headlines that caught our eye:

• Leap Motion sensor control to ship in May, be sold at Best Buy (LA Times)
• A Look At The New “Kinect” For Smartphones (Fast Company)
• Thalmic Labs launches MYO, an armband that lets you control gadgets with just your fingers and hands (The Next Web)
• Samsung Gesture Control TVs Revealed At Electronics Expo (Associated Press)
• CamBoard Pico Demos What Kind Of Gesture Control Your Next Computer Could Have Built-In (TechCrunch)

Come See Us At The Augmented World Expo

If you’re interested in AR, you’ll want to register for AWE (Augmented World Expo) soon (register before April 9th to receive a $200 discount).  Like always, it looks like it’ll be a great event, and we’d love the chance to meet you (we’ll be presenting and exhibiting).

If you aren’t familiar with AWE, here’s a bit more information about the 2013 event, scheduled for June 4-5, 2013 in Santa Clara, California:

“Now in its 4th year, Augmented World Expo™ (formerly Augmented Reality Event) is assembling the leading minds in augmented reality to showcase the world’s most innovative-augmented experiences that solve real world problems in all aspects of life, from entertainment, and brand engagement, to enterprise, industrial, and commerce applications.

Attendees will experience the largest AR exposition ever created bringing together more than 100 companies, from the hottest startups and leading AR providers to Fortune 500, all developing technologies, solutions, and hardware for augmented humans in an augmented world.

AWE 2013 will include mind-blowing keynote addresses by Bruce Sterling (“The prophet of AR”), Will Wright (legendary creator of The Sims), and include over 35 hours of talks covering business, technology and design.

The AWE 2013 program is designed to address topics such as:

• Current augmented reality market scope and its future
• The most disruptive augmented reality innovations, engines and tools
• Real showcases of revolutionary adoption of augmented reality projects
• How to leverage AR to advance your brand, attract and keep customers
• How to build meaningful products and campaigns that will delight users”

The New Webcam Social Shopper Website

Just a quick admin update to let you know that we have completely redesigned www.webcamsocialshopper.com, and will be moving this blog over there in the coming weeks.  Besides the blog, you’ll find a lot of new information on the site about our virtual dressing room platform, including: pricing, new clients, and shopper reactions to our platform (in the form of a behavioral video).

If you have a moment, please do visit the site, as we’d love to get your feedback on it.

Zugara Launches Long-Term Patent Portfolio Monetization Program

Los Angeles, CA —February 14, 2013— Zugara, Inc. announces today the implementation of a long-term patent portfolio monetization strategy through which companies can gain legitimate access to its pioneering patented technologies such as those used in the company’s proprietary augmented reality social commerce platform, The Webcam Social Shopper (WSS).

Zugara has retained internationally recognized intellectual property business advisors, IPinvestments Group, to develop, implement and manage the patent portfolio monetization program centered on U.S. Patent No. 8,275,590 and its related pending U.S. and international counterparts. Zugara may end up selling or granting non-exclusive licenses to its patent portfolio. The Company believes its patented technology is already widely implemented in the retail industry and that market adoption will continue. Augmented reality-powered “virtual dressing rooms” will play a critical role in retail’s multi-channel consumer reach.

“Recently we were issued our first patent, and for the retail business, it’s an important one. We are excited about partnering with IPinvestments Group to assist us in maximizing the value of our intellectual property,” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO of Zugara.

In essence, the proprietary WSS technologies relate to what is now commonly referred to as a “digital mirror” or a “virtual dressing room”. Zugara’s patented technologies enable the simulation of a fitting room where a user can try on one or more virtual-wearable items within a video feed. The user is provided a gestured controlled interface to navigate through and operate the virtual dressing room. Also, the user’s motion, position and/or orientation is tracked while wearing and viewing the virtual-wearable item. Further aspects include the ability for the customer to take pictures to share with family and friends. Zugara’s proprietary WSS can be used with a wide variety of “video feeds” taken from PCs, tablets, smartphones, depth-sensing cameras (e.g. Kinects), IPTV, kiosks, and even eyewear (e.g. Google Glass).

If you are interested in receiving additional information, please contact Michael McLaughlin at mmclaughlin@ipinvestmentsgroup.com.

ABOUT ZUGARA
Zugara is changing the face of multi-channel retail. Since 2009, we’ve been developing the Webcam Social Shopper (WSS), a patented commerce platform and interface that provides retailers with a more social, visual and fun experience for their shoppers.

ABOUT THE WEBCAM SOCIAL SHOPPER (WSS)
The current iteration of WSS utilizes augmented reality to turn a shopper’s webcam into a real-time interactive mirror. So a young woman can actually hold a dress up in front of herself, just like she would at the rack in a store, and immediately validate if an item’s style/color is right for her. No downloads, no plug-ins, no paper markers… it just works.
www.webcamsocialshopper.com

ABOUT IPINVESTMENTS GROUP
IPinvestments Group is an intellectual property business advisory firm committed to extracting maximum value for intellectual property assets. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, IPinvestments Group provides international transaction services related to selling and/or licensing patented technologies and innovations under a success fee structure. IPinvestments Group’s professionals have extensive experience in negotiating the economics of IP-rich agreements and are well prepared to successfully navigate the complex process of selling or licensing high-end patent portfolios.
www.ipinvestmentsgroup.com

Contact:
Michael W. McLaughlin – Principal
IPinvestments Group
mmclaughlin@ipinvestmentsgroup.com
(404) 962-8742

A New Way To Prepare Your Apparel Assets For Our Virtual Dressing Room

Throughout 2012, we solicited feedback from retailers on how we could improve our virtual dressing room platform, The Webcam Social Shopper (WSS). Well I’m here to share some good news regarding how we’ve made WSS even easier to use in 2013.

We’ve recently built a tool that enables retailers to optimize their apparel assets themselves, and we’re looking for a few people to beta test it before we release it publicly. This tool was engineered to be easy to use, and it will allow you to quickly and easily turn your existing photography assets into assets that are ready to use with our platform. If you’re interested, and selected to be a part of our Beta Program, we’ll waive the WSS licensing fee for 3 months.

If you are a retailer interested in being part of our Beta Program, please shoot a note to info (at) zugara (dot) com telling us a bit about your business, and why you’re interested in beta testing the tool.

Another Retailer Using Zugara’s Virtual Dressing Room

Just a quick post to point you in the direction of the latest retailer to integrate our virtual dressing room software, The Webcam Social Shopper (WSS).  Malaysian based Zawara just redesigned their entire site, and took that opportunity to integrate WSS into their product detail pages. If you want to see it in action, please click here.

Online Virtual Dressing Rooms Continue Gaining Traction, Another Launch

Last week we wrote about two unique retailer integrations of our virtual dressing room software, The Webcam Social Shopper (WSS). Well, this week brings another “first” with the launch of Lookz.ru, a well-backed Russian fashion start-up.

So, what’s unique about Lookz.ru’s WSS integration? As shoppers browse the site, they can save items (via a link right below the “add to cart” button) that they’re interested in off to the side, in one convenient place — similar to a “wish list”.  Then when the shopper’s done browsing, and ready to decide what they should/shouldn’t buy, they can use WSS to make more informed decisions on which of those items are truly right for them.

Below is a screenshot of Lookz.ru’s site. On the off chance that you don’t read Russian, we’ve added green arrows to show you the two entry points to WSS from this page.

The Webcam Social Shopper’s 1st Facebook Integration

One of the key selling points of our virtual dressing room platform, The Webcam Social Shopper (WSS), is that it’s flexible. It was developed so that retailers could customize it easily and quickly. And while most clients choose to integrate it right into their product detail pages, there are far more integration possibilities than that.  For example, we recently wrote about a client in Denmark, LazyLazy, who integrated WSS right into the main category pages on their site so as to give power users easier access to WSS.

Well, today we have a completely unique integration to tell you about: LoWed’s Facebook Page. LoWed is an Italian bridal boutique with no web site outside of Facebook. So, they integrated WSS into their Facebook presence (note: there is a “like-gate” to use WSS). Now their Facebook fans can browse dresses online and gain a better sense of what they like and don’t like prior to visiting the actual boutique.

Oh, and with this launch in Italy we hit another milestone, WSS is now available in 10 languages.

1. English
2. Chinese
3. Portuguese
4. Dutch
5. French
6. German
7. Russian
8. Turkish
9. Spanish
10. Italian

For Startups In Emerging Fields, Patents Are Critical

The following originally ran as a PandoDaily op-ed on 10/12.  You can click here to see the original. 

Debate continues as to whether startups should invest resources into patent filings or use those resources for critical items such as product development. This debates changes, however, when differentiating between startups in existing fields — such as social media — and those in emerging fields — such as augmented reality. Based on my own experience, if a young company falls into the latter category, then it might be more critical to pursue intellectual property protection.

Does the current patent system have issues? Yes. Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, and other industry thought leaders have been outspoken on the need for patent reform, especially with respect to software and trolling behavior. But for startups that are innovating in early stage industries, patents are critical to their survival, allowing them the time and freedom to execute their technology and business vision.

As I look back now, our decision at Zugara to file patents in 2009 as an extremely young company was the best decision we ever made. Now a four-year-old augmented reality company, we have been issued our first US patent in September of this year, titled “Providing a simulation of wearing items such as garments and/or accessories.” The patent relates to the method of using gestures to select virtual items to then view the virtual items on yourself in a video feed. This is now commonly called a “Magic Mirror” or “Virtual Dressing Room.”

When we started, the augmented reality industry was still nascent, quickly approaching the peak of inflated expectations in Gartner’s Hype Cycle. The decision to dedicate time and resources to IP protection was certainly not an easy one, but what happened as the market matured proved our decision to be the correct one.

As our prototype gained more visibility, we watched the inevitable knockoffs start to flood into the market. First, agencies attempted to replicate part of our technology. Then technology companies took a stab at it, recreating elements of our interface. We even had a company in Australia use the exact marketing copy from our site alongside an attempt to replicate our tech.

Had we skipped the process of protecting our IP, our innovative technology would have turned into ‘creative license’ for others to copy. But because we have a vision for our platform and believe that our technology itself will prevail, we have been able to maintain our focus on gaining traction with our customers – all the while knowing that we have the secret weapon of IP protection up our sleeves, should we ever need it.

Four years in, what was previously an emerging field is becoming more mature. Consumers are using gestures and motions like they would a mouse. Voice control and recognition is replacing mouse and text input and 3D or depth-sensing cameras, like Microsoft’s Kinect, Samsung’s iTV, and those from Softkinetic and Leap Technology, are quickly coming onto the market. Closer to home for us at Zugara, we are beginning to see more and more virtual dressing dooms deployed by major brands and tech companies online and in retail.

The virtual Gold Rush into the software and hardware of gesture-based interactions has started. Having a patent is the only thing protecting us as early innovators in a market that has larger challengers seeing dollar signs.

Opponents of patents — especially VCs — will argue that patents stifle innovation and even the economy. But outside of the actions of patent trolls, I’m not sure they really stifle much of anything. Competing companies entering a maturing industry without doing sufficient IP due diligence don’t deserve the rewards of innovation. In the same way, the innovating startup needs to ensure that it has a means of fighting superior challengers when they inevitably enter the no-longer virgin space.

For many early stage companies that later find themselves in a crowded space, having patents is the only thing that will allow them to raise new financing necessary to continue growing. The problem is that without an objective analysis of a startup’s technology, investors are unlikely to bet on a David challenging Goliath.

Early stage companies take enough risks. They do not need to add additional unnecessary obstacles. Without patent protection, the reward for creating a technologically innovative business is exponentially small compared to the exorbitant risk. Why should startups innovate if their innovations can’t be protected?

[Additional writing by Michael Carney]

KEY AUGMENTED REALITY & RETAIL PATENT ISSUED TO ZUGARA

Patent Relates To The “Virtual Dressing Room” Of Today & Tomorrow

Los Angeles – September 25 – We’re pleased to announce that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted Zugara a patent on our augmented reality social commerce platform, The Webcam Social Shopper (WSS). “Today we were issued our first patent, and for the future of retail, it’s an important one” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO of Zugara.

The patent, USP #8,275,590, relates to the simulation of trying on one or more virtual-wearable items within a video feed, the ability to use gestural controls to navigate through the interfaces and take pictures to share with your friends, all from within the WSS interface.

WSS can be used with a wide variety of “video feeds”, such as via PCs, tablets, smartphones, depth-sensing cameras (e.g. Kinects), connected TVs, kiosks, eyewear (e.g. Google Glass)… you name it. In essence, WSS relates to what is now commonly referred to as a “digital mirror” or a “virtual dressing room”.

Other features of the patent and/or WSS include the following:

• ANY VIRTUAL, WEARABLE ITEMS: This isn’t just about trying on virtual clothing. Virtual Jewelry, glasses, watches, purses, and anything else that’s “wearable”.
• SIZING & FIT: The method of using body part detection & recognition to determine a wearable item’s size and fit is covered.
• SOCIAL SHOPPING: This element is actually covered in two ways.
1. Taking photos with the virtual, wearable item(s) and sharing them via social networks.
2. Multiple people trying on virtual, wearable items simultaneously, and having a shared shopping experience within a video-chat or conferencing environment.
• GESTURE, MOTION AND VOICE CONTROL: Using gestures, motion and voice control to interact with, manipulate and purchase virtual, wearable items directly within the virtual dressing room interface.

Why is this patent important? Augmented reality powered “virtual dressing rooms” will play a critical role in retail’s multi-channel future, and it should be noted that we’re not alone in our thinking. It’s a vision of the future now shared by companies like Forrester, eMarketer, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft & eBay (note: we’re not claiming that these organizations endorse our platform, just that each of them support the space in general. Please click on the links above to see how).

So what does this “virtual dressing room” of the future look like? Imagine several friends video chatting. Ashley’s in front of her connected TV; Kara’s curled up on her couch, tablet in her hands; and, Christina’s out walking her dog, clutching her smartphone. Nothing too groundbreaking there, but now imagine that instead of simply chatting, they’re actually shopping together too. They’re browsing; trying on dresses, necklaces, glasses and hats; giving each other feedback; and, recommending items to one another. You see, the virtual dressing room of the future makes internet-connected shopping a truly social experience from any device.

Example visual representation of the virtual dressing room of the future.

As we alluded to earlier, cameras are now native in virtually every internet-connected device that people buy. And as hardware (and software) improves, the camera will ultimately function as another input device, right alongside the mouse/keyboard and the touchscreen. The camera (and microphone) though will allow for the most natural interface out of the three, an interface controlled by gestures, motions and one’s voice. In fact, we’re already seeing these types of interfaces in Samsung’s Smart TVs and in Microsoft’s Kinect. And it’s this “natural user interface” (NUI) that will provide the framework for the “virtual dressing room” of the future.

“We’ve been working on our commerce platform for nearly four years. Our first patent protects our current vision for the Webcam Social Shopper and aspects of our future vision for the platform in multi-channel retail.” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO of Zugara. “Our goal has always been to fundamentally change the way people shop. And today we took a huge step towards achieving that goal. It’s incredibly reassuring to know that the innovations we have been making in the retail space are finally recognized through the granting of this patent.”

ABOUT ZUGARA
Zugara is changing the face of multi-channel retail. Since 2009, we’ve been developing the Webcam Social Shopper (WSS), a patented commerce platform and interface that provides retailers with a more social, visual and fun experience for their shoppers.

ABOUT THE WEBCAM SOCIAL SHOPPER (WSS)
The current iteration of WSS utilizes augmented reality to turn a shopper’s webcam into a real-time interactive mirror. So a young woman can actually hold a dress up in front of herself, just like she would at the rack in a store, and immediately validate if an item’s style/color is right for her. No downloads, no plug-ins, no paper markers… it just works. www.webcamsocialshopper.com

If you are interested in licensing our patent or technology, please contact info@zugara(dot)com.