With the surge in online Augmented Reality, we often get asked, “How many people actually have webcams?” Given webcams are becoming a standard accessory to new laptops (and desktops) we’ve spent some time compiling numbers that we’d like to share:
79% of laptops now have webcams. (source: PC world)
72% of 18-20 year olds own a laptop. (source: Pew Internet & American Life Project)
83% of college students own a laptop. (source: Student Monitor)
More than 50% of Gen Y owns a webcam. (source: Cisco)
As of March 2011, more than 40% of Skype minutes involve video to video calls (source: Skype)
Furthermore, on recent web-based Augmented Reality projects we’ve launched both on our own (Cannonballz) and for clients, we’ve seen on average approximately 78% of users with webcams enabled.
With the continued growth of video chat and Augmented Reality, it’s an inevitability that webcam’s will be a standard of any PC experience in the near future. Though most web-based Augmented Reality is a solo experience, with the growing popularity of video chat, we can expect to see Augmented Reality evolve to a one-to-one and even one-to-many proposition. The following press announcements from Google, Facebook and Skype help to show how video chat is integrating itself into the social experience:
Social Media is all the rage now, but interactive video chats will help evolve conversations and collaboration to an even more real-time experience. If you haven’t seen our ZugSTAR prototype, take a minute to check it out below to see how the interactive video chat experience can work from anything to Virtual Dressing Rooms to Telemedicine.
Augmented Reality has become a term now that’s an umbrella of sorts, covering everything from gestural interaction to projection mapping. AR has now gone beyond it’s literal definition of “animations in a live video feed”. When the animations occur outside of a video feed (or mobile device), is it not still augmenting one’s view of reality? Most projection mapping occurs under optimal circumstances (i.e. very dark areas so the projection can be seen) and is, at it’s core, an engagement mechanism (i.e. advertising). However, it does appears that the technology is evolving for more beneficial uses for the consumer such as mapping features of a car in a showroom so a prospective buyer can see the technical and mechanical benefits – inside and out.
Wherever you fall on this thought, you can’t deny that 3D Projection Mapping is continuing to evolve with some very engaging examples. The best two I’ve seen to date are for Lexus and Toyota…embedded below.
Zugara is proud to announce the launch of “Plug & Play”, the newest version of our Augmented Reality Ecommerce Software, “The Webcam Social Shopper” (WSS). WSS Plug & Play is a product that integrates right into retailer’s ecommerce product pages (seamlessly, just like a “zooming” feature does) and provides shoppers with a more engaging, personal and emotionally satisfying way to determine whether an apparel item’s style and color are truly right for them.
Today’s launch of WSS Plug & Play ushers in several key advances to our existing product, including:
ONE DAY CONFIGURATION – Configuration can be done in as little as a few hours and without any backend integration.
MARKERLESS TECHNOLOGY – The first truly markerless product of its kind, the apparel item actually tracks to the shopper (a video demonstrating our award winning markerless technology is embedded below).
A NEW SHOPPER EXPERIENCE – Four screenshots detailing the experience are included below.
As “augmented reality” continues to be the hot new buzzword, we’ve seen several companies attempt to compete with our patent pending ecommerce product. The fact is we have several key differentiators that retailers and potential partners should be aware of when doing their due diligence:
Differentiators For Shoppers:
It just works with a regular computer and webcam. No need for fancy 3-D cameras or souped up systems that shoppers don’t have.
No annoying downloads.
No paper markers to print and hassle with.
Simply put, for shoppers, WSS Plug & Play is a barrier-free experience.
Differentiators For Retailers:
As noted above, configuration can now be done in under one day, and without any backend integration.
Because we eliminated all shopper barriers, retailers who integrate WSS can reach a higher percentage of their shoppers.
Technology moves fast, and our constant development cycles ensure retailers will always have access to the most thoroughly tested, and innovative solution on the market.
For more information, please feel free to contact us at info (at) Zugara (dot) com.
Fascinating video from Kinect Hacks showing what Microsoft’s been working on with Natural User Interfaces (NUI). How soon this will be a reality is unknown, but it’s definitely making the future look that much cooler…
Hey folks, today is a gigantic day for us at Zugara, and we just wanted to share the news with you. We’re currently privileged to be presenting the latest advancement to our Augmented Reality E-Commerce Software, “The Webcam Social Shopper”, at the DEMO conference in Palm Springs. The latest advancement? The technology is now markerless. Truly markerless. We’ve developed a way to get rid of the paper marker and allow an apparel item to track to the shopper’s body. So as the shopper moves around within the webcam’s video feed the apparel item automatically moves with them, creating a “hands free” experience that’s more natural than anything else on the market.
This is a huge advancement in online apparel visualization and validation. As always, our product is built in Flash, so for over 99% of the population there’s no download required. By creating a markerless experience we’ve eliminated the last major consumer barrier: the need to print and hold a marker. So now, a shopper surfing on a retailer’s site (that has integrated our product) only needs to stand in front of their webcam to visualize and validate whether or not that piece of apparel’s style and color are truly right for them.
“This is really not about buzzwords like Augmented Reality, or Social Media,” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO and Co-Founder of Zugara. “This is about using technology to create a better online shopping experience for people, and an easy to integrate solution for our clients and partners. Plain and simple. And there’s real ROI here. Results from a recent survey by Limelight Networks show us that for people who shop online more than once a month, 76% of them say advanced product viewing features make them more likely to purchase, and more brand loyal. With there being more Millennials than Baby Boomers, we think it’s time to create meaningful and engaging online shopping experiences for this digital generation.”
We hope to have a live demo of the technology on our corporate site soon. And when the video of our presentation at DEMO becomes available tomorrow, we’ll certainly post it, as we’d love your feedback. Until then though, we’ll be tweeting from the event (hashtag: #democon) so feel free to give @KobraKai (Matt Szymczyk) and @Jack_Benoff a follow.
From Kinect Hacks is another hack showing how old school NES game Mike Tyson’s Punchout can work with Kinect. Now imagine what this will do for previous game titles. Hopefully somebody doesn’t get Kinect working with MAME or I’ll never be seen or heard from again…
If you’ve been in the tech industry for a while, then I’m sure you know the rich history of DEMO, “the launchpad for emerging technology”. Well, the whole Zugara team is proud to have been chosen to present, and launch, our newest e-commerce technology at this year’s Spring conference. It’s a huge opportunity for us, and we’d love to see you there: The JW Marriott, Palm Desert, CA (2/27 – 3/1).
Here’s a bit of information on DEMO for those of you who might be unfamiliar: The DEMO experience has helped introduce new products and services that have become well-known brands in both the business and consumer markets including:
• Adobe Acrobat
• Sun’s Java
• Netscape Navigator
• Palm Computing
• WebEx
• TiVo
• E-Trade
• Google’s first venture into mobile search
• GarageBand.com
• Leapfrog
• Shopping.com
• Skype’s first implementation for mobile handsets
• salesforce.com
• Shazam Entertainment
• And many more…
Here’s some videos of some lighthearted moments where people are getting familiar with the new Natural User Interface (NUI) on Kinect…Nobody said adoption of a radical new gestural interface would be easy
Though we usually blog about Augmented Reality, once in awhile an ad comes along that justifies (or keeps alive) the 60 second spot…at least on YouTube. 3 Million Views (and counting) in 1 day…
I recently created an op-ed for Adage called CES 2011: Welcome To The Year of Tablets and Digital Living Rooms which you can view here. This is a preview of what to expect at CES and how marketers might be able to leverage certain technologies unveiled at the annual electronics show. You can also read on below…
CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2011 is almost upon us and like all gadget-obsessed technorati, half the excitement of an upcoming CES is trying to guess what new innovations will be unveiled to the public. CES 2010 appeared to be the year of 3-D televisions (fueled by the success of “Avatar” and other popular 3-D films) but adoption by consumers has been lukewarm at best. As Financial Times reports, price and need for 3-D glasses has made many consumers hesitant to purchase last year’s next big thing.
So with CES 2011 just weeks away, what can marketers start preparing for? My guess: tablets and connected TV sets.
Tablets
The iPad has been a runaway hit for Apple and helped create a new electronics segment sitting squarely in between laptops and netbooks. With Samsung also jumping into the tablet market with the Galaxy Tab, anticipation is high for other Windows 7-, Android- and Linux-based tablets from the likes of Dell, HP and others. So though we can expect tablets to soon be their own category, what does this mean for marketers? For one, it will continue to provide a fragmented market when it comes to campaign development. Apple refuses to support Flash, while Google (with their Android operation system) has been a huge supporter — even going so far as to integrate Flash into the Chrome browser. Then you also have the app vs. mobile web issue to take into account, which leads to greater fragmentation and cost to a marketer.
In addition, though the tablet market is technically more akin to the smartphone than the laptop, there will be mobile marketing-based opportunities for marketers targeting the “always on the grid” mobile consumer. Augmented Reality is one area that can benefit from the larger display screen and processing power of a tablet. LBS will also likely mature to provide more beneficial services for consumers outside of becoming a mayor of a restaurant.
And finally, Skype has already stole some pre-CES thunder by releasing its mobile video chat application for the iOS — iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the iPad. Though Apple made an initial splash with its FaceTime mobile video chat app, it’s hard to see Apple, or anybody for that matter, denting the Skype armor considering the market share Skype has already amassed. And this market share is interoperable and across mobile, web and even the digital living room via connected TV sets. Skype, like it or not, will become synonymous with video chat just as Google was synonymous with search.
Connected TVs
The battle for the digital living room has been ongoing for a while and it’s now finally made it to the mainstream. This year it appears that connected sets and peripherals (i.e. set-top boxes) will be the big bet this year from OEM’s. With more than 200 apps in their store and 1 million app downloads, Samsung has both taken a leadership position in this space and helped validate the market. Though Google has also thrown its hat into the ring with its own Logitech-based set top box and Sony-based TV, they also have had a few problems to date. ReelSEO has a good rundown here. With Apple also selling 1 million units of their Apple TV in 2010 alone, it does appear that the consumer is finally ready for internet connectivity in the living room.
What again does this mean for the marketer? For starters, there is a shift happening from the desktop PC to the connected TV for consumers. The connected-TV environment will not only increase the expectation for interactivity with content but usher out the “passive” viewing experience. If you ever watch ESPN “SportsCenter” and notice the interactivity both on the left and bottom of the screen, this will likely be the future of how we view content in this connected format. Apps will allow for even more interactivity and contextual integration fundamentally changing how marketers will need to interact with viewers.
Though there are likely to be other cool gadgets on display, there’s one other technology that I hope will make an appearance — Kinect. Microsoft’s motion gaming device has been a blockbuster so far with 5 million units sold over the last few months. Though this has created an evolution in gaming, it’s providing a revolution in how people interact with digital information via the Natural User Interface (NUI). Just as consumers were getting used to touchscreen displays, we now have another shift to motion-based interaction and gestural control. If you have the time, it’s worth checking out the Kinect Hacks site to see how “hackers” are using the Kinect technology to create mind-blowing examples of everything from Predator type “cloaking” to the Minority Report navigation system.
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
