Since we were founded in 2001, Zugara has always focused on emerging media and technology in the Interactive Marketing and Advertising industries. Throughout those years, we continually developed initiatives and innovations in some of our core areas of expertise – social media, web, interactive video and mobile. However, in 2008, it became apparent that the digital ecosystem was continuing to fragment and that it was getting increasingly difficult to try and be a “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”. We firmly believe that as these 4 core areas (mobile, web, video and social) continue to fragment at an ever increasing speed, it’s best to focus on one core area – and that area for us is Augmented Reality.
It was not easy getting here and I want to personally thank all past and present employees of Zugara for helping to make this happen. We still have a long way to go but without the help from just about everybody involved in Zugara’s world throughout the years, we would not have made it this far. It’s hard enough running a business in good times, but restructuring and ‘rebooting’ during a recession has been probably the most formidable task Zugara has taken on in it’s past 9 years.
But now we look towards the future – and that future is Augmented Reality. AR became the first technology I’ve ever seen resonate deeply with our entire group and for the last 2 years we’ve focused almost entirely on creating innovative software, executions and concepts in this field to help show others how we see AR as an integral part of everybody’s future.
With all that said, I hope you take a moment to check out our new site. The new site has a much clearer focus on what our new goal as a company is and what we now offer – Augmented Reality Software. Our flagship product continues to be The Webcam Social Shopper – Augmented Reality E-Commerce Software – that will continue to evolve the e-commerce experience for the consumer. We are also launching quite a few ZugMO Motion Capture based games and kiosk-based AR executions over the next few months, so please check the site (or our blog) to see how these areas in particular will continue to grow as people become more accustomed to the NUI (Natural User Interface and gestural interaction).
In final, I want to thank again everybody for their support of Zugara over the last few years and look forward to an exciting (and augmented) future!
But like every great NEXT BIG THING, there’s a reality check that needs to happen. Kotaku has a great annotated video outlining what’s real in Kinect vs. what was part of the infamous June 2009 concept video launch. It’s interesting to watch to see what’s real and what’s still in store for the future. You can view the video here. On a side note, if you’re interested to see how people are ‘hacking’ Kinect, there’s a great site to check out called Kinect Hacks.
*Augmented Reality Shopping is not available on Kinect, but is available on Zugara.com
People often tend to think of Augmented Reality as a visual sense, but other senses can be augmented as well. There was the Smell Enhanced Augmented Reality headset and now there’s a way to augment what you hear as well.
iFilm has a great article on a fascinating iPhone app called RjDJ that augments sound around you into interactive music. Christopher Nolan (director of Inception, Dark Knight, Memento) is also involved with this in regards to an augmented version of the Inception score. Check out the embedded video below to get a sense of how an augmented sense of hearing can make your daily commute much more enjoyable…
SPOILER ALERT!!!! (Bonus Video and text below refers to the movie Inception – DO NOT READ if you have not seen the movie yet…)
Bonus clip – If you’re a fan of Inception, you might have caught on to how music in that film is augmented in a way as the team goes deeper into each dream level. As time slowed down, so too did the music to ‘wake up’ people. Didn’t catch this upon first view and just adds another layer to a great film…
Simply amazing. People upload a picture from their webcam which is then inserted into the music video in real-time. Great use of interactivity and shows the skyrocketing adoption of webcams by younger generations. (via Gawker)
I contributed an OpEd on AdAge today on the upcoming battle defining virtual property rights in an Augmented World. This is one area to keep an eye on as we get closer to a world where certain legal and ownership rights for physical presences has yet to be defined. I included the OpEd in this blog entry so feel free to comment on AdAge here or below…
Picture this scenario coming soon to a future near you: You are out and about looking for something to eat. As you walk along a row of restaurants, you decide to put on your augmented reality glasses to see ratings, a video greeting from the restaurant owner and interactive displays of their daily specials. However, as you look closer at the restaurant, you notice a virtual advertisement and coupon from a competing restaurant just a few blocks away. Touching the advertisement, you’re then given animated directions to the establishment, the virtual coupon and video recommendations from the competing chef. Your decision on where to eat has just been made for you.
Sound like science fiction? Not really. As augmented reality and location-based services continue to evolve, companies will need to start thinking about their ownership rights in virtual space.
Right now, the technology exists to tag virtual information onto a physical location in a very basic form. You can use an augmented reality mobile application such as Tagwhat that knows your general location (based on GPS) and you can access consumer generated information (videos, images, etc.) specific to that area. But as the U.S. government launches its next-generation GPS system, we’re looking at future GPS accuracy that will be “less than a meter”. The only question remaining will be if the government will allow this type of precision for civilian use and subsequently, new location-based systems.
Nothing right now is preventing companies from delivering virtual advertisements on a physical competitors’ presence. Physical presence is defined by square footage and boundaries of your building and other rights that might be granted to you property-wise. But where do rights to your space begin and end in an augmented world?
Geofencing is one step in the right direction as it allows for a virtual boundary for your physical location. This would allow you to potentially defend competitors from digitally tagging your physical property based on current laws, but what about 50 feet above your property? We tend to think of physical boundaries on an X and Y plane but where does your space end on a Z plane? How will public virtual space be defined and monetized as well?
Pillsbury Law Firm has recently started a division that is specifically setup to help define law in virtual and augmented space. James Gatto, leader of Pillsbury’s Virtual Worlds & Video Game Team, has been working with clients to help protect them from the potential issues mentioned above. “In emerging fields like virtual worlds and augmented reality, it is important to understand the unique legal issues these new technologies can represent. Real world laws will need to be redefined to bring order out of the potential chaos an augmented or virtual world will usher in for unprepared companies.”
A recent exhibit at MoMA in New York allowed people to view augmented art works via a layer app on their smartphones. Though not seen by the naked eye, these virtual works of art could be seen in an Augmented View in the exhibition space. You might also recall a recent battle between Audi and BMW through the use of physical billboards across from each other.
Imagine how this advertising battle could escalate in an augmented world with virtual ads targeted to specific customers. It’s important for companies to start thinking about all of this now because an augmented world is closer to becoming a reality than many of us are prepared for.
Check out the first commercial coming out for Xbox 360 Kinect. This is the start of a revolution in interaction that you cannot stop and can only hope to contain!
As we all know, Augmented Reality adds objects/animations/information into your view to ‘augment’ it. But, what if you were to remove physical objects in your Augmented View? Well then, you would have Diminished Reality. The video below shows how this is already a reality in the lab…
Came across this video for an Augmented Reality game for the Android called Modroids. This is optimized for the Samsung Galaxy which is playing up its mobile AR capabilities on the Android-based tablet. Love the multiplayer aspect of the game and ability to play anywhere…
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.
