Augmented reality app Layar keeps crashing, gets yanked from the App Store

Soon after landing $1 million in funding, Layar, one of the pioneers in the emerging augmented reality space, has withdrawn its Layar v3 application from the Apple App Store because it keeps crashing on too many users.
The app, which superimposes data on top of mobile phone browsers — like housing prices on top of street views, or restaurant menus when you point your handset at a restaurant — has had the problem since its launch. The Dutch company attributes the issue to poor memory management and unknown buggy code that will require the app to be reengineered from the ground up — a process expected to take several weeks.
Layar went ahead with the third version launch even though previous iterations of the app proved problematic for 20 percent of users. And it says it hasn’t experienced any crashing with this version through extensive testing. Still, it has received too many complaints to keep it in the App Store. It is, however, still available on Android phones.
The setback could cause Layar to fall behind competitors like Tonchidot, AcrossAir, Junaio and Wikitude. With so many companies entering the augmented reality space quickly, hiccups like this could prove costly. It’s an area that could soon become saturated, pushing stragglers out of business.
That said, Layar’s problems don’t reflect too well on augmented reality either. It’s such a young concept, that if one of its frontrunners bites the dust, investors could get skittish and choose to invest elsewhere. Layar’s first $1 million, closed in October, was unattributed.

Source : digital.venturebeat.com

La réalité augmentée chez Sony Ericsson

Court billet aujourd’hui à propos de Sony Ericsson. Hier je vous parlais de l’application Ompass sur le Samsung Omnia II, aujourd’hui on va également sortir des sentiers iPhone et HTC entre autre en vous parlant du Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 et de Layar. En effet cette application est compatible avec un de leur dernier modèle qu’est le X10 tournant sur OS Android. Ylva Kronqvist, une développeuse chez Sony Ericsson nous fait une présentation ci dessous:




Source : la-realite-augmentee.fr

V2 Instituite for the Unstable Media AR Talk

Both Wikitude and Layar spoke at this Ecosystem event for augmented reality hosted by V2 Instituite for the Unstable Media and PortalToYourDreams.  First half of the video has standard AR talking points, but after halfway point, I like the idea of seeing a person’s “aura” comprised of their metadata.  Would people act differently if you could instantly know they’d never given a dime to charity or cheated on their SATs?  Instant-karma feedback loops.



Source : thomaskcarpenter.com

Augmented reality startup Tonchidot raises $4 million, will use virtual goods for revenue

Finally, a decent fundraising round size for an augmented reality startup.
Tonchidot, the Japanese startup behind the augmented reality browser Sekai Camera, raised $4 million from DCM and existing investor ITOCHU Technology Ventures. Augmented reality is a young field that lets you superimpose data and graphics over the real world in a camera viewfinder.
Two things are interesting about this round — Tonchidot becomes the second of several augmented reality startups to raise a venture-backed round this year. It’s a decent size for a first round and four times what Dutch competitor Layar raised this fall. Although a number of startups have launched products this year on the iPhone and Android-based phones, few venture capital firms had gotten their feet wet in the space. That seems to be changing now.
The second thing to note is that Tonchidot sounds like it will take a very different route to monetization than all of its competitors. It will use its augmented reality browser for more game play. Other competitors like Layar and Wikitude will take the advertising route, letting businesses pay for augmented reality tags or ads or sponsor layers in the browser that point to nearby places like fast-food locations or coffee shops.
Like many other mobile technologies, augmented reality will probably evolve very differently in Japan. Users can tag locations with data and comments in the browser that other people can pick up later if they use Sekai Camera in the same place. Ken Inoue, Tonchidot’s CFO, suggests that there might be special virtual goods that users can leave in different places for a fee.
“We think augmented reality provides a really interesting user interface, and a place to combine social interaction, marketing and content creation,” said  Osuke Honda, a principal at DCM. Specifically, Honda says Tonchidot’s technology could be used to stage game play in the real world. For example, you could have robots battle each other through your phone on a real physical location like a playing field. Or it could be used in  cosplay, a type of performance art popular in China and Japan where people wear elaborate costumes.



Source : venturebeat.com

Layar 3.0 reunites the Beatles in 3D augmented reality

Layar's approach to bringing augmented reality to the masses is unique. Instead of writing isolated AR apps, Layar provides a very real augmented reality platform onto which content owners can layer (or layar) their data resulting in a richer experience when viewing the world through your Android or iPhone 3GS camera lens. There are already 294 layers and counting ranging from Google's ubiquitous local search results to homegrown content listing apartments for rent or tourist hot spots. Today sees the launch of Layar 3.0 with new 3D capabilities, authentication, and plenty more to entice anyone "with basic web development skills" to join the fun. To show the platform's new capabilities Layar presents a handful of use cases that include the ability to add authenticated social media layars (like Twitter and Foursquare), see incomplete construction sites in their final form, interactive public-space art projects, and a guided Beatles discovery tour that takes you to destinations made famous by the fab foursome -- you can even pose with the band for pictures as they cross Abbey Road. Sure, the jury's still out on the usefulness of 3D content presented in this manner and the ability to geolocate Twitter users and Hollywood stars in this manner continues to creep us out. But man is this stuff interesting.

Layar 3.0 3D samples

Source : engadget.com