Augmented Reality
- Image via Wikipedia
The other day I sat down with my seven year old daughter to show her a new iPhone app that I had installed. Not that this was a first – even my three year old has been quite competent with the iPhone since she was just turned two – a testament to Apple’s interface design! What made this occasion different was my insistence that she remembered where she was on this day – the first time she played with a true augmented reality application.
Such applications are really only possible since the advent of the iPhone 3GS which has a compass, GPS and accelerometers which give it a fairly accurate idea of its location in three dimensions.
For some time web applications such as Google Maps have been overlaying data onto the maps and we have become quite used to finding information about surrounding businesses in such a way. The iPhone 3GS allows developers to go one step further – taking away the 2D view of the map and replacing it with a real-time view of the world using the camera and screen as a viewport. The application I was playing with is called NearestWiki. You start the application and move the 3GS to look at the world around you – information badges appear in space which draw information from Wikipedia. I was surprised how many entries there were near my house – I should imagine that when visiting a city it would be fascinating!
Probably the most exciting of such applications at the moment is called the Bionic Eye – which sadly does not have Australian data at the moment. This shows shopping and public transport venues nearby. When one is selected simply point the iPhone camera towards the pavement and arrows appear giving directions.
I believe that fairly quickly such technology will find its way into, perhaps, an attachment for glasses and will become ubiquitous. Whilst the benefits of such data overlays are of interest in daily life – in medicine they are truly astounding!
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- Bionic Eye app creates augmented reality on your iPhone 3GS (mobilecrunch.com)
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- BIONIC EYE: Augmented Reality on the iPhone (mashable.com)
- Image by notoriousxl via Flickr
While I would usually consider myself leading edge when it comes to web and technology uptake, I have been very slow with social media technologies. Take Facebook for example – it wasn’t until my wife showed me how she was reconnecting with many old school friends that I saw any benefit to it (and I still only use it to share images and as an address book).
Twitter can best be described as a cross between an IM client such as MSN Messenger, an RSS feed and SMS. Messages must be less than 140 characters and can include a link. The essential point is to answer the simple question ‘What are you doing?’ You can follow individuals’ messages or search on topics. At the time of writing, swine flu is getting a lot of play.
Twitter has been growing rapidly for a couple of years now, but I was always ‘put off’ by vacuous drivel – really, I have little interest in what Ashton Kutcher had for breakfast. Lately however, more news agencies and websites have been using it as a tool to disperse news in real time such as @cnn and @abcnews, along with some of my favourite tech mavens such as Leo Laporte (@LeoLaporte) and John C Dvorak (@therealdvorak) share their latest tips.
In essence, when used correctly, Twitter has much to offer in terms of keeping up with the latest news as it breaks. If you would like to keep up with the latest tips and tricks from Dr Gadget follow @drgadgetonline
Digg.com
- Image via CrunchBase
For some time now there has been an explosion in social media – MySpace and Facebook are well established and are in fact bigger than many countries in terms of membership.
Another growing trend is the concept of social news gathering. We all come across interesting websites from time to time and send the link around to our friends. Social news gathering is the same idea, and one of the first of such sites is www.digg.com.
The idea behind Digg is that users submit links with a summary to digg.com and other users vote or ‘digg’ the story to the front page.
In reality it is more complicated – algorithms are used to speed up the process, but you end up with a fascinating news/trivia service well worth a look.
Recently Digg launched a new service called the Digg Bar. Simply put digg.com/ before any web address and you will see a toolbar at the top of your browser window that creates a shortened URL, allowing you to submit stories to Digg as well as share the page via email, Facebook and Twitter.
Sugarsync
- Image by willspot via Flickr
SugarSync is a cloud based service that can solve multiple issues. Primarily it offers easy offsite backups of your critical files and can work with multiple computers across Mac and PC environments.
Additionally the service can be used to keep files synced between a Windows PC at work and a Mac at home. Your files can also be accessed from an iPhone, Windows Mobile or via a web interface.
Files and folders can be shared easily from any platform, so if you are on the move and need to send a file, it’s easy to do from your iPhone. The service is easy to use and inexpensive with a 45 day trial available. Plans start from US$24.99 per year for 10Gb of space. I have been using this service now for over a year and can personally highly recommend it.
For more information visit www.sugarsync.com.
Skype
- Image via CrunchBase
Most people by now have heard of Skype which has become the defacto standard for internet telephony. However, many users only use Skype computer-to-computer and miss many of the great benefits Skype offers when using one of their excellent subscription plans.
As a computer only client, Skype is an excellent choice for text, voice and video messaging. Many accessories are now available that free Skype from the computer such as the Netgear WiFi telephone or several models of Philips USB phones.
As far as subscriptions go, there are two main packages: Unlimited Country at about AU$8 per month gives unlimited calls to landlines in Australia, and Unlimited World at about AU$18 per month offers unlimited calls to landlines across 36 countries – plus many other benefits such has voicemail, Skype-In (take incoming calls) and Skype-To-Go (a local number you can call from any telephone to make a call using your Skype account). If you make a lot of international calls this is great value, easy to use and worth a look. Make sure you check the country you want to call is included in the plan.
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QR Codes
- Image via Wikipedia
After a couple of months of being completely carried away with the iPhone, it’s time to move onto something else – even if it is still mobile phone related!
Quick Response (QR) codes are 2D barcodes that can contain a range of information from a web address to a text block to an address book card. They are ‘read’ using software built into mobile phones with cameras and have been a resounding success overseas, particularly in Japan.
With the advent of devices such as the iPhone which make mobile web browsing more accessible, these codes offer great potential to the medical community. For example, medicines in the future may carry codes on the packaging that link directly to a PDF of the product information. Medical textbooks could have codes embedded in the page which link to added value content online such as ‘bonus’ material or video. Business cards can be easily scanned, saving having to enter the individuals information.
For more information visit www.qrious.com.au.
MobileMe
- Image via Wikipedia
MobileMe is the new service from Apple to replace their .Mac online service for Macintosh users. Launched with the new iPhone to much fanfare, it may well represent Apple’s most painful product introduction. It seems Apple underestimated the demand on the service when the new iPhone was launched, and existing .Mac users were switched across. For some users this caused a 2 week period of intermittent outages. Personally, I found that things were working within about 48 hours, and given the scale of the transition, I felt this was acceptable. Apple has given all users an extra month free as compensation.
So what is MobileMe? It was initially promoted as ‘exchange for the rest of us’ offering Push – or instantly delivered – email to your iPhone. It also transparently synchronises contacts and calendar entries between multiple computers and iPhones on an account (Mac or PC Outlook). Make a change on one and it is rapidly reflected across to the others. At this stage, the desktop sync is every 15 minutes, so Apple has temporarily withdrawn the term Push.
Additionally, you get a beautiful suite of web applications mirroring the Mac desktop mail, contacts and calendar experience. These are so well executed it is hard to remember they are running in a browser. You also have access to a 20Gb online hard disk to allow offsite backup and file access, plus beautiful web galleries to store your photos and videos.
Is it worth it? Yes, if you have a Mac, although it is expensive. It integrates so well into the system and iLife applications that it is worth the $119 a year. On a PC, I’m not so sure. There are other less expensive options available. If there are a few of you, it may be worth considering a family pack for $180. This gives one master account and four sub accounts with 5Gb of storage.
More information on MobileMe can be found at www.me.com.
