Just when you thought you were safe from instant augmentation, along comes
ProFORMA: Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition
(http://mi.eng.cam.ac.uk/~qp202/my_papers/BMVC09/)
Via (http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/cambridges-proforma-does-3d-scanning-with-any-stationary-webcam/)
Video says it all!
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The Virtual World SIG meeting just wrapped up in Palo Alto, CA. There was some great input from leaders in the VW space who contributed insights and comments. We’ll be posting these as they get vetted and transposed from the workshop. In the meantime, did you know you can also contribute your own input to this project?
Add your own input to these four scenarios at http://virtualworldsig.com/vw2020/
Got scenarios of your own? You can enter them at http://virtualworldsig.com/future-of-virtual-worlds/
Many thanks to presenters at this event: Laura Kusumoto and Chris Badger (Forterra Systems), Michael Gialis (SUN), Etan Ayalon (GlobalTech Research), Keith Klemba (SAP) who led the breakout groups on the scenarios. More updates later as we enter the input. Also, many thanks to all the participants who were at this unique event for their input. This will be updated soon!
[-Bob Ketner]
“Virtual Worlds in 2020 Workshop”
Join us Oct. 13, 2009 for our 3rd annual “Future of Virtual Worlds” session - “Virtual Worlds in 2020 Workshop”.
This year we host an interactive workshop where you can bring ideas, input, and questions for a rare, long term view of virtual worlds available exclusively at the Virtual Worlds SIG.
In just a few weeks we enter a new decade equipped with abilities that existed only in science fiction a few years ago. Although plans for using using graphical, collaborative virtual worlds predate the internet itself by many years, many advances in productivity remain unclaimed. It’s time now to take a look ahead. This workshop will produce a set of inputs showing what might be possible – along with a list of challenges to be overcome along the way over the next decade.
Some questions to consider:
- What must virtual worlds eventually do that they do not do now?
- What known changes will have the most impact on virtual worlds between now and 2020?
- What hurdles must be overcome to enable more collaborative virtual worlds?
- What goals should virtual world developers be most focused on in coming years?
Kicking off this workshop will have a rare introductory demo of Meeting Labs (http://www.meetinglabs.com), a new offering from Forterra Systems by Laura Kusumoto, VP Forterra Studios and Chris Badger, VP, Marketing.
We will then break into discussion groups to outline some of the most crucial factors for virtual worlds between now and 2020, within a format of distinct scenarios. Leading discussion and breakout groups we will be joined by other leaders in the virtual world space such as Michael Gialis of Project Wonderland at Sun Microsystems, Inc. and others to be confirmed.
Have questions of your own? Bring them on! Have ideas about solving challenges facing virtual worlds? Meet others interested in the same. An online form is available for your advance input at (http://tinyurl.com/futureofVW) and results will be posted from the workshop.
Don’t miss this highly interactive session where you can directly impact the vision of the next generations of virtual worlds!
Bios:
Laura Kusumoto Vice President, Forterra Studios
Laura Kusumoto has over 20 years of experience in engineering, operations, creative design, 3D graphics, and AI. Before coming to Forterra Systems, Laura was President of IDO Systems, Inc., a startup that developed an MMP platform with virtual chat, dance, and robot-fighting applications. Before that, she headed operations for the digital media R&D group for LEGO, which included the commercial production Mindstorms. Laura was the producer in charge of the first Intuit (makers of Quicken) website, editor-in-Chief of the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Technology Forecast, and instrumental in the creation of a jet-fighter VR location-based entertainment system. Before moving into multimedia, Laura was an engineering consultant and analyst for organizations such as Hewlett-Packard and Xerox; and a project manager and software engineer in artificial intelligence, nuclear safeguards, and oceanographic applications. Laura received a MS in computer science at Santa
Clara University.
Chris Badger Vice President, Marketing, Forterra Systems Inc.
Chris Badger is a visionary executive leader for high growth business software application companies with a keen ability to launch and grow large revenue streams. He provides strong cross-functional management background bringing new products to market ahead of competition by collaborating closely with strategic customers and partners. Chris also has broad expertise managing high growth marketing, alliance and sales teams focused on maximizing market share, revenue, and profits. His extensive experience closing multimillion-dollar deals in domestic and international markets has yielded global revenue streams up to $210M per year.
Chris co-founded and was CEO of InsideScoop, an On-Demand business intelligence platform which launched two products before being successfully sold to Harte-Hanks (HHS), a worldwide, direct and targeted marketing company. At his prior company, gForce, he created and managed the North American sales organization as well as managed the strategic alliances for Cisco and Siebel before the company was sold to SumTotal Systems (SUMT), the global eLearning market leader. Chris held a variety of product management, alliance and sales management positions at Clarify, an early CRM market leader before the company was sold to Nortel, and with Quantum Corp. He has received an MS in Engineering Management from Stanford University and a BA Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth.
SDForum Virtual World SIG (http://www.sdforum.org/vwsig) brings together the developers, programmers, and visionaries required to build virtual world platforms and their interconnected applications. Meets fourth Monday of every other month, 6:30PM at Pillsbury Winthrop Office, 2475 Hanover Street, Palo Alto.
Logistics:
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM October 13, 2009
Pillsbury Winthrop
2475 Hanover St.
Palo Alto, CA
Price:
$15 at the door for non-SDForum members
No charge for SDForum members
No registration required
Agenda:
6:30 PM Registration and Networking
7:00 PM -8:40 PM Presentations
Blog coverage: http://www.3dtlc.net/2009/10/forterra-to-present-meeting-labs-at-vw-workshop.html
[See you there! -Bob Ketner]
Those of us who use virtual worlds in our daily life know that one of the many obstacles to acceptance of new tools and methods is simply the unfamiliar terminology. We constantly have to update our vocabulary as perception and popular terms change. As with any industry, arcane insider language is fine when talking to industry peers but comes off as erudite and provincial when unloaded on those who may be encountering it for the first time.
Erica Driver and Sam Driver of ThinkBalm (http://www.thinkbalm.com) have a handy guide to improving this situation at:
http://www.thinkbalm.com/2009/09/28/to-cross-the-chasm-we-must-close-the-language-gap/
Here are some samples:
Terms to avoid:
Virtual world
Holodeck
Holoscene
Metaverse
Suggested alternatives:
Collaboration space
Studio
Practice room
Interview room
Meeting room
Conference center
Control room
Operations center
Bridge
I’m really glad to see this point being made. Their complete list is at:
http://www.thinkbalm.com/2009/09/28/to-cross-the-chasm-we-must-close-the-language-gap/
Thanks ThinkBalm!
[-Bob Ketner]
[-Bob Ketner]
Virtual World expert (http://www.digitalspace.com/) historian (http://www.vwtimeline.com/) and presenter at our Virtual World SIG (http://virtualworldsig.com/bruce-damer-mar-26-2007/) Bruce Damer was featured 9/29 in a New York Times article by Dan Markoff.
Article here: (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/science/29grid.html)
Article is about Bruce’s project and PhD subject, his EvoGrid (http://www.evogrid.org/index.php/Main_Page)
[-Bob Ketner]
We will be hosting an event on Oct. 13 “Virtual Worlds in 2020″ in Palo Alto.
Here’s an input form where you can send input to this interactive workshop:
(http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cjh3ZGJIZjU4WnVKQVZGVEJWUlpLcHc6MA..)
In particular it would be great to involve forward looking folks (futurists? or not)who might want to lead a table of VWSIG attendees (4-6 persons) in input on a question facing virtual worlds in the coming decade. Hey, jump in and do this, it’s fun.
Do you care? Do you want to be part of it? Let me know bob[at]studiosfo.net if you do and I’ll add you to the description.
This will be held at:
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM October 13, 2009
Pillsbury Winthrop
2475 Hanover St.
Palo Alto, CA
* Leaders in virtual worlds also welcome to arrange parallel virtual sessions!
Full description of the 10/13 event:
The SDForum Virtual World SIG will be hosting our 3rd annual “Future of Virtual Worlds” session on Tue. 10/13/09 - “Virtual Worlds in 2020 Workshop”. I’d like to ask for your input, and for any of you futurists who would like to lead a breakout session on this SIG meeting to contact me.
In particular it would be great to involve forward looking folks (futurists? or not)who might want to lead a table of VWSIG attendees (4-6 persons) in input on a question facing virtual worlds in the coming decade. Hey, jump in and do this, it’s fun.
We have an input form at (http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cjh3ZGJIZjU4WnVKQVZGVEJWUlpLcHc6MA..)
Do you care? Do you want to be part of it? Let me know bob[at]studiosfo.net if you do and I’ll add you to the description.
This will be held at:
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM October 13, 2009
Pillsbury Winthrop
2475 Hanover St.
Palo Alto,, CA
* Leaders in virtual worlds also welcome to arrange parallel virtual sessions!
Details below:
This year we host an interactive workshop where you can bring ideas, input and questions for a very rare, long term view of virtual worlds.
In just a few weeks we enter a new decade equipped with abilities that existed only in science fiction a few years ago. Although plans for using using graphical, collaborative virtual worlds predate the internet itself by many years, many advances in productivity remain unclaimed. It’s time now to take a look ahead. This workshop will produce a set of inputs showing what might be possible – along with a list of challenges to be overcome along the way over the next decade.
Some questions to consider:
- What must virtual worlds eventually do that they do not do now?
- What known changes will have the most impact on virtual worlds between now and 2020?
- What hurdles must be overcome to enable more collaborative virtual worlds?
- What goals should virtual world developers be most focused on in coming years?
Joining this workshop will be guest leaders in the virtual world space (tba.) with on-site demos of their newest products.
We will then break into discussion groups to outline some of the most crucial factors for virtual worlds between now and 2020.
Have questions of your own? Bring them on! Have ideas about solving challenges facing virtual worlds? Meet others interested in the same.
An input form is available for input at (http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cjh3ZGJIZjU4WnVKQVZGVEJWUlpLcHc6MA..) and results will be posted from the workshop.
Don’t miss this highly interactive session where you can directly impact the vision of the next generations of virtual worlds!
[-Bob Ketner]
Just got word that early ISMAR Registration has been extended to September 25, 2009
Here are the top 3 … no make that top 8 reasons you should not miss it!
1. Hands-on demonstrations of the latest augmented reality (AR) research from around the world.
2. Innovation Workshops on adoption of AR within diverse industries such as education, entertainment, medical, military, design and manufacturing application domains.
3. Three days of Tutorials to provide the most comprehensive instructional program on Mixed and Augmented Reality taught by the pioneering researchers themselves.
Five more reasons:
4. Early ISMAR Registration has been extended to September 25, 2009 (Register: www.regonline.com/ismar09)
5. Top tiered universities presenting the latest Science & Technology research on mixed and augmented reality.
6. Expanded program to focus on exciting new Art, Media and Humanities research.
7. Special emphasis will be made to the rapidly growing mobile mixed and augmented realities domain.
8. Free Parking, Downtown Shuttle and Free Internet Access included in the special room rate at the conference hotel.
See the whole agenda at http://www.ismar-society.org/ismar2009.
Registration is now open (www.regonline.com/ismar09).
If you are a member of IEEE the discount code is : IEEE2009
The conference hotel is located at the Orlando Downtown Marriott and reservations can be at http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mcodt?groupCode=mrsmrsa&app=resvlink&fromDate=10/18/09&toDate=10/23/09
Free Parking, Downtown Shuttle and Free Internet Access included in the room rate.
The International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) is the premiere conference for the advancement of the art and science of Mixed and Augmented Reality. ISMAR will be held from October 19th to 22nd, 2009 in Orlando Florida, USA.
Special coverage by:
Be there or be un-augmented!
[ - Bob Ketner ]
Hello!
Our friends over at the Virtual Worlds Roadmap (http://virtualworldsroadmap.blogspot.com/) would like to ask for your input in their new Virtual World Roadmap Survey
The Virtual World Roadmap is a non-profit group and is conducting the survey in order to:
1) forecast how Virtual Worlds will be used in businesses and other organizations in the near future
2) identify user requirements that will foster broader adoption
3) inform technology and service providers interested in this space
4) identify areas where cooperation may be required to achieve the intended results
The survey will be open until midnight Pacific Daylight Time, Sep. 11th, and its initial results will be made available by mid-September 2009. The survey states that any information submitted, including your e-mail address, will not be used for any other purpose.
Note: The SDForum Virtual World SIG (this site) is not connected to this group and is not administering the survey or able to access the results.
Take the Survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Z8DOutL8NOOAcV2Fnbjvvg_3d_3d
In addition, the Virtual World Roadmap organizers will conduct a half-day workshop at the Engage Expo conference ( http://www.engageexpo.com/sj2009/ ).
The group is connected to the Sun Immersion Special Interest Group at: http://sun-isig.ning.com (requires approved membership)
[-Bob Ketner]
SDForum’s Emerging Tech SIG (http://www.sdforum.org/etsig) will be doing an event on augmented reality topic on Sept. 9 at 630PM (Presentation starts at 7PM).
Our very own Virtual World SIG Co-Chair Maribeth Back will be co-presenting!
Join us in Palo Alto (and I’m going to try to get this on Ustream (http://virtualworldsig.com/live/) too) next week!
Title:
“Augmenting Both Reality and Revenue: Connecting Mobile, Sensors, Location and Layers”
Abstract:
Augmented reality (AR), nurtured in academia for years, has finally become commercially viable, enabled by the power / bandwidth curve of mobile computing platforms. Meanwhile, input and display hardware has reached sufficient maturity to enable devices reasonable to use and carry.
Our lead-off speaker Clark Dodsworth, whose work on personalized, networked, mobile, location-aware systems began in 1990, predicts the result will alter the social, business, and personal fabric of our daily lives, and generate revenue streams for new and existing products, as well as whole industries that are not yet obvious.
Augmented reality, which could be said to have started with heads-up displays for aircraft pilots, has been illustrated in first-person shooter games and movies like Predator and Iron Man. But humans have been devising such augmentation for a very long time. Like the tell-tales on a sailboat that make visible the direction of the wind, the innovations of augmented reality will meld seamlessly into the devices we use every day. The first widespread users of AR won’t be wearing headgear, they’ll be using smartphones.
On September 9th augmented reality designer Clark Dodsworth, who recently worked on a mobile-ubiquitous-augmented reality project for theme parks in Dubai, will deliver a survey of the state of the art and lead a tour through the current work, vendors, and future directions in augmented reality, plus its overlap with ubiquitous computing, location-based services, machine vision, situational analysis, personalization, context awareness, privacy, and entertainment.
Clark will then introduce researcher Maribeth Back of FX-Palo-Alto Lab, who will present her current work on realtime sensor-driven integration of information into simulation environments and mobile systems, which reflects traditional, complex-system augmented reality, then talk about its future path and the future of smartphone AR.
The FX Palo Alto Laboratory is investigating virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality systems for collaboration, particularly in industrial settings. In collaboration with TCHO (http://www.tcho.com/), a chocolate maker start-up in San Francisco, they are building virtual mirror world representations of a real-world chocolate factory and its processes, and importing real-time sensor data into the resulting virtual factory, a 3D environment designed for simulation, visualization, and collaborative tasks such as factory observation, virtual inspections, customer visits, employee education and training, process monitoring, and inventory tracking. FXPAL sees this mashup of real and virtual factories as a way to enhance collaboration and communication between physical-plant operators and engineers and remote managers; for example, factories in China with managers in Japan.
Presenters
————–
Clark Dodsworth
http://www.dodsworth.com
Clark Dodsworth, who develops digital strategies for companies facing the 24/7 global broadband culture, recently worked on a large-scale, ubiquitous mobile personalization system for Dubai theme parks. Clark’s consulting work spans product strategy, development and management for corporations and startups in high tech as well as museums, conferences and location-based entertainment. His scope in software and interfaces includes desktop, online and mobile/locational applications for devices ranging from handheld to theme park systems. Among Clark’s clients are Apple, Evans & Sutherland, Philips, SimEx-Iwerks, the city of Vienna, and startups.
Clark has worked on simulators for out-of-home entertainment and done IP assessment for consumer electronic applications. His book, Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology was chartered by ACM Press and published by Addison-Wesley. In 2005 Clark was program co-chair of the User eXperience conference in San Francisco.
Clark mounted his first networked, location-aware system project in 1990. In 1998, Clark co-authored the original Ambient Intelligence strategy for Philips in response to ubiquitous computing trends and the impending centrality of smartphones and location-based services in modern life. His work for Philips also included the Live Wall, a very-large-scale rear projection videophone. All his work is founded on human-centered design principles and has a visual or interface component. The product is the experience.
Clark is currently volunteering for the ISMAR 2009 International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality and is on the editorial board of the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) Press at Carnegie Mellon and the advisory board of Simiosys.com. He has been a papers reviewer for IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications and the International Conference on Audio Display, and has guest-edited the quarterly, Computer Graphics, and the SIGGRAPH Video Review.
Maribeth Back, FX-Palo-Alto Lab
Maribeth Back is a senior research scientist at the FX Palo Alto Laboratory (a subsidiary of Fuji Xerox). Her current research focuses on the intersection of virtual environments and real-world systems for collaboration, with a bit of ubiquitous computing mixed in. She directs the Mixed and Immersive Realities team at FXPAL, investigating how the interplay of virtual environments with mobile systems and sensor-fusion networks can be useful in enterprise settings.
Previously, Maribeth’s research focus included smart environments (real and virtual), multi-modal interface design, ubiquitous computing, new forms of reading and writing, and interactive audio systems design and engineering. Maribeth holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
———————————————–
More about this event at: (http://sdforum.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Calendar.eventDetail&eventID=13518)
$15 for non-members
(you can join SDForum, the parent organization, for only $125 for 12 months — and then attend all those great SIGs free and get discounts to the big meetings).
No registration required
As with all SDForum SIGs, we open with a half hour of free networking and pizza.
Agenda:
6:30 – 7:00 p.m. Registration / Networking / Refreshments / Pizza
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Presentation and Q&A
Sponsors:
IBM, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Hewlett-Packard
Location:
Pillsbury Winthrop
2475 Hanover St., Palo Alto
Map and Directions: http://pillsburylaw.com/index.cfm?pageid=4&itemid=397&view=25&spID=75
From 280:
Take the Page Mill exit NE into Palo Alto.
Left on Hanover, the last left before El Camino.
Pillsbury Winthrop is at 2475, with a marker in the driveway.
