Announcements featuring Augmented Reality are numerous at CES this year. When one steps back from the noise, it appears, as it has most of 2011, that the buzz is primarily coming from the hardware side of the ecosystem. In the limited time I have to absorb from the deluge of CES news I can't begin to capture everything, but just consider:
- Sensics is demonstrating the Natalia line of products based on SmartGoggles technology. This was announced last week, but the models are being tried on by bloggers so we are beginning to get "hands on" reporting.
- Vuzix is demonstrating its latest model of SMART see-through eyewear for AR, here's the piece published on CNET about them
- Lumus, which has kept quiet the past few years, is showing its latest model of see-through hands-free AR eyewear. Nice photos and comparison on TheVerge blog
- Pioneer Electronics automotive division is showing its Heads Up display for AR while driving
- Texas Instruments is introducing AR as part of OMAP, as a result of collaborations with Total Immersion and metaio
- Qualcomm is showing the results of its collaboration with Sesame Street characters, Bert and Ernie
- Freescale Semiconductor is showing gaze tracking and AR for home medical applications
- CEVA announces that its latest is CEVA-MM3101 is designed for Camera-Enabled Devices
Where are Intel, ARM, NVIDIA, Imagination Technologies and the other important chip vendors with their eye on mobile?
One can argue if Nokia is a hardware or a software company but it's all three: hardware/devices, software/applications and services/navigation. Nokia's City Lens, being demonstrated at CES, is a great example of urban AR. It's not clear which cities will have it or how many POIs there are. It looks like its only available on the Nokia Lumia 900′s at the moment. Uses onboard sensors to change view modes (held flat, the map shows up on the screen, held upright, list view shows up). OK, so it's rotation-aware. I wonder if this uses any Wikitude technology.
A notable exception to this hardware-centric line-up is Aurasma's announcement about its new 3D engine. Adding 3D puts the platform practically on par with Total Immersion and metaio, at least in terms of feature sets. The technology is featured in a video spot on the LA Times Web site. This and another nice piece in The Guardian is great for raising consumer awareness of AR. The Guardian wrote about the pterodactyl flying around Big Ben. And a video showing a prehistoric monster invading Paris.
There's enough AR-related news and excitement in the first three days of this week to fill a month!