Wikitude » Media-Reports

Wikitude World Browser Ranked No. 1 Among Top Ten Travel AR-Apps on CNN

Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:46:57 +0000

March 8: on CNN Travel and CNN Go: Winnie So from CNN GO (Asia) went through the tedious task of checking out 10 Augmented Reality travel apps, including heavy weights as Google Goggles, Lonely Planet, as well as smaller startups and companys such as iButterfly (I saw a very interesting presentation from them in Barcelona @ App Plant at Mobile World Congress last February), Sekai Camera, and …. Wikitude.

Can’t read French? Don’t know what that building is? Want to know where to find the nearest station or restaurant? One of these augmented reality apps will help”, By Winnie So

Wikitude World Browser - Voted Nr 1 Augmented Reality Travel App at CNN.

1. Wikitude

Price: Free, Platforms: Android 1.5+, iPhone 4.0, Symbian with compass, Bada, Download: Android Market, iPhone/iPad App Store, Symbian Ovi Store, Bada Samsungs Apps, Blackberry coming soon.

Voted the best augmented reality browser of 2010 by readers of Augmented Planet, Wikitude comes with a multitude of “Worlds” that can be overlayed onto the real world that you see through your mobile device’s camera.

For example, the Starbucks World shows you if any Starbucks cafes are in the direction you’re pointing your camera.

Check out the various worlds you can access, including World Heritage List, Wildlife Parks in Asia, Irish Pubs Worldwide and more, by clicking here.

Also very important to mention is Nr 3 – since it has Wikitude under the hood. We were very happy to work with Lonely Planet on this fantastic project!

Lonely Plant Travel Apps for Android

3. Lonely Planet Compass City Guides

Price: US$4.99, Platforms: All Android, Download link: Available in the Android Market

This is for those who travel by the Lonely Planet gospel, but can’t be bothered to lug around their tomes. Now all their expert advice for 25 key cities around the world is available on an Android screen complete with GPS-enabled maps and augmented reality camera views.

Selected cities include Amsterdam, Bangkok, Boston, Istanbul, Prague, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver.

The History of Augmented Reality

Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:52:12 +0000

AR WEEK: How the future began

The term “augmented reality” has been around since 1990 but that doesn’t mean that it was never there before. The moment that man made gadgets that could relate to their environment and supply their users with information based on that, AR was there. It’s just that nobody thought to call it that.

So, for those who want to know how it all went down, here is the history of augmented reality from birth to where we are today.

Beginnings

From 1957, a gentlemen known by the name of Morton Helig began building a machine called the Sensorama. It was designed as a cinematic experience to take in all your senses and, shaped, rather like arcade machine from the 80s, it blew wind at you, vibrated the seat you sat on, played sounds to your eyes and projected a form of a stereoscopic 3D environment to the front and sides of your head. It was supposed to be impressive with its demo film of a cycle ride through the streets of Brooklyn but it never sold commercially and was very expensive to make films for largely because it involved the camera man having three cameras strapped to him at all times, and while it was really more an adventure in full virtual reality, there are clearly elements of AR involved with both the devices in place between the user and the environment and that fact that the environment itself was, itself, the real world viewed in a real time situation – even if recorded.

…

Years later in 2008, the first AR apps come to smartphones where the world can actually begin to enjoy the experience somewhere close to what it’s supposed to be. Mobilizy was among the pioneers as it brought its Wikitude app to the T-Mobile G1 allowing Android users to take in the world through their mobile phone cameras and see augmentations on the screen of points of interest nearby. Wikitude soon hit iPhone and Symbian platforms as well and launched an AR navigation app called Wikitude Drive. Once ARToolkit was ported to Adobe Flash, the journey reaches where we are today with AR possible through the desktop browser and your webcam as well. …

Augmented business – A special report on smart systems

Nicola — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 08:28:14 +0000

The economist published a great report on smart systems mentioning Wikitude which they called “the democratisation of sensors”.

Pachube (pronounced “patch-bay”), a start-up based in London, offers a service that lets anybody make sensor data available to anyone else so they can use them to build smart services. One tinkerer has Pachube’s computers control the fan in his office, guided by temperature readings uploaded from a thermometer on his desk.

Such experiments are free, but those who develop more serious applications and do not want them to be available to anyone else have to pay. Usman Haque, Pachube’s boss, hopes that more and more firms will do so as sensors multiply.

To whole report is available on economist.com

Mobilizy, maker of Wikitude, raises major funding round

Nicola — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:38:28 +0000

Posted from TechCrunch Europe, by Lukas Zinnagl on October 14, 2010

Mobilizy, the Austrian based company behind Wikitude, one of the leading Augmented Reality browsers in Europe and a direct competitor to well-known Layar from the Netherlands, has just raised an undisclosed round of funding from Austrian VC Gamma Capital Partners and tecnet Capital as a co-Investor.

It’s Mobilizy’s first round and will be used for developing their two core products, the World browser and their AR-based navigation system and for pushing their worldwide rollout. The deal was led by M&A boutique TheMerger and is said to be between €1 and €5 million.

Layar, which has raised a significant amount in early 2010, is expanding rapidly and is on its way to becoming the predominant player in AR in Europe. Yet Wikitude’s navigational browser has gained significant traction throughout the few last months. According to a recent survey by ARCchart, revenues generated from mobile phone Augmented Reality apps will reach $2,2 billion by 2015 – an impressive number and an indicator that there’s lots of room for startups in this space.

Mobilizy has also tackled some management problems recently. Founder and first-time CEO Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis made way for Andy Gstoll, a former executive at various gaming and media companies. Breuss-Schneeweis comments on the deal:

“We are excited that we have teamed up with a partner who shares our
passion and vision for creating the best augmented reality experience
for our users. Together we are going to invest in the development and
rollout of our augmented reality platform, applications and SDK. With
our upcoming navigation products we will be able to attract new users
and will be able to build new partnerships with enabling partners. Our
key products will be combined into a unified experience, combining
semantic and visual technologies to increase the precision and
versatility of our offerings.”

AR is definitely one of the hot topics these days, yet the technology itself has been employed by Universities around the world for years. What’s changed is that startups like Mobilizy or Layar are finding real-world use cases and monetization models.

Smart specs unite world and data

Nicola — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:48:15 +0000

Michael Fitzpatrick from BBC News wrote a nice article about a lightweight pair of augmented reality glasses that overlay the world with digital content.

The headset, created by Olympus and phone-maker NTT Docomo, uses augmented reality software on an attached phone.

Read the whole article

Geotag your heritage through Wikimanche and view it with Wikitude!

Nicola — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:04:51 +0000

“Wikimanche”, a French online collaborative encyclopedia, and one of our World Developers wrote a great blogpost about our partnership on their webpage.

Jean-Baptiste Lesaulnier from Wikimanche says the following about Wikimanche and the parntership with Wikitude:

This collaborative encyclopedia is growing thanks to the contribution of the internet users. Today, Wikimanche counts more than 6,000 articles and it is the first wiki of a territory in France and 16th worldwide . Now Wikimanche becomes a mine of knowledge accessible to everybody.

In order to spread informations otherwise, we would like to implement an e-tourism project for la Manche county. Wikitude seems to be an appropriate solution by creating a world dedicated to Wikimanche.
There are some purposes for Wikimanche. First of all, we have to show that it is more than a database. With this Wikitude, a territorial wiki can demonstrate that the information can become a value added service for the territory.

Wikitude affords the possibility to make visible intangible contents directly on territory thanks to geolocalisation and augmented reality to complete the vision of the area with information that everyone can be the author. It allows to new public to appropriate easier the heritage of this county through a playful and interactive application.

If you live near the ‘Manche’ area, just try out the very intersting World Wikimanche and see the heritage around you!

Wikitude Update Strengthens Augmented Reality

Nicola — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:22:36 +0000

Kyle Flanigan from 148Apps wrote a nice article about our new Wikitude iPhone version and how it strengthens Augmented Reality.

He said that technology has come remarkably far in the past number of decades, especially for the end consumer and one area where it has excelled is in the concept of augmented reality.

Kyle Flanigan summarized the new great features as follows:

WWB has just been updated to version 2.4 on the iTunes App Store, bringing with it a number of new features and enhanced integration. For example, a point of interest like a restaurant can now be viewed in more detail, with telephone numbers provided so that you can call ahead for a reservation. In addition, upgrades to overall speed make the application easier to use, and quicker navigation exists due to a new tab bar. The points of interest are wide and varied, with information from sources including Wikipedia, YouTube, Hertz Car Rental, Flickr, Foursquare and Google Local. The developers note that “there are around 500 worlds [augmented reality mapped areas] with 110 billion point of interests available” to date, with those numbers increasing as the days go by. One additional feature 2.4 includes allows you to search for specific places in all augmented reality mapped areas, rather than just a specific one that you might be in or near to.

Read the whole article

Wikitude Drive on TheWhereToBusiness

Nicola — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:46:58 +0000

Christopher Backeberg from TheWhereToBusiness wrote a very nice article about Wikitude Drive. He interviewed Andy and Philipp and gives a very good overview of what’s happening with Wikitude Drive in the near future. It’s about Wikitude Drive – Not yet live, already a legend.

Wikitude Drive ready to bring AR navigation to the road

Wikitude Drive, considered the first mobile augmented reality (AR) navigation system with global maps, is set for its worldwide launch. The key men behind its development tell Christopher Backeberg how the system was developed and what makes it so different…

Wikitude Drive and the Wikitude World Browser on which it is based are products from Mobilizy, based in Salzburg, Austria. The use of AR in Wikitude Drive takes mobile navigation technology to a new level by actively blending driving directions into the live camera images on a smartphone.

Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis, founder of Mobilizy, sums it up: “The technology requires no sense of direction – the driver just needs to follow a line.” …

Read on

Wikitude Media

Andreas Hauser — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 11:14:20 +0000

Wikitude and its AR technology is used in various applications. Have a look at the listed videos to get an idea of the variety it is utilized:
If you prefer pictures – click here to visit our flickr-gallery.

Wikitude 5 Promo-Video (Android)

Wikitude, LG Optimus, TV Commercial

Wikitude, first AR Browser on Symbian (Nokia, Qt)

Wikitude, very first promotion Videos, year 2008

Wikitude, short promo – available on Nokia 3rd and 5th Edition

IBMSeer – Cam-View by Wikitude, Wimbledon 2010

[GERMAN] – Wikitude im Ovi-Store

Qt Development – Developers’ Review

3D – In Memoriam World Trade Center

Random Videos – made by Fans (may include non-professional cuts :-)

Sony Ericsson X10 test

[GERMAN] Twick.it – Twicks in Wikitude

German Fan at home (old Wikitude Version)

Greek Fan (old Wikitude Version)

HTC Fan (old Wikitude Version)

Wikitude Drive Tester (Beta Version)

Wikitude Wikidrive footage from Filippo on Vimeo.

Financian Mirror / Android Tech

You want to see your “Wikitude Fan”-video here?! Don’t hesitate to contact us

Nokia Conversations – Friday’s Pick

Nicola — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:09:38 +0000

As we enter the summer, it seems as though a lot of bloggers are closing down their browsers for a well-earned break, so this week’s round-up relies heavily on mainstream media. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but we’re always happy to feature blog-posts from the community. Let us know in the comments below if you’ve found something that you think deserves a wider airing.