Showing posts sorted by relevance for query razorfish. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query razorfish. Sort by date Show all posts

May 8, 2010

Revisiting Razorfish: Emerging Experiences, RockstAR application, and more...

I've written a few posts about Razorfish in the past. What is Razorfish?


"The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team is a dedicated group of highly experienced professionals focused solely on emerging experiences and technologies. "Effective innovation" is our multifaceted approach to concepting and delivering pioneering solutions for our clients."
Razorfish has forged ahead into very interesting-and fun- territory. Here is a video of the RockstAR application. It combines multi-touch technology and augmented reality, utilizing the Razorfish Vision Framework (RVT), integrated with the Razorfish Touch Framework.

RockstAR (Augmented Reality) Experience Demo from Razorfish - Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.


A recent post on the Razorfish Emerging Experiences blog provides a detailed account of the technology that was pulled together to make it happen in the post, The Technology Behind RockstAR. The application is integrated into Twitter and Flickr.
RockstAR
-Razorfish Emerging Experiences Blog
"For the RockstAR experience, we are analyzing each frame coming from an infrared camera to determine if faces are found in the crowd. Once a face is detected, it is assigned a unique ID and tracked. Once receive a lock on the face, we can pass position and size information to the experience where we can augment animations and graphics on top of the color camera feed."


RELATED
One of my previous posts includes a video of the Razorfashion application, which highlights the Razorfish Touch Framework:


Razorfish's Touch Framework "Razorfashion" - A lot like my idea for an in-home FashionMirrorAdvisor...


I'm still hoping to work on my FashionMirrorAdvisor - but with a twist. Now that I have a smartphone, I want to incorporate a mobile app into the concept. Guys probably just wouldn't understand.  (However, something like this would make a nice gift for a guy who is a bit lacking in the fashion department.)


Below is a remix of my previous post


RAZORFISH'S TOUCH FRAMEWORK:  RAZORFASHION - A LOT LIKE MY IDEA FOR AN IN-HOME FASHIONMIRRORADVISOR (5/23/09)


Razorfish recently unveiled the Razorfashion application designed to provide shoppers with an engaging retail experience within the "multi-channel shopping ecosystem". I'm not the "shop to you drop" type of gal, but I can see that this concept could be useful in other situations, after a few tweaks.



As soon as I saw this Razorfish Touch "Fashion" demo video, it touched a nerve. I've been playing around with a similar idea, but for my personal use, in the form of an RFID-enabled system. I'd call it something like "FashionMirrorAdvisor".


Instead of showing skinny fashion models like the Razorfashion application, I'd harness the power of built-in web-cam and mirror my own image on the screen. My mirror would dress me up in the morning when I'm way too foggy to think about matching colors and accessories.
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would be my friend. My "smart" friend, since all of my clothes would be RFID-tagged, along with my shoes, jewelry, and other accessories. My make-up, too. It would be a no-brainer. I really could use this application - just ask my husband!


More often than not, most mornings I find myself staring at the clothes in my closet, frozen in time, unable to formulate a fashion thought. I might set my eyes on a favorite blouse, but blank out when I try to think about the rest of the steps I need to pull my look together.
     
I know I can't wear my reddish-pink camisole with my dusty-orange/brown slacks, but at 5:15 A.M., who has the time to think about this little detail? My friend, the TouchFashionMirror would prevent me from making this fashion faux-pas.
     
No problem.
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me a few outfits, and dress my real-time moving image on the screen. Since she knows all things, she'd show me ONLY the articles of clothing that were clean, since my RFID system would keep up with all of that. It would be much more functional than a "virtual wardrobe" application. I could try out different earrings without having to get them out.
     
If I couldn't find something, the RFID system would take care of this detail. My FashioMirrorAdvisor would know where I misplaced my clothes, accessories, and even my keys, since they would all be tagged. The mirror application would provide me with a nice little map of my house and car, and highlight the location of the item.
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would keep track of my laundry, too. This would be a great feature. So if my dirty laundry was piling up, and I wanted to wear outfit X, Y, or Z over the next few days, I'd receive a gentle reminder that I'd need to do some laundry first!


Another practical feature:
     
My FashionMirrorAdvisor would also serve as my health consultant, keeping track of my weight and BMI. This data, along with information gained from the webcam, would be combined so that my advisor would NEVER suggest an outfit that would be too...snug.


I could program the system to provide me with gentle reminders if my weight was an issue. My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me images of myself "before" and "after", outfits included.

Information about the "after" outfits could be fed to the system from the web-catalogs of my favorite fashion retailers, and once I lost those 10 darned pounds, I'd find a nice parcel delivered to my door. Thanks to my FashionMirrorAdvisor, I know that the outfit would be just right.


UPDATE 5/8/10:  The FashionMirrorAdvisor would be integrated with a mobile app - since I now have a smartphone, this would be quite useful in planning shopping trips centered around the purchase of new clothes, shoes, accessories, and coordinating cosmetics!  I created a little game  that I think would be ideal for this sort of thing, too.   I still want to work on this....someday. Too many ideas, too little time!


ALSO RELATED
From the Razorfish site:
"The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team is a dedicated group of highly experienced professionals focused solely on emerging experiences and technologies. "Effective innovation" is our multifaceted approach to concepting and delivering pioneering solutions for our clients"

"Founded in 2008, Razorfish Emerging Experiences is a cross-functional team composed of strategists, artists, experience designers, and technologists. We’re part of the Razorfish Strategy & Innovation practice led by Shannon Denton. Jonathan Hull is the managing director of the team, Steve Dawson is the technology lead and Luke Hamilton is the creative lead."

Razorfish
Razorfish Emerging Experiences Portfolio
Razorfish Emerging Experiences Blog
Razorfish Emerging Experiences on Vimeo


RELATED 5/8/10
Razorfish Health (Fun music on the home page!)
Razorfish Establishes Cloud Computing Practice
Douglas Quenqua, ClickZ 4/15/10
The Razorfish 5: Five Technologies that Will Change Your Business
Razorfish Whitepapers


If you are looking for a job, you might be interested in the openings at Razorfish. Before applying, take a look at what is expected:
"You dream in digital. You're fluent in the technologies that define our world and passionate about the way they're shaping our future.  You're a communicator. A creator. You understand how the Web connects us, and you want to shape the conversation. You're a restless innovator.  you're not only waiting for the next big idea to happen, you're making it happen.  You're a unique talent, a visionary, an experimenter, and you're looking for an environment that lets you shine. In other words, you're just our type...."


FYI
When I visited the Razorfish website, I noticed that the background appeared to be a live feed of the offices. Since today is Saturday, it makes sense that the only person busy at the office was a custodian. Below is the screenshot:

May 23, 2009

Razorfish's Touch Framework "Razorfashion" - A lot like my idea for an in-home FashionMirrorAdvisor...

Razorfish recently unveiled the Razorfashion application designed to provide shoppers with an engaging retail experience within the "multi-channel shopping ecosystem". I'm not the "shop to you drop" type of gal, but I can see that this concept could be useful in other situations, after a few tweaks.




As soon as I saw this Razorfish Touch "Fashion" demo video, it touched a nerve. I've been playing around with a similar idea, but for my personal use, in the form of an RFID-enabled system. I'd call it something like "FashionMirrorAdvisor".

Instead of showing skinny fashion models like the Razorfashion application, I'd harness the power of built-in web-cam and mirror my own image on the screen. My mirror would dress me up in the morning when I'm way too foggy to think about matching colors and accessories.

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would be my friend. My "smart" friend, since all of my clothes would be RFID-tagged, along with my shoes, jewelry, and other accessories. My make-up, too.

It would be a no-brainer. I really could use this application - just ask my husband!

More often than not, most mornings I find myself staring at the clothes in my closet, frozen in time, unable to formulate a fashion thought. I might set my eyes on a favorite blouse, but blank out when I try to think about the rest of the steps I need to pull my look together.


I know I can't wear my reddish-pink camisole with my dusty-orange/brown slacks, but at 5:15 A.M., who has the time to think about this little detail? My friend, the TouchFashionMirror would prevent me from making this fashion faux-pas.

No problem.

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me a few outfits, and dress my real-time moving image on the screen. Since she knows all things, she'd show me ONLY the articles of clothing that were clean, since my RFID system would keep up with all of that. It would be much more functional than a "virtual wardrobe" application.

I could try out different earrings without having to get them out.

If I couldn't find something, the RFID system would take care of this detail. My FashioMirrorAdvisor would know where I misplaced my clothes, accessories, and even my keys, since they would all be tagged. The mirror application would provide me with a nice little map of my house and car, and highlight the location of the item.

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would keep track of my laundry, too. This would be a great feature. So if my dirty laundry was piling up, and I wanted to wear outfit X, Y, or Z over the next few days, I'd receive a gentle reminder that I'd need to do some laundry first!

Another practical feature:

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would also serve as my health consultant, keeping track of my weight and BMI. This data, along with information gained from the webcam, would be combined so that my advisor would NEVER suggest an outfit that would be too...snug.

I could program the system to provide me with gentle reminders if my weight was an issue. My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me images of myself "before" and "after", outfits included.

Information about the "after" outfits could be fed to the system from the web-catalogs of my favorite fashion retailers, and once I lost those 10 darned pounds, I'd find a nice parcel delivered to my door.

Thanks to my FashionMirrorAdvisor, I know that the outfit would be just right.


UPDATE 5/8/10:  The FashionMirrorAdvisor would be integrated with a mobile app - since I now have a smartphone, this would be quite useful in planning shopping trips centered around the purchase of new clothes, shoes, accessories, and coordinating cosmetics!  I created a little game  that I think would be ideal for this sort of thing, too.

I still want to work on this....someday.

Too many ideas, too little time!


RELATED
From the Razorfish site:
"The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team is a dedicated group of highly experienced professionals focused solely on emerging experiences and technologies. "Effective innovation" is our multifaceted approach to concepting and delivering pioneering solutions for our clients"

"Founded in 2008, Razorfish Emerging Experiences is a cross-functional team composed of strategists, artists, experience designers, and technologists. We’re part of the Razorfish Strategy & Innovation practice led by Shannon Denton. Jonathan Hull is the managing director of the team, Steve Dawson is the technology lead and Luke Hamilton is the creative lead."


Razorfish Emerging Experiences Portfolio

Feb 4, 2012

Razorfish Gesture and Touch Platform for the "Retail Experience"


Razorfish Connected Retail Experience Platform (codename "5D") from Razorfish - Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.


The above video is an overview of the "5D" connected retail experience platform by Razorfish Emerging Experience. This concept looks like it was designed for me - someone who loves tech,  has a high need for hassle-free shopping.  Someday I hope I will have the ultimate technology-supported shopping experience : )




RELATED
Razorfish Press Release
Razorfish


SOMEWHAT RELATED 
Previous posts:
Interactive Visual Merchandising
Another close encounter with in-store digital display marketing at Best Buy...
Interactions (ACM) Cover Article - "Proxemic Interactions: The New Ubicomp?" Plus - Close encounters with displays at the airport and JC Penney
Pervasive Retail Part 1: Web UX  Meets Retail CX - Screens Large and Small at the Mall, Revisited
Interactive Displays in Public Spaces
Interactive Display with QR Tag: Close Encounter at the Orlando Airport

Other:
Retail Customer Experience website
Pervasive Retail

GestureTek: Retail Marketing Solutions: Interactive Screen and Window Display Systems for Advertising in Stores, Malls and Shopping Centers
JC Penney Remodel  Interactive Video
Window Shopping Goes High-Tech With Motion-Sensing Interactive Displays
Bridgette Meinhold, Ecouterre, 9/22/11

Apr 26, 2011

Multi-touch and Gesture Interaction News and Updates You Might Have Missed (Part I)

Over the past couple of months, I've come across many interesting links related to multi-touch and gesture interaction, but I haven't had time to devote a thoughtful post to each one.  "Part I",  is a nice collection of experimental, commercial, and non-commercial efforts by a variety of creative technologists, with a smattering of industry news that might be of interest to IMT readers. 


Ideum's MT55 HD Multitouch Table 4/19/11

New MT55 HD Multitouch Table Now Shipping,  Jim Spadaccini, Ideum Blog 4/11/11

Smithsonian American Art Museum to Open Education Center  Sara Beladi, NBC Washington News, 4/4/11 (Rumor has it that the Smithsonian American Art might include touch and multi-touch displays in it's plans for a new education center.  The center was funded by an anonymous $8 million dollar gift.)

Bill Buxton, Microsoft Research, 4/7/11 - Includes lots of pictures, links to videos, and more information of what might be the first touch-screen.  Also see Bill Buxton's companion website, Multi-Touch Systems that I have Known and Loved, updated on 3/21/11.  Bill Buxton knows all (almost!)


"The MTbiggie uses the "Front Diffused Illumination" multitouch technique, with ambient infrared light and a DIY infrared webcam. The MTbiggie is similar to the MTmini, but includes a projected image and infrared webcam (rather than a normal webcam)...The MTbiggie isn’t the most stable and robust setup, but it is the easiest to build. To see other methods of building more stable multitouch displays, view the full multitouch display list." -Seth Sandler

(Also check out NodeBeat, a multi-touch music/audio sequencer/generator app by Seth Sandler and Justin Windle)

Intuilab, 4/13/11
"IntuiLab, a global leader in surface computing software applications, today announced support for the revolutionary Microsoft Kinect device across its full line of IntuiFace products and solutions including IntuiFace Presentation and IntuiFace Commerce...Microsoft Kinect brings distant gesture control to interactive solutions. These gesture controls allow users to interact with displayed digital assets from a distance at their own pace and path – for example, browsing through a large quantity of products in a store catalog or manipulating 3D models (such as a mobile phone) – all without having to actually touch the screen..."  -IntuiLab (Take a look at the IntuiLab team- an interactive page!)




Sparkon:  Videos and links related to multi-touch and gesture-based applications



Official Kinect SDK to be Open SourceJosh Blake, Deconstructing the NUI, 4/18/11  
9 This bit of news excited me, but don't get your hopes up. If anyone knows what will happen with the Kinect SDK, please leave a comment.)
"Update 4/18 7:34pm: Mary Jo Foley picks up this story, but the Microsoft spokesperson she talked to denied that the Kinect SDK will be open source. As she notes, Microsoft has pulled 180’s before regarding Kinect. After spokespeople initially were hostile to the idea of Kinect hacking, Xbox executives later embraced the idea that people are using Kinect for non-gaming purposes on the PC. Let’s hope Microsoft stays open to this idea." -Josh Blake

Kenrick Kin, Tom Miller, Bjoern Bollensdorff, Tony DeRose, Bjoern Hartmann, Manees Agrawala (Pixar Online Library)

Flight Race Game on 3DFeel lm3Labs, 4/18/11


JazzMutant Lemure Version 2 : "The only multi-touch and modular controller for sequencers, synthesizers, virtual instruments, vjing and lights, now even better."


Harry van der Veen's Multitouch Blog (NUITEQ)


Stantum "Unlimited Multi-Touch" Latest News

At Immersive Labs, Ads Watch Who Looks at Them Amy Lee, Huffington Post, 4/26/11 

Immersive Labs

Hard Rock Cafe International Using NextWindow Touch Screens:  "Rock Wall Solo displays enhance music lovers' experience in Seattle, Dallas, Detroit and Berlin" 4/12/11 (Full press release pdf)
Music on Touch Screens (NextWindow)

Razorfish: Thoughts on MIX 11 ,James Ashley, Razorfish Blog, 4/20/11  Also see: Razorfish Lab's Prototypes




"The multitouch microscope brings new dimensions into teaching and research. Researchers at the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) and Multitouch Ltd have created a hand and finger gesture controlled microscope. The method is a combination between two technologies: web-based virtual microscopy and a giant size multitouch display."
"The result is an entirely new way of performing microscopy: by touching a table- or wall-sized screen the user can navigate and zoom within a microscope sample in the same way as in a conventional microscope. Using the touch control it is possible to move from the natural size of the sample to a 1000-fold magnification, at which cells and even subcellular details can be seen."  -Multitouchfi  Also see the Multitouch website.



Big Size Multitouch Display Turned into a MicroscopeMicroscopy-News, 3/28/11
Mac OX 10.7 Lion: new multi-touch gestures, Dock integration for Expose, Launchpad, Mission Control Appleinsider, 4/14/11


Vectorform App featured in Royal Caribbean's Video Promotion: James Brolin, Dean Cain get hands-on with Vectorform app Alison Weber, Vectorform Blog, 3/3/11


3M Touch Systems's YouTube Channel

Social Mirror 3D Gestural Display, Now Using Kinnect:  SnibbeInteractive




Nov 24, 2009

Morning Tech News: Razorfone: Windows 7 & WPF Retail Demo on a Multi-touch Screen, via I Started Something


Razorfone Interactive Retail Experience from Razorfish - Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.

This demo was created by the Emerging Experiences team at Razorfish. Here's the video description from Vimeo:

"Customers are being faced with increasingly complex buying decisions, especially when it comes to technology and services. As a result, increased pressure is being placed on store associates to provide knowledgeable service to customers. Our Emerging Experiences team used this opportunity to develop a solution to demonstrate how an immersive interactive experience can assist customers and store associates with complex buying decisions in a retail setting."


Comment:   We've graduated from 2D multi-touch manipulation of photos via pan-zoom-rotate-resize-drag to 3D multi-touch manipulation of "objects".

So?  I'm expecting much more.

There is much room for creative growth in this area! 

RELATED
Emerging Experiences Blog
I Started Something Blog

Jul 7, 2009

Lonely Planet Travel App by Amnesia-Razorfish for the Surface

I came across this video on the Microsoft Surface blog about a demo created for Lonely Planet by Amnesia-Razorfish, from REMIX 2009 Australia this past June:


Lonely Planet proof-of-concept at REMIX Australia 2009

Following a link from the Surface blog, I found yet another video:





Get Microsoft Silverlight




Design in the Round. Creating Compelling User Experiences for Surface

The video provides an overview of the history of human computer interaction and look towards the future of NUI (natural user interface). The Surface is viewed as only as a step towards NUI, which follows a person as they go about the day, interacting with technology via a variety of devices and settings.

"Designing for multi-touch, gesture-based and tangible experience like Microsoft Surface presents a new set of challenges. How do you design for a user interface that doesn't have a top? How to allow for multiple simultaneous users without them getting in each other's way?..."

Nov 19, 2011

Camera-less Tabletop Computing with Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft® Surface® with PixelSense™

Here is the press release: 
Next Generation of Microsoft Surface Available for Pre-Order in 23 Countries
"Software developers interested in creating solutions for the Samsung SUR40 can get started immediately by visiting the Surface Developer Center. The site provides free and easy access to the Surface 2.0 software developer kit, featuring the Input Simulator, which enables developers to write Surface applications on any Windows 7 machine, as well as other helpful developer-related resources. There are already hundreds of highly skilled Surface software development partners that can be found at http://www.surface.com."


(I've listed Microsoft Surface partners at the end of this post and plan to share more about the latest applications for surface computing in the near future.)


The following product information was taken from the Samsung website:
40" Surface Experience 
"Samsung SUR40 is the new generation of Microsoft® Surface® experience featuring PixelSense™ technology, which gives LCD panels the power to see without the use of cameras. Building from the innovation of the first version of Microsoft® Surface® and Samsung’s leading display technology, it is now possible for people to share, collaborate and explore together using a large, thin display that recognizes fingers, hands and other objects placed on the screen." 


PixelSense™ 
"PixelSense™ allows an LCD display to recognize fingers, hands, and objects placed on the screen, including more than 50 simultaneous touch points. With PixelSense™, pixels in the display see what’s touching the screen and that information is immediately processed and interpreted."


Resolution:             1920 x 1080 
Viewing Angle:       (H/V) 178 / 178° (CR ≥ 10) 
CPU:                     Athlon X2 Dual-Core 245e (2.9GHz) 
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional  x64 


GPU:        AMD HD6750M 
N/B:         AMD RS780E 
S/B:         AMD SB710 


Storage:                  SATA2 320 GB 
Memory:                 DDR3 4 GB
USB:                      4 USB 2.0 
VGA:                     Out HDMI Ethernet: 100 / 1000 
Audio Codec:         Realtek ALC262 Azalia CODEC


Product Dimensions (With Stand):            1,095 x 728 x 707.4 mm 
Product Dimensions (Without Stand):       1,095 x 102.5 x 707.4 mm 
Shipment Dimensions:                            1,214 x 299 x 832 mm 


Product Weight:     35 Kg 
Shipment Weight:  45.4.Kg


RELATED
Samsung
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface "What's New"
Microsoft Surface Partners:
Aftermous.com
AKT
AM Production
Black Marble
ETT
Headcandy
IdentityMine
Information Strategies
Infusion
Inhance Digital
Interknowlogy
Intuilab
nSquared
Object Consulting
Onwijs
Razorfish
Sevensteps
Stimulant
Touchtech
T-Systems
MultiMedia
UID
Vectorform
XFace

Nov 10, 2010

New Version of Surface from Microsoft?

Next Gen Microsoft Surface 'Imminent'
Seamus Byrne, Gizmodo  11/11/10


Here is a quote from the Gizmodo article:

"Iain McDonald of agency Amnesia Razorfish, owned by Microsoft until late 2009 and now part of the Publicis Groupe, told Gizmodo the next generation Microsoft Surface will indeed be a flat surface concept, not the entire coffee table system with cameras and projectors living underneath. The new Surface will also have higher resolution cameras so that special codes will no longer be required to identify objects. And the new Surface will also be around $8,000 (whether this was USD or AUD wasn’t specified)." - Seamus Byrne


More to come...