Yelp has an Augmented Reality iPhone App for the iPhone 3Gs, "The Monocle"!

(Cross posted from tshwi)

Thanks to Dan Saffer for the link from the Read Write Web!

Here is my partial "reblog":

"Social review service Yelp has snuck the first Augmented Reality (AR) iPhone app specifically for the US into the iTunes App Store. The undisclosed new feature allows iPhone 3Gs owners to shake their phones three times to turn on a view called "the Monocle." This view uses the phone's GPS and compass to display markers for restaurants, bars and other nearby businesses on top of the camera's view...Blogger Robert Scoble discovered the hidden feature and posted about it on FriendFeed today. "

Video (in French, but easy to understand by the demonstration)


"Both GPS and a compass are used to determine location and direction being pointed at."

Screen Shots:




I want an iPhone. Verizon, can you hear me now?!

Links to Accessibility Posts: 1, Hello Haptic Flash Cards; 2. Samsung Braille TouchPhone Prototype is Cool, uses Electric Active Plastic

Here are the links to the posts:

Samsung Braille TouchPhone Prototype is Cool: Uses Electric Active Plastic

Hello Haptic Flash Cards



More about the camera for the visually impaired/blind later!

For techies and the tech-curious - Panel podcast: Is Software Development Too Complex?

If you are interested in programming, software development, UI design, or if you are a student/technology "hobbyist", a recent panel discussion .NET Rocks! podcast is a must-listen. Even for even if you are NOT a Microsofty.

Is Software Development Too Complex? 8/27/09

"Recorded live at devLink in Nashville, Tennessee. Billy Hollis, Kathleen Dollard, Jim Holmes, and Josh Holmes (no relation) discuss the issue of the complexity of software development. Several .NET celebrities in the audience also chimed in."

If you listen carefully, and take notes, you will find several gems of wisdom. It is well worth the time. If you don't have 78 minutes to listen to the podcast, listen to it while you do your laundry or something!

(Lots of people in the podcast's audience still write programs using in .NET 2.0)


The real question:

How do we develop usable, elegant software to support a complex society, and at the same time, meet the demands of a world that holds high expectations about what technology can do the future?

A couple of quotes from the panel discussion:

"They've all seen CSI Miami!"

"Ohmygod, what do I have to learn NOW?"

"Microsoft, stop the insanity!"


RELATED LINKS

Jesse Liberty's Post & Reader's Responses to Dot Next Rocks


A user's point of view about the complexity of technology:

Computers conspiring to overthrow us- Gail Collins, National Columnist 8/30/09

For the Gamers: Episode three of Half-Life 2 will incorporate sign language!

Below is a video of a discussion between Gabe Newell, a game developer at Valve, and a focus group including deaf and hearing impaired gamers. Valve is conducting research to gather information needed in order to incorporate signing into Episode 3 of Half-Life 2.

In the video, the importance of the use of realistic facial expressions was discussed, as well as other issues, such as deaf culture.



(All three video clips related to Gabe's focus groups can be found on the Escapist website.)


-Valve

(I'm a little behind the game accessibility news...)

Natural User Interface Surfaces: TouchCo - IFSR technology company, founded by NYU Media Reseach Lab's Ken Perlin and Ilya Rosenburg

Earlier this year, I had a very vivid dream about haptic touch-screen overlays. That's how things go for me sometimes. At any rate, the dream inspired a blog post, "Last night I dreamt about haptic touch-screen overlays...". Since this is one of my interests, I try to keep up with developments in this field when I can.

It is amusing to see how seemingly unrelated things have similar roots. Today I came across information about a cool mobile phone concept for the visually impaired, designed by Samsung. The touch technology involved in the concept phone incorporated something called Electric Activating Plastic, or EAP. 


This sparked my curiosity, and while searching for more information, I came across an article in MIT's Technology Review that caught my eye:


A Touch of Ingenuity: Inexpensive pressure-sensitive pad could make surfaces smarter
(Kate Green, MIT Technology Review September/October 2009)

UPDATE:  As of 2/2010, TouchCo no longer exists. It was bought by Amazon:

TouchCo Bought By Amazon 2/3/2010

"..Now that more and more smart phones and MP3 players have touch-screen interfaces, people have grown accustomed to interacting with gadgets using only taps and swipes of their fingers. But on the 11th floor of a downtown Manhattan building, New York University researchers Ilya Rosenberg and Ken Perlin are developing an interface that goes even further. It’s a thin pad that responds precisely to pressure from not only a finger but a range of objects, such as a foot, a stylus, or a drumstick. And it can sense multiple inputs at once."

Ken Perlin and Ilya Rosenberg developed this system as part of their human-computer interaction work at NYU's Media Research Lab, and with the success of their work, went on to start a new company, Touchco, to commercialize and market this concept, known as IFSR (Interpolating Force-Sensitive Resistance) technology.

"The IFSR sensor revolutionizes the field of multi-touch human-computer interaction by out-performing existing solutions in both price and capabilities. Unlike traditional capacitive sensors, our patent pending system can detect any object - not just a finger - and can determine how much pressure is being applied to every point on a sensor simultaneously. IFSR sensors are natively multi-touch, use less power than capacitive sensors, and are much less expensive to produce, making them a highly disruptive technology with widespread market applications."


The Touchco website has a wealth of information regarding this technology. (Update: The TouchCo website was taken down in February 2010)

Other members of Touchco include Nadim Awad, Fang Cheng, Julien Beguin, and Christopher Nam.

SOMEWHAT RELATED
I know of Ken Perlin through his Games for Learning work, and also through his on-line application, Responsive Face, which I use in my work with students who have autism.




Ken Perlin's Blog
Games for Learning Institute

TechPsych Post:
Samsung Braille TouchPhone Prototype is Cool: Uses Electric Active Plastic for functional tactile feedback.

Ron George's Interaction Design Toolbox

Ron George, an interaction designer, recently posted a comment on my blog. So I visited his blog and found that he has a great set of resources that many of my readers would appreciate!

For starters, take a look at Ron's Interaction Design Toolbox page, and then spend some time browsing around the rest of his site/blog.

Ron works at Microsoft on a team that is exploring Natural User Interface/Interaction (NUI). He previously was on the Surface team.