Looking back at the past week it feels surreal to think that I was sharing indoor spaces with hundreds of people. Let’s just say it’s been a while since I’ve interacted with this many (responsibly vaccinated and masked) folks IRL.

At #AWE2021, everywhere you looked there were familiar faces behind the masks. It really felt like coming home to family, and there just weren’t enough hours in the day to catch up with them all
Share on X

But this wasn’t just any old bunch of people. This crowd was a heady mix of up-and-coming start-ups mingled with Fortune 500 companies. Artists and coders swapped notes with the pioneers that brought us to a place where the average person on the street now (sort of ) knows what you mean when you talk about the Metaverse. In fact, the Tweet below marks what might well become a historical moment in the industry, where one said legend – Unity’s Head of AR/VR Ads and E-Commerce and Metaverse OG Tony Parisi – started using “Metaversing” as a verb.

https://t.co/bJQr8m88FJ

— Tony Parisi Il Padrino Metaversale (@auradeluxe) November 11, 2021

Everywhere you looked there were familiar faces behind the masks. It really felt like coming home to family, and there just weren’t enough hours in the day to catch up with them all.

It’s been a while since I’ve interacted with this many (responsibly vaccinated and masked) folks IRL #AWE2021
Share on X

“The most exciting thing about AWE isn’t the technology, it’s the people,” says Alan Smithson, CEO of Metavrse (not to be confused with the lesser-known CEO of Meta).

Smithson believes this is the last year when the event will feel so intimate. “The cat is out of the bag now, and this is going to blow up in a big way,” he says, adding that we’re going to look back on this as a very special conference, and something of a tipping point for immersive tech.

“What we can do now with XR is truly amazing, and it works!” adds Caspar Thykier, CEO and Co-Founder of Zappar, an Augmented Reality company that has been around almost as long as AWE itself.

The best thing about #AWE is not the technology, it's the people
Share on X

“AWE is 12 years old now and what I think is really interesting is this incremental joining of the dots we’ve seen every year of all the constituent parts of immersive technology, of hardware and software that are just beginning to mesh beautifully together and I think what’s really exciting – apart from the fact we’re all in the same space together – is the richness of the experience we’re starting to get.”

Zappar – which aims to democratize access to Augmented Reality through its WebAR platform ZapWorks also won the “Best Campaign” award at this year’s Auggies for their “Countdown Super Insects” retail loyalty campaign that helped children learn about New Zealand’s native insect world.

What we can do now with XR is truly amazing, and it works
Share on X

Nobody really knows what the Metaverse will look like, and that's a good thing
Share on X

To see these veterans enthused about where we are – and what is to come – is exciting, because for those who know where to look, there is real substance behind the hype, as real use cases for the technology build-up, in turn uncovering even more possibilities. As Thykier sums up when asked about his vision for the Metaverse:

“I think that nobody really knows what that will look like, and I mean that in the most positive way,” he says. “There are so many possibilities and that’s why AWE is so great, because that’s where the conversation starts. This is where we start joining the next set of dots like we have done over the past decade in AR, and to understand what those dots look like for the Metaverse.”

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals, and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Wrapping Up #AWE2021 appeared first on Tech Trends.

The world’s biggest brands are now consistently embracing AR technology to enhance their products and engage users with truly interactive experiences. One interesting example of this was Samsung’s recent launch of its new Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, and the new Watch4 series.

Brands like @SamsungMobile are embracing AR technology to enhance their products and engage users with truly interactive experiences
Share on X

The global telecoms giant chose to leverage these important product launches with in-store AR experiences, where scannable QR codes let customers experience these new devices and what they have to offer while they are making their purchasing decision.

Key to the success of this campaign is a shift away from focusing on the device’s features and onto the experiences and advantages they offer. With the average time spent in the AR clocked at 3.5 minutes, it’s clear customers are really engaging with these Samsung product experiences.

WebAR and the Future of Retail

Belgian Content Marketing agency HeadOffice partnered with AR studio PLAYAR and UK-based Augmented Reality experts Zappar, which ran the experience in its WebAR ZapWorks platform. All this immersive tech expertise converged to create an experience that truly puts the user front-and-centre in the discovery of the new foldables.

This is a revolutionary use of @ZapparApp WebAR technology, which leverages Augmented Reality storytelling to bring these new @SamsungMobile foldables to life. #GalaxyZFold3 #GalaxyZFlip3 #GalaxyWatch
Share on X

This is a revolutionary use of Zappar’s WebAR technology, which leverages Augmented Reality storytelling to bring these new Samsung foldables to life. They were created with the company’s AR platform, ZapWorks which actively helps customers visualize how these devices will enhance their lives. And the resulting engagement figures speak for themselves:

“We’re really excited with the in-store responses we’ve gotten,” says Nathan Grotard, retail marketeer at Samsung Belgium. “The average time spent in the experience is over 3 minutes, which means customers really get into the AR experience.”

With the average time spent in the AR clocked at 3.5 minutes, it’s clear customers are really engaging with these @SamsungMobile product experiences #GalaxyZFold3 #GalaxyZFlip3 #GalaxyWatch
Share on X

The scannable QR codes were communicated through screens, wobblers, and spec cards, new in 850 stores spread out over Belgium, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands, as well as newsletters, print advertising, and out-of-home advertising near bus stops.

“The Samsung experience clearly demonstrates how innovative brands are getting ahead in the new retail revolution, driving a more seamless and engaging product experience online and in-store,” says Max Dawes, Managing Director at Zappar.

A Spectrum of Augmented Reality Experiences

The Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, the multitasking productivity powerhouse, focuses on a seamless unrivalled performance. HeadOffice created three user experiences that show that device owners can watch, work and play in any situation. From the location where the QR code is scanned, they are being transported to a beach, a hotel lounge and their living room.

As for the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, the agency embraces the lifestyle of the trendsetter target audience. Capturing their lives on the go, it showcases the advantages of a pocket-size stand-alone smartphone by telling small stories by the pool or in the park with 3D objects.

Last but not least, for the Galaxy Watch4 series (Watch4 and Watch4 Classic), they transport the users to a tennis court or on a bicycle, and demonstrate how the Galaxy Watch4 can check your body composition and blood pressure.

The #GalaxyZFold3 AR experience shows that device owners can watch, work and play in any situation, transporting @SamsungMobile customers to a beach, a hotel lounge and their own living room using @ZapparApp WebAR technology
Share on X

Bas Gezelle, strategy lead at PLAYAR Studio, commented that “The design and user experience of both foldables are excellent and that is brought to life in the AR experience. A seamless high-end experience where the product is discovered through interactive storytelling.”

@ZapparApp created a @SamsungMobile seamless high-end WebAR experience where the product is discovered through interactive storytelling
Share on X

Alice Bonasio is a technology journalist, communications consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Revolutionizing Retail with Augmented Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle prepare to tie the knot this weekend demand for traditional wedding souvenirs is sky high.

Ahead of this highly anticipated event, Zappar has launched its own Royal Wedding offering with a tech twist; an Augmented Reality (AR) t-shirt by British designer Philip Normal

“Philip started his creative business in Camden market ten years ago and it quickly evolved into something quite special. The work is often reactionary and sometimes with an LGBT angle.”

You can try it out by downloading the Zappar App for free from the GooglePlay or App Store. T-shirts went on sale for £22.95 from Monday 14th May. The t-shirt has a small zapcode embedded in the design, which once scanned with the Zappar app, enables wearers to choose to either ‘Marry Harry’ or ‘Marry Meghan’. Once in the experience, users can pose for a selfie using the front-facing camera on their smartphone or tablet, placing them within the artwork next to their chosen royal spouse.

“Embedded in the t-shirt is a Zapcode which will bring it to life. You’ll be able to choose whether you want to ‘Marry Harry’ or ‘Marry Meghan’. You can then pose for a selfie next to your chosen royal spouse to share on social media. There’s even the option to be able to donate to the The Albert Kennedy Trust – a LGBT youth homeless charity.”

With Augmented Reality, you can pose for a selfie next to your chosen royal spouse to share on social media
Share on X

As part of the AR experience, wearers will also be able to place their selfie onto a piece of royal memorabilia
Share on X

#royalwedding will be used across Twitter and Instagram by our augmented reality married couples to share their moment from the app.  As part of the AR experience, wearers will also be able to place their selfie onto a piece of royal memorabilia.

There will also be the chance to donate to the designer’s charity of choice; The Albert Kennedy Trust – a LGBT youth homeless charity. The charity was chosen as a legacy link to reflect the charitable community work Princess Diana was so well known for.

“We think that these limited-edition t-shirts are a great example of how illustrative design and AR can work hand-in-hand to bring to life physical objects,” says Max Dawes, Partnerships & Marketing Director at Zappar

Zappar’s recent report with global media agency, Mindshare, Layered which studies consumer’s attitudes towards AR, found that 55% of consumers have a preference for objects that hold additional information when connected to a mobile device, rising to 74% amongst those who have already experienced AR. Read the full report to see how brands are adapting to the rise of this technology.

55% of consumers have a preference for objects that hold additional information when connected to a mobile device
Share on X

The Albert Kennedy Trust is the UK’s LGBT youth homelessness charity.  It provides safe homes, mentoring, training and support to young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness following coming out to their parents, caregivers or communities.  The charity was founded in 1989 and operates service centres in London, Manchester and Newcastle and works across the UK through its digital service, inter-AKT.  In 2017, AKT provided over 6,000 nights off the street, over 1,000 hours of mentoring and provided intensive levels of support for over 500 vulnerable young LGBT people.

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies such as VR/AR/MR/XR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance and support on how best to incorporate these into your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Experiencing the #RoyalWedding in Augmented Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

Zappar is developing a Mixed Reality sports data visualisation tool with a major European gambling brand.

There are plenty of compelling business use cases for the use of immersive technologies across the spectrum. From training Astronauts and surgeons to enabling radical savings and industry efficiencies – be it in construction, cleaning or retail.

But we’re still waiting for things to take off properly in the consumer market, of course. Part of that might be waiting for a critical mass of compelling content to build up, but it also comes down to hardware affordability and ease of use, especially where Mixed Reality is concerned.

British start-up Zappar launched an ambitious crowdfunding campaign to fund its ZapBox – a sort of Google Cardboard equivalent for Mixed Reality costing $30
Share on X

Just over a year ago British start-up Zappar set out to fix half of that problem, by launching an ambitious crowdfunding campaign to fund its ZapBox – a sort of Google Cardboard equivalent for Mixed Reality costing $30. The campaign quickly smashed its target raising $84,356 from 1,854 backers.

Zappar and Kindred are looking to solve the consumer Mixed Reality conundrum by investigating the impact of content
Share on X

One of the highest level pledges in that campaign came from Kindred Futures – Kindred Group’s arm dedicated to supporting early stage businesses. Zappar has since gone on to raise a series A investment round just shy of $4 million, proving that many tech companies these days now use crowdfunding as more of a marketing and PR tool for community building and attracting investor’s attention than for raising funds per se.

Zappar has already carved a healthy niche for itself in Augmented Reality
Share on X

Zappar has in fact already carved a healthy niche for itself in the Augmented Reality space, specializing in AR-enabled products and infotainment experiences, working with brands, license partners and retailers such as Rovio, Shazam, Warner Bros, Hasbro, PEZ and Universal Pictures as well as several sports teams such as Manchester City Football Club, Sacramento Kings, and the Minnesota Vikings. But it believes that the future lies with affordable Mixed Reality.

“The main barrier of getting Mixed Reality to the mass market is the cost of new hardware,” says Jeremy Yates from Zappar. There’s an exciting future of data visualisation, with mixed reality providing an immersive and engaging way to both view and interact with information. This exploration is all part of our goal of democratising this technology.”

The two companies are now looking to solve the other half of that consumer Mixed Reality puzzle by looking at the impact of content, particularly in relation to the gambling industry. Their partnership is proposing to use MR to analyse sports data and, more specifically, to understand how the technology will change the way consumers interact with that sporting data. According to their announcement:

“Together, Kindred Futures and Zappar are exploring the way sports are watched and data is consumed by building prototypes based on high profile sporting matches such as the 2017 Champions League final and T20 cricket between South Africa and England.”

Where viewers are currently at the whim of broadcasters or have to trawl through tables of data to help make their sporting decisions, Zappar gives users control in an immersive experience where they can explore the team’s players, with insights into their goals, shots or runs – putting the user at the heart of the data. The two demos, powered by data from sports analytics company Opta, look to give an insight into what the future holds for interacting with sports data, with the user interacting with an extra layer of information on top of reality.

“This exploration with Zappar allows punters to discover and interact with data like never before – leveraging Opta data to provide insights that can help them make more informed decisions,” says Will Mace, Head of Kindred Futures. “We’re very passionate about ensuring that audiences are given enough data to make sensible gaming decisions and think that our experiment with Zappar is an exciting step in the right direction.”

With Microsoft still very much focusing on the enterprise market – the HoloLens sells at 100 times the ZapBox price point – and the Magic Leap One Creator Edition only due to ship “sometime in 2018” and unlikely to come cheap, it seems there’s still plenty of room for players looking to move into the Mixed Reality consumer space.

It seems there’s still plenty of room for players looking to move into the Mixed Reality consumer space
Share on X

And let’s not forget that traditionally gambling (and porn) content are major drivers for consumer adoption of any new technology, as the Internet has taught us, so this could very well prove to be an interesting move.

This article was originally published on VRScout

Betting On Gambling to Drive Mixed Reality Adoption via @alicebonasio https://t.co/v8Xln85ZQf pic.twitter.com/YSKTquVkzU

— VRScout (@VRScout) December 26, 2017

If you would like to find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your own project or enterprise, Tech Trends offers Virtual Reality Consultancy support

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Taking a Gamble on Mixed Reality appeared first on Tech Trends.

Meet Zappar, a British start-up with the big ambition to become the “Google Cardboard of MR.”

The truth is that once you try out Mixed Reality it’s really hard to go back. Other tech – from smartphones and computers to VR headsets – feels clunky in comparison, and the world seems a much duller place without those friendly and convenient holograms, as you start seeing potential use cases for the MR literally everywhere.

But as Microsoft made very clear when we met, HoloLens is nowhere near a consumer launch yet. Sure, if you’re a dev with $3,000 spare and live in one of the 8 countries they currently supply, you can get your hands on one, but mere mortals will have to wait a long time to experience MR for themselves. Or so I thought.

ZapBox – a Kickstarter-funded project from UK start-up Zappar – is proposing to leapfrog Microsoft (and everyone else) by making a MR equivalent of Google Cardboard for a hundredth of the HoloLens cost – a mere $30. They launched it just over a week ago, aiming to raise $30,000 toward development. At the time of writing, however, they had already exceeded that goal, with 19 days still left to go.

The truth is that once you try out Mixed Reality it’s really hard to go back. Other tech – from smartphones and computers to VR headsets – feels clunky in comparison
Share on X

Although I kept an open mind as I went down to London* to try this out for myself, it was hard to picture how it would be possible to replicate the complex tech of the HoloLens on a cardboard device. It’s one thing to project 360 video on one of those, but quite another to integrate computer-generated elements in your real-world environment, in real time.

But as I put on the prototype headset – endearingly held together with brown tape – that Zappar’s Co-Founder Simon Taylor handed me, I was immediately impressed. The feed it displayed from Taylor’s iPhone 6 camera was accurate – if very slightly blurry at times – in every detail except for the rabbit peeking out of a hole on the table in front of me.

Like my Wonderland namesake I felt the urge to investigate further, and took a peek down that rabbit hole. As I stood above it I could actually see quite a way down, with no sign of the table underneath it. When I reached out my hand, it of course went straight through the rabbit hologram, but – crucially – it did touch the edge of the table exactly where I expected it to be. That’s when I started to get excited.

I tested my boundaries by walking around the small room, and was able to accurately and effortlessly navigate around obstacles such as chairs and laptops. I picked up my glass of water, and saw the half-eaten mince pie that Simon had been working on as he setup the demo. It all felt natural and real, in spite of the big blue bunny insistently waving at me, which reminded me of the opening scenes of that Playtest episode in Black Mirror.

This “video see-through” approach (in contrast to the optical see-through employed by HoloLens) works through a code that uses the smartphone’s camera to scan the environment for a set of specific physical markers. This allow for accurate, real-time mapping of the user’s location in relation to objects (both real and computer-generated).

“We call these markers pointcodes, and they’re the fundamental unit that makes all of this possible on a smartphone” explains Taylor, who did his Cambridge University PhD on Fast Object Localisation for Mobile Augmented Reality Applications before becoming Zappar’s Head of Research. “We lay out our marker codes onto the world like we want it and they help us map out the environment, whether that’s a table-top setup or a combination of wall and floor if you want a larger play area.”

The next demo is more interactive, so I get to try out the hand controllers; a pair of origami-like paper devices featuring pointcodes in every facet, neatly held together with Sellotape. And that’s another thing that shows how different this is from a regular VR experience: I put on the headset and by default look straight ahead, expecting Taylor to guide me and put the controllers in my hands. He does, before pointing out politely that I can look down and see my own hands – not a pair of floating gloves or a graphic representation of the controllers, but my hands – and so can do the job much better myself.

After I get the hang of it – it’s all pretty intuitive, specially if you’re familiar with devices like the Vive and the Oculus Touch – I then use one of the controllers as a laser pointer, which interacts with a hologram of a building projected on the table. It’s easy to see how that setup would be useful in educational settings or for presentations. Next up I’m instructed to use the other controller to press a holographic button with a moon symbol on it, which immediately dims the ambient light in the room. Pressing the sun-symbol button next to it undoes the effect, and I spend a fun few extra seconds just turning the lights on and off for kicks. It’s surprising how, in these virtual worlds, the simplest experiences are often the most compelling.

ZapBox – a Kickstarter-funded project from UK start-up Zappar – is proposing to leapfrog Microsoft (and everyone else) by making a MR equivalent of Google Cardboard
Share on X

Finally, I indulge in some “air finger painting” with their ZapBrush tool. And although this was nowhere near as slick as Tilt Brush, the potential is evident once they get around to refining colors, textures and templates properly. The main thing is that the 3D element worked flawlessly, and I could see my handiwork from all angles as I walked around the room, smugly avoiding the laptop bag I had left on the floor (something that surely would have sent me flat on my face had I been wearing the Vive).

There are certainly a few kinks yet to be ironed out; there’s a slight lag issue if you move around too quickly, and some design work on the controllers is needed to make them easier to self-assemble. There are also plans to fit a wide-angle adaptor for the phone camera lens that would allow it to continually scan for pointcodes without the need to keep your target area at the centre of your FOV. But the fact that this was supposed to be such an early Beta and that they felt confident in shipping to their 800+ current Kickstarter backers by April next year almost seems too good to be true.

ZapBox is proposing to give users a Mixed Reality experience for a hundredth of the HoloLens cost
Share on X

But it starts to make sense once you look at the company’s background. These are not newbies to this space, as Zappar has been experimenting with Augmented Reality and delivering commercial AR projects with a broad range of partners for the past 4 years. Their existing technology uses “zapcodes” (an evolution of bar/QR codes) to help devices recognize real-world objects and trigger interactions, and that is what they built on to create the pointcodes that make ZapBox MR possible.

Their ever-growing list of backers is a healthy mix of developers and consumers, and Taylor says that this is the main reason they decided to go for Kickstarter in the first place.

“It’s not about the money,” he said. “If we want to make this work as an ecosystem we need to build that community.”

In addition to the flat-packed headset and hand controllers, those first users will get access to ZapWorks Studio, which uses an integrated Javascript-based API and promises to be user-friendly, making it easy to develop original content for the device without a lot of assets or code. The SDK should work seamlessly with the latest generation of iOS and Android smartphones.

When I was a kid, I remember building a “computer” out of cardboard and sticky tape. Back then I had to rely on my imagination to make that work of course, so it’s funny how I lived to see the day where cutting-edge technology actually does work with cardboard in such interesting ways. And if Zappar succeeds in making this an affordable and intuitive entry-level device for Mixed Reality – and fostering an ecosystem that produces the content to make people want to use it – they could very well do for MR what Google Cardboard did for VR.

This article was originally published on UploadVR

.@ZapparApp is bringing a mixed reality experience for just $30. via @alicebonasio#AR#MRhttps://t.co/Q50UbqsmEmpic.twitter.com/dprweL6CtQ

— Upload (@UploadVR) November 29, 2016

Tech Trends’  Virtual Reality Consultancy services offers support for companies looking to enhance brand strategy with immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post A Google Cardboard for Mixed Reality? Yes please! appeared first on Tech Trends.