Adidas Turns the Sneaker Into an Augmented Reality Device
Can’t find your Nintendo DS? Try one of the new Adidas sneakers instead.
Adidas has created a virtual 3-D world that can be accessed using an upcoming line of five men’s sneakers in an idea that ties into one of the technology trends of the year: augmented reality.
“The foundation of augmented reality lies in adding a layer to the real world,” says Chris Barbour, head of digital marketing for Adidas Originals. “That’s what we have done. We have taken a real world item and added a fantastic virtual world on top of that”
All users have to do is go to the Adidas site and hold up their sneaker, which has a code embedded in its tongue, in front of their computer webcam. A virtual world then pops out in front of them and they can navigate it using their sneaker as a controller.
“We are not trying to mimic a real-world look, we have a more stylized, pop-up book creative approach,” says Barbour. “The neighborhood is displayed on a two dimensional computer screen, but you can use your shoe to control the angle and depth of view and zoom in and out, giving a 3-D sense of perspective.”
Over the next few months, Adidas plans to introduce three augmented reality games developed by game developer xForm into the virtual neighborhood. The sneakers will then serve not only as the key to get in, but also act as the controller for the games. Among those available will be a skateboard game, where the sneaker acts as the controller to navigate the virtual city’s alleys, a Star Wars-like game with the sneaker and a music-based game.
The shoes with the augmented reality codes will cost between $65 and $95 and will be available starting February.
Sure, a large part of this is a marketing gimmick and Adidas is not the only company to try out augmented reality in its products. But that doesn’t take away from that this is an idea that makes an ordinary physical object fun and injects some technological pizzaz to it.
See Also:
- If You’re Not Seeing Data, You’re Not Seeing
- At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry
- Augmented Reality Ghost Hunting Creeps Into App Store
- John Mayer’s Augmented Reality Video Puts Fans in Picture …
Photo: Adidas
iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing
Here’s the premise: you take a good old fashioned augmented reality setup, the likes of which we’ve seen all over the land, and attach a three-dimensional, rotatable iPhone to it. Not impressed yet, are you? Neither were we, but there’s some secret sauce to this one: you can actually launch apps on the simulated iPhone. That extra layer of interactivity makes the video after the break a lot more fascinating than it has any right to be, though it’s worth pointing out that we don’t think the apps are actually usable — they just give the illusion of launching. Anyhow, don’t wait around while all the cool kids are watching it, go have a gander yourself.
Continue reading iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing
iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Layar now adding layers of augmented reality to iPhone
Since your Android handset-owning friends and colleagues can’t have all the phone, Layar has finally made the leap to iPhone. It’s now available in the iTunes app store for the enticing price of nada, with its own third-party ecosystem to boot — only iPhone 3GS customers need apply, though, since without the magnetometer this is kind of a wash. We’ve only spent a few minutes with the new version, but it seems like much of our initial impressions from August seem to hold true, for better and for worse. But don’t take our word for it, download away! [Warning: iTunes link]
[Via Wired]
Filed under: Cellphones
Layar now adding layers of augmented reality to iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 14th, 2009
at 11:21pm by Ross Miller
Topics: Apple, Ar, Augmented Reality, AugmentedReality, Iphone3gs, IphoneApp, app, iPhone, iTunes, iphone 3gs, iphone app, layer
Android’s Best Augmented Reality App Hits the iPhone [IPhone Apps]
Layar, the first camera-based AR app to really blow us (or anyone) away, has quietly slipped into the App Store. As with the Android version, the app overlays all kinds of information onto a live view of the world around you.
Since OS 3.1 dropped, giving devs (almost) open access to the iPhone’s camera we’ve seen a minor avalanche of augmented reality apps hit the store; some have been interesting, like Yelp’s, but most feel a little bit like tech demos. Layar, for what it’s worth, has grown up since we last saw it: now you can overlay all kinds of data, from geotagged Wikipedia entries to Flickr photos to local Tweets.
You don’t need a 3GS to use it—UPDATE: Oh, maybe you do—but without the compass function you kind of lose the WTF LIFE HUD appeal, and the app feels more like a party trick than a useful tool. Layar is live (and free) in the App Store as we speak. [Layar via Gadget Lab]
Posted: October 14th, 2009
at 5:59pm by John Herrman
Topics: Ar, Augmented Reality, Layar iphone, Smartphones, apps, iPhone, iPhone Apps, layar, software
