PortalToYourDreams: november 2009

Welcome to Augmented Reality (V2_ AR Ecosystem Event 2009)

It is predicted to become a mass phenomenon by 2014. This month's US ESQUIRE magazine features AR-enriched pages. The City of Amsterdam is using AR for a new travel-to-work initiative, and if you have seen videos of The Fun Theory (an initiative of Volkswagen) you know that AR can be used to promote public health and better waste management. Most importantly, Dutch company Layar this year won a prize at Picnic for its AR browser tool for mobile phones. This morning I used my iPhone to scan the Twitter messages people had sent in my immediate neighbourhood, and could see their profiles. At a recent summit I attended for Deutsche Telekom in Berlin someone said to me: "With Layar, Europe has for once scored a point before and ahead of the US!"

It's an honor to have Layar with us this coming Friday at V2_ Institute, along with Wikitude from Salzburg and award-winning Clanmo from Munich in Germany are planning to join us live on skype.

What is AR?
How could AR impact on your field, your sector, your industry and your projects? That's what we will explore at our V2_ AR Ecosystem event for which you have signed up. Welcome to all our 70+ registered guests! Read on in order to get a better idea and feeling for this strange new thing called Augmented Reality.

What is it, you want to know? Augmented Reality means to add layars onto our reality. Often these extra layers come from databases like Wikipedia and others, the internet, social media and other available data that can make the world around us more vibrant, more complex, more informative. Read the Economist article on AR for an overview.

Examples
But that's not all. Accessing deeper layers of information through intelligent, self-aware mobile phones is just one way to use (and abuse?) Augmented Reality as the links below this text show for BMW, AR in the City, Online Shopping, Culture & Heritage, Education and Entertainment.

AR RFID Lab (ARLAB) from Den Hague will join us on Friday to show how else AR can be explored and used. You will see Ferenc Molnar awesome play with AR in public spaces, and Truus Dokter of ItFits will share with you AR's implications for the fashion industry; also represent Second Sight Trend magazine and reviewing the event for hotter-than-hot PSFK.

Who you will meet on Friday ...
We are joined by visionaries from Tom Tom, Dell, Diageo, Vodafone, and 180/RIOT all of whom are either interested in AR developments or pioneering them already. The innovations director at Swiss Com is expected to join us to share how she is driving AR forward in Zurich. Architects and interior designers will be with us, as will be Mediamatic, Tedx Amsterdam, Creative Machinery, Digital Pioneers and many more.
We also welcome the City of Utrecht, TU Delft, The Future Institute and many more educational institutes with both teachers and students. And not to forget a fantastic selection of artists who are pushing the boundaries of AR in their fields and the entrepreneurs who should be looking in their direction for the next insights. We also plan to have two surprise Skype guests virtually join us on Friday, and a performance from a Canadian artist recently chosen as one of 30 young thought leaders at Palomar 5 in Berlin. There to spot such diverse talent will be Young Executive Recruitment.

Get ready for your date with the future!
To build on this enormous diversity and make the most of our time together on Friday we want to ask you to prepare yourselves!

* Please join our Ning social network ahead of the event to get to know your ecosystem. If you haven't received an invitation please email us at events@ .... For every participant who joins the Ning network before the event we have a special offer from Boom Chicago's brand-new show "Upgrade or Die" - a hilariously funny and intelligent look at how new media, social media, and new technology are affecting our lives ... not to be missed.

* Have a look at the Prezi link below and ask yourself which of the four (future) worlds you and your industry are in at the moment. We created these scenarios together with V2_ in the preparation for the event using the Scenario Planning tool PortalToYourDreams builds to market strategies and for mobile technology and urban issues.

http://prezi.com/lbhgwhl529xj/

* Bring questions, examples, ideas, problems with you on Friday. Maybe you're worried about privacy, intellectual property, or other issues surrounding new technology in general? Perhaps you think that AR is overblown? Your concerns are welcome on Friday.

* Follow us on Twitter (twitter/KwelaHermanns) for daily news and updates on Friday and Portal2Dreams for image rich analysis on AR trends.

* Get involved on Friday. We don't just want to see you, we want to hear you! Your opinions, your questions, your reservations and your potential for future projects and collaborations. We see this emerging ecosystem growing (up) ... with you.

PortalToYourDreams is delighted to host this event on behalf of all of you and V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media. We thank everyone who continues to help make this event the first of its kind in The Netherlands. Special thanks to MultimediaN who are sponsoring this unique event. Post your reactions on Ning and / or LinkedIN by following the links below to find out how AR effects your industry:

Real Time Seamless Data Navigation
The Sixth Sense, AR presented by Fontanel at TED
http://www.fontanel.nl/artikelen/the-sixth-sense

Education
Beyond Tomorrow, how Augmented Reality will transform education.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKw_Mp5YkaE

Transportation
BMW Augmented Reality glasses for engine repair, anyone can become an automotive technician by wearing them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UA_PgBpiws