The Future of Video Conferencing: Life-size 3-D Holograms

A Queen's University researcher has created a life-size 3-D video conferencing pod that allows people in different locations to video conference as if they are standing in front of each other.

"Why Skype when you can talk to a life-size 3-D holographic image of another person?" said professor Roel Vertegaal, director of the Human Media Lab.

With TeleHuman, two people simply stand infront of their own life-size cylindrical pods and talks to a 3-D hologram-like images of each other. Cameras capture and track 3-D video and convert into the life-size image.

The 3-D video image is visible 360 degrees around the pod, which allows the people to walk around it to see the other person's side or back.

The pod includes a 3-D projector, a 1.8 meter-tall translucent acrylic cylinder and a convex mirror.

Obama Wants Government Apps From All Agencies Next Year

Today, the Obama Administration went all 21st century on its federal agencies.

In an effort to accelerate efforts to provide consumers new and useful services on their mobile devices, President Obama issued a directive requiring that each major federal agency make two key government services available on mobile phones within the next 12 months.

The administration is also ramping up its efforts to make large amounts of government data more accessible to the public, which they hope will spur entrepreneurs to develop innovative new services and mobile applications.

President Obama said, “Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device. By making important services accessible from your phone and sharing government data with entrepreneurs, we are giving hard-working families and businesses tools that will help them succeed.” 

So, what should we expect from our favorite government agencies next year? We'd like to see some sort of TSA app that makes airport security less of a hassle. And let's make use of GPS integration to make that whole "See Something, Say Something" campaign capable of real-time response.

What else would you like to see, readers?

Augmented Reality Glasses Starting to Take Off

Google isn’t the only company moving into the “smart glasses” space. In fact, several companies worldwide are nipping at its heels.

The Wall Street Journal reported that warehouse employees at one company use head-mounted devices to help them navigate the staggering amount of merchandise in their 22,000-square-foot facility. Digital information is displayed over each worker’s eye, giving them visual directions through a Wi-Fi connection and helping them to navigate through the 1.4 million items shelved there.

The technology even confirms that the employee picked the right product, cutting down on errors by 60 percent—not to mention the fact that it frees up their hands.

The augmented reality device is made by Knapp AG, an Austrian firm, and costs $13,000. Meanwhile, Google plans to launch its Google Glass device next year, as smaller companies like Lumus Ltd., Vuzix Corp., Laster TechnologiesSAS and Recon Instruments Inc. work on their own prototypes that will do anything from “transmit turn-by-turn directions so people won't have to look away from the road while driving, to displays built into ski helmets that show skiers how fast they are cutting through the snow,” the WSJ reports:

Some computer scientists increasingly envision a world in which people wear glasses-like devices with a built-in camera and use apps that can recognize objects and faces—using technology called "computer vision"—and automatically retrieve information about those objects from the Web or other sources.

For example, an American visiting another country could wear such a device and run a translation app to overlay English on foreign-language billboards, street signs and store fronts.

"By 2020, the world will have perfect augmented vision," said Dave Lorenzini, who designs augmented-reality apps and related businesses at consulting firm Augmented Reality Co. "It's like creating the Internet again but inside the real world."

Facial Recognition to Help Identify the Famous Faces of Art

 

The secret behind Mona Lisa’s smile may soon be cracked, thanks to facial recognition technology.

Professor Conrad Rudolph, a professor of medieval art history at the University of California at Riverside, has won funding to use advanced facial recognition technology to try to solve the mysteries of some of the world's most famous works of art. Rudolph wants to apply cutting-edge forensic science to thousands of portraits and busts where the identity of the subject has been lost.

Rudolph’s team will use facial recognition software on death masks of known individuals and then compare them to busts and portraits. If the software can find a match where Rudolph and his team know one exists, then it shows the technique works and can be used on unknown subjects to see if it can match them up with known identities.

The identity of the subjects of some of the most famous pictures in the world are unknown, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, a 17th-century portrait. The truth behind several paintings of Shakespeare – such as the Chandos portrait and the Cobbe portrait – has also been much disputed. It is possible facial recognition software could help solve these mysteries.

The Guardian tells us how:

To be identified, the subject of a portrait would need to be matched to the identity of another named person in a separate picture. But Rudolph has some tricks up his sleeve. He believes that another forensic technique – whereby an "ageing" programme is run on a subject – could also help solve art mysteries. In fighting crime the software is usually used to produce "adult" pictures of children who have been missing for many years. But it could see if the Girl with a Pearl Earring had been painted again as a much older woman, whose identity might be known.

Away from the high-profile cases there are a legion of other unknown subjects that might be more easily identified. In many works from before the 19th century wealthy patrons often inserted themselves, their families or friends and business associates into crowd scenes.

Facial recognition technology could be used to identify some of these people from already known works and thus provide insight into personal, political and business relationships of the day. In other cases families in wealthy homes commissioned busts of relatives that were often sold when estates went bankrupt or families declined.

SceneTap Facial Recognition Coming to a Club Near You

Get ready, Bay Area clubbers: SceneTap is heading your way this weekend.

The facial recognition technology is being adopted by clubs and bars across the country to help customers get a sneak peek at the nightlife and crowds on a given night.

SceneTap is already being used in multiple cities: Austin, Texas; Bloomington, Ind.; Gainesville, Fla.; Athens, Ga.; and Madison, Wis. It was originally rolled out in 50 Chicago-area venues in 2011.

As of Friday, the technology will be in 25 bars in the San Francisco area as well.

How does it work? SceneTap uses special cameras places throughout a club or bar to tell users what kind of crowd is there, in real-time. Users download the SceneTap app for free, then can get clued into the demographics of any member bar’s crowd.

Don’t worry: The information isn’t shared with police, and the venue doesn’t even have access to the video footage. Cole Harper, the CEO of Texas-based SceneTap, insists that the technology is not any more intrusive on your privacy than showing the bouncer your ID.

"We've been privacy advocates from day one," Harper told NBC. "SceneTap helps increase foot traffic by matching up people with the scene for them. So if you're with a group looking to grab a drink at a table and have an audible conversation, you can find a place ahead of time that isn't too crowded. On the other hand, if you're looking for a busier atmosphere, SceneTap can help you find that scene, too."