The View From Above: In Hard Focus Round-Up (August 10, 2011)

Layar Vision > QR Codes? We've all seen the emergence of QR codes across bus stop posters, magazine pages and storefront windows. Well, a new company called Layar says that its recognition protocol (to recognize real world objects and display digital experiences on top of them) says they have a one-up on the tagging technology. As Kit Eaton from Fast Company puts it, "In one swoop it may have turned AR apps from intriguing, inspiring, and occasionally useful toys into serious tools for information discovery and, of course, advertising. Let's call it hacking the real world." An example of the next wave of AR? Check out the video to see Layar in action. 

Facial Recognition Going Mainstream: SceneTap. Viewdle. Social Camera. FaceR Celebrity. What do they have in common? They were all featured in a Wall Street Journal piece on the widespread emergence of facial recognition apps in recent months. Whether it's used to match your face with the celebrity you look most similar to, recognize your TV preferences before you even touch the remote control, or to access apps on your Android using Visidon AppLock, looks like facial recognition is here to stay – and delivering value in all sorts of new ways. 

New 3D Imaging System Developed At MIT: Looks like researchers at the prestigious school have developed a new imaging device to "manufacturers inspect their products, forensics experts identify weapons, and doctors identify cancers." A combination of physical interface and computer-vision algorithms, GelSight is capable of achieving resolutions only possibly previously with much more expensive (and larger!) lab equipment.