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  Joe 09:19 on December 3, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: android ( 11 ), AR ( 15 ), AugmentedReality ( 15 ), geo ( 3 ), Geolocation ( 3 ), geotagging ( 4 ), IPhone ( 6 ), layar ( 19 ), tweeps ( 2 ), tweepsaround ( 5 ), tweet ( 2 ), Twitter ( 10 )   

  Tweepsaround updated for Layar 3D 

  

  Tweeps Around 3D view

  The popular Augmented Reality app Layar just got updated to a very exciting new version with support for a 3D Reality View and a couple of other neat features.

  I’m proud to announce a new version of the Tweeps Around layer, with the following improvements:

  • The images of tweeting people are shown in 3D in space, just as they are around you
  • Support for the new native geotagging feature of Twitter
  • You can now reply and post new tweets (status updates)
  • Your tweets will be geotagged with your current location (optional)

  Like to experience this yourself? Make sure you have the latest version of Layar installed in your iPhone (free download in App Store) or Android powered device (free download from Android Market).

  You need a Twitter account with geolocation eneabled to send local tweets yourself (no worries, Tweeps Around will guide you through the process when you first log into Twitter).

  Related articles by Zemanta

  • Layar 3.0 Is Ready To Add New Layers To Your (Mobile) Reality (techcrunch.com)
  • Layar AR goes 3D (makezine.com)
  • Augmented reality to be a $732 million market by 2014? (venturebeat.com)
  • Location aware and augmented reality applications need better gps accuracy (matei.org)
  • Layar Tells CNN: Augmented Reality Will Be Second Only to Voice On Phones (readwriteweb.com)
  • New Version of Layar Makes Augmented Reality Social (readwriteweb.com)
  • Layar: Augmented Reality App Featuring Twitter and Wikipedia Now on iPhone (mashable.com)
  • Tweetie 2.1 Hits The App Store With Lists, Retweets, Geolocation And More (techcrunch.com)
  • Layar 3.0 reunites the Beatles in 3D augmented reality (engadget.com)
  • Layar Adds Foursquare, Beatlemania and Civic Projects to its AR Offerings (readwriteweb.com)

  

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  Joe 01:39 on November 20, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: AR ( 15 ), AugmentedReality ( 15 ), geo ( 3 ), geotagging ( 4 ), layar ( 19 ), mobile ( 8 ), tweeps ( 2 ), tweepsaround ( 5 ), tweet ( 2 ), Twitter ( 10 )   

  TweepsAround now uses Geotagging 

  

  Local tweet in Tweeps Around

  Right now Twitter released their long awaited Geotagging API and activated the user interface for every user: Think Globally, Tweet Locally!

  This allows every twitter user who uses a (mobile) device that is capable of determining their location, to annotate their tweets with exact location. This makes Tweeps Around so much more useful! Up to now, the location had to be parsed from the user’s profile location field, which some clients indeed dutifully update with the location of the last posted tweet. But this is often rather inaccurate, as the last update is kept when no location data is available.

  

  Twitter: mobile geo activation screen

  So, we will get real exact locations and – as can be expected – many more location annotated tweets. That is, if users are willing to activate the geotagging setting and use the feature. It is switched off by default, for privacy reasons, so you have to manually activate it under your twitter account settings (the mobile settings lead to just one activate button).

  Be sure to check out Tweeps Around the coming days and let’s see how fast this catches on!

  BTW: in Tweeps Areond, the officially geotagged tweets are indicated with Distance 234m, whereas the guessed locations are prefixed with a tilde character, like this: Distance ~234m.

  Direct link to Tweeps Around Layer (open from your mobile phone, iPhone or Android).
  

  Related articles by Zemanta

  • Now You Can Tell Twitter Where You Are (mashable.com)
  • Twitter API Gets Geotagging; Web Geotagging Coming Soon? (readwriteweb.com)
  • Good API design at Twitter (scripting.com)

  

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  Joe 11:03 on November 18, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: AR ( 15 ), Flickr ( 3 ), foursquare ( 2 ), layar ( 19 ), webdev ( 2 ), yql   

  Adding Flickr photos to Foursquare using YQL 

  

  Image by miss604 via Flickr

  Browsing the updated Foursquare development documents I came across a real nice hidden gem: it appears that the Flickr folks have enabled so called machine tags to associate a photo with a Foursquare venue.

  The almost hidden quote from the Flickr Developer blog:

  This is the part where I casually mention that we’ve also added machine tags extra love for Four Square venues IDs. I’m just saying…

  Now how cool would it be to display a little photo on my Foursquare Layar venue detail pages?
  Remembering @codepo8‘s execellent talk at the Fronteers conference last week, I realized that this is where the really cool YQL engine comes in really handy.

  And indeed, the following query does it all:

  select * from flickr.photos.search
      where machine_tags="foursquare:venue=132009"
      limit 1

  Just save the REST command url, wrap it in a little PHP handler and we’re good to go (homework for next time: process the YQL response in XML format with js/e4x and skip the PHP part altogether).

  So now you will see a little thumbnail picture for every venue which has a photo tagged on Flickr. There aren’t many yet, but hey, it’s a start!

  See it in action in the Foursquare Layar app on your phone (iPhone, Android) or read my announcement for more background information about the foursquare layar app.

  Somewhat related articles by Zemanta

  • Small pieces, loosely joined by machine tags (adactio.com)
  • Zee.: Noticings is Foursquare for photo sharers (thenextweb.com)
  • Noticings: Geotagging Photo Game Powered by Flickr API (readwriteweb.com)

  

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  Joe 19:07 on November 16, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: android ( 11 ), foursquare ( 2 ), geo ( 3 ), Geolocation ( 3 ), geotagging ( 4 ), IPhone ( 6 ), layar ( 19 ), lbs, mobile ( 8 )   

  Announcing Foursquare for Layar app 

  

  Image via CrunchBase

  Today Dennis Crowley from Foursquare gave an excellent presentation at  Mobile Monday, Amsterdam edition (#momoams on Twitter).

  If you were there, you now know everything about the city as playground (pacmanhattan.com) and personal metrics.

  I’m very grateful and proud that he took the opportunity to announce my Foursquare application for Layar, which allows you to use the most popular features of Foursquare from Layar.

  What it is

  Foursquare is a very popular social network game which integrates virtual social networks with the real world. Friends meet friends in cafes and bars and let each other know where they hang out. If you haven’t yet, it is definitely worth to check it out.

  The Foursquare Layar app gives you access to the most frequently used features of the network.

  • Show venues around you, including which people are frequenting them, who is the mayor and user tips what to do.
  • Find nearby tips what to do and see at a glance what makes a location special.
  • Check in to a venue and let your friends know that you hang out there.

  

  Open Layer with foursquare

  A basic version of these views is accessible even when you’re not signed in to Foursquare, which gives you an excellent opportunity to look around before jumping in and signing up (I’m quiet sure you will eventually plunge in and sign up to connect with your friends)!

  These views are greatly enhanced when you’re signed-in. Then all venues where you or your friends have checked in are prioritized and highlighted. Tips from friends stand out. And you’re able to view what users have on their profile, which “badges” they earned and so on.

  Give it a spin: open the Foursquare Layer on your mobile device.

  (More …)

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  uberVU - social comments, Joe, strongabs, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    Raimo 20:08 on November 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Excellent work!!

  • 

    Andrew Warner 23:55 on November 16, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    This is spectacular!

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    strongabs 01:17 on November 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Very good implementation, but my question is ‘why?’.

    Why would a Foursquare (FS) user not simply use the native iPhone and Android FS application? Why would they want to use Layar and burn up their batteries in minutes? FS says their application doesn’t use the geolocating/battery burning capabilities of the phone, so I would think hardcore users would much rather the native application. Also the native application is available on the older iPhone models that don’t require the new api, etc.

    • 

      Joe 10:06 on November 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      @strongabs you are right that both mobile platforms (android, iphone) have excellent apps for Foursquare. The Layar app uses a slightly different perspective: you are primarily looking around you (geolocation), see what happens right now in your direct neighborhood. Some aspects include:

      view tips and venues without logging in to Foursquare (even without a foursquare account)
      use any of the handy Layar features to switch between AR view, plot locations on a map or even get routing directions
      it’s fun to see what your pals are doing in reality view

      Of course the value of this all is very subjective to the end user (except that currently the GPS is indeed draining the battery like mad).

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  Joe 23:57 on November 10, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: cakephp ( 2 ), codeigniter, framework, pear, php ( 8 ), symfony, zend   

  Choice of PHP Frameworks 

  

  Image via Wikipedia

  As of today there is a Tweet Poll running with the question: Which PHP opensource framework do you mostly use?
  An interesting question because the market of PHP frameworks appears pretty fragmented after 750+ votes are cast. Leading is Zend Framework (does this qualify as Open Source?), followed by Symfony, Cake PHP, CodeIgniter, all around 10%. There are also a few stray ones: I don’t consider PEAR a framework and the choice “my own” can be disputed as well.

  For now there is no clear winner, something I already had that gut feeling about. Wonder where this is going to stabilize (and of course, how representative the twitter votes are anyway). See for yourself, the embedded graph below should stay up to date and you may cast your vote if you ike.

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  • PHP Frameworks Comparison – Part 1 (completeopensource.blogspot.com)
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  • Discussing PHP Frameworks: What, When, Why and Which? (noupe.com)
  • Exploring PHP Frameworks: CodeIgniter (woorkup.com)
  • Top Best PHP Frameworks to build quickly complex web applications (woorkup.com)

  

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  Joe 17:03 on September 24, 2009 Permalink
  Tags: 3d, android ( 11 ), Augmented reality ( 3 ), AugmentedReality ( 15 ), layar ( 19 ), mobile ( 8 ), Mobile device ( 2 ), opengl, Second Life, Virtual Reality ( 2 ), virtual tour, Virtual world   

  Layar 3D: Second Life meets Real World 

  How cool would it be if Second Life was not constrained to its own virtual world, but existed right here, as an overlay on the real world around you?

  I tried it at least twice, but never really “got into” Second Life. Maybe because it is too “virtual” for me, too much disconnected from real people and real places. But what if the existing environment could be enhanced with – well… anything goes! Some examples:

  • A virtual tour through an ancient Roman settlement which existed once around the 3rd age
  • A virtual guide telling you about the history of a building (with audio and video)
  • Time travel: see this place how it evolved over time
  • Architectural development: project 3D renderings of a future building on a construction site
  • Yourself with a virtual “skin”, symbolizing some character you play in a role playing game
  • …and then: options to connect in the real world, connect the real you with the game character somehow
  • Education: labeling items such as buildings, trees, traffic signs and attach quizzes about their meaning
  • Remember the crazy Japanese gadget called Lovegetty? Oh well…
  • See? really, the sky is the limit!

  That was one of the dreams I had when thinking about the future possibilities of Augmented Reality applications, such as Layar, but then equipped with a real 3D rendering engine and real-time update possibilities.

  It looks like this future is actually right around the corner with the announcement of Layar 3D, yesterday. Not all of this will be readily available – let alone work smooth enough on today’s mobile devices, but the start is definitely here and soon available on a handset near you.

  Some videos from the announcement embedded below, be sure to check out the Layar 3D site as well!

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