The XRAI Glass company collaborated with augmented reality firm Nreal to harness the power of their existing AR glasses and use translation software that can be downloaded onto any smartphone.

Commenting on the release of this breakthrough invention, XRAI Glass CEO Dan Scarfe says, “We are so proud of the ability this innovative technology has to enrich the lives of people who are deaf and have hearing loss, so that they can maximize potential. Whether that means being able to have a conversation while continuing to make dinner or keeping a conversation going while walking with a friend. The scale of the opportunity is huge.”

Scarfe got the inspiration for the glasses after watching his grandfather struggle to keep up with conversations at family gatherings. “There was just a little epiphany moment where I thought, ‘Hang on a second. He watches TV all the time with subtitles. Why can’t we subtitle the world?’”

The idea is already receiving rave reviews from deaf and hard of hearing advocacy groups. “This is a great example of the positive difference innovative technology can make for people who are deaf or have hearing loss,” says Mark Atkinson, CEO of RNID, a British hearing loss charity. “At RNID we are excited about the potential for technology to transform the lives of our communities. XRAI glass is intuitive and simple to use and could be a powerful tool in ensuring people with hearing loss don’t feel excluded in social settings. We support and applaud this endeavor and are keen to play our part in connecting innovators with our diverse communities.”

Steve Crump, the founder and chair of DeafKidz International, personally attests to the viability of XRAI Glass. “As a profoundly deaf person myself, I was blown away by this technology. When I tried on the glasses, I was astonished – real-time subtitles that enable you to engage and participate as never before. I see XRAI Glass as a hugely positive force, and I can’t wait to work with the team to help bring this to life.”

He adds: “To me, this technology enables me to be involved. It empowers…me to be in the conversation in the moment. I’m getting a real-time stream of subtitled information where ordinarily I might be behind. I might not quite catch everything, but this is giving me a real-time narrative which … enables me to make decisions because I know what is being said.”

The product is initially launching only in the United Kingdom, where there are more than 12 million adults affected by deafness or hearing loss. If successful, the glasses and app could have global implications, as it ‘s estimated that more than 5 percent of the world’s population, or 430 million people, suffer from disabling hearing loss, including 70 million suffering from full-blown deafness. XRAI Glass is currently working to develop software that could also translate any language.

The post AR Glasses Allow Deaf People to “See” Conversations first appeared on Dornob.

The design of the bridge looks deceptively simple. It’s made of metal, with a solid surface to step on and chain link mesh on either side for safety. But figuring out exactly how to support it took some experimentation. “It was a long-distance run with occasional sprints from initial design, through design to completion of construction,” say the architects. “Professionalism, precision, and hard work [are at] the top of the list. How else to describe the more than 100 bridge variants, the countless structural analyses and calculations, the demanding coordination of design, production, logistics, and finally the construction itself.”

To access the bridge, visitors either take the ski resort’s chairlift to the entrance, or they can walk or bike all the way up the nearly 2.5-mile-long trail. Though it takes longer to cross, the experience of braving the Sky Bridge 721 is at least slightly less scary than that of China’s Hongyagu Scenic Area, which spans 1,601 feet and features a walkway made of glass panels. China has at least 60 such glass bridges, in fact (some of which have been known to crack on occasion).

Sky Bridge 721 overthrew the previous record-holder for the official title of “World’s Longest Suspension Bridge,” the 516 Arouca Bridge in Portugal. The runners-up include the Kokonoe Yume Bridge in Japan (1,280 feet) and the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge in Switzerland (1,621 feet).

Sky Bridge 721 adds yet another reason to visit the Dolní Morava resort, whether you’re actually staying there or not. Previously, the area’s biggest draw was the Sky Walk Dolní Morava, a unique wooden structure spiraling from ground level to a height of 180 feet. Pedestrians climb the Sky Walk for beautiful views of the mountains as well as the valley of the River Morava. In the summertime, everything is lush and green. In winter, it’s shrouded in white, and most visitors also take advantage of spectacular skiing, bobsledding, and other snow-oriented activities.

The Sky Bridge and Sky Walk are also part of the “Bridge of Time,” an educational trail and game created as a collaboration between LESY ČR (Forests of the Czech Republic), the municipality of Dolní Morava, and the Museum of Czechoslovak Fortifications from 1935 to 1938. The Bridge of Time includes augmented reality elements and 10 educational panels, engaging visitors with both history and topics of environmental protection.

“An integral part of the game is the light fortification object at the beginning of the game (the so-called digger, “řopík”), from which you continue along a 2-kilometer-long marked route with educational panels,” the architects explain. “In order to complete the game, it is necessary to own a now-common smartphone and have access to the internet. Educational panels with tasks are arranged thematically and in time so that after nearly an hour’s easy walk along the marked trails, each visitor is brought back to the present. That is, to the starting point at the Slaměnka Hut.”

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Announced at its annual Google I/O Event in May, the “immersive view” feature uses 3D mapping and machine learning to create an augmented reality version of some of the most popular cities in the world. With a combination of aerial and street level images, viewers can “explore a place like never before.”

“With our new immersive view, you’ll be able to experience what a neighborhood, landmark, restaurant, or popular venue is like — and even feel like you’re right there before you ever set foot inside,” says Miriam Daniel, a VP of Google Maps.

It has been a goal for many years to be able to give users this kind of virtual world tour.

“We’re able to fuse those [images] together,” says Liz Reid, a VP of engineering at Google, “so that we can actually understand, okay, these are the heights of the buildings. How do we combine that with Street View? How do we combine it with aerial view to make something that feels much more like you were there? It’s a thing where we had demos years ago, …but it didn’t really work. Now the technology has come a long way into making it feel pretty natural.”

Viewers can fly around a city at bird’s eye level and then zoom in at street level on a particular block. With its time slider, Google Maps will provide glimpses of pedestrian and auto traffic at different times of day as well as a visual weather forecasts for the area.

What’s more, people can even check out the insides of local restaurants, with static images being neural rendered to create an AR style tour.

When this feature rolls out later this year, it will include just a few neighborhoods in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, but more cities are in the works.

Google has also been implementing a Live View feature that gives users directions with digital arrows, pointing the way in AR views of their actual surroundings. Its available to help with outdoor sidewalks and roads as well as confusing indoor spaces like airports, malls, and train stations.

The technology that powers this real-time view and tracking is called ARCore Geospatioal API and the company is now making it available to developers for free to implement in their own apps. For example, an electric vehicle company is piloting the API in places like London, Paris, and Tel Aviv to help riders find appropriate parking spots for their e-bikes and e-scooters. And companies in Australia are using it to help guests find their seats, restrooms, and concession stands at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.

And in another way to “interact with both the digital and physical worlds at once,” companies DOCOMO and Curiosity are creating a game that lets players fight virtual dragons in front of Google Maps AR backdrops of iconic Tokyo landmarks.

As Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in his Google I/O speech this year, “It’s exciting to build these products; it’s even more exciting to see what people do with them.”

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Naturally, people like Mark Zuckerberg are leading the way by touting the future of AR; namely through glasses (or goggles) that allow users to experience an augmented alternate reality, a place in the metaverse that allows humans to play and work with their virtual counterparts a la the Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future.

It’s no surprise that Zuckerberg’s ambitions for AR are, for lack of a better word, stratospheric—some may even say that he has already created the ultimate in so-called reality through his social media empire. However, the AR glasses are signs of a whole new frontier in expanding our place in the metaverse; dubbed by Zuckerberg as a “holy grail” device that will forever change our relationships with technology, spurring Facebook’s rebrand to Meta last year and solidifying its place as the ultimate metaverse juggernaut: aka “the future of the internet.”

Despite his lofty ambitions for the future of AR (and his willingness to fence with a hologram Picard-style during a presentation last October), the actual reality of these glasses exists more in the actual future—not light years away, but a prospect that, at this stage, is more virtual than reality. Currently, the aim is to have the first gen ready to go by 2024, with more advanced designs following in both 2026 and 2028—however, without even an existing prototype in the works, Zucker’s Meta demonstration is currently just that: a demonstration, not based on any currently developed hardware or software, according to The Verge.

While a price point has not yet been revealed, given the high cost of development, it’s expected to be higher than Meta’s Quest VR headset currently priced at $299. There is also rumor of a cheaper version of smart glasses codenamed Hypernova in the works for a 2024 release that would digitally tether to your smartphone.

However, don’t pack in your ambitions to match bat’leths with Worf just yet. Even though the AR glasses and their technology seem to be in the early stages of development, the project, dubbed Project Nazare, has higher stakes than simply allowing you to (virtually) visit the pleasure planet of Risa on your downtime—it’s a huge statement on not only the future of the metaverse, but on Facebook’s ability to stay relevant and at the leading edge of innovation.

Simply rebranding as Meta is not enough; akin to smoke and mirrors or an adept sleight of hand, the ambition of Zuckerberg has not yet been surpassed by the real-life realization of the AR goggles—a project Meta has already sunk billions of dollars into developing. Additionally, like a new age Napoleon intent on innovation (and perhaps domination), Zuckerberg’s Meta has also announced future plans for both AR and VR hardware, despite Project Nazare’s delay in production and development.

So what does this mean for Zuckerberg’s vision for AR advancement that hopes to make a splash in the tech world as big as Apple made with the introduction of iPhones? Unfortunately, us mere mortals will have to wait and see; and, for now, live vicariously through our Star Trek counterparts and hope that someday soon, AR will find its way through the wormhole.

The post When Will Mark Zuckerberg’s AR Goggles Become Actual Reality? first appeared on Dornob.

But it’s not just the architecture and design spheres playing pivotal parts in sustainable urban integration projects. Many artists are also sharing their talents to create interactive environments that encourage a more harmonious relationship between nature and the urban sprawl. The new “Bird’s Eye View” installation in New York’s Battery Park aims to do just that.

Opened on Earth Day last month, the art installation isn’t just interactive — it uses augmented reality to show viewers all the bird species that live and travel through Manhattan’s waterways through the lens of their very own smartphones. Dubbed “Bird’s-Eye View,” the installation is the work of NYC artist Shuli Sadé, whose display consists of both photographs and original watercolors of local birds.

By scanning one of the 70 designated QR codes found on the signs along the water, visitors are virtually transported to a magical and often overlooked world in the sky. The immersive experience also includes snippets of bird songs, information about the birds’ habits and migratory patterns, and carefully curated lines of poetry that “draw parallels between the repetitive nature of bird sounds and syllables in poems.” Bird’s Eye View offers visitors a unique glimpse into the lives of 30 migratory bird species that frequent the skies above the Hudson River and can often be seen in flight above Battery Park City’s many gardens and parks.

While a focus on biodiversity and sustainability is nothing new to the 92-acre park, this dynamic installation means to further cement the Battery Park City Authority’s (BPCA) commitment to both “establishing Battery Park City as a biodiversity haven and bringing [the] community temporary art installations that transform [public spaces]…and encourage social cohesion,” according to B.J. Jones, president and CEO of the BPCA.

As Sadé recently explained, “One of the early goals of this artwork was to heighten our awareness of the environment in urban surroundings.” These images, sounds, and interactive displays do exactly that by connecting us to nature in a new way, blurring the lines that often exist between the virtual and the natural through art meant to educate, inspire, and promote biodiversity.

The post Fly with the Birds in Battery Park City’s New AR Installation first appeared on Dornob.

Working with retailers like West Elm, Walmart, and Crate & Barrel, Pinterest will offer a new feature on its app’s “Lens camera” that lets you see a virtual product against the backdrop of your space.

This isn’t Pinterest’s first time using AR technology. The image sharing service introduced its “Try On” feature in 2020 for beauty products, allowing users to test makeup shades through the camera, purchase the products directly, or save the image for later reference. Last year, Pinterest also launched “Idea Pins,” an interactive way for creators to share videos of their recipes or projects layered with shoppable content. The new “Try On Home Decor” app feature is the biggest attempt to monetize Pins the company has come up with yet, offering over 80,000 pieces of furniture to test.

Here’s how it works. When browsing Pinterest, look for Pins that have a cube icon displayed on the upper left corner. When you click it, you’ll see an option to “try in your space.” This opens your outward-facing camera, which you’ll be prompted to move around the room until you find the spot where you want to test the object. Once it’s in the right spot, click the check button to save the photo. From there, you can choose to click a link to the retailer’s website to purchase.

IKEA’s version of this service dropped way back in 2013, so it’s not exactly a new idea. But Pinterest offers a different experience. Users aren’t limited to the offerings of a single store. “Retailers are happy to work with us because they know people don’t typically buy their entire bedroom set from one company,” says Jeremy King, senior Vice President of Engineering at Pinterest. “They want a chance to mix and match.”

Obviously, viewing these items through the tiny screen of your phone isn’t the same as seeing them in real life. Once augmented reality technology is more widely available, perhaps headsets or glasses will offer a way of viewing the scene that feels more natural. Virtual objects that respond to the ambient light and shadow in the room would help, too. Many brands consider AR to be the next big thing in shopping, and they’re investing a lot of resources into making it work, so improvements like these could be on the way soon.

A 2021 Bizrate survey found that about half of adults in the United States are at least somewhat interested in augmented reality shopping, and young people are already leading the way by using copious AR filters on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Pinterest says the number of Pinners engaging with shopping features on Pinterest has continued to increase over the last year, and “Try On for Beauty” usage by Gen Z and Millennials increased by 28 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

“Since the pandemic began, we’re seeing more digitally savvy shoppers than ever before, as millions of people now expect virtual and mobile options to try before they buy, see personalized recommendations, and gather information as part of their decision making process,” says King. “These behaviors are happening across Pinterest every day, which is why we’re continuing to advance technologies like AR Try On and make Pinterest a full-funnel shopping destination that takes people from inspiration to purchase anywhere in the app.”

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Swiss brand LAUFEN, who manufactures designer bathrooms, teamed up with architects Gabrielle Hächler and Andreas Fuhrimann to create what feels like a fever dream of bizarre bathroom concepts highlighting its products. Each one tries to capture a different mood with graphics, videos, animations, and soundscapes, taking you on a journey through a series of spaces where you may or may not notice LAUFEN’s toilets, sinks, tubs, and other bathroom fixtures making appearances in between all the weirdness.

The URBAN room is described as “a platform of hope and reflection,” featuring industrial machinery, birds, a UFO, and quite a few dystopian elements alongside the brand’s products.

The DESERT room full of cacti, wind turbines, and Joshua trees is a bit more cheerful and relaxing, even with the frog popping out of the toilet at the end.

In the FOREST room, scenes of deer, trees in the night, and a moonlit sky are interspersed with layers of code. Are you on mushrooms? Are you actually hooked up to a machine in a depressing post-apocalyptic environment while your consciousness experiences The Matrix? Who knows. What’s important here is that LAUFEN’s contemporary bathroom pieces actually look really good in this strange space. Maybe you should get some forest-themed wallpaper to go with them.

In the ARTIST room, we see artist Michelle Baumann and the commissioned art pieces she created for this collaboration: bold, graphic shapes in vivid colors splashed across LAUFEN’s fixtures. It’s enough to make you wonder, briefly, why we don’t see items like these available in creative colors and patterns more often. Then we remember resale value.

The point of the LAUFEN Virtual Space isn’t to replicate real-world bathrooms, naturally. It’s a marketing campaign, but it’s fun and arty. In a press release, the company explains that “in midst of the pandemic, online virtual rooms provide a context to products, guided by a meaningful message. Senses such as touch, smell, and personal relations are getting dangerously neglected with disastrous consequences on mental as well as physical health. This forces us to reinvent the ecosystem of communication and relationships through the creation of formats that blur the lines between digital and physical.”

“LAUFEN virtual space is about exploring a dream-like landscape through four different Kartell by LAUFEN sets and nature-infused stories that let one wander and wonder. The space wants to provide an experience of digitally animated, semi-interactive collages. Surreal spaces with a wink and the purposely very tactile feel while being fully immersed in the digital. A journey of process and progress telling a story and carefully taking the products by the hand. Almost like strolling through a LAUFEN booth at a fair designed by architect Gabrielle Hächler and Andreas Fuhrimann.”

Check out the LAUFEN Virtual Space website to get the whole experience, sound and all.

The post LAUFEN Virtual Space Lets You Explore Surreal AR Bathroom Designs first appeared on Dornob.

The video game store is modeled after the company’s Oregon headquarters and allows players to play rounds of “Tag,” “The Floor is Lava,” and “Dodgeball” with their online avatars. Participants can also design their own mini-games using interactive sports gear.

“Nike created this bespoke world with the backdrop of its world headquarters and inside Roblox’s immersive 3D space, building on its goal to turn sport and play into a lifestyle,” the company said in an official press release.

More importantly for the sportswear giant, gamers can outfit their avatars with digital brand merchandise like hats, shirts, cleats, and of course, sneakers.

“Experience global football in an official Roblox colorway of the Mercurial football boot,” the press release reads. “Gear up in classics like the Air Force 1 and Nike Blazer and in new drops like the Air Force 1 Fontanka and the Air Max 2021. All can be found in the digital showroom, along with a host of other Nike apparel staples like ACG and Nike Tech Pack.”

Players can earn these products by collecting Gold Medals in NIKELAND. That requires completing competitions, building up yards, exploring, and finding Easter eggs. Additionally, Nike fans can purchase any of the exclusive apparel in the digital showroom.

The company is also creating an augmented reality experience in its flagship store in New York to merge the digital and physical realities. “Nike’s commitment to inspiring the advancement and innovation of the future of sports experiences will continue this December when the brand brings the immersive world of Roblox and NIKELAND to life at Nike’s HOI (House of Innovation) in New York.”

Using a Snapchat filter, people visiting the kids’ floor there will be able to “see the space transformed into an augmented reality version of NIKELAND, including its signature avatars, fun games to play, and NIKELAND-inspired Easter eggs to find.”

The Roblox foray could prove to be a lucrative new branch of the company’s revenue streams. The global metaverse market is forecasted to produce over $6 billion in 2021. Some experts believe it could reach $41 billion within another five years.

Further evidence that Nike is planning to build up their virtual reality presence can be found on their job boards. With an October 23rd job listing for a “Virtual Material Designer of Footwear” among other virtual design roles, the company is calling for a “Digital Product Creation group” that will focus on “igniting the digital and virtual revolution at Nike.”

The athletic wear brand is also taking steps to protect their intellectual property in the broader metaverse. In late October 2021, the company filed seven applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, among which were the terms “Nike,” “Air Jordan,” “Jumpman,” the brand’s slogan “Just Do It,” and its iconic swoosh logo.

Having ownership of their catchphrases and names will help them police the use of their intellectual property across the many digital universes that are exploding in popularity across the globe.

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“It is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything we do, to reflect who we are, and what we hope to build,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s Connect conference. The new name, “Meta,” is meant to signal a future in which Facebook has slithered away from recent patterns of bad news to an exciting new identity as a “metaverse” company rather than simply a social media giant.

What is the “Metaverse?”

First coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, the “metaverse” is essentially a shared “imaginary place” where we use technology to perceive a layer of virtual objects and information on top of the reality we perceive with our senses alone. But the term is also subjective, and exactly how Facebook (the company responsible for the Cambridge Analytica scandal) interprets it remains to be seen.

As Zuckerberg said at the conference, “The best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself, but it’s a little tough because it doesn’t fully exist yet.” However, he did note that it’ll be an “even more immersive and embodied internet” where “you’re gonna be able to do almost anything you can imagine – get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create – as well as entirely new categories that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today.”

It’s expected that all of this will include augmented reality that we experience through headsets or contact lenses, and that in the metaverse, we’ll all be represented by customizable 3D avatars that can move, speak, and appear anywhere in the world, sort of like a video game made much more real. In a utopian vision of this technology, we use it to enrich our lives, helping everyone from surgeons to construction workers do their jobs better, revolutionizing technology, and virtually erasing physical distances. But there’s a darker side that has much to do with who controls the metaverse and what their motivations are.

A Potentially Dark New Era of Facebook History

Louis Rosenberg, an early pioneer of augmented reality technology, is warning that whether the metaverse is in the hands of Facebook or another company, it could be a lot more dangerous than social media as we currently know it. The physical and the virtual will merge so convincingly that the boundaries “will disappear in our minds,” filling with people, places, objects, and activities that don’t really exist. And just like social media, it could serve as a potent way to disseminate disinformation and inflame political divisions.

What if, for instance, the things we perceive as we walk past people on the street include very private, defamatory, or false information, possibly as a paid filter layer? Rosenberg warns that it’s all too possible. “And no, you won’t just take off your AR glasses or pop out your contacts to avoid these problems. Why not? Because faster than any of us can imagine, we will become thoroughly dependent on the virtual layers of information projected all around us. It will feel no more optional than internet access feels optional today.”

Whether or not the general public perceives the depth of this threat, they’re definitely not comfortable with the “Meta” change. A report from the Harris Brand Platform showed that Facebook’s rebrand led to a sharp drop in public trust, falling from 16 percent in the aftermath of Haugen’s leaked documents to just 6.2 percent after the announcement. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg continues to insist that the rebrand has nothing to do with bad press.

The post Facebook’s “Meta” Name Change Isn’t Going Over Well with the Public first appeared on Dornob.

Citrovia is a 30,000-square-foot interactive public art installation bursting with juicy oversized lemons made of plaster. Occupying the courtyard space between the completed 70-story One Manhattan West building and its shorter sibling, Two Manhattan West, which will be completed in 2023, Citrovia is a brilliant disguise for the work zone. Over 700 lemons dangle from 18-foot-tall steel trees alongside 3,800 leaves made of foam, all painted by hand, as white fabric billows overhead to mimic clouds. Clusters of faux lemon slices create canopies overhead and form stepping stones on the artificial turf in front of a giant citrus sculpture.

Described by its creators as “larger than life and stranger than fiction,” the surreal display transports visitors to a colorful fantasy space year-round, and this winter, it will become a vivid antidote to the dreariness that New York City often experiences. This isn’t just a selfie backdrop, though visitors love to use it for that purpose. It’s also packed with fun activities and features. “Whack-a-Lemon” invites you to play an augmented reality game on your phone with the field of lemon slices, and a “Name-Your-Own-Garden” feature asks users to submit names for their favorite displays. All the while, AR vines climb and bloom all around you.

There are two things that make Citrovia a truly unique exhibition ripe for reproduction around the country. The first is that it’s completely free to the public, so absolutely anyone can come in and enjoy its wonders. And that’s no small thing, especially considering the size of the installation. The second is the fact that it’s not sponsored. You might think “Citrovia” is actually the name of a beverage company using the exhibit as advertising, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Brookfield Properties commissioned the project from creative group The Cuttlefish and Midnight Theater creative director Warren Adcock.

“In many cultures, lemons (and yellow) are symbols of optimism, so doing this specific installation, which places so much emphasis on size, scale, and proportion, felt right,” says The Cuttlefish, Inc. founder Evan Schechtman in an interview with Architectural Digest. “We went to the far extremes of a creative idea, then pulled it back a bit. We wanted to build something that was whimsical and elegant, but never gaudy.”

Citrovia is a fun addition to the area surrounding Penn Station on the western side of Midtown Manhattan. If you’d like to visit in person, you can do so at any time without an appointment. The exhibition is expected to remain in place for another two years or so, when Two Manhattan West is finally complete.

The post Citrovia is Livening Up NYC Construction Sites with Cheerful Lemon-Themed Art Installations first appeared on Dornob.

“For me, the I.D. Buzz concept is the most beautiful and most exciting electric car in the world,” says Dr. Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management for the company. The German automaker hopes to bring back the nostalgia of the original VW Bus, a vehicle that became synonymous with the cross-country freedom of the 1960s and 1970s.

“It took you everywhere with your friends, it was a car but also a home on wheels. It was both reliable and unconventional. It was highly emotional,” says Diess, adding that “it was and still is a wonderful car.”

Paying homage to the original Microbus design, the new I.D. Buzz features the classic front split-colored V shape, sleek rectangular windows, and instantly-recognizable three rear air vents. It also comes equipped with hexagonal LED headlights and a front trunk cargo space.

“The I.D. Buzz stands for the new Volkswagen,” Diess explains. “We are fully committed to the future of mobility, and we want to reignite America’s love for VW. Our goal is clear: we want to make the fully electric, fully connected car a bestseller around the world. The iconic car of the electric age must be a Volkswagen.”

The van will join VW’s current electric offerings, the I.D. 3 and the I.D. 4 crossover, and is set to roll out in Europe in 2022 and the United States the following year. It will be available in both commercial and passenger models in Europe, while the U.S. will only get the long-wheel base passenger version.

The basic rear-wheel drive option can provide up to 200 horsepower, while the all-wheel drive upgrade boasts up to 300. Of course, both are a far cry from the 30 horsepower generated by the first 1950 VW Bus.

Each axle will get an electric motor, with the 111kWh battery pack in the car’s MEB chassis allowing for a range of up to 300 miles on a single charge. With its proprietary fast-charge system, the I.D. Buzz can regain roughly 80 percent of its energy capacity with just 30 minutes recharging at 150 kW.

Not only will it be more eco-friendly than its predecessors, but VW’s new van will also be much smarter. Incorporating some of the company’s autonomous technology, the I.D. Buzz comes with a fold-away steering wheel, pop-up laser scanners in the roof, and an augmented reality heads-up display. In 2025, the European market will get a version that includes the fully automated “I.D. Pilot” mode, intended for taxi and delivery services. It will also be Volkswagen’s first completely self-driving vehicle.

“These cars will offer everything — and even more — than you have seen from other electric carmakers.,” Deiss says. “And they will be much more affordable.”

Announced as a concept in 2017 and originally slated for the U.S. market in 2022, Volkswagen of America CEO Scott Keogh recently confirmed in an interview with Automotive News that the new “love bus” would not be available until 2023.

“I wish it was coming next year,” he said. “It’s not going to come quite as soon as that; it’s going to be a little bit later than that.”

The post Groovy, Fully Electric Volkswagen Bus Will Arrive in 2023 first appeared on Dornob.

The technology itself is jaw-dropping. Videos demonstrating its use by the US Army’s Lancer Brigade of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state look like nothing we’ve ever seen before outside of sci-fi movies. Whereas traditional night vision provides fuzzy green shapes in a sea of black, the ENVG-B goggles developed alongside L3Harris Technologies offer ultra-bright contrast. When weapons are fired, they shoot out a vivid blue glow like a Ghostbusters proton pack.

The effects come from a combination of different technologies that improve upon the older version. First developed in the 1930s, conventional night vision technology picks up any ambient light that’s available (like the reflection of the moon) and passes it through a device that transforms photons into electrons. When the electrons hit a tube covered in fluorescent substance phosphor, they create brighter images in a light green shade the human eye is easily able to perceive. The new ENVG-B uses white phosphor tubes for better contrast, but that’s not the only way they propel this tech into the 21st century.

A thermal imager also enables the goggles to see through visual obstructions like dust and smoke, even in subterranean spaces with absolutely zero illumination. Augmented reality enhancements create real-time edge detection, revealing the location and movement of human figures, weaponry, and vehicles. The goggles also feature a dual-tubed binocular system, so soldiers can choose to either pair what they see through the goggles with what they see with their own eyes, or take advantage of the full depth perception stereo vision offers.

https://twitter.com/lancer_brigade/status/1385318416106475522

The ENVG-B goggles can communicate wirelessly with electronic scopes on weapons, allowing soldiers to aim at targets without exposing themselves physically. In practice, that will mean they can raise their weapons above a trench or around a corner and fire with deadly accuracy.

“This system signifies an evolution in technology that stems from innovative and collaborative efforts between Program Executive Office Soldier (PEO Soldier), Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team (SL-CFT), and Army Futures Command (AFC). Additionally, it successfully demonstrates the rapid prototyping process to meet the Army’s modernization priorities and is the first program to deliver an Army Futures Command capability set,” says the US Army. “Ultimately, the ENVG-B increases the warfighters’ lethality, mobility, and situational awareness through innovative and state-of-the-art capabilities. Soldier feedback was incorporated into forming the design and functions of the ENVG-B through events called Soldier Touchpoints. The ENVG-B is made for soldiers and designed by soldiers.”

There’s no hiding from these things, and that’s what makes them kind of scary. It all sounds great taken in the context of safety and security, especially since it could reduce soldier fatalities in battle. But considered alongside other new military tech, which could soon include micro-drones and robotic super soldiers, there’s a worrying sense that war could feel more like a video game overall to the people in charge of the weaponry, further detaching soldiers from the reality of human casualties. Let’s not even go into what all of this could mean if our future ends up looking anything like Minority Report.

The post The Army’s New Night Vision Goggles Make Pitch Blackness Look Like a Video Game first appeared on Dornob.

“I love deserts and I love bizarre cars, so it was just a question of time that I would get in touch with this kind of species in this great surreal scenario,” Lier explains on her Kickstarter page, adding that “The first time I visited the [Burning Man] festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada…I was immediately captivated by the driving artworks. I wondered why no one has highlighted this art, without which Burning Man would not be what it is.”

A self-dubbed described “gearhead,” Lier has been traveling the world since 1999, photographing the story of vehicles and making “moto art.” This is her third fine art book and first Kickstarter-funded project. Her other works include The World´s Fastest Place from Kehrer publishers and Speedseekers from Gingko Press.

Lier began capturing the passion of Burning Man builders in 2014 and features all her favorites in Mutant Vehicles, including the Star Wars-esque “Rocket Car,” a giant bunny chasing a carrot, and a shiny flying saucer.

Burning Man, an annual creative gathering of 50,000-plus people in the Nevada Black Rock Desert, had to go virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although dates for 2021 are tentatively scheduled for August 29th to September 6th, the “temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance” will only take place if COVID conditions are amenable. That helps explain why many fans, hungry for the experience, were eager and ready to jump on Lier’s campaign. At the time of writing, a total of 313 backers pledged more than €26,170 to the project, surpassing all but one stretch goal.

For a pledge of €45, supporters will get a hand-signed VIP book, with a foreword by internationally acclaimed sculptor and Burning Man contributor David Best and an acknowledgment in the book’s Gratitude Page. The coffee table page-turners are expected to ship out in July 2021.

Since she was able to raise funds above her initial goal, Lier’s book will now also include interactive sections, with QR codes throughout opening a video of an exciting ride over the playa, audio and video interviews with some of the artists, and an augmented reality experience where the “Rocket Car will get three-dimensional.”

In terms of her decision to self-publish this book, Lier was looking for flexibility and community connectivity. “The crowdfunding campaign is for awareness and outreach and gives me as an artist the opportunity to produce and fund the book, inclusive post-production, book design, copywriting, and printing,” she writes. “The more who will order the book, the more books will be produced, and the more complex and interactive the book will be.”

Those interested in seeing more of Lier’s work can follow her on Instagram at @alexandralier.

The post Kickstarter Campaign Gives Burning Man’s “Mutant Vehicles” Their Very Own Book first appeared on Dornob.

Although half of the furnishings will eventually be turned into physical copies, the other half exist only in the eyes of the beholder. Crafted by Argentinian graphic artist Andrés Reisinger, the imaginary tables and chairs (offered through online marketplace Nifty Gateway in mid-February 2021) were conceived for the online gamer clientele. The bulbous and sometimes undulating pieces can be inserted into any shared 3D virtual or augmented-reality space, like Minecraft or Decentraland. They can also be used in game development platforms such as Unity or Unreal Engine for animations and CGI movies.

“It is a very ambitious project,” Reisinger says in a Dezeen article. “I am the first to do it and I hope that it opens the doors to many other artists and designers. This is a new way, a complementary way to continue growing our careers and businesses.”

The authenticity of each virtual object is verified with a non-fungible token (NFT), which allows ownership to be individually identified on a blockchain, much the same way Bitcoins are traced. This encryption prevents forgeries and replications, giving buyers the ability to resell the items as desired.

“Ownership of these tokens is immutable, which means gamers and collectors can actually possess their NFTs rather than the companies that created them,” says Reisinger. “If you buy a song on iTunes, on the other hand, you don’t actually own what you’re buying. You just purchase the license to listen to the music.”

“For artists, being able to sell artwork in digital form directly to a global audience of buyers without using an auction house or gallery allows them to keep a significantly greater portion of the profits they make from sales,” he adds. “Royalties can also be programmed into digital artwork so that the creator receives a percentage of sale profits each time their artwork is sold to a new owner.”

Reisinger became an Instagram sensation in 2018 when he released online renderings of the Hortensia chair, a plush seat covered in over 20,000 pink hydrangea-like petals. The image was so popular that fans begged him to create a “real” version and he obliged. After going on display in the Barcelona Montoya Gallery, it has since been acquired by the Belgium’s Design Museum of Ghent.

He will again be bringing his furniture to life with this auction of the five physically promised pieces. Those include the geometrical Matsumoto Bench, the sphere-base Time Table, the layered ABBA office chair, and the Ekstrem-inspired Tangled Chair.

Selling for the most ($67,777) of any of the collection, the fifth item is a yet-to-be-conceptualized custom piece that will be created in cooperation with the buyer. Among the digital-only “impossible objects” sold were the Hortensia chair, the Complicated Sofa (a couch made of a deflated silver parachute), the Complicated Drawer (a jumble of drawers sliding around on chrome tubes), the Pink Table (reminiscent of a balloon animal), and the Deep Space sofa, which boasts an expanding and quivering midsection.

Reisigner expects this form of virtual furniture art to only increase in demand. While “we are not escaping from the material world anytime soon,” he explains, “… I believe we are expanding our experience into a new hybrid era of extended reality, in which art and culture are freed from spatial and temporal constraints and the rules of experience are rewritten.”

It’s time to “call into question where the imagined ends and the real begins,” he continues. “It’s no longer necessary to touch something to be touched by it.”

The post Buyers Pay $450,000 for Andrés Reisinger’s “Impossible” Digital Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

The range includes the 5.4-inch iPhone mini ($699) and the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 ($799), both of which have dual cameras, along with two high-end “pro” models: the iPhone 12 Pro ($999), and the iPhone Pro Max ($1099). The two middle models are available for pre-order now, while the other two will hit the market in mid-November.

“iPhone 12 Pro models feature a new design and edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR displays, the largest ever on iPhone, protected by the all-new Ceramic Shield front cover, which provides the biggest jump in durability ever on iPhone,” Apple stated in a press release. “The Apple-designed A14 Bionic chip, the fastest chip in a smartphone, powers impressive computational photography features including the all-new Apple ProRAW for more creative control in photos, and enables the first end-to-end Dolby Vision video experience, up to 60 fps.”

“The reimagined pro camera systems include an expansive Ultra Wide camera, a Telephoto camera with an even longer focal length on iPhone 12 Pro Max, and new Wide cameras to capture beautiful professional-quality images and video in bright and low-light environments. iPhone 12 Pro models also introduce a new LiDAR Scanner for immersive augmented reality (AR) experiences and MagSafe, which offers high-powered wireless charging and an all-new ecosystem of accessories that easily attach to iPhone.”

The new line’s variety of sizes offers a little something for both those who think previous iPhone generations got too large and those who want something that’s practically an iPad. Plus, both the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro are capable of connecting to the super fast-millimeter wave 5G connectivity, mostly enabled by Verizon, which is nice. The only major downside is that power adapters and headphones are no longer included in the original packaging.

So, is it worthwhile to make the upgrade? That depends on how much you value faster speeds, a more responsive network, and having the latest, greatest tech around. But you also have to factor in your location and the carrier you use. The 5G network currently consists of three bands in use by Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and while the highest band can provide blazing fast service 50 times faster than the current 4G network, its geographic coverage is still limited. The speed is a lot less impressive in the middle and lower bands, which come in at 10 to 15 times faster and up to two times faster than 4G, respectively.

All three carriers are currently working on expanding their coverage, so the situation in your area could certainly change in the near future. Right now, 5G is still new and underdeveloped, but once it’s established, it will probably spur all sorts of innovations, enabling new levels of high-definition cloud gaming, augmented reality, and who knows what else. If you want to be ahead of that curve, you might want to buy one of these phones right away. Otherwise, it wouldn’t hurt to wait another year or two.

The post Is Apple’s New 5G-Connected iPhone 12 Series Worth the Upgrade? first appeared on Dornob.

For most people, placing art on the wall causes a bit of anxiety. For starters, there’s the decision about whether it’s the right style or color for the space. Then come the thoughts about the exact location for a print. A little higher? Slightly to the right? Nobody wants to put excess holes in the wall unnecessarily, so the pressure is really on to get it right the first time.

The process offers challenges during the shopping phase, too. Is it too big or too small for the space? How will a piece look next to the wall decor I already have? Shopping online, without being able to physically touch the print, adds more questions to the mix — which is too bad, considering the fact that shopping online has also become a major convenience during the pandemic.

Etsy reports that compared to the same time periods one year ago, searches for wall decor or art are up 94 percent, paintings 63 percent, and prints 54 percent. With all of this in mind, the company recently added an augmented reality feature to their app so you can virtually see the artwork on your walls before you commit to placing it anywhere. Here’s how it works.

Using your iPhone or iPad, you scan a wall in your home. This might also include edges of the ceiling, floor, and adjacent walls in order to create a complete picture and allow the app to calculate the size of the space. You can even place the new piece next to something already on your wall.

With the current push to support small businesses and artisans like those who sell via Etsy (over 2 million of them), the new tool gives the consumer peace of mind that the picture will work in their home, finally filling the void on that annoyingly vacant wall.

“At Etsy, supporting small businesses is at the heart of everything we do,” Etsy’s Chief Product Officer, Kruti Patel Goyal, told Mashable. “Our continued investment in new technologies like augmented reality is helping to ensure that we’re well-positioned to connect buyers and sellers through the most challenging times. And because our listings are handmade or vintage, they’re often one-of-a-kind, so the more that we can do to help buyers visualize items before they check out, the better for our sellers.”

As of July 1st, 2020, the app update is currently in beta mode and only available on iOS and iPadOS. Plans to launch an Android version are on the horizon. Currently, the features are only available in the categories of Paintings, Photography, or Prints, but if all goes well, it may expand to other categories on the site, as well.

Although AR is nothing new, a combination of closing brick-and-mortar stores, physical distancing, and shelter-in-place orders seems to have presented an opportunity to expand those capabilities within companies large and small. Now you can shop for a new couch or other IKEA furniture, placing it virtually into your space without leaving the comfort of your own sofa. Similarly, you can virtually try on sunglasses or sample paint color on your walls. Some clothing companies are even getting on board in the form of virtual dressing rooms where you can input your body dimensions to try on attire. All of this investment in technology not only makes it easier for consumers to select the right product while shopping online, but reduces the need for returns (especially helpful in the case of bulky furniture), and it also helps buyers confidently make purchases they might not have otherwise completed due to uncertainty.

The post Etsy Adds AR App Feature So You Can Visualize Art on Your Wall first appeared on Dornob.