Sales staff at The Nike Fuel Station at Boxpark were given iPads that used augmented reality to tell customers about any product in the store. Mirrors also displayed digital avatars that would appear when customers approached them, giving the customer interactive information about a product. Augmented Reality engine by STRING.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 9:53AM Andre S. Friedel Augmented Reality has become the main focus of Integrated Social Media, and its umbrella of interests involving social media, the Internet, and all else encompassing media and communication. EasterEgg has been established to grapple with means to create and execute businesses utilizing AR, using cutting edge technology and techniques to make everyday tasks *that much easier*. It may not be clear to many as of yet. This is because in its current state, one needs to use a bit of imagination to bridge the steps in order to see the complete picture. Some aspects include wearable computers, and the soon to be released Google Glasses (or alternative AR glasses) as well as the integration of RFID technology. In the meantime, take a peek at the below video and glimpse into the future: a world where EVERYTHING becomes organized by GPS coordinates, and visual input creating a no-click interface -- In a nutshell, your daily routine of 'life' can be equivocated to a game. ENJOY.
Sight from Sight Systems on Vimeo.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 12:00AM Andre S. Friedel 
Google Glass and Google co-founder Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at New York Fashion WeekSunday afternoon.
Models walked down the runway at Diane von Furstenberg’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection show wearing Glass, the upcoming headset/eyewear device that Google is developing. The augmented reality-enhanced glasses have many smartphone-like functions: users can take pictures, record video, receive messages and check calendars, among other things.
The bands of each pair were modified to complement the collection’s palette of corals, blues, whites and grays. It was the first time Glass had ever appeared on a runway.
At the show’s conclusion, a Glass-clad Fustenberg and Yvan Mispelaere, creative director of DVF, took a celebratory lap down the runway. Halfway down the left aisle, Furstenberg reached over to Sergey Brin, who was sitting front row. He joined Furstenberg and Mispelaere for the rest of the walk amid wide applause.
Monday, September 10, 2012 at 12:24PM Andre S. Friedel Chiggity check it: http://a.pgtb.me/3dntMS
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 12:56AM Andre S. Friedel You often have a slew of ways to get online: a hard-wired Ethernet cable, various Wi-Fi networks or maybe a 3G or 4G wireless device. But what if you didn’t have to choose and could also surf the web faster than any one connection would allow?
A company called Connectify plans to make this possible with software called Connectify Dispatch that routes your computer’s data demands over numerous connections simultaneously.
The Philadelphia-based company already offers software called Connectify Hotspot. It lets a Windows PC act as a Wi-Fi hotspot for several devices. A free version allows users to share Wi-Fi connections with others while a $30 “pro” version enables the ability to share 3G and 4G connections.
“The more we thought about this, the more we realized you could do it the other way, too,” says CEO and founder Alex Gizis. “You could take a whole bunch of Internet connections and make them look like one Internet connection to your computer.”
Connectify is trying to raise $50,000 via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to help it develop a commercial version of Dispatch for Windows PCs. After about a week and with roughly three weeks left to fundraise, they’re a little less than a third of the way there. Gizis says a group of existing customers are testing a prototype of Dispatch in a private beta test.
Normally, when you want to access the Internet on a computer, you first choose a single network, or the computer automatically chooses one based on past usage or the quality of the network. But Gizis says that with Dispatch running, whenever any program on your computer attempts to connect to the Internet, the software jumps in and determines which combination of Internet connections would be the best for this particular program. It does this by looking at factors like how fast, how busy and how reliable each one is — constantly scoring your different connections.
When you load a given web page in your browser, for example, it might be making a dozen requests to different sites to bring up text, photos and ads. Dispatch could load a site more quickly by sending data through multiple Internet connections.
Gizis says that while the speed increase won’t be as fast as the sum of your Internet connections, it does get close. And users will be able to prioritize their various Internet connections, telling Dispatch, for example, to make their home Wi-Fi network the first-choice network and their 4G USB dongle second or third choice.
Giovanni Pau, an associate adjunct professor in computer science at UCLA who has built and tested similar software, says Dispatch is a good idea, but it will need to work flawlessly.
Those who donate at least $40 to Connectify’s Kickstarter project will get a license for Dispatch, plus a yearlong “pro” license for Connectify’s Hotspot software. If the campaign fails, Gizis says, Connectify will then evaluate whether moving forward is worth it — he says he doesn’t want to spend years supporting just a handful of users.
Saturday, August 18, 2012 at 12:30AM Andre S. Friedel Come and check it out while you can. The work in Downtown Boston is amazing, and I will be checking out this show for sure within the next few days!!
Tuesday + Wednesday, 10 am–5 pm
Thursday + Friday, 10 am–9 pm
Saturday + Sunday, 10 am–5 pm
Closed Mondays, except on the following national holidays:
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Patriot's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day.
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
Open Independence Day, July 4.
ADMISSION:
$15 general museum admission
$13 seniors
$10 students
FREE members and youth 17 +under
FREE for all from 5 to 9 pm every Thursday for ICA Free Thursday Nights with support from Karen and Brian Conway.
FREE for families (up to 2 adults accompanied by children 12 + under) on the last Saturday of each month, with the exception of December.
Organized by Pedro Alonzo, ICA Adjunct Curator
This August the ICA will present the first solo exhibition in the United States of works by the Brazilian brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo. Best known as Os Gêmeos, the twins are a major force in graffiti and urban art. The twins have a deep bond; they are tireless collaborators and say that they often experience the same dreams. In an effort to share their dreams with the world, they depict their visions in surreal paintings, sculpture, and installations: human figures with removable faces, exploding bursts of color, and room-size heads installed with shanty interiors.
Os Gêmeos draw not only from dreams, but also from their surroundings, incorporating these elements to forge a unique visual style. Their narrative work is a visual synthesis of their everyday lives: the color and chaos of Brazil—particularly in their neighborhood in São Paulo, Cambuci—or yellow-skinned youth in red hoodies breaking into train yards and painting in subway tunnels. A common motif depicts several graffiti taggers garbed in brightly patterned clothes stacked atop one another to reach an impossibly high spot. In contrast to the more contemporary urban themes, rural Brazil has an equally significant presence in their work. Carnivals, music, and folk art fascinate the twins and inspire fantastical portraits of musicians and paintings of processions and festivals—all of which are based on their own photographs.
Os Gêmeos date their artistic beginnings to 1987 when hip-hop invaded Brazil. The music and images of youth dancing and painting graffiti, transmitted via photo books and films, left an indelible mark on the twins. But in the late 1980s, the lack of information about art and art-making materials—Brazilian spray paint was expensive and inferior in quality—forced the artists to improvise and create their own visual style. They began painting New York graffiti–style murals with house paint, brushes, and rollers instead of spray paint. In 1993 while in Brazil, Os Gêmeos met then emerging artist Barry McGee. He provided magazines, materials, and information and began to paint with the twins. McGee was making a living as an artist, a fact that inspired the twins to quit their banking jobs and focus entirely on working as artists. Today they are two of the most prominent figures in public art, having succeeded in creating large-scale murals and painting public transportation throughout Brazil.
To Os Gêmeos labels—as well as reality—are not important. They do not consider themselves street artists, they “just want to paint.” Their art in public spaces, which they refer to simply as graffiti, is a means to share their work with a broad audience. This exhibition will highlight the multiple influences and recurring visual themes found in the artists’ paintings and sculptures, and allow audiences an opportunity to experience their richly fantastical work. As part of the exhibition, the artists will visit Boston in August 2012 to paint a large-scale, site-specific mural.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 2:07AM Andre S. Friedel 
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