My first augmented reality experience

I got the latest issue of Wired Magazine yesterday in the mail. My first reaction was "this is cool"- the cover has Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. I was excited that this was an issue with some interesting topics...Geek Gardening, The Mechanics of Ice Hotels, Zombies, Cheetos etc... But do you know what the icing on the cake was? An augmented reality experience. Yep, an augmented reality ad from Olympus. A flimsy die-cut of a camera with some instructions to go to a website. Seems easy enough. It was, until I had to install DFusion on my computer. This is an unknown plug-in to me and if wasn't so curious, I probably wouldn't have downloaded it but I did. It took about 5 minutes or so for me to get situated with the plug-in installation. After that was done, I still had restart the website so it would detect I had the plug-in installed then I had to make sure it was able to access my webcam (needed for the diecut camera to work). This is a lot of work for an experience. But I was ready. I got my die-cut camera and put it in front of the webcam. It took a little bit of set up but I can honestly say it was a very cool experience. The die cut camera turned into a real camera on the screen and I was soon clicking (using my mouse) on the features and even taking "fake" pictures and video- I even got to pop off the lens. I don't know how much the ad cost Olympus but I would be curious to see how many people actually will go through the trouble to download the plug-in and experience this augmented reality Olympus camera. I don't think this would take place of actually having the camera in my hands but in the way of technology, this is a good start. You can experience this by going to getolympus.com/PEN3d and print out and cut out the pdf of the camera on file or you can go and buy the June issue of Wired. I would love to hear about your first augmented reality experience. 

Note: The pictures were taken by my "real" digital camera, they are not screenshots.

picture 1 and 2- diecut
picture 3- view of augmented back
picture 4-augmented picture of me holding the back of the camera
picture 5- augmented view of the lens
picture 6- another view of camera
picture 7- I popped off the lens
picture 8- lens back on
picture 9- view of back
picture 10-I am holding the camera up, but in reality I am holding up picture 1 and 2

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Posted via email from Jennifer's epiphanies

Mottos and How they Can Fit into Real Life

Love your work-Work your Love and repeat... This is a little notebook I picked up at an Holiday Matinee event not too long ago. I have to see things like this to remind me of who I am. Yesterday, I had a job interview as an assistant. Though I didn't actually meet the people I would be assisting for. My thoughts after the interview:  Oh, it would be great to have a job, why? Because it helps pay the bills- but as of right now that would be it. Be a corporate citizen, get a real job. But in actuality, I need to remember "Love your work-Work your Love and repeat...unfortunately, this job had no love (not for me at least). It dawns on me (actually I know) that working in a corporate is not for me. I work hard and I get things done, but the corporate structure, look and feel suffocates the hell out of me. Will I get this job? Not sure, I do have an in- and more interviews ahead, but no guarantees of getting hired as of yet. Because of this interview,  I have a devil and angel on either side of my shoulders. Angel says "It's a great "corporate" company with many corporate benefits. It is only 9 hours a day of my life and it pays well, plus you will have that secure job." The other side of me says "don't compromise who your are as a person. Be free, do things you love to do. IT will all come together, in time. Enjoy your family while they are young and reap the rewards of the simple things in life." Actually, I am not sure what side is the Angel or the Devil. But I think I answered my own question by writing this out. (Disclosure: My husband works and we are ok financially on his one income, but he would like to retire one day, therefore my quest in finding a job). 

So what are my loves right now? I am loving getting out there and finding cool things in San Diego...I started a blog last July. Secretsandiego.wordpress.com. I recently changed the name and URL to secretsinsandiego.com (more professional). The reason I started this blog is because there are so many things to do in San Diego and every place has its own uniqueness. I don't think I have even scratched the surface of it all. Another thing I love to do is social media. I believe creating/maintaining relationships and content creation is the key to keeping customers and gaining the new ones. As a business, listening to your audience and maintaining your brand is important- social media is a perfect medium for doing this. I love the term "Word of Mouth on Steroids" for social media, I just hope doesn't become an overdone term like engage and interact (which are important but are overused terms, I hear a lot).  Other things I enjoy are traveling, movies, music, reading, learning about art, design/aesthetics, the journalistic style of photography, french art and culture...I just don't know how to incorporate those things into a paying gig. These are just my thoughts of the moment. If anyone is out there and has any suggestions, let me know. I would love to hear from you. 

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Sitting on the Sidelines

So I have been sitting on the sidelines about this Facebook Privacy debate/discussion- whatever you want to call it. Articles upon articles have been written about Zuckerberg- all the pet projects that led him up to his creation of this massive network of a social site called Facebook. Here is my brief thoughts before I go to my 10:30am personal training session.

 

 

1. Facebook is what you put on it. If I put something on the interwebs- I expect if someone really wanted to find it, they could. I could be private but that would mean I have to stay off the internet. I use the FB privacy controls but I don’t expect that to stop someone to finding more about me. I think there are sites like wink, peoplefinder etc… that can find my city, state, how many places I’ve lived, age etc… 

 

2. I use Facebook as a communication tool for my friends and family. I don’t have plans to take my page down or boycott Facebook. But as with myspace…I go where the rest of my fish are.  There is a big chance that in the next year, a better social network with come out and overtake FB social presence. I was a huge myspace user until FB, came along, I even had a blog post on this:

 

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 

this facebook thing and other stuff

I think it is easier to keep this myspace account, it is too hard to start over again.  It does the same stuff,  I guess you can easily add stuff from companies if you want to but I am too lazy to create a new profile, etc... also, trying to have my friends list transferred is hard no one has a facebook acct.  Anyways, I am ranting at 5 am.  Reprise in April 08: I take that back, with different applications available, facebook is more self interactive and you can interact with your friends as well.  I do have a current facebook acct.  which do I use most?  I have a fair share of both facebook and myspace…

 

So I am saying it could happen, I could move my social network over to xyz.

3. Facebook is a business. They have to generate income and all of that other stuff that businesses have to do to make money. If they decide to change their pages every 3 or so months and make it difficult for people to adapt, they will lose users. Is Facebook gambling on their fate- My thoughts YES. There are lots of thought leaders out there that are boycotting FB and upstarts that are out there vying to become the next “myspace”, “facebook”, “twitter”, “google” etc… But in all honesty, FB has a good interface and it still is a huge community. But then again, I said this about Myspace three years ago.

 

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Cracking the Whip

Starting tomorrow, I am cracking the whip on myself. Really...I am. It is almost summer and I guess that means hanging by a pool or the beach that I never go to (I live a whopping 20 minutes away). I've decided to start going to Optimum Condition in El Cajon to get a body evaluation and training program. Using a certified personal trainer is necessary for me to get motivated and to make sure I am doing the right amount of diet and exercise to obtain my summer goals. In addition to a personal trainer, my family got me (Mother's Day request) a little gadget called the a Nike sensor for my Itouch Nike+Ipod application. The sensor fits goes in or on your running shoe to keep track of your distance/pace, set goals and to let you know how many calories you burned. I chose to make my own sensor holder by cutting a insert in the tongue of the shoe and then after inserting my sensor I stitched it back up.  With my Nike+ I can set workouts based on time, distance and calorie goals. For example, if I wanted to run for 20 minutes, I tell the app and it would count down for me the time and a computer voice would periodically let me know how much time I have left (it actually does this while your listening to your music). After the workout, the app has a history section, where I can go back and view my previous workouts. I am pretty visual and goal-oriented, so this tool may just be the trick to get me out there on a regular basis. I tested it out this morning with a 10-min run on the treadmill right before my Sunday morning yoga class. Wish me luck and goodbye Haagen Dazs - Dulce de Leche, I'll miss you. 

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Posted via email from Jennifer's epiphanies