Augmented Reality is now a Reality

One of the concepts that I find most interesting it the concept of 'Augmented Reality'. In short, this is computer rendered graphics overlaid on a live video feed of what you see.  Look through your camera phone and see things that aren't there.

There are a few apps out for Android (I expect more as the concept grows and technology and software evolve). 

SpekTrek - Ghost hunting game that identifies ghosts on the GPS, renders 3D ghosts in that area when viewed through the camera, then give you points for catching/shooting them.

Celest - Sounds like google sky, but overlays the data/labels on the image you see on the camera. Includes our local solar system objects (planets, moon, sun).

Wikitude World Browser - Overlays Wiki data via camera view and map view.  See what points of interest are around.

While these apps are more of entertainment type applications, you can see how this concept could be applied to better things.  Overlaying schematics on physical objects.  Directions and Signs that dont exist in reality.  Information that normally isnt available and/or referenced against the real world.

One step further and this concept could be applied to glasses that you would wear to give you a more permanent display of augmented reality.  Think John Carpenter's 'They Live' without all the evil alien stuff.

Android Developer Challenge 2 Winners Announced

Developers came up with unique ideas and implemented them on the Android platform for some really new and innovative software.  This means there are some new things to download from the market that arent a complete waste of time.

http://code.google.com/android/adc/gallery_winners.html

Overall Winners

	SweetDreams SweetDreams is a revolutionary tool that will finally allow you to go to sleep without worrying about changing your phone settings in order to avoid unwelcome late night calls. You can even use those inactivity periods to save battery power as well, and of course forget about enabling WiFi, Bluetooth or ringtones volume ...
	What the Doodle!? 'WTD!?' is a real-time online multiplayer game where one player tries to draw out a given phrase and others try to guess it. Features FFA and Team games, Global Highscores, Personal Face Doodles, integrated Voice Recognition and more! Real-time drawing!? Built for performance, you'll really see the magic at first doodle!
	WaveSecure WaveSecure is a complete mobile security solution that protects your device, data and privacy. 1. Track your phone's location and who is using it 2. Lock down your phone remotely, making it worthless to the thief 3. Backup all your data 4. Wipe out your data remotely 5. Restore your data May the phone be with you!

Education/Reference Winners

	Plink Art Plink Art is an app for identifying, discovering and sharing art. Take a photo of a painting, and the Plink Art servers will try to identify it. You can also browse our database of artwork by keyword or timeline and share your discoveries with friends.
	Word Puzzle The Word Puzzle is designed to provide a fun way to learn basic English words for preschool children. Kids can study spelling and pronunciation with flash card and check achievement with word puzzle. Interesting visual and sound interaction with awarding system helps kids to keep learning. Let kids play with your Android.
	Celeste An educational augmented reality app that displays the Sun, Moon, planets and their paths through the sky onto your camera view. You can navigate through the sky selecting celestial bodies to display interesting information about our solar system. See the exact spot on your horizon where the sun will rise and set.

Entertainment Winners

	A World of Photo Loosely inspired by the traditional "Spin the bottle", A World of Photo is a casual, geographic worldwide multiplayer online game with a social touch. Players spin their phones and will receive a photo from whomever in the world they pointed to. For best play experience, let the app run in the background.
	SongDNA Need any information on a song? Practicing for a big karaoke gig? Music quiz coming up tomorrow? The SongDNA widget allows you to quickly look up your favorite song's detailed information. It includes the lyrics, artist's bio, homepage, highest chart rank and video. Handy when you're training for your next karaoke gig!!
	Solo Solo is a great, easy to play and feature rich pocket guitar for your phone. A must for all guitar enthusiasts! Features include -Huge chord library with 380+ chords & diagrams -Load/save chord layouts -Play along with music on your phone -Overlay music & lyrics from the internet -Various strum modes, including shake strum

Games: Arcade/Action Winners

	Speed Forge 3D Speed Forge: Heavy duty hover vehicles, normally used for mining are now seen in illegal races organized in abondoned factories and dark Marsian alleys. The rock crushing explosives once used in these machines now serve a different purpose...
	Graviturn Tilt your phone to move the red circles out of the screen while keeping the green circles. Infinite levels from very easy to nearly impossible. Compare your performance with other players after each level (online highscore and statistics).
	Moto X Mayhem Jump, lean, and race through seven levels of amazing motorbike action in the best side scrolling bike game! Lean forward and back on your motorbike as you climb hills and fly through the air using accelerometer technology. Witness realistic physics as your shocks recoil when you land jumps! Or just flick your rider around!!

Games: Casual/Puzzle Winners

	What the Doodle!? 'WTD!?' is a real-time online multiplayer game where one player tries to draw out a given phrase and others try to guess it. Features FFA and Team games, Global Highscores, Personal Face Doodles, integrated Voice Recognition and more! Real-time drawing!? Built for performance, you'll really see the magic at first doodle!
	Totemo Unloose the spirit. Break the spell. Uncover the mystery hidden between the realms in a unique puzzle game. Storm your brain and relax your mind solving over 60 mind-soothing logic tasks. Play the survival mode for extra challenge and write your name into the on-line leaderboards. http://hexage.net
	Mazeness The goal of the game is rather simple - you need to bring all the balls ( up to 4 per level!) to their goals at the same time, with help of barriers, teleports and holders. It seems simple at first, but it's not that easy. The difficulty is growing steadily from level to level.

Lifestyle Winners

	SweetDreams SweetDreams is a revolutionary tool that will finally allow you to go to sleep without worrying about changing your phone settings in order to avoid unwelcome late night calls. You can even use those inactivity periods to save battery power as well, and of course forget about enabling WiFi, Bluetooth or ringtones volume ...
	SpecTrek Improve your fitness with this revolutionary augmented reality ghost hunting game. Walk or run around using GPS and your phone's camera to find and catch virtual ghosts. You will experience a new adventure each SpecTrekking session. The game offers statistics, awards, titles, records, and most of all a whole lot of fun!
	FoxyRing FoxyRing makes your phone smarter by analyzing the ambient noise and adjust the ringer volume. Also: - Sleeping hours to silent your phone during the night. - Geolocated ringer profiles, change ringtone or make your phone vibrate only at work! - Widget to silent your phone for a timed period. - Great interface

Media Winners

	Buzz Deck BuzzDeck is the quick and easy way to get all the web content you care about most. Flick through your daily hit of favourite news topics. And get Twitter & Facebook updates alongside. BuzzDeck learns what you like and recommends cool new stuff. Simple, elegant & fast. NB: No landscape mode yet. http://mippin.com/buzzdeck
	SPB TV SPB TV is a highly usable IP-TV solution, optimized to run on mobile devices. SPB TV provides users with lots of channels in multiple languages with easy-to-use features and settings. No subscription fee! Requires a reliable 3G or WiFi network connection for proper streaming. Full-featured 60-days trial.
	FxCamera FxCamera enables you to take a picture with various effects. - ToyCam (Toy Camera Emulator) - Polandroid - Fisheye - Warhol (Andy Warhol-izer) - Normal *this app requires SD card*

Productivity/Tools Winners

	WaveSecure WaveSecure is a complete mobile security solution that protects your device, data and privacy. 1. Track your phone’s location and who is using it 2. Lock down your phone remotely, making it worthless to the thief 3. Backup all your data 4. Wipe out your data remotely 5. Restore your data May the phone be with you!
	Hoccer Hoccer is your application for ad-hoc data exchange. Use gestures to "throw" your data through the air and let the recipients "catch" it. There is no need for prior exchange of contact details.
	Tasker Tasker let's you link any Task (action set) to the Contexts (application, time, day, location, event, widget press) where it should run. Send an SMS at 3:15 Monday, make per-app settings or locks, map camera button to a menu, launch music app on headphone insert, timelapse photos, encrypt on-the-fly, the list is endless!

Social Networking Winners

	Ce:real - Everyday trends Ce:real, What's happening in this world? Are you curious about real world? How about North Pole or an edge of Africa? Also, it can be your neighborhood. It is offering to you hot photo stories with Twitter trends keyword which has speed of lights. Enjoy millions of happenings in real world and you participate in it as well.
	SocialMuse Check out what users on the other side of the world are listening to! Find people with similar musical taste, or just explore the world through music. Browse other users' music libraries, listen to previews of their songs, and buy them if you like them. Check out their profiles on MySpace, Facebook and Last.fm.
	SpotMessage SpotMessage is a communication tool using GPS. Send a message designating a spot with Google Maps then the message will be notified when the recipient arrives at the spot. SpotMsg finds various uses; as an alarm reminding you of a task at a certain spot or for sending your friend a surprise message on his or her arrival.

Travel Winners

	Trip Journal Trip Journal is the ultimate trip tracking and sharing solution currently available on Android powered Smartphones. Impress your friends by sending them real time updates from the places you are visiting. GPS route tracking, record waypoints, photos & notes, trip statistics, KMZ & Picasa exports, incorporated Google Maps.
	iNap: Arrival Alert Ever wanted to get some sleep during a train ride, or a quick powernap on the bus to work? You either hoped to wake just in time not to miss your station, or set an alarm to wake you far too early... Using your phone's GPS it will determine where you are, and wake you when you are close to your destination!
	Car Locator Save your location whenever you park, and Car Locator will navigate you back to your car should you ever have trouble finding it. - Points in direction of your car using GPS and compass - Radar view, map view, and split view - Parking timer alarm GPS and compass must be enabled. This free version expires after 25 runs.

Misc Winners

	Rhythm Guitar Plays like a real 6-string, 5-fret guitar. Strum and pick chords, make new chords, string them together to create songs, transpose songs to fit your vocal range. Great for songwriting, chord reference, learning radio hits, or even plugging into speakers and pedals.
	Andrometer Andrometer allows you to measure the approximate distance from you to an object that you can see. Uses GPS, accelerometer and geomagnetic sensor. Tips: - Keep as steady as possible - The further you walk, the more accurate the measurement - Must be outdoors with clear view of sky - Works best under 1 km
	Calton Hill GPSCaddy GPSCaddy allows golfers to quickly and easily map any golf course either out on the course using GPS or in the comfort of home using satellite imagery. Then, when they are playing the course, it uses GPS to tell them exactly how far they are from the significant features of the hole they are playing (green, bunkers, etc).

Source of Truth?

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." -Oscar Wilde

Seems like the source of truth is hard to obtain.  Most of the data we receive in our daily lives to be processed has been passed through, and transformed, by many layers by the time it is ready for our consumption.

How many times have you read an article and consumed its content to find a link at the bottom "Original Article"?  Have you clicked it?  How many times do you need to do that to get to the original reporting source?  How much was the point of view adjusted for the sake of the outlet presenting the reiteration?

I see this concept mirrored through out the world as well as locally in my personal life and career.  My career in informatics has been a quest for the most ideal source of data.  Oddly enough, I find that the source of truth, relating to data, typically is in older monolithic type applications that are difficult to work with.  This causes the need for shadow copies, extractions, batches, etc...  All that are really removing you from the source of truth.

As we move forward into the new web enabled future, we see these issues starting to fade as consumer needs are starting to drive this trend in newer applications.  But that still leaves our legacy systems and how to handle them.

Unfortunately there is no one solution that will work across the board.  Applications/Systems will have to be analyzed and some type of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) middleware solution will need to be developed to serve the data up as close to the source of truth as possible.  These applications will bridge the gap from the systems that need the data, and the systems that provide data.  A sophisticated solution would be the ability for the middleware to monitor and serve the data from the source of truth to all requesting clients.  Old stop gap systems of batch extracts and ad hock requests will be replaced by a new standardized methodology.  You can almost see this middleware as becoming the new source of truth by replacing the old methedologies with a unified solution, and being the sole provider of the true sources data.

"First get your facts; then you can distort them at your leisure." -Mark Twain

The end result will be middleware serving requests and providing data as close to the source of truth as possible ensuring that all requests are using the data in the same fashion.

The plus is that you ensure that everything looks at the source of truth the same way.  Meaning, this will make sure that there is no ambiguity in the data as all customers interpret it the same way.

The negative is that you ensure that everything looks at the source of truth the same way.  Meaning, that if the data was interpreted incorrectly, this now incorrect interpretation is being used across the board.

And of course the strive for the source of truth means getting to the data with the least amount of interpretation possible.  Which would be one of the major goals of a middleware system that serves data.

Simple, sure.  But interesting to find how many layers we are usually removed from the data we are digesting and whatever source of truth it came from.

Android Apps that I recommend

Here is a list of Android Apps that I currently find useful.  Note that I see these as falling outside of your essential productivity suite, such as GMail, Messaging, Maps, and the such.

Apps

• Barcode Scanner - QR Code Integration is amazing
• Alarm Clock - Gotta wake up
• Battery Hours - Changes the lock screen to show amount of time remaining (talk/standby/charge)
• Compare Everywhere - Cool, scan bar code and see where to get it locally and online
• Bubble - Because you need to be on the level
• Voice Recorder - Record notes, meetings, or EVP
• Darin-O-Meter - See why your battery only lasts a couple hours
• Elements - You need to know your table of elements to do science
• Google Sky - Space is cool
• Key Ring - Get rid of all those tags and cards that get you your discounts and put them on the phone
• Last.fm - Catalog what you listen to (http://bit.ly/YoYo-Music) and listen to recommended radio
• Shazam - Now you can figure out what that song is they keep playing
• Terminal Emulator - Because SSH makes things happen
• Tricorder - Neat toy that uses the phone sensors in LCARS fasion
• Task Manager - Kill battery draining tasks and uninstall apps
• Locale - It's nice when your phone knows where you are and changes it's behavior based on it.

Widgets

• Brightness Toggle Widget - At a touch, change the display brightness and save bettery
• MoonPhase - Find out when the next bout of lycanthropy will hit
• Task Manager - One click closes all apps to save battery
• Tiny Clock Widget 2 - small 1 square analog clock

New Phone Enables Me

Wanted to mention that my new phone is going to enable my connectivity much more.  Needless to say since that is the case, I need an outlet for my point of view.  This shall be that outlet.