Game Changing Android Application

[omarseyal]

If Android manages to clear the porting obstacles that await it as it's distributed over more than one reference device, and if it manages to deliver a high bar of quality (at least as high as the SDK has shown so far), it could really change the way we live/work. Those are some big ifs ... but some exciting ones nonetheless.

[dkokelley]

Very cool. The "life mode" is the incredible part. Here's a thought about where this could go: Imagine if multiple Android users could have their locations published live to the other devices. You could look through the life view screen and track the location of your contacts through walls or other obstructions.

(Edit: I saw the end of the video and it looks like they're already one step ahead of me with the live location broadcasting).

Parents who want to keep track of their children at Disneyland could spot them through a crowd of people without calling them and getting them to describe where they are. Maybe this could be useful in search and rescue missions. The ELT (Emergency Location Transmitter) on downed aircraft could be equipped to broadcast in this way, to make it easier for teams trying to find the aircraft.

Something about this reminds me of FPS video games, where the "Objective" is marked on your screen so that you can see where you need to go even though it happens to be on the other side of the map.

[yters]

Could this make real life FPS? I haven't read the article, but I've been trying to think of a feasible way to make a real life multiplayer FPS that also virtual players could interact with. I think that'd be pretty sweet!

[dmix]

Interesting technology.

Side note those two are the definition of geeks. But if that tech works out they will be some wealthy geeks.

[Hexstream]

Or the definition of the stereotype of a geek... I like to think not every geek is like them... and me ;P

[acgourley]

It's cool, but lets keep a few things in mind:

1) When navigating a 2d plane, or looking for things in a 2d plane, an overhead view is just as practical. Although you could argue this lets you see data points farther ahead of you, a good overhead view implementation could do the same thing.

2) This would be nice viewing differences in elevation. Finding your car in a parking garage for instance. However, GPS has an elevation error rate about 3 times larger than its horizontal rate. (Also most gps's don't work well in things like parking garages). This means you'll only be able to detect the elevation of something within ~30 meters on most phones.

Mostly I see this being fun, but not anymore useful than other, more traditional ways of looking at maps. It might prove helpful to people with exceptionally poor spacial thinking (if thats the term you use to describe people who can't read maps, I'm not sure).

[mlinsey]

If you're good at getting your bearings, yes. But having witnessed myself and others struggle to figure out "wait, which way is which according to this map?" for a little bit before getting our internal compass aligned with the map's orientation, it would be much simpler to literally point your camera at something and have it tell you what's in that direction. Depending on how precise the tags are, they would also be useful just to provide information about various interesting objects in the area, particularly if you can see tags that everyone puts on real-world objects.

[michaelneale]

Wow. And who said you can't do great things with java.

[suboptimal]

Java was the Ruby of its day (even though they're almost the same age!).

[D_T]

I hope the guys who made the video get to check out labs.live.com/photosynth/

Photosynth would allow Androids screen to display actual pictures of the situation when zooming in using the satellite view (not live view). The various people in live view could also add images to locations not already documented by photosyth's database.

Someday,

D T

[wave]

You can read interview with them:

http://tinyurl.com/4p4tg2

In other note: notice the robotic dinosaur in middle bottom of the video (30sec)

[elai]

This is bloody AWESOME! Although they could develop the application for the iPhone right now, since it has all the required hardware inside. I'm worried about GPS accuracy although.

[frankus]

Reminds me of that scene from Fight Club where he's in the condo with the little IKEA names and prices floating next to the furniture and accessories in the room.

[menloparkbum]

this is pretty cool, but I remember seeing something very similar to this being demoed in Japan about 8 years ago.

[comatose_kid]

Very cool, but I wonder how usability will be impacted when the number of tagged things increases a lot.

[cbarning]

This reminds me of Metroid Prime.

[kleevr]

mmm.. annotated reality

Well I'm sold, time to get a tricorder.