The latest update for the 2011 Xperia phones contains one subtle little feature that’s actually a huge one for web developers: Integrated and native support for the WebGL standard. A possible first-step toward unifying the 3d experience on mobile devices, Xperia and Android get the title of being the first to bring it to reality. Over at SonyEricsson’s website, they have a developer article on how it all works.
In this article, Anders Isberg from Sony Ericsson’s Technology Reseach department explains more about WebGL and what to think of when you develop 3D web applications for touch-enabled devices. If you scroll down, you will also find three WebGL examples that you can browse to from the Android browser, if you have the latest software on your 2011 Xperia™ phone. You can also check out how it looks in the video above.
Google’s newest mobile OS “Android 4.0″ has lots of improvements to the UI and guts of the system. However, one thing many people don’t know that the new OS combined with newer ARM systems enables one additional exciting feature: GPU computing with the RenderScript API. Alone that’s impressive, but combined with some of the unique hardware features it could really prove amazing. Check out the new memory and cache system supported on the new Mali-T604 (Rumored to be the guts of Samsung’s upcoming products):
The ARM Mali-T604 GPU is designed to work with the latest version (4) of the AMBA (Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture) which features Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI). Data shared between processors in the system, a natural occurrence in heterogeneous computing, no longer requires costly (in terms of cycles and energy) synchronization via external memory and explicit cache maintenance operations. All of this is now performed in hardware, and is enabled transparently inside the drivers. In addition to reduced memory traffic, CCI avoids superfluous sharing of data: only data genuinely requested by another master is transferred to it, to the granularity of a cache line. No need to flush a whole buffer or data structure anymore.
These memory flush’es are one of the worst things of modern GPU & GPGPU systems: One little branch conditional can destroy your performance. In addition, every time you have to flush your data back to main memory, or load memory into the GPU, that’s a lengthy and performance-killing operation if done often. These new unified designs have the potential to nullify the impact of these operations, making GPU programming closer to CPU programming than ever before.
An impressive product use for Augmented Reality comes from researchers at Miami University that have used an Android handset to analyze books on a library shelf in real-time to find the misfiled books.
ShelvAR consists of an Android app and a set of coded tags, representing call numbers, that are placed on books’ spines. When a librarian holds a smartphone or tablet camera up to a shelf, the app reads all the tags at once, thanks to a new algorithm that can decipher multiple patterns even though they’re small when viewed at a distance. Then the app uses a simple sorting method—at least for computers, which aren’t fazed by complex letter-digit combos like Q164 .G72 2009–to figure out the correct order and the shortest number of moves needed to achieve it. The phone’s screen displays red X’s over any misfiled books, along with arrows that show where they really belong.
Qualcomm, the mobile technology company behind Android handsets like the Nexus One, has just made a push into the Augmented Reality arena with a new freely-available SDK that aims to bring standardized AR support to Android devices.
“Augmented reality represents a quantum leap in the mobile experience ” said Matt Grob senior vice president of engineering and head of corporate research and development at Qualcomm. “By offering a no-charge SDK with state-of-the-art image detection and tracking technology we help developers create the new generation of applications that are richer and more compelling than anything seen on the market today.”
Initially, the SDK is being used by Mattel in their newest version of the classic “Rock `em Sock `em” robots game. Unlike systems like Layar that use GPS & Compass to overlay data on the screen, the Qualcomm system is an actual computer-vision system using Markers, enabling more interactive applications.
In addition they are working with Unity to create an integrated development environment for application development, granting access to the Unity tools and assets.
Adobe has wowed us again by bringing the popular iPhone Photoshop App to the Android OS, making it available for a wide variety of phones.
Perfect your pictures with the Photoshop.com Mobile App on your Android phone. Simply drag your finger to crop, adjust color, apply effects—you name it.
Crop, rotate, and color-correct with the touch of a finger.
Add soft focus or change to black & white with a click.
Go classic by adding a sepia tint.
Intuitive Photo Browser for viewing local and online images.
When your image is perfect, make it your phone background.
They get bonus points for including a QR Code directly on the page to aid in downloading.
Layar has just received a surprisingly topical addition to their iPhone and Android augmented reality application in the form of a Recovery.gov layer that shows you where your tax dollars went in the recent federal bailouts, and how much.
As of today Android and iPhone 3GS users can see recovery.gov contract data on their phones via the Layar augmented reality application. Layar is an application that overlays your view of the real world with waypoints representing your favorite coffee place, the movie theatre you’re trying to find, or in this case, where some of that $787 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going.
They’ve integrated the data via an existing KML (Google Maps) dataset on the Recovery.gov website.
Further proof of the benefits of Augmented Reality in mechanical situations, as first evidenced by Boeing many years ago, comes from the US Marines who have adopted goggles & Android smartphones as a possible replacement for massive field manuals on repairs.
A test with six Marine mechanics found that they performed up to 46 percent faster on making repairs to a light armored vehicle when using the AR goggles, according to Technology Review. The jarheads typically rely upon technical manuals displayed on laptops.
Besides the heads-up display, the AR system uses text instructions, floating labels, arrows and even 3-D models of tools needed for various tasks. An Android smartphone provides the wrist interface for cueing up new instructions.
Layar, the augmented reality browser for mobile devices, has just released a new version with some huge API improvements bringing it’s functionality to a whole new level.
With version 2.0, Layar has given access to its API to 500 more developers, which are currently developing more content layers. Having Twitter or Wikipedia info layers on your phone is nice, but Layar is going to need support from many more developers if the application is to become really useful. Current partners also include Brightkite, Yelp, and Trulia.
Still currently only available for Android devices, but an iPhone 3GS version is in the works.
IBM has jumped on the Augmented Reality train with their “Seer” application for Android G1 phones. Targeting specifically for people attending Wimbledon, it’s remarkably similar to the previously covered Layar application. It functions like any good event app, with one important exception:
What makes this one cool, though, is that it uses your device’s GPS and compass to present information as an overlay on your Android phone’s camera instead of in a static map. Basically, if you point your phone’s camera at a court, restaurant, bathroom or parking lot, Seer should tell you whatever you could want to know about it.
Unfortunately, while Wimbledon opens today the app isn’t available yet. They list it as “soon”. See video of the app after the break.
The latest update for the 2011 Xperia phones contains one subtle little feature that’s actually a huge one for web developers: Integrated and native support for the WebGL standard. A possible first-step toward unifying the 3d experience on mobile devices, Xperia and Android get the title of being the first to bring it to reality. Over at SonyEricsson’s website, they have a developer article on how it all works.
An impressive product use for Augmented Reality comes from researchers at Miami University that have used an Android handset to analyze books on a library shelf in real-time to find the misfiled books.
Qualcomm, the mobile technology company behind Android handsets like the Nexus One, has just made a push into the Augmented Reality arena with a new freely-available SDK that aims to bring standardized AR support to Android devices.
Adobe has wowed us again by bringing the popular
Layar has just received a surprisingly topical addition to their iPhone and Android augmented reality application in the form of a Recovery.gov layer that shows you where your tax dollars went in the recent federal bailouts, and how much.
Further proof of the benefits of Augmented Reality in mechanical situations, as first evidenced by Boeing many years ago, comes from the US Marines who have adopted goggles & Android smartphones as a possible replacement for massive field manuals on repairs.
Layar
VizWorld.com 
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