The “Terminator” had it, US fighter pilots use it and it is the next hot feature on Japanese smartphones — “augmented reality,” which peppers the world around you with useful bits of information.
Imagine wearing high-tech glasses and having small, cartoon speech balloon-style tags pop up within your field of vision, overlaying real-world objects and buildings to describe what you are looking at.
That is essentially what Japan’s two largest cellphone operators are about to offer their millions of customers, except they will use the cameras and screens of smartphones plus vast online databases.
By harnessing the power of the Internet and bringing it more deeply into people’s everyday lives, they plan to change the way we perceive reality and move a step closer to digitizing our world view — literally.
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo is set to launch chokkan nabi, or intuitive navigation, next month to help people find their way around megacities, such as Tokyo, Osaka and other places in Japan.
“You just need to focus on a street, a building or a particular spot with your camera-equipped cellphone to see if there is a bank, a restaurant, a supermarket or other location,” a DoCoMo official said.
“Labels or signs indicate, for example, the distance to a chosen restaurant, schedules, menus, etc ... With a simple gesture, you can switch back to a conventional map in two dimensions,” the official said.
The service has so far registered some 600,000 points of interest throughout Japan, including restaurants, shops and train stations, which can be searched through user-defined criteria.
The technology, developed with map maker Zenrin, uses GPS and sophisticated software to place virtual tags on real-world objects and also provide directions to places outside the user’s direct view.
It also links with micro-blogging site Twitter, which has been wildly successful in Japan, so that its users can spot each other in real time and real space, and tweet comments about where they are.
Japan’s No. 2 mobile operator KDDI, meanwhile, has developed a platform that allows users to scan, for example, a CD advertising poster with their camera phone to gain additional material, such as an extract from a song.
The service will then offer the user the option to buy a download of the song with just two clicks, or can guide them to the nearest real-world CD shop.
The application, which also features virtual characters, is an advanced version of an already popular Japanese application for Apple’s iPhone, called Sekai Camera.
That program identifies visual landmarks and then displays live and past tweets from others as “air tags” in the same location.
Internationally, several operators are harnessing similar technology. Finnish cellphone giant Nokia is offering a free application called Point and Find, which involves pointing your camera phone at real-world objects to access information and functions.
The service also allows users to scan barcodes to compare prices, read reviews, or save a product to a wish-list.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft