Fujitsu Ten has just released an app that takes video from an iPhone camera, displays it on the screen of a car navigation system and superimposes icons on the video. The augmented reality application can provide useful information about the surroundings to help with giving directions.
The “Driview” application which is available for free download, works with Fujitsu Ten’s “Eclipse” brand of car navigation systems ( ‘AVN-ZX02i’ or ‘AVN-Z02i’ ). The iPhone is connected to the navigation system using a separately sold cable.
The company has previously released smartphone integrated systems …

Though this may look like a pair of colorful oversized hipster glasses, it is actually a 2 mega-pixel spy camera called MEGANE-CAMERA. This stylish camera allows you to discretely take beautiful retro-looking daytime pictures and videos without arousing any suspicion.

Taking a picture is as simple as clicking the small shutter button on the top right of the glasses’ frame. The pictures (2048 × 1536 px) and videos (720p, 30fps with audio) are stored on a micro SD card. Data can be transferred from the camera via USB, which is also …

This is a sensible and convenient use of android technology, a smart mirror. Japanese company Seraku recently demoed their mirror at the Smartphone and Mobile Expo. The exhibit featured a display which you could use to check the weather and your weight. The smart mirror consists of a pane of semi-transparent glass in front of an LCD monitor. Users interact with the display by placing their hands close to areas of interest as RF proximity sensors detect this motion. This is all powered by an android tablet in the background.

Though …

Panasonic presented a stunning art installation in which hundreds of LED lights drifted along the river. The small floating orbs represented a dance of fireflies with an accompanying light show by the enormous Tokyo Sky Tree in the background.

Creating natural poses for 3D models by using traditional input devices is difficult and time consuming. Now it can be as easy as playing with dolls… I mean action figures. Qumarion is a miniature mannequin which 3d artists can use to easily manipulate the pose of onscreen characters in real-time.

“Until now, handling 3D models was in some ways non-intuitive and difficult. Also, depending on the software, dragging can make movements unnatural. So we wanted to handle models more intuitively, by moving a mannequin. That’s why we’ve made QUMARION.”
Qumarion is a …

Watch as this mini-Transformer shape-shifts from vehicle to humanoid mode and even throws out an uppercut. This little Autobot was designed and built by Kenji Ishida while working with JS Robotics. Making a transforming robot is a lot more difficult than it seems. Mr. Ishida’s bot performs the transformation relatively quickly while maintaining balance. All this presented in a 2 min youtube video better than the last two Transformers films.

via: PlasticPals

The Permoveh (Personal Mobile Vehicle) is an omnidirectional electric wheelchair developed by Kyoto University. As demonstrated by professor Komori Masaharu it displays great maneuverability allowing the driver to move backwards, forwards and diagonally in any direction, making it suitable navigating small spaces. The chair achieves this by the use of four omnidirectional tires.

The tires of the wheels consist of rollers, the wheels move the chair back and forth, while the rollers move it from side to side, when both the wheels and the roller spin, the chair moves diagonally. We’ve …

Researchers at the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences are working on a device that allows you to take pictures using your hands. The small camera is attached to your thumb and let’s you frame shots using your fingers in the shape of a rectangle.

According to one of the researchers:
“When you draw a picture or take a photo, you sometimes form a rectangle with your hands to decide the composition. With this camera, you can take a photo using the exact same motion. You attach this device to your …

Here’s some high-tech help to keep you on that diet of yours. “Augmented Satiety” is augmented reality technology that limits a user’s consumption of food by changing the apparent size of the meal item. According to the makers of the device, recent psychological studies have shown that the amount of food consumed is not only influenced by actual volume but also external factors. They deduced that if we eat something that looks larger we are convinced that we’re full sooner than if we eat smaller looking food.

The demonstration shows a …

Last month Samsung announced the release of the eyeCAN; an eye motion controlled virtual mouse. This device consists of a motion tracker mounted to the frame of a pair of lens-less glasses. The user’s eye movements are used to control cursor motion and clicks (I assume blinks count as clicks). eyeCAN was developed specially for paralyzed individuals who have no other means by which to use a computer.

When I saw the eyeCan, I was immediately reminded of the EyeWriter; the $50 eye tracker that we talked about back in 2010. …