Monday, 31 December 2012

2013 - The Trends to Come

Beckoning 2013 - The Trends to Come
Technology predictions and trends for the coming year are captured here, as heard around the world from IT practitioners, fellow technology bloggers, enterprise experts, and analysts.
The New Now Model
Users want everything now. They want simple, seamless solutions on demand, and they want technology to both simplify and speed up their lives. For the enterprise, this means a new world of fast, customized distributed IT. It means cloud computing, integration of the digital world across the enterprise, and analyzing data in milliseconds to produce insightful, relevant, and actionable information that has the potential to determine the fate of companies.
Says one blogger: The days of deploying heavy expensive software, as well as deployment cycles taking months and years, are over. With today’s shoestring IT budgets and the need to integrate quickly, we will continue to see the implementation of new deployment models that introduce deeper cost savings and new business opportunities within the enterprise.
The Dawning of Distributed IT
Becoming more important and impactful, distributed IT will continue to allow enterprises to quickly deploy and install new software, as well as provision new services, throughout the entire global network in minutes. Distributed content delivery will be personalized and customized to end users, and the delivery will be seamlessly integrated to BYOD devices.
E-Everything
First it was ecommerce; now "e" means so much more. Think e-books, e-learning, e-publishing, e-wallets, e-banking. Others may refer to this explosion as the “Internet of Connected Things”. Ultimately, much of what we do in our lives and at work can be done online through the interconnectedness of the enterprise ecosystem and the world.
Cloud Communities
For one, anticipate a future where enterprises will be salivating for talent with cloud expertise. In a profession that has seen its share of outsourcing and downsizing, cloud computing is creating great opportunities. The next likely trend is cloud communities. Here, providers focus on providing cloud services targeted at vertical-related industries, where they can effectively meet the demands of security, processes, storage, access, and compliance requirements for each like-minded market.
Discovering the Treasure Trove
A big trend in 2012, expect Big Data to unleash a real ROI in 2013 and create new jobs. Like cloud computing, many analysts see big opportunity and a talent shortage to meet this growing demand. A big part of big data is being driven by social media and the e-everything world. These technologies continue to unleash a treasure trove of information that is now “mineable” and, through analytics, will yield real results for the enterprise.

Thursday, 27 December 2012

simple discussion on cloud computing

Collins: Let’s turn our attention to cloud computing for a minute. Everybody’s talking about it, but the concept’s not really new. It’s been around since the 1970s. We used to refer to it as “time sharing,” when you shared time on a mainframe computer. And since then it’s been called numerous things, like remote job entry, network computing, Web-based solutions, software as a service, and most lately, today, it’s called cloud computing. And it seems like with this title that the concept is really starting to take off. Rick, can you tell us, what’s the difference now that’s making cloud computing so popular?

Richardson: Well, Carlton, I guess there are two or three things I’d like to comment on. The first is just how easy it is to use. Most of the vendors that are now providing cloud-based service provide it for collaboration and for synchronization. And in both of those cases, some of that happens literally automatically—that is, mobile devices will sync to the cloud, whatever service they happen to be going to, without the user even having to do anything.
And from a collaboration perspective, one of the ones I like the best in that environment is the new Google Apps. They have literally redefined what collaboration means when two users can be working on a document and actually see the other user make the change on their screen. So it’s pretty incredible in that regard.
The second is not needing anywhere near the storage space we used to need in mobile and semimobile and desktop devices. If you think about it, there are several services the cloud provides, and one of those is storage—the ability to put, as an example from a personal perspective, all of your music and entertainment, your books, all the rest of that stuff in a cloud service, where it’s maintained there. If you (have) 30 or 40 gigabytes’ worth of music, you don’t have to buy 30 or 40 gigabytes in your player that sits with you remotely. It’s all covered in the cloud, and you can buy a device that’s a lot lighter, a lot less expensive than we had to do before.
Third is the whole issue of the software products that are being offered and operated in the cloud. We call that software as a service, although that definition gets used pretty broadly, depending upon which software company you’re talking about. But products like accounting and tax compliance and planning, they’ve been available in stand-alone modes forever. They’re now available from both known and brand-new vendors we’ve never seen before, with products that offer so much more integration than we ever had before. I think it’s just going to really change the way we work.
Collins: That’s interesting, Rick. Do you think CPAs should be concerned about storing large quantities of tax returns or their accounting system data out in the cloud?
Richardson: Well, I would guess one of the things that we can’t forget is the whole issue of security and backup, and that is—that has to be a certain portion of the discussion. The other part of the discussion—and we’ll probably get into this as we cover other topics downstream, but, you know, if you’re now relying on someone in the cloud to provide you with a service and they go down, you know, you’re—we’re used to having this computer in front of us, and you turn it on and it works. And when it doesn’t work, you go sit at another computer. But here, now, your service is up in the cloud, you don’t know where it is. You go to sign into it, and it’s not there.
So I think both of those issues become important, the security for getting into it, the backing of it up properly. The health care people are worrying about it the same way from the HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] requirements with respect to health records.

Collins: OK. Dave, what’s your take on cloud computing?

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Cieslak: Well, actually, I’ll kind of share from maybe a different perspective and just talk about some of the benefits of cloud computing, and I appreciate what Rick was sharing there. It definitely supports mobility, as we’ve kind of been touching on that topic throughout our discussion so far. But really, just the ability to have anywhere, anytime access. And I know that’s maybe terminology that we’ve used for a lot of years. We’ve been saying, “Won’t it be exciting when you can have anywhere, anytime access?” And we’ve used remote control products and so on and so forth.
But really, I would say this is truly taking what we’re doing from an application and a data perspective and truly transitioning it outside our four walls and making it—really giving us the opportunity to have that kind of ubiquitous anywhere, anytime access. So I really think that is still a real standout as we think about how the cloud can change how we work and how we go about doing what we’re doing.
So, you know, Rick talked about data and reviving just kind of a foundation for backing up our data. I guess the good news is if we lose a device, we don’t … end up losing our data, because … its main domain is in the cloud. And so we really … look at the device a lot more as a—I don’t want to call it a throwaway—but not near as maybe risky if that device gets misplaced, because maybe less and less of our key confidential, critical data is residing on physical machines that we’re tasked with protecting.
So some of the other benefits, I think (include) reduced internal IT costs. All of this is part of a trend that … I think that all of us are observing, just this ongoing commoditization of IT. As you look at IT in general, I think consumers and businesses alike are saying, “Do we really need to pay specialists … and consultants and so forth?” versus how much of this really has turned into more of a kind of a commoditized retail transaction. And so as we think about the network infrastructure, the computing infrastructure and how much of that can be commoditized, well, part of that is happening through this cloud-computing initiative, or this cloud-computing migration that’s under way.
So, another part of that, the organizations have much more predictable costs. It’s a lot easier to—actually it’s frictionless, we’ll say—even to do upgrades, because it’s being upgraded for you in the background. You’ll always be enjoying the latest and greatest versions because the vendor’s taking care of that. So when I log on, I’ll always be using the latest apps. I’ll have access to my data. I’ll know that the data’s been backed up and secure. I don’t have to worry about it necessarily being misplaced if my device is misplaced. There’s no product installation. I literally just fire up a Web browser, and potentially, I’m straight away working with my key applications and that data.
And I think one of the things, as we’re talking with a number of our clients, and even just kind of thinking through our own internal approach to things, I think the simple reality is, if we were to start an organization today, start a company today, start in business today, I think we’d all probably agree that it would be cloud-based. We’d try to do anything and everything that we could via the cloud. And really, I think the only kind of drag on that whole equation, the only thing maybe holding us back a little bit from that, is the fact that many of us have a lot of pretty entrenched infrastructure. So we’re in this transitional window where we’re going to be moving more and more, piece by piece into the cloud. But clearly, the benefits are there, and clearly there’s a lot of incentive and motivation to get there.
Collins: Well said, well said. The thing I like most about what you said, Dave, is—and I’m looking forward to it—when I don’t have to run to the computer store every year or two and purchase new versions of all the products and take time to install them in my system. That’ll be a good day for all of us, I think. Randy, can you tell us about some cloud solutions that CPAs should be using, and maybe explain why they need to operate in the cloud to be effective?

Johnston: Carlton, pleased to do so, and there are hundreds compared to the dozens of just a couple of years ago. And I will name some products specifically just as good examples. But let’s start with a pretty sophisticated solution, called ClusterSeven, that actually does spreadsheet controls. That’s one of the top initiatives of technology that was in the survey by the AICPA this past year or so. ClusterSeven allows cell-level control of formulas and data not only in spreadsheets, but also in (Microsoft) Access databases and so forth. (It’s) a pure cloud app to get that done and (a) very affordable application for that particular situation.
You’ve got business analytics running in the cloud that way, which is really also interesting. I’ll pick on BizTools Pro as an example of that. (It) is a QuickBooks-enabled analytic product. But the analytics products run from the small to the large. And, Carlton, probably you as well as anybody know about so many of the accounting software products now available in the cloud, from the entry-level products like Xero or QuickBooks Online on up through an Intacct or a NetSuite or an SAP Business ByDesign. There’s a dozen-plus of those products today that are quite effective.
For public practice listeners, Capital Confirmation does a wonderful job of being a software-as-a-service product that handles audit confirmations, and not only, say, cash, but also heading into AR [accounts receivable] and AP [accounts payable], and they’re doing a validation and verification of all small business addresses and so forth, and that’s a pretty innovative type of thinking.
But I’d like for our listeners to also spot, every cloud product I’ve talked about is what would be called, traditionally, software as a service. It’s a product that runs in a browser. It’s multiuser, multitenant, and I typically set a lot of the hosted applications aside, even though they might be marketed as software as a service. So further, like with what Rick Richardson said earlier, you can do tax in the cloud with products like GoSystem RS or document management in the cloud like GoFileRoom, just to name two products that work as a pure task offering.
And beyond that, we could go on and on and on. Probably the best way to think about it is there is probably a fast solution for every business need that you’re looking at today. Some of the weaker ones tend to be in areas like point of sale or manufacturing and distribution, and those will be a little harder for some people to get past. Dave is also spot on right. If you can throw everything out from the past and start off into the future, you would probably solve your business issues with cloud solutions today. But right now we’re going to go through a period where we’ll probably run hybrids—some things in-house, some things up in the cloud—and there will be a transition period. And for some, they will build their own private cloud by keeping the infrastructure internal but mobilizing their things through browsers to tablets, to phones and other situations.
Collins: Hey, thank you, Randy. How about we throw out a question for all of our panelists, any one of you that wants to jump in on this? Can you give us a small laundry list of those products, services or applications that a CPA in industry or in public practice should look at for transitioning to the cloud, and when should they do that? Do you have like three or four or five key areas that they should focus on now?
Johnston: Well, you know, I’ll pick one, Carlton, and use ShareFile as an example. It’s a product that allows a firm to build a branded portal to transfer large files and so forth easily. A relatively inexpensive product, it solves a security need. (It’s) pretty simple to deploy that and solve a problem very quickly.
Collins: What are the top security concerns related to cloud computing, and how should they be addressed? Rick?
Richardson: First and foremost, from the security perspective, I think is access protection itself, both login and continuous transmission. Most of us are all familiar with usernames and passwords and protocols for passwords to provide for the longer they are and the harder they are to discover and so forth. But the other issue that’s just as crucial in all this process is you have a continuous transmission of information that needs to be encrypted itself, and finding out how the vendor is providing that and what level of security is pretty crucial.
One of the other concerns that I always have is the company provides me with all this information about how the data and where the data are backed up. Contractually, I want to also make sure in the agreement I have with them that I own that data and that I have the right to be able to remove that data and bring it back in-house whenever I need to. So I think those are three pretty important security issues.
Collins: OK, anybody else?
Cieslak: Carlton, this is David. I’ll jump in a little bit on that one, too. You know, one of the things that we’ve seen in the last few years is many organizations using the AICPA SAS 70 [Statement on Auditing Standards no. 70, Service Organizations] as kind of like their Good Housekeeping Seal of approval and saying, “Our data centers are in good working order. They’re secure.” And really, that honestly, that’s been kind of a reach. I mean, that’s not really what the SAS 70 statement, the auditing standards, was designed for. So I think it’s kind of important to point out that even the AICPA is participating in this process now as well, and they’ve got basically something new called the Service Organization Control Reports [see “Expanding Service Organization Controls Reporting”]. So SOC 1, 2 and 3. And that really is intended to basically kind of step off or springboard off of just some of the good awareness that’s been created around SAS 70, but basically saying, “You know what? We want to create tools and end-user reports that really are more to the point of saying, in fact, this cloud-computing environment is a secure computing environment, and we’re going to give you the standards to measure that against and ultimately report to the end user,” give them confidence that it is, in fact, a secure environment.
So in addition to some of the access controls and the information that Rick was sharing, as you think about the role of the AICPA, and just having some independent verification that you have a solid computing platform, I think these Service Organization Control Reports are definitely going to be a very good resource for us.
Collins: Thank you, Dave.
Johnston: So … Carlton, this is Randy. If I could jump in on this security topic, there’s probably more than just security that’s going to come out of this. ... But one clear risk is large-scale organizations that are providing applications or hosting a lot of different platforms and so forth in the cloud will become security targets. And I think bad guys and hackers will do their best to break into those. And we have seen breaches of that nature so far, and I believe it’ll get worse.
So, you know, again, the large organizations are probably doing a better job than we can in small organizations. They’ve got people and software and specific strategies to watch for all this. But I think that’s a fairly large-scale risk. So we’d like to have the data encrypted at rest in these big data centers. Only some are doing that. Many are not.
Further, we’re also concerned just about the long-term scalability. You know, in theory these cloud data centers can be scaled, but there’s been a number of cloud applications that clearly run out of scale or can’t scale as expected. So that becomes another one of the issues around cloud.
So I wouldn’t want our listeners to think, “Oh, cloud is a panacea. Everything’s got to get there. It’s all going to get there.” And maybe it will, but I don’t see it happening very quickly and smoothly because technical people are learning how to work with these applications. And I believe that one of the issues (is) security holes that they’ve got in their applications or in their authentication procedures, which open some of these resources up to abuse issues. Even simple things like the ability for one company to see another company’s data, which should never happen, unfortunately occasionally can and do happen today.

Tuesday, 25 December 2012

Software Development Trends 2012 by Embarcadero

This year is an exciting time for software developers. There are new challenges and even more new opportunities with shifts in devices toward mobile and tablets and shifts in operating systems with the growth of Mac OS and 64-bit. This article is based on a discussion between Embarcadero's David Intersimone, Michael Swindell and John Thomas where they discussed the trends important to software developers this year.

In 2012 there are really two key things at the top of the list. Developers should be thinking about how to enable their solutions and to address both the Windows and Mac markets. The second is to begin to mobilize their solution, whether that means taking their solution to mobile devices or building mobile companions to their solutions.

One of the things that you should think about, especially as you start looking at mobilizing applications, is about user interface design in particular and new ways of interacting with applications and presenting your enterprise data or application data to users in a more intuitive and interactive way, like people are used to using on these devices in the consumer market.

Increasing Mac Adoption and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

It's been a largely Windows market up until the last few years with Windows everywhere on the desktop. Macs have been used in certain places. But now we're seeing in many research reports, whether it's IDC, Gartner, or Forrester Research that the Mac rapidly gaining in popularity.

We've always talked about Windows and Mac and kind of the 90/10 kind of split. And even though the Mac has been growing rapidly the last few years it's not going to displace the Windows desktop anytime soon. That's not the real reason why developers should be looking to develop on Mac. What we're starting to see is that organizations now have to support both. When you have to support both you start to choose software solutions and software products that offer both.

There are several trends that are happening in business and in enterprise today that are driving that but one of the key drivers behind that is the Bring Your Own Device or BYOD, we think, in Europe, BYOT is the often-used term. Here we say BYOD but basically the same idea is that workers are bringing their own devices in.

This isn't a flash in the pan. This is a really serious initiative; a lot of organizations are putting a lot of budget around this area. And as a consequence software choices are affected. So if you're an ISV and you're offering a Windows solution, adding Mac to your solution, to your offering, give you a competitive edge against other vendors who don't. It's pretty plain and simple.

Now as Mac grows in its footprint that also provides a wider audience, of course, to sell your solution as well. So it’s kind of double win for developers, we think.

Leveraging the Shift From 32-Bit to 64-Bit

There was also a Gartner report recently about 64-bit Windows and we think that their statement was in 2014, 75% of corporate PCs will be running Windows 64. 64-bit is really becoming important and we think part of the reason we see the corporate PCs getting Win 64 is the same reason why most people upgrade Windows over the years as well because they buy new machines. The 64-bit CPUs have been around for many years in these devices even though they may have been running 32-bit versions of Windows. With Windows 7 and future Windows 8, you'll find more and more PCs just by default being 64-bit Windows.

One of the things to remember is that most of the upgrades that happen, the Windows upgrades that happen, happen by an IT organization, not by individuals. And when—and IT organizations don't tend to — they typically only upgrade in certain cycles. They don't upgrade — they try to put it off as long as possible and do everything at once. But when they do they tend to want to upgrade everyone to as high as possible. They want to move up to the highest hardware standard and the highest software standard, in this case 64-bit. 64-bit Windows is the trend.

As organizations are shifting into full gear on Windows 7 upgrades, the trend is towards the 64-bit flavor. And that really introduces some complexities with Windows because unlike the past where it was really easy to build 16-, 32-bit compatible applications, it's much harder today and there are more compatibility issues. Rather than building one application that can support both, front, back and forth, the trend now is more to build off of 32-bit versions and 64-bit versions. A really important thing for developers to be thinking about this year is offering that 64-bit option so that you can get in on all those IT upgrades. Get those, and thus get your software upgraded in those cycles as well.

There's a lot of budget out there when it comes times for Windows upgrades. So it's a great time for ISP and developers to be thinking about upgrading their software.

Next Generation User Interfaces

Developers really do need to start thinking about next generation user interfaces because the UI is ultimately how your end user gets the most out of their application that you provide to them. The form over function argument is really starting to lean more towards form these days. Not to say you can’t deliver something without function obviously but form is carrying much more weight. That’s due in large part to the experiences that users are having with new devices, getting on your iPad and being able to use gestures and a different user experience that’s more intuitive and then having to go to a typical Windows desktop application is a stark difference.

Executives in particular and consumers are looking for an experience like they get on these mobile devices with these new gestures and interfaces on the desktop. A really good example of what happens if you don't think about form is what's going on at Research in Motion (RIM) and Blackberry right now. We think most of us have heard that the two CEOs have been replaced recently. RIM have really been suffering to keep up in the market today. And it wasn't because they didn't have function. It had plenty of good function in those devices, especially with regard to enterprise users. But what people were asking for and what RIM wasn't delivering on was more form, these better experiences that they were seeing elsewhere. Maybe their wife at home was having an iPhone experience and they're sitting on a Blackberry and it was just such a stark difference that they weren't really satisfied with that device anymore.

Even if you don't make a wholesale transition into a next generation user experience, it's really important to get started now so that you can start getting yourself, laying the groundwork for what's coming up next. Over the next five to ten years what we see as a computer is going to change dramatically.

The types of displays, the types of devices that we interact with and that we run software on are going to be the things of science fiction. It won't be that long, meaning the next year or two years, before we start seeing practical uses of transparent displays in retail, in airports and in our desktops. HUD displays are another thing to start experimenting with because being able to move parts of your user interface into convenient areas of vision is very important. It will become very important in helmet displays, military applications, automobiles, in a wide variety of settings we'll need to start putting user interface elements kind of in the periphery of our vision and heads-up displays will be the key to that and we can start getting widgets and things like that today are a great start in that direction. It's important to start thinking about that new application and how you can start to leverage these concepts.

Web Technologies

Certainly HTML5 and CSS3 are good things to get familiar with. These are technologies that are really becoming the sort of the common UI. The capabilities are becoming very mature and very capable. You should be thinking about the requirement of your applications and what is the skill set of the developers.

A lot of organizations right now are looking at these technologies for their applications and desktop applications because they have a lot of investment in web skills internally. So if you can reuse those web skills, the HTML and JavaScript skills, in more than just web development, that makes good sense. A lot of organizations see that as a good use of their teams and resources.

Also, these types of HTML 5 dynamic and RIA front-ends work really well when you're talking about web back ended applications. An example is the Embarcadero AppWave browser. This is a native application; it happens to be written Delphi but the content is very dynamic. It's driven by a web backend. The application also has a completely web-based browser front end as well.In an application like this where you've got a desktop version that has its specific capabilities and purposes but it needs to share a common back end with a web app end, it makes a lot of sense. You can reuse a lot of the same UI designs and UI elements in that regard.

See More on Mobile Trends for 2012

In addition to the trends we've covered here, mobile development is a key item for you to consider this year. See the companion articlefor tips on selecting the right approach for building your mobile applications and how to choose the right business model so your mobile solutions have the maximum impact.

And remember, whether you're developing for Windows (32-bit and 64-bit), Mac, Web, or mobile, Embarcadero RAD Studio, Delphi, C++Builder, Prism and RadPHP give you proven technology for building software applications today and into the future.

Cracking open the last closed platform: the TV. A beautiful, affordable console -- built on Android, by the creator of Jambox

Our Kickstarter campaign is over, but you can still get an OUYA. Head over to www.ouya.tv for more info and to place an order.

We just added game streaming through OnLive! Final Fantasy will be on OUYA...and we have an exclusive game! And VEVO has agreed to put their music videos on OUYA, XBMC adds a streaming media app, with TuneIn andiHeartRadio adding music!

We're honored by all of you who are backing us -- THANK YOU. We are focused on delivering for you, first come first served. We can only promise OUYA by March to our Kickstarter backers.

Engadget! PC World! Kotaku! The Guardian! Joystiq! Forbes! GameSpot!BusinessWeek! The Verge! Wired! IGN! The New York Times! Time!

We love console games.

There's something about a big HD TV and digital surround sound that fills up a living room. Shooters, platformers, sports games, arcade classics and experimental indie games just feel bigger on a TV screen. It's how most of us grew up gaming.

But maybe people are missing out.

We get it – smartphones and tablets are getting all the new titles – they're "what's hot.” The console market is pushing developers away. We’ve seen a brain drain: some of the best, most creative gamemakers are focused on mobile and social games because those platforms are more developer-friendly. And the ones who remain focused on console games can’t be as creative as they’d like.

Deep down, you know your best gaming memories happened in the living room.

You busted your ass just to find out the princess was "in another castle." You fought bosses that told you repeatedly how much "you suck." You taped a blanket to half of your screen so your friend couldn't see where you were. You traded the best players onto your team just so you could have the perfect season. And you did it all on the TV.

It's time to upend console gaming.

Let’s open this sucker up! It's time we brought back innovation, experimentation, and creativity to the big screen. Let’s make the games less expensive to make, and less expensive to buy. With all our technological advancements, shouldn't costs be going down? Gaming could be cheaper!

We're handing the reins over to the developer with only one condition: at least some gameplay has to be free. We borrowed the free-to-play model from games like League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, Triple Town, and many others. Developers can offer a free demo with a full-game upgrade, in-game items or powers, or ask you to subscribe.

OUYA: The revolution will be televised

OUYA is a new game console for the TV, powered by Android.

We've packed this little box full of power. Developers will have access to OUYA's open design so they can produce their games for the living room, taking advantage of everything the TV has to offer.

Best of all, OUYA's world-class controller, console, and interface come in one beautiful, inexpensive package. All the games on it will be free, at least to try.

Great games come from great developers.

Developers can wave farewell to the roadblocks of bringing a console game to market. Anyone can make a game: every OUYA console is a dev kit. No need to purchase a license or an expensive SDK. It's built on Android, so developers already know how it works.

That doesn't mean OUYA is an Android port. You can create the next big title in your bedroom – just like the good old days! Who needs pants!?

OUYA could change AAA game development, too. Forget about licensing fees, retail fees, and publishing fees.

And developers agree:

"This has the potential to be the game developer’s console. It's about time!" -- Brian Fargo (founder of inXile)

“Who wouldn't want a beautiful piece of industrial design that sells for $99, plugs straight into your TV, and gives you access to a huge library of games?" – Jordan Mechner (creator of Prince of Persia, Karateka)

“If OUYA delivers on the promise of being the first true open gaming platform that gives indie developers access to the living room gaming market, yes that is a great idea. We will follow the development of OUYA and see how it resonates with gamers. I could see all current Mojang games go on the platform if there's a demand for it.” – Mojang (developer of Minecraft)

"I'm excited for OUYA! I am a firm believer that there is always room to challenge the status quo." -- Jenova Chen (thatgamecompany, creator of flOw, Cloud, and Flower)

“The prospect of an affordable, open console -- that's an idea I find really exciting.” -- Adam Saltsman (Semi Secret, creator of Canabalt)

"Our games will work so well on a TV, we just need an easy way to get them there. OUYA could be it." -- Marek Rabas (Madfinger Games)

"An open game console that gives independent game developers the flexibility to experiment with their games and business models on the TV, is something that's long overdue." – David Edery (Spry Fox, creator of Triple Town)

Design matters.

We believe a great console requires a great user experience. We are working with the award-winning designer, Yves Behar, and his firm fuseproject (designer of the Jambox).

We are designing the controller to be a love letter to console gaming. It will have everything you've learned to love: fast buttons, triggers, laser-precise analog sticks, a D-Pad – and it will have a touchpad for any games making the trek from mobile or tablet to the TV. It'll be just the right weight. We are working with select developers to play-test the controller through development. We call it 'the Stradivarius of controllers,' and we hope developers will be inspired to take gameplay to a new level with it.

Hackers welcome.

Have at it: It's easy to root (and rooting won't void your warranty). Everything opens with standard screws. Hardware hackers can create their own peripherals, and connect via USB or Bluetooth. You want our hardware design? Let us know. We might just give it to you. Surprise us!

Specifications:

Tegra3 quad-core processor
1GB RAM
8GB of internal flash storage
HDMI connection to the TV, with support for up to 1080p HD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth LE 4.0
USB 2.0 (one)
Wireless controller with standard controls (two analog sticks, d-pad, eight action buttons, a system button), a touchpad
Android 4.0
ETHERNET! (Announced by Muffi 7/18)

It's entertainment beyond gaming.

Because OUYA is based on Android, any app developer could publish their Android app to OUYA. The possibilities are limitless, and conversations with potential partners are already underway. Here’s our first: do you like watching StarCraft, or League of Legends? Watch Twitch.TV on your OUYA.

We've come a long way already. The user interface and industrial designs are far along. Our prototype is up and running. What we have left to do is simple, but it's expensive. (We’re looking at you Mark Cuban! Woz! Help us out.)

All we need is you.

With your help, we need to:

Convert our prototype to production-ready models and get all the regulatory approvals (yeah, we need these to sell them)
Deliver developer kits (for early developers so we can have games on day one, though every console will include an SDK once we launch)
Place our first production orders (we are working with a manufacturing firm with lots of game hardware experience, but we need to know how many to make!)
Ideally, fund some initial game development (i.e., 1st-party games)

And if you’re international, we want your help too…gaming is global, and wewill get you OUYA. We still have a lot to figure out in regards to rights and countries, but it can be done. Look what we've accomplished already!

Show the world, through your numbers, that you're out there.

Show them you're ready to level the playing field. Enlist others. The more we raise, the more we can do.

OUYA: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED

Monday, 3 December 2012

Augmented reality :

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generatedsensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real world with a simulated one. Augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, such as sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally manipulable. Artificial information about the environment and its objects can be overlaid on the real world.

Contents

· 1 Technology

o 1.1 Hardware

§ 1.1.1 Display

§ 1.1.1.1 Head-mounted

§ 1.1.1.2 Eye Glasses

§ 1.1.1.3 Contact Lenses

§ 1.1.1.4 Virtual Retinal Display

§ 1.1.1.5 Handheld

§ 1.1.1.6 Spatial

§ 1.1.2 Tracking

§ 1.1.3 Input devices

§ 1.1.4 Computer

o 1.2 Software and algorithms

· 2 Applications

o 2.1 Archaeology

o 2.2 Advertisement

o 2.3 Architecture

o 2.4 Art

o 2.5 Commerce

o 2.6 Education

o 2.7 Industrial Design

o 2.8 Medical

o 2.9 Military

o 2.10 Navigation

o 2.11 Office Workplace

o 2.12 Sports & Entertainment

o 2.13 Task Support

o 2.14 Tourism and Sightseeing

o 2.15 Translation

· 3 Notable researchers

· 4 History

· 5 See also

· 6 References

· 7 External links

Technology

Hardware

The main hardware components for augmented reality are: processor, display, sensors and input devices. Modern mobile computing devices likesmartphones and tablet computers contain these elements which often include a camera and MEMS sensors such as accelerometer, GPS, and solid state compass, making them suitable AR platforms.

Display

Various technologies are used in Augmented Reality rendering including optical projection systems, monitors, hand held devices, and display systems worn on one's person.

Head-mounted

A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device paired to a headset such as a harness or helmet. HMDs place images of both the physical world and virtual objects over the user's field of view. Modern HMDs often employ sensors for six degrees of freedom monitoring that allow the system to align virtual information to the physical world and adjust accordingly with the user's head movements. HMDs can provide users immersive, mobile and collaborative AR experiences.

Eye Glasses

AR displays can be rendered on devices resembling eyeglasses. Versions include eye wear that employs cameras to intercept the real world view and re-display it's augmented view through the eye pieces and devices in which the AR imagery is projected through or reflected off the surfaces of the eye wear lens pieces.

Contact Lenses

Contact lenses that display AR imaging are in development. These lenses contain the elements for display embedded into the lens including integrated circuitry, LEDs and an antenna for wireless communication. Another version of contact lenses, in development for the U.S. Military, is designed to function with AR spectacles, allowing soldiers to focus on close-to-the-eye AR images on the spectacles and distant real world objects at the same time.

Virtual Retinal Display

A virtual retinal display (VRD) is a personal display device under development at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory. With this technology, a display is scanned directly onto the retina of a viewer's eye. The viewer sees what appears to be a conventional display floating in space in front of them.

Handheld

Handheld displays employ a small display that fits in a user's hand. All handheld AR solutions to date opt for video see-through. Initially handheld AR employed fiduciary markers, and laterGPS units and MEMS sensors such as digital compasses and six degrees of freedom accelerometer–gyroscope. Today SLAM markerless trackers such as PTAM are starting to come into use. Handheld display AR promises to be the first commercial success for AR technologies. The two main advantages of handheld AR is the portable nature of handheld devices and ubiquitous nature of camera phones. The disadvantages are the physical constraints of the user having to hold the handheld device out in front of them at all times as well as distorting effect of classically wide-angled mobile phone cameras when compared to the real world as viewed through the eye.

Spatial

Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) augments real world objects and scenes without the use of special displays such as monitors, head mounted displays or hand-held devices. SAR makes use of digital projectors to display graphical information onto physical objects. The key difference in SAR is that the display is separated from the users of the system. Because the displays are not associated with each user, SAR scales naturally up to groups of users, thus allowing for collocated collaboration between users. SAR has several advantages over traditional head-mounted displays and handheld devices. The user is not required to carry equipment or wear the display over their eyes. This makes spatial AR a good candidate for collaborative work, as the users can see each other’s faces. A system can be used by multiple people at the same time without each having to wear a head-mounted display.

Examples include shader lamps, mobile projectors, virtual tables, and smart projectors. Shader lamps mimic and augment reality by projecting imagery onto neutral objects, providing the opportunity to enhance the object’s appearance with materials of a simple unit- a projector, camera, and sensor. Handheld projectors further this goal by enabling cluster configurations of environment sensing, reducing the need for additional peripheral sensing.

Other tangible applications include table and wall projections. One such innovation, the Extended Virtual Table, separates the virtual from the real by including beam-splitter mirrors attached to the ceiling at an adjustable angle. Virtual showcases, which employ beam-splitter mirrors together with multiple graphics displays, provide an interactive means of simultaneously engaging with the virtual and the real. Altogether, current augmented reality display technology can be applied to improve design and visualization, or function as scientific simulations and tools for education or entertainment. Many more implementations and configurations make spatial augmented reality display an increasingly attractive interactive alternative.

Spatial AR does not suffer from the limited display resolution of current head-mounted displays and portable devices. A projector based display system can simply incorporate more projectors to expand the display area. Where portable devices have a small window into the world for drawing, a SAR system can display on any number of surfaces of an indoor setting at once. The drawbacks, however, are that SAR systems of projectors do not work so well in sunlight and also require a surface on which to project the computer-generated graphics. Augmentations cannot simply hang in the air as they do with handheld and HMD-based AR. The tangible nature of SAR, though, makes this an ideal technology to support design, as SAR supports both a graphical visualisation and passive haptic sensation for the end users. People are able to touch physical objects, and it is this process that provides the passive haptic sensation.

Tracking

Modern mobile augmented reality systems use one or more of the following tracking technologies: digital cameras and/or other optical sensors, accelerometers, GPS, gyroscopes, solid state compasses, RFID and wireless sensors. These technologies offer varying levels of accuracy and precision. Most important is the position and orientation of the user's head. Tracking the user's hand(s) or a handheld input device can provide a 6DOF interaction technique.

Input devices

Techniques include speech recognition systems that translate a user's spoken words into computer instructions and gesture recognition systems that can interpret a user's body movements by visual detection or from sensors embedded in a peripheral device such as a wand, stylus, pointer, glove or other body wear.

Computer

The computer analyzes the sensed visual and other data to synthesize and position augmentations.

Software and algorithms

A key measure of AR systems is how realistically they integrate augmentations with the real world. The software must derive real world coordinates, independent from the camera, from camera images. That process is called image registration which uses different methods of computer vision, mostly related to video tracking. Many computer vision methods of augmented reality are inherited from visual odometry. Usually those methods consist of two parts.

First detect interest points, or fiduciary markers, or optical flow in the camera images. First stage can use feature detection methods like corner detection, blob detection, edge detection orthresholding and/or other image processing methods. The second stage restores a real world coordinate system from the data obtained in the first stage. Some methods assume objects with known geometry (or fiduciary markers) present in the scene. In some of those cases the scene 3D structure should be precalculated beforehand. If part of the scene is unknown simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) can map relative positions. If no information about scene geometry is available, structure from motion methods like bundle adjustment are used. Mathematical methods used in the second stage include projective (epipolar) geometry, geometric algebra, rotation representation with exponential map, kalman and particle filters, nonlinear optimization,robust statistics.

Applications

Augmented reality has many applications, and many areas can benefit from the usage of AR technology. AR was initially used for military, industrial, and medical applications, but was soon applied to commercial and entertainment areas as well.

Archaeology

AR can be used to aid archaeological research, by augmenting archaeological features onto the modern landscape, enabling archaeologists to formulate conclusions about site placement and configuration

Another application given to AR in this field is the possibility for users to rebuild ruins, buildings, or even landscapes as they formerly existed.

Advertisement

AR can be used to promote an advertisement campaign on any type of mass media. Such as; newspaper, magazines, outdoor advertisement and any other type of printed online and offline materials. Users can easily experience the advertisement campaign by installing the appropriate AR application to their mobile device. However, users must be present during the campaign experience on their mobile device, the AR mobile application has to be headed to AR campaign. This may lead some problems, especially for outdoor advertisement, where large number of people passing by and user should not move during the campaign on the mobile device. Recently, Montblanc conducted an AR campaign in Harrods department store in London. The campaign was available to public between 12th - 24th November, 2012. Montblanc AR campaign was art gallery of David Geffen, where there were sixteen artworks of the artist on the AR campaign.

Architecture

AR can aid in visualizing building projects. Computer generated images of a structure can be superimposed into a real life local view of a property before the physical building is constructed there. AR can also be employed within an architect's work space, rendering into their view animated 3D visualizations of their 2D drawings. Architecture sight-seeing can be enhanced with AR applications allowing users viewing a building's exterior to virtually see through its walls viewing it's interior objects and layout.

Art

AR technology has helped disabled individuals create art by using eye tracking to translate a user's eye movements into drawings on a screen. An item such as a commemorative coin can be designed so that when scanned by an AR enabled device it displays additional objects and layers of information that were not visible in a real world view of it.

Commerce

AR can enhance product previews such as allowing a customer to view what's inside a product's packaging without opening it. AR can also be used as an aid in selecting products from a catalog or through a kiosk. Scanned images of products can activate views of additional content such as customization options and additional images of the product in its use. AR is used to integrate print and video marketing. Printed marketing material can be designed with certain "trigger" images that, when scanned by an AR enabled device using image recognition, activate a video version of the promotional material.

Education

Augmented reality applications can complement a standard curriculum. Text, graphics, video and audio can be superimposed into a student’s real time environment. Textbooks, flashcards and other educational reading material can contain embedded “markers” that, when scanned by an AR device, produce supplementary information to the student rendered in a multimedia format. Students can participate interactively with computer generated simulations of historical events, exploring and learning details of each significant area of the event site. AR can aide students in understanding chemistry by allowing them to visualize the spatial structure of a molecule and interact with a virtual model of it that appears, in a camera image, positioned at a marker held in their hand. Augmented reality technology also permits learning via remote collaboration, in which students and instructors not at the same physical location can share a common virtual learning environment populated by virtual objects and learning materials and interact with another within that setting.

Industrial Design

AR can help industrial designers experience a product's design and operation before completion. Volkswagen uses AR for comparing calculated and actual crash test imagery. AR can be used to visualize and modify a car body structure and engine layout. AR can also be used to compare digital mock-ups with physical mock-ups for efficiently finding discrepancies between them.

Medical

Augmented Reality can provide the surgeon with information, which are otherwise hidden, such as showing the heartbeat rate, the blood pressure, the state of the patient’s organ, etc. In particular AR can be used to let the doctor look inside the patient by combining one source of images such as as a X-ray with another such as video. This helps the doctor to identify the problem with the patient in a more intuitive way than looking at only type of image data. This approach works in a similar as the technicians doing maintenance work.

Examples include a virtual X-ray view based on prior tomography or on real time images from ultrasound and confocal microscopy probes or visualizing the position of a tumor in the video of anendoscope. AR can enhance viewing a fetus inside a mother's womb. See also Mixed reality.

Military

In combat, AR can serve as a networked communication system that renders useful battlefield data onto a soldier's goggles in real time. From the soldier's viewpoint, people and various objects can be marked with special indicators to warn of potential dangers. Virtual maps and 360° view camera imaging can also be rendered to aid a soldier's navigation and battlefield perspective, and this can be transmitted to military leaders at a remote command center.

Navigation

AR can augment the effectiveness of navigation devices. Information can be displayed on an automobile's windshield indicating destination directions and meter, weather, terrain, road conditions and traffic information as well as alerts to potential hazards in their path. Aboard maritime vessels, AR can allow bridge watch-standers to continuously monitor important information such as a ship's heading and speed while moving throughout the bridge or performing other tasks.

Office Workplace

AR can help facilitate collaboration among distributed team members in a work force via conferences with real and virtual participants. AR tasks can include brainstorming and discussion meetings utilizing common visualization via touch screen tables, interactive digital whiteboards, shared design spaces, and distributed control rooms.

Sports & Entertainment

AR has become common in sports telecasting. Sports and entertainment venues are provided with see-trough and overlay augmentation through tracked camera feeds for enhanced viewing by the audience. Examples include the yellow "first down" line seen in television broadcasts of American football games showing the line the offensive team must cross to receive a first down. AR is also used in association with football and other sporting events to show commercial advertisements overlayed onto the view of the playing area. Sections of rugby fields and cricket pitches also display sponsored images. Swimming telecasts often add a line across the lanes to indicate the position of the current record holder as a race proceeds to allow viewers to compare the current race to the best performance. Other examples include hockey puck tracking and annotations of racing car performance and snooker ball trajectories.

AR can enhance concert and theater performances. For example, artists can allow listeners to augment their listening experience by adding their performance to that of other bands/groups of users.

The gaming industry has benefited a lot from the development of this technology. A number of games have been developed for prepared indoor environments. Early AR games also include AR air hockey, collaborative combat against virtual enemies, and an AR-enhanced pool games. A significant number of games incorporate AR in them and the introduction of the smartphone has made a bigger impact.

Task Support

Complex tasks such as assembly, maintenance, and surgery can be simplified by inserting additional information into the field of view. For example, labels can be displayed on parts of a system to clarify operating instructions for a mechanic who is performing maintenance on the system. Assembly lines gain many benefits from the usage of AR. In addition to Boeing, BMW and Volkswagen are known for incorporating this technology in their assembly line to improve their manufacturing and assembly processes. Big machines are difficult to maintain because of the multiple layers or structures they have. With the use of AR the workers can complete their job in a much easier way because AR permits them to look through the machine as if it was with x-ray, pointing them to the problem right away.

Tourism and Sightseeing

Augmented Reality applications can enhance a user's experience when traveling by providing real time informational displays regarding a location and it's features, including comments made by previous visitors of the site. AR applications allow tourists to experience simulations of historical events, places and objects by rendering them into their current view of a landscape. AR applications can also present location information by audio, announcing features of interest at a particular site as they become visible to the user.

Translation

AR systems can interpret foreign text on signs and menus and, in a user's augmented view, re-display the text in the user's language. Spoken words of a foreign language can be translated and displayed in a user's view as printed subtitles.

Notable researchers

Ivan Sutherland invented the first AR head-mounted display at Harvard University.
Steven Feiner, Professor at Columbia University, is a leading pioneer of augmented reality, and author of the first paper on an AR system prototype, KARMA (the Knowledge-based Augmented Reality Maintenance Assistant), along with Blair MacIntyre and Doree Seligmann.
L.B. Rosenberg developed one of the first known AR systems, called Virtual Fixtures, while working at the U.S. Air Force Armstrong Labs in 1991, and published first study of how an AR system can enhance human performance.
Dieter Schmalstieg and Daniel Wagner jump started the field of AR on mobile phones. They developed the first marker tracking systems for mobile phones and PDAs.
Bruce H. Thomas and Wayne Piekarski develop the Tinmith system in 1998. They along with Steve Feiner with his MARS system pioneer outdoor augmented reality.
Reinhold Behringer performed important early work in image registration for augmented reality, and prototype wearable testbeds for augmented reality. He also co-organized the First IEEE International Symposium on Augmented Reality in 1998 (IWAR'98), and co-edited one of the first books on augmented reality.

History

1901: L. Frank Baum, an author, first mentions the idea of an electronic display/spectacles that overlays data onto real life (in this case 'people'), it's named a 'character marker'.
1957–62: Morton Heilig, a cinematographer, creates and patents a simulator called Sensorama with visuals, sound, vibration, and smell.
1966: Ivan Sutherland invents the head-mounted display and positions it as a window into a virtual world.
1975: Myron Krueger creates Videoplace to allow users to interact with virtual objects for the first time.
1989: Jaron Lanier coins the phrase Virtual Reality and creates the first commercial business around virtual worlds.
1990: The term "'Augmented Reality'" is believed to be attributed to Tom Caudell, a former Boeing [2]] researcher.
1992: L.B. Rosenberg develops one of the first functioning AR systems, called Virtual Fixtures, at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory—Armstrong, and demonstrates benefits to human performance.
1992: Steven Feiner, Blair MacIntyre and Doree Seligmann present the first major paper on an AR system prototype, KARMA, at the Graphics Interface conference.
1993 A widely cited version of the paper above is published in Communications of the ACM - Special issue on computer augmented environments, edited by Pierre Wellner, Wendy Mackay, and Rich Gold.
1993: Loral WDL, with sponsorship from STRICOM, performed the first demonstration combining live AR-equipped vehicles and manned simulators. Unpublished paper, J. Barrilleaux, "Experiences and Observations in Applying Augmented Reality to Live Training", 1999.
1994: Julie Martin creates first 'Augmented Reality Theater production', Dancing In Cyberspace, funded by the Australia Council for the Arts, features dancers and acrobats manipulating body–sized virtual object in real time, projected into the same physical space and performance plane. The acrobats appeared immersed within the virtual object and environments. The installation used Silicon Graphics computers and Polhemus sensing system.
1998: Spatial Augmented Reality introduced at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Raskar, Welch, Fuchs.
1999: Hirokazu Kato (加藤博一) created ARToolKit at HITLab, where AR later was further developed by other HITLab scientists, demonstrating it at SIGGRAPH.
2000: Bruce H. Thomas develops ARQuake, the first outdoor mobile AR game, demonstrating it in the International Symposium on Wearable Computers.
2008: Wikitude AR Travel Guide launches on 20 Oct 2008 with the G1 Android phone.
2009: ARToolkit was ported to Adobe Flash (FLARToolkit) by Saqoosha, bringing augmented reality to the web browser.

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