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Game Changing Android Application (enkin.net)

57 points by omarseyal ↗ HN
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.

26 comments

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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
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!
dkokelley
It's really just the video from what I saw. The demonstration looked a little choppy but as it progressed and smoothed out I could definitely see a game being created out of this (at least it's feasible).

I doubt you would want to do this on your phone, but similar technology on a smaller scale used in a laser tag or paint ball game would be really interesting. You could set objectives and see where your team is at, and then mark locations for other team members (meet me at waypoint X).

I'm sure the military is already way ahead of us on this, but the live camera view is new to me.

yters
I have read about special forces training with something like this. It'd be really cool though if it can be replicated with cheap off the shelf tech.

Do you know how hackable cellphone transmitters and receivers tends to be? I really see the cellphone as the portal into a virtual/physical life hybrid. If there was a cheap, popular cellphone with hackable hardware, then this could be a reality right now. If it was also the hub for a personal network, then you could plug all sorts of interesting gadgets into the mix.

dkokelley
I know that phones tend to be very hackable, I just don't think that people would use them (especially if they're priced anywhere near comparable smartphones/iphones) for games where they could break.
Hexstream
You're seeing possibilities for making a game more like reality; I also see possibilities for making reality more like a game. Think of the military implications of this. If you couple this with the other terminator-HUD-vision technology thing, you could have live team objective checkpoints and stuff... See what I mean? Also, it would be good for training because virtual enemies could be projected directly in the eyes of the soldiers. I think that kind of stuff is just around the corner (15 years?)
yters
That's along the lines of what I was thinking. Say you had a laser tag game with this system. Then, online players could be projected onto a physical player's HUD, and visa versa. The arena itself could have RFID tags on corners to easily provide the geometry for clipping, so the virtual players aren't just superimposed on the HUD.

Now, if the technology that generates 3D details from pictures progresses alot more, then the system wouldn't even have to resort to hacks like RFID tagging.

kleevr
mmm.. annotated reality

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

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.
phaedrus
Yes! This is exactly why the live view is so useful.

I did a land nav course in the Marine Corps; we had compasses we used to sight landmarks so we could triangular our location. To do this you held up the compass and looked through a slit. I'd call that analog navigation: The live view of Enkin is the same concept in digital form.

krschultz
Sailors do it that way too, its called a hockey puck compass, you site through it at a landmark and triangulate your position on a chart after you get a few bearings on a few different spots. Now most people just use GPS but the idea is the same.
menloparkbum
this is pretty cool, but I remember seeing something very similar to this being demoed in Japan about 8 years ago.
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.
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!).
michaelneale
yes I was being tongue in cheek, forgot the smiley.

I thought ruby is quite a bit older.

suboptimal
Hey mn,

Java used to be "Oak," and according to our good friend Wikipedia it was created in "June 1991." I thought it was later but guess not. It had the whole set-top box history, and would eventually run our fridges and toasters in the 21st century.

Seriously though, do you remember when Java was released? It was fun! And definitely considered the "hip" language at the time, much like Ruby is now.

I think it's interesting that so many in the Java camp have jumped ship to Ruby, because what is said about Ruby now, was said about Java then.

But they're still nearly the same age, so the ten-year spread in their respective heydays is sort of amusing. It's like Roger Moore supplanting Connery as Bond ten years later, despite the fact he's older. ;)

michaelneale
I didn't know that about Roger Moore - well you learn something every day ;)

I read the book by patrick naughton on the history of Oak etc, quite an interesting read.

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)

comatose_kid
Very cool, but I wonder how usability will be impacted when the number of tagged things increases a lot.
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.
cbarning
This reminds me of Metroid Prime.