The App will launch on 17th May 2012, and will initially offer readers the Zappar experience on novels Moby Dick, and Lady Audley’s Secret, with two further titles to come later in the year.

 The process is simple: download the Zappar App available free of charge from iTunes or the Android Market Place. Locate the Penguin content in the menu. Point a phone/handset at the cover of the book and watch as it reveals an array of digital content and online destinations. This signifies not only a first for Augmented Reality but an original and immersive way of introducing some of the best-loved books of the last 300 years to a new generation of readers.

Originally launched in 1963, the Penguin English Library published some of the most captivating works ever written in English. The new collection, which launched on 26th April, starts with Robinson Crusoe and spans two centuries until Dubliners was published just before the First World War.

Caspar Thykier, Managing Director for Zappar, said “This is an exciting development in how the consumer reads and perceives books, providing scope for extra bite size entertainment content. The great thing about incorporating AR in publishing and books is that it shows how technology can enhance and add to the entertainment experience that the products offer.”

Nicola Hill, Marketing Director for Penguin Press, said “The Penguin English Library is about celebrating the ultimate readers’ editions that can be cherished, collected, given, and kept for a lifetime. The striking designs really elevate this series and we’re delighted to work with Zappar on an inventive way of using it to celebrate and share a fresh publishing idea.”

Vimeo clips of Zappar in action:

For iPhone, iPod and iPad:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zappar/id429885268?mt=8

For Android:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.zappar.Zappar

For More Information on Zappar please contact:
Sam Payne at Dundas Communications
0207 824 8748
sam@dundascommunications.com

For More Information on Penguin Books please contact:
Toby Jones
0207 010 3345
toby.jones@uk.penguingroup.com 

About Zappar

Zappar was launched in 2011 and founded by Kirk Ewing, Connell Gauld, Simon Taylor and Caspar Thykier, bringing together experience from the marketing and console game industries alongside pioneering technology from the University of Cambridge.

Zappar’s class-leading marker-less image recognition technology provides the broadest spectrum of AR applications on mobile across devices including delivery of film, audio, 3D animation, gaming interactivity and streaming data in the field of vision.

Zappar is leading the market in bite size entertainment to deliver enabled AR products to consumers. Zappar recently launched their own range of AR Tee-Shirts in the US under the brand name Zapparel available in Macy’s and JCPenney.

Zappar provide a full service offering with in-house creative and technology resource to deliver bespoke platform and content solutions.

To find an image or object that is Zappar powered log onto www.zappar.com or look out for the Zappar logo.

  
Apple requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch (4th Gen), iPad 2 Wi-Fi and iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G. Requires iOS 4.2 or later. Zappar runs on most Android devices running Android 2.1 and later. For more information visit http://zappar.com/device-compatibility/

About the Penguin English Library

For some twenty years, beginning in 1963, millions of readers first encountered the most enjoyable works in the English language through the orange-spined Penguin English Library. For many the series was a magic door, the start of a lifetime’s engagement with the most vivid writing imaginable. Now the spirit of the original Penguin English Library has inspired a fresh, contemporary new series.

The first 20 Penguin English Library titles will be released at the end of April 2012. Subsequently, 10 further titles will be released each month for the rest of 2012 at £5.99 each.

Montreal, Canada, May 15th 2012 – Sensopia Inc. announces today that MagicPlan just reached the 2 million downloads mark. MagicPlan 2.0 was awarded “App of the week” in 92 countries including Canada, Australia, China, Brazil and Spain to name a few.

Today is also the release of MagicPlan 2.1, featuring a new Facebook and Twitter integration to share floor plans through a simple click.

Finally the Floorplanner unique partnership will change the way people create and use floor plans.

With the release of MagicPlan 2.0 capturing floor plans has never been easier. The Floorplanner integration now provides a complete solution from floor plan creation to web editing and all the way to 3D visualization.

On one side, each MagicPlan user can have a personal account where he manages his floor plans. Now, thanks to Floorplanner, he can seamlessly modify his plans, create great presentations or embed his floor plans into a web site.

On the other side, each Floorplanner user now has the option to create his floor plans with MagicPlan and send them to Floorplanner directly from within MagicPlan. No need to measure or draw; in a few minutes, the floor plan is created and is available within Floorplanner for further editing.

“MagicPlan captures the shape, measures and assembles rooms using popular devices such as Smartphones or tablets. However a lot of our customers needed to go a step further. Modifying and creating great visualization of a plan came on top of our customers’ requirements. Our partnership with Floorplanner is the best possible response” says Pierre Gaubil, CEO of Sensopia. “Now our users can benefit from years of development. They can join the millions of Floorplanner users who have elected Floorplanner as the best in class floor plan web editing tool.”

“Creating a floor plan from scratch has always been a challenge. Now instead of spending countless hours measuring and drawing, our customers can produce their floor plans just by taking pictures. Then with a simple click, they send their MagicPlan floor plan to Floorplanner. Once in Floorplanner everything becomes possible, removing walls, adding furniture, creating great images or embedding floor plans in a web site.” says Jeroen Bekkers CEO of Floorplanner. “MagicPlan is a real enabler that removes all the burdens associated with capturing a floor plan.”

MagicPlan and Floorplanner offer a first floor plan for free to their users. After that, subscriptions are available.

About us

Sensopia Inc. is a Montreal-based software publisher focused on Reality Capture. Reality Capture is the process of retrieving information about the surrounding environment onto a portable digital model. Sensopia is the developer of MagicPlan, a unique application that proposes a disruptive approach to making floor plans. MagicPlan can automatically measure, draw and publish a floor plan, just by taking pictures with an iPhone 4, 4S, iPod Touch or iPad 2 and new iPad. MagicPlan is a true mass-market success with more than 2 millions unique users. MagicPlan has also received several awards and has been selected by Apple as “App of the week” in 92 countries. Please visit www.sensopia.com for more information.

Once downloaded, Zappar starts working when the app is open and a smartphone camera is directed towards one of the Trespassing posters in the windows of HMV stores across Canada. The user then watches the poster come alive as a video message of Adam pops up.

“Working with Adam and Sony Music in Canada has been the perfect collaboration: delivering exclusive content with a one off promotion at retail with HMV to both engage and reward fans. It’s a great bit of bite size entertainment, which is what Zappar is all about," said Caspar Thykier, Founder & Managing Director of Zappar.

Since the release of Adam Lambert’s debut album For Your Entertainment in 2009, it has sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. Lambert was nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Whataya Want From Me” in 2010 and also released the Glam Nation Live CD/DVD and Acoustic Live! EPs.

Self-described as magic, the Zappar App is a free downloadable app that can “open up another dimension where the world around you comes to life”. HMV and Zappar have teamed up to bring Adam Lambert to the public, and this is just the beginning of this next-generation app’s capabilities and interactive possibilities.

In addition to co-writing many of the tracks on Trespassing, Lambert collaborated with an all star list of award winning artists, producers and songwriters including Pharrell Williams, Dr. Luke, Bruno Mars, Claude Kelly, Benny Blanco, Bonnie McKee, Nile Rogers, and Sam Sparro.

To download the Zappar app, visit here.

For more information, please contact:

Samantha Taus
Sony Music Entertainment Canada
416-589-3047
samantha.taus@sonymusic.com

@Sony_Music
Facebook.com/SonyMusicCanada

You will find more information on our website, with the call for participation and first details about the conference:
http://ismar.vgtc.org

The conference will take place at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Mixed Reality (MR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are of increasing interest to academic, corporate and consumer audiences.  The proliferation of powerful mobile hardware has, on one hand, opened up new avenues of research and inquiry; on the other hand, corporate and consumer applications have become possible on a wide scale. Across this spectrum, fascinating new types of user interfaces, technologies, and concepts are beginning to emerge. The field is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together technologists, educators, humanists, artists and social scientists, among others.  Since 1998, ISMAR and its forerunner events, IWAR/ISAR and ISMR, have been the premier forums in this vital field.

Just landed in town and looking for a good restaurant? Interested in checking out the local museum or theater? Time to hit the nearest transit station to catch a ride uptown? No longer is finding your chosen destination a hassle—whether you’re in a new city or your hometown.

Now you can simply launch Nokia City Lens on your phone to easily find all the places you want to go. City Lens instantly reveals what you’re looking for on your phone’s camera display, no matter if it’s down the street or just around the corner.

You simply tap your chosen destination on your screen to conveniently access walking directions, make a reservation, or learn more detailed information about the locale.

SAN FRANCISCO / MUNICH, May 8, 2012- The worldwide success of the metaio Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) has inspired metaio, the world leader in Augmented Reality (AR) solutions, to expand its suite of software to include AR content-authoring technology that will be accessible to the average user. Effective immediately, metaio has introduced software that will enable non-developers to create and deploy Augmented Reality experiences with no coding necessary. The metaio Creator provides a desktop, drag-and-drop interface, making AR production both efficient and open to a much wider audience.

Please find a movie of the metaio Creator in action:

"Augmented Reality production used to be restricted to developers and programmers," said metaio CEO and Co-Founder Thomas Alt. "The metaio Creator will change that by enabling even beginners to effortlessly create and launch AR experiences."

The metaio Mobile SDK: A Success Story

Since its release in December of 2011, the Free metaio Mobile SDK has been an overwhelming success. With over 10,000 downloads, the metaio Mobile SDK has more than 1000 active developers with almost 200 applications deployed, and 900 currently in development.

"The response from the developer community was phenomenal," said metaio’s CTO Peter Meier. "It however inspired us to offer software that would put this technology in the hands of designers, content providers, publishers, and the average users who might not have extensive programming knowledge."

In addition to massive developer adoption, publishers all over the world used metaio’s mobile software to augment editorial and advertising content in their publications and journals. With over 10 million augmented publications powered by metaio circulated every month, it was clear that publishers needed an efficient tool for enhancing their printed content.

AR Tools for the average user

The metaio Creator is the next step in Augmented Reality content production, and was specifically designed for non-developers, designers and people who have the desire to create amazing AR experience but wish to do so without using a hard-coding environment.

The metaio Creator is compatible with junaio, the world’s most advanced mobile AR browser, and can be used to quickly deploy custom, cloud-based AR content to Android and iOS devices. Developers and Creator users alike will benefit from an upcoming junaio update that will allow for HTML and JavaScript interactions and dramatically increase the possibilities for mobile experiences. Future versions of the metaio Creator will allow for the deployment of content to all of metaio’s software, from the popular metaio Mobile SDK all the way to offline experiences using the metaio PC SDK.

"The most important thing for metaio is to cultivate development and content creation for the entire community," said Head of US Marketing Trak Lord. "Programmers, users, designers, artists – everyone should be able to live in the Augmented City."

In honor of the 2012 Augmented Reality Event (ARE) in Santa Clara, CA, metaio will be offering a 30% discount on the metaio Creator from May 8-21 as a gift to the AR community. Attendees of ARE can learn more about the discount by visiting the metaio booth, contacting sales@metaio.com or visiting our web store for more information.

About metaio

The free VoterView app allows voters to view AR content on campaign mailers, print advertisements, outdoor signage, and digital collateral.

The app’s interface encourages sharing with social networks and promotes deeper engagement with candidates and causes, allowing voters to learn more, express support, or even make a contribution from the app.

VoterView also offers an innovation in AR advertising – a 30-second, 3D augmented reality ‘commercial’ with play and pause functionality.

Users can pause and resume the VoterView ad using an on-screen button, allowing for detailed exploration of the 3D animation. VoterView’s inaugural campaign, for the re-election effort of Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, features a 30-second 3D AR advertisement tied to Leffingwell’s closing campaign mailer and a full-page print ad in a local Austin newspaper.

Election Day in Austin is Saturday, May 12th. VoterView co-founder Mark Nathan, a longtime Democratic campaign strategist, said augmented reality is an obvious “next step” for campaign communications.

“Just like everyone, voters want information via their mobile devices,” said Nathan. “At the same time, traditional campaign advertising platforms like direct mail and signage aren’t going away. As augmented reality continues its rapid expansion into the mainstream, candidates and causes will increasingly turn to AR to help them deliver their messages.

VoterView intends to become a trusted mobile AR partner for both campaigns and voters.” Nathan said VoterView will release an Android app within the month. More information, including a video of VoterView’s inaugural campaign, and downloads of current campaign literature featuring VoterView content, can be found at www.VoterView.net.

Created by: Young-H. Lee
Director of Photography: John Arthur Kelly http://www.johnarthurkelly.com
Fight Choreographer: Lang Yip
Cast: Young-H. Lee, Lang Yip, Jake Choi, Chen Tang, Aldous Davidson, Mark Liu, Jon Truei
Visual Effects: Young-H. Lee, Lang Yip, Adam Lee
Mechanical Design: Young-H. Lee
Crew: Peter Jung, Christina Duong
Teaser Music: Justin R. Durban http://www.edgen.com

ARlab has two development offices at Haifa (Israel) and Toledo (Spain) and an international operations center in Madrid.

ARlab was born after a hard research-and-development project of a yet unknown in the world platform in which image recognition, geolocalization, orientation, inclination, and speed are combined with Augmented Reality in order to generate new social and commercial services of high added value in any type of device.

On the one hand the reference technologies are grouped together with a practical approach to develop sector solutions with a set aim to generate a high impact in our clients’ business, and on the other hand we offer the community of developers of these technologies the suitable environment for the creation of highly competitive products in a specialized work environment.

AR engine and SDK provides: – Real time Image Recognition and Tracking. – Instant Cloud image recognition. – Face Detection, Tracking and Recognition. – Motion and gesture recognition. – 3D render engine. – Exporters for 3D design software. – AR geolocation view.

ARlab
Valentín Beato, 22. 2ª P
Madrid- SPAIN 28037

Website : www.arlab.com

SMART PHONE USERS will be able to occupy their communities with AR almost anywhere + can keep free AR art on MAY 1st. Please fill in the map IT\’S EASY
1. Tell us where you are. A street address of where you want to view the art [you choose- your backyard is fine]. email – mailto:mark.skwarek1@gmail.com

2. Load the Layar or Junaio app on your smart phone on MAY 1st [it\'s NOT live till May 1st]. ?a. For Layar – once the main screen loads click the \”Layars\” button in the top left corner of the ?screen.

Next click the \”Layars\” button left of the screen. ? in the top search for May Day. ?Load \”arOCCUPY May Day\” apps- ?b. download and print the marker from the instructions page on the arOCCUPY May Day ?website. http://aroccupymayday.blogspot.com/ ?

Attach the marker to your head- ?

Load the Junaio app and search for May Day, load the arOCCUPY May Day. ?Load the app and aim the camera at the marker. Just take a screen capture/ photo or video and send it to us on May 1st- send to us with your location. mark.skwarek1@gmail.com You can be credited in the gallery event. To participate you dont have to have a smartphone, all you have to do is load an augmented reality art work and take an image of it.

It DOES NOT MATTER who\’s work it is or what hardware/software you use. Any AR work is great. Just take a screen cap or photo video on may 1st- send to us.

arOCCUPY May Day is a non-violent action meant to send a message to the 1%. The global community will be heard in the heart land of the 1% and maybe in your hometown! Participating Artists Aequitas Warren Armstrong Jeremy Bailey Amir Baradaran Wafa Borgès John Cleater Chris Diasparra John Craig Freeman 4Gentlemen Lily & Honglei Scott Kildall Patrick Lichty Kristin Lucas Chris Manzione Todd Margolis Paul McLean Will Pappenheimer Geoffrey Alan Rhodes Lalie Schewadron Nathan Shafer Dan Loudfoot-Simons Mark Skwarek Alan Sondheim Julia Sverchuk Tamiko Thiel Jack Toolin