Augmented reality (AR) isn’t new but it definitely continues to gain momentum and is becoming a driving force in the way we engage with our content rich world. An AR experience is appealing to most age demographics because it enables us to interact in fresh and engaging ways with a variety of mediums. So no surprise that ABI Research estimates the market for augmented reality in the US will reach $350 million in 2014. That’s up from only $6 million in 2008!
I have explained in past blog posts what AR is in detail, see the below list of blog links to learn more. To recap for those who are new to the concept Wikipedia defines augmented reality (AR) as a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data.
Here is an example of AR solutions that have been generating a lot of buzz and excitement J
At CES this year Mercedes Benz unveiled their experimental networked applications with augmented-reality and gesture-controlled features. Of course Mercedes is not the only automaker exploring how to make the car smarter and most are experimenting with voice controlled features because obviously there are safety concerns with these approaches.
“Cars are becoming platforms to participate in the digital world in a fully networked sense, just like your tablets can and your phones can,” said Venkatesh Prasad, a senior technical leader with Ford Motor Co.’s innovation division. “It’s our job to take those computing services people are used to at 0 mph and make them available at 70 mph.”
For example, icons flash on your car windshield, hologram style, as your car approaches restaurants, stores, historic landmarks or the homes of friends. Point at them, and the icons open to show real-time information such as when that building was built, concert schedules at a local theater, or reservation options at a restaurant. Wave your hand again, and you’ve made a restaurant reservation. Or take Mercedes’ messaging app which will create a menu of text options based on your location and your car’s speed — “I’m stuck in traffic,” or “I’m just north of San Jose” — and display them on the screen. So if you are late to a meeting you can choose from the options and push a button to post the one that fits, instead of having to manually type the words.
These systems are not road ready yet and most automakers are looking beyond to making the road safer by working on systems that would allow vehicles to talk to each other about road conditions, weather and traffic issues. Read More »
Join us on January 31 and February 1 in Cisco Virtual for Cisco Live London, 2012. We have a full agenda planned, including a live keynote with Padmasree Warrior and technical sessions on popular topics like UCS System Architecture, SAN Core Edge Design, BGP PIC, and Cisco Telepresence. You can also play games and win prizes.
Registrants receive two full days of live virtual programming in conjunction with Cisco Live London, access to over 1600 sessions, a virtual World of Solutions, and the chance to network with professionals and Cisco experts from more than 195 countries. Or, visit Cisco Live Virtual post-event to download PDFs and view videos from sessions presented at Cisco Live London.
The virtual event features:
Live Keynote addresses by CTO and SVP of Engineering, Padmasree Warrior.
A Guest keynote with Cisco’s Chief Futurist, Dave Evans and Richard Noble from Bloodhound.
Technical sessions on data center, storage area networks, IP Multicast and enterprise video, security and other hot topics
A Partner Resource Center with the chance to download valuable materials
Answers to your toughest technical questions from virtual Ask-the-Expert Center sessions
Networking with your friends, colleagues and new acquaintances with profile tools and social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs
A Memory Match game where you can compete to win €100 Cisco Marketplace coupons
I have been hearing folks talk about transmedia storytelling for several years now but haven’t spent time on this blog discussing this concept. Seems high time I did so and figured I should start off by attempting to define what it actually means. According to Wikipedia transmedia storytelling, also known as multi-platform storytelling, cross-platform storytelling, or transmedia narrative, is the technique of telling stories across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. Henry Jenkins officially defined transmedia in 2006 in his book “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide,” as a story that “unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole.” So given this transmedia storytelling is just the tip of the transmedia iceberg with transmedia branding/activism/performance/etc. waiting in the wings so to speak
Diving into the purpose of transmedia storytelling, the common definition is that it is meant to extend the brand reach of the product by using multiple stories that are set in a single universe but told across a variety of outlets. These overlapping publishing points complement each other to form an overarching narrative. So transmedia storytelling isn’t just re-publishing the story in multiple platforms it is about using a medium to augment the base storyline for example–comics might provide back-story, games might allow you to explore the world in the story, social media might enable curated commentary on the story developing into a story line in and of itself and the television/web series offers unfolding episodes. Keep in mind that if your story doesn’t resonate with your audience transmedia approaches won’t fix that. That’s right, as always, content is king and transmedia is a great option for extending powerful content to a variety of platforms/formats. So how are digital technologies empowering transmedia? According to Tribeca Film:
Transmedia is the new space where visual storytelling exists because:
1. Every screen we can imagine (TV, smart phone, tablet, laptop and yes, the lowly desktop computer) is reached by Internet video, audio, text and images.
2. Every connected consumer can reach back — through each screen.
In the below video iPad storyteller Joe Sabia demonstrates how new technology has been instrumental in enabling people to tell stories, from pop-up books and to his own onstage iPad storytelling techniques. Read More »
What I find absolutely fantastic is that all most anything can be improved by appliying smart gamification tactics. See the video below for example:
So imagine how tickled pink I was when I learned we would be gamifying the Cisco blog experience!
The Cisco Social Media team announced the Cisco Social Rewards program today. You can join now via the right hand column social rewards section of this blog. This program rewards and recognizes blog readers for their viewership, dialogue, and word of mouth promotion of Cisco blogs and recognizes bloggers for their video production, writing skillz (yes I meant to have a z on the end , and prolific publishing. Read More »
Intrusion Prevention Systems. Do we still need them in our network designs? Firewall technology has advanced so much, is the IPS a product of a bygone era? Not at all! As a matter of fact, as firewall technologies have advanced, so have threats. Now more than ever, we need the IPS to enhance firewall protection by looking deeper into the packets to provide real-time IPv4 and IPv6 protection against worms, Trojans and exploits against application and OS vulnerabilities. The real trick is to have the IPS capabilities hardware accelerated to provide maximum performance, and not negatively affect firewall or VPN throughput.
Join Cisco’s TechWiseTV Chief Geek Jimmy Ray Purser as he hosts this workshop on Cisco IPS technology, with special guest Stijn Vanveerdeghem, Cisco Technical Marketing Engineer. We’ll start by taking a look at how traffic flows thru the ASA to IPS modules in various modes. Then we’ll dive deep into deploying virtual sensors, Global Correlation, Zero Day anomaly detection and IPS policy provisioning -- all to enable you to assign IPS policies based on risk, instead of tuning individual signatures.
Cisco IPS does so much more then help you pass an audit! How do you make the world’s most proven firewall better? With the industry’s most effective IPS and guaranteed coverage to offer the most effective security solution in the industry to significantly decrease business risk and address regulatory compliance. Bring your questions…experts will be available for live Q&A.
Date: Wednesday, December 14 Time: 10:00 a.m. PT/17:00 GMT Register and calendar reminder: http://bit.ly/CLtwTV
Please join us on Tuesday, December 6, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time (11 a.m. Eastern Time) for this live interactive event.
During the live event, Cisco subject matter expert Salman Asadullah will focus on service provider IPv6 deployment techniques in core networks, which will help network designers and administrators understand IPv6 operation and implementation options for native IPv4 and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) core environments. This session will also shed light on IPv6 multihoming and addressing and Cisco Carrier-Grade IPv6 (CGv6) solution considerations in core networks.
Salman Asadullah is a Cisco distinguished engineer and also serves as IPv6 forum fellow, Broadband Forum ambassador, and co-chair of the IPv6 Education Certification Program. He has been working with large-scale IP and multiservice networks and technologies for more than 15 years. A frequent speaker at key industry events and conferences who represents Cisco in industry panel discussions and technical platforms, Asadullah influences technology directions and decisions with Cisco business units and customers and the Internet community at large. He is a coauthor and contributor to IETF RFCs/IDs and has written three Internetworking books, Cisco CCIE Fundamentals: Network Design & Case Study, PDIO of the IPT Networks, and Deploying IPv6 in Broadband Access Networks. Asadullah holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona and a master of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas. He also holds CCIE certification number 2240.
In my last blog post I discussed the power of touch technology. As mentioned in that post there are exciting technologies all ready on the market or coming soon that could obsolete touch in the long run.
At the Computer Human Interface (CHI) conference this year, Texas A&M University’s Interface Ecology Lab demonstrated ZeroTouch a system that favors gestures over touch. ZeroTouch looks like an empty picture frame and the edges are lined with a total of 256 infrared sensors pointing toward the center. The frame is connected to a computer and the computer to a digital projector. When the light created by the sensors is broken the computer interprets the break and displays it as a brushstroke. So when using your finger it becomes a pencil and your arm a paint roller. The virtual canvas is just a proof of concept. ZeroTouch can also be layered over a traditional computer screen to make it a touchscreen.
The researchers feel that two-dimensional interaction is just the beginning and stacking layers of ZeroTouch could enable depth sensing, which means the system could then sense 3D space. Microsoft Research is taking the 3D challenge head on with HoloDesk. With HoloDesk users can manipulate 3D, virtual images with their hands. The team developing HoloDesk see possible future applications in areas such as board gaming, rapid prototype design or team collaboration, where users would share a single 3D scene viewed from different perspectives. HoloDesk isn’t the only 3D interaction experiment but what differentiates it is the use of beam-splitters and a graphic processing algorithm, which work together to provide a more life-like experience.
HoloDesk leverages a hacked Kinect and a half-silvered mirror to ‘see’ your hands in 3D space. Another project tapping into the Kinect gesture based control is called Snowglobe. Read More »
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We started our technology interface with typing command prompts on a black screen. Then the graphical user interface was born and we were introduced to the mouse which allows us to control a mechanism to point and click. Then the iPhone and iPad were born and the power of touch became very obvious because they basically enabled everyone including small children to easily interact with the product and engage with content. This revolutionary concept of touch to experience begs the questions, what would our world be like if everything we interacted with was a touch enabled device?
Researchers at the University of Munich and the Hasso Plattner Institute think they have a solution that enables anything to be touch driven, while not quite ready for prime time they predict it will be possible in the very near future. Using time domain reflectometry (TDR) they have been able to tell when and where your fingertip touches (or gets close to) a wire. TDR has been used to find faults in underwater cabling for years. The way it works is by sending electrical pulses through a wire and measuring the time it takes for the pulses to return. So your finger reflects the pulse, and by using an oscilloscope and a computer to view and analyze the resulting waveform, researchers can pinpoint where the touch occurs. The below video shows some examples of how this technology could change the way music is recorded, how controlling a device could be improved, and more. Better still it demonstrated the power to make anything a touch device by simply baking the wires need to detect touch into masking tape
Microsoft is also keenly focused on making touch the way we interact every day and Windows 8 has been built from the ground up as a touch first operating system. The Microsoft development team identified the following parameters for a good touch experience: Read More »
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Tablets are taking the networking world by storm! As engineers, the real fun and value to the network comes when you start designing your own apps -- custom made apps for YOUR business, but programming is not something you learn overnight. This is where the Cisco Cius comes in – with one of the best developer programs available…designed for everyone from Android beginners, to veteran Android developers looking for new opportunities in the enterprise!
The Cisco Cius utilizes the full power of the Android SDK and delivers additional functionality to developers with Cisco Cius Add-on. Join Cisco’s TechWiseTV Chief Geek Jimmy Ray Purser as he hosts one of Cisco’s top Cius code jockeys Larry Michalewicz. We are going to start from the beginning and show you how to build your very first Cius app. We’ll be with you all the way to show you the basics of getting started, using development tools, testing, permissions and how to use the Cisco developer community for your future apps as well. Be cautioned, writing apps is addictive! You’ll never look at your network the same way again. If your apps are good enough, you can even sell then in the Cisco App Store!
Want to learn how to get started with application development, then this is the workshop for you! Experts will be available at the live event for Q&A.
Date: Wednesday, November 9 Time: 10:00 a.m. PT/17:00 GMT Register and calendar reminder: http://bit.ly/CLVtwt
Join thousands of your peers from all over the world for the next Cisco Live Virtual simulcast, featuring the keynote address from Cisco Live 2011 in Acapulco, Mexico, on Monday, 7 November, at 6 pm CT / 4 pm PT.
Cisco Live Virtual brings you the best of Cisco Live events held worldwide throughout the year. Now you can experience the energy and excitement of the Acapulco event without ever leaving your desk.
Highlights include:
The live keynote address by David W Hsieh, Vice President, Solutions Marketing Emerging Technologies and TelePresence at Cisco.
Whitepapers, videos, reference materials, and case studies from Cisco and key partners in the Exhibitor Resource Centers
Remember, in addition to presenting live broadcasts from Cisco Live events, Cisco Live Virtual gives you access to other content you may have missed and the ability to connect with like-minded peers who share your interests. You can view session PDFs and webcasts recorded at various Cisco Live events and stay plugged into your network of contacts all year long, so you can share your expertise and insight with the industry’s most engaged and informed IT community.
In the last post I wrote about Cisco’s Global Sales Experience (GSX) I touched on how gamification tactics and the overhaul of the virtual recognition program were critical to the events success. As promised in that post I am going to dive deeper into these two areas to provide additional insight into why the tactics leveraged were so successful. Before I do I thought I would like to share this video featuring some industry experts on the importance of gamification tactics and why GSX is a great case study.
Several elements of GSX leveraged gamification principles to push the envelope on remote engagement. I am going to dive deeper into one of these areas the Architectures Mastery Program of the GSX virtual environment.
Before the event the team did a critical analysis of previous year’s results and engaged the sales force in surveys and focus groups to help us better understand what is working and what is not with the GSX program.
The Architectures Mastery Program was a result of this analysis. What we saw from metrics reporting was that the live architecture sessions attendance was low but the scores were high. What we learned from surveys and focus groups was that the sales force felt that previous architectures courses were too heavy on the ‘marketing’ message and didn’t provide enough insight into the competitive differentiation and the ROI for customers to adopt an architectures approach.
What was surprising was after we researched the training offerings enabled by the Cisco Learning Development and Solutions group it was clear that these types of trainings did exist but adoption had been low. So the opportunity we saw was to raise awareness of these existing training offerings and up-level the attendance of the live GSX architecture sessions. Hence the Architectures Mastery Program was born.
We created a set of criteria’s regarding the course publish date, target audience, global relevance, length and required attendees to pass an assessment for each course. The attendees had a choice of completing five courses from any of the architectures and attending one live architecture session of their choice. This enabled the audience to tailor the program to best meet their needs, i.e. specialists could focus on one architecture and generalists could pick and choose from amongst the architectures. The content was then packaged in a micro-site that clearly outlined the requirements and the attendee progress towards completion. A badge was created that had six individual components and as a requirement step was completed one of the components would change from black and white to full color. Once the entire program was completed the badge was full color and a “higher learning’ achievement was unlocked.
Post event the attendees who completed the program were placed in a drawing for a prize and an email was sent to them, with their manager copied, notifying them they had achieved architectures mastery with a downloadable version of the badge for their internal profiles and email signatures.
The metrics speak for themselves with over 3k learning modules completed and 2% of the audience achieving architectures mastery during the event.
Virtual recognition is tough , especially when being stacked up against a former in person experience were you got to walk across a BIG stage and shake John Chambers hand. However it is not impossible and can actually enable vehicles to recognize contributions at deeper levels since it is not as time and place constrained as in person recognition.
This year GSX was able to ‘crack the code’ on virtual recognition. Read More »
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Visit Cisco Live Virtual on Wednesday, October 12th at 10am Pacific to view the live TechWiseTV Workshop “Unleash the Power in Your Network with UPOE”. Join Cisco’s TechWiseTV Chief Geek Jimmy Ray Purser as he hosts one of our favorite guests Nikhil Sharma, Cisco Technical Marketing Engineer, and a panel of Universal Power Over Ethernet experts. We’ll dive into what UPOE is and is not, go through the CDP and LLDP TLV’s to see how power is delivered, and look at various design innovations the 60W enables on the network. Ready to get rid of all those cables on your users desktops? Join us in the UPOE revolution! Bring your questions for live Q&A. Access is free. Attendees to Cisco Live Virtual can access over 1,600 keynotes, super sessions and technical sessions, as well as network with peers, visit our World of Solutions, and play games.
Date: Wednesday, 12 October 2011 Time: 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET / 17:00 GMT Register and calendar reminder: http://bit.ly/CLtwTV
If you have attended Cisco Live, you know that Cisco technology powers many different features of the show. Digital media signage, IP phones, VXI thin clients, hundreds of wireless APs, and of course the enterprise-grade Cisco network.
At Cisco Live 2011 in Las Vegas, we activated more Cisco technology, this time from the TelePresence family. Each Cisco Live event has up to 500 breakout sessions for attendees to learn and interact with Cisco experts. Recording those sessions for on-demand viewing has always been a priority for our team, and using Cisco technology is always a win for our attendees. During this event, we put our Cisco TelePresence products to the test, bringing together codecs, HD video, automation, and transcoding systems together to create a unique experience for our virtual audience.
For this pilot capture project, we focused on four session rooms. Each room was outfitted with a Cisco C-Series C40 or C90 codec, connected to the following: laptop VGA feed, presenter audio feed, and our Cisco network. Each codec comes with an HD camera, which was placed on a tripod and connected to the C40. The camera sits unmanned, and can be controlled remotely. Once the audio levels are set, the system in the room runs unmanned at this point.
In our control room, we ran a Cisco Video Communication server, which registered the units onto our network, as well as handled call routing. With over 40 sessions to record over three days, we looked to automate the system where possible, so we turned to the Cisco TelePresence Management Server. This device allowed us to program in all session metadata as well as start/stop times. This reduced the possibility of human error, and enabled the crew to focus on other duties. To facilitate the recording the sessions, we used the Cisco TelePresence Content Server. This device has two main functionalities- session recording and transcoding. It can record multiple sessions at once, and can transcode to just about any format.
A few moments before the session began, the TCS connected to the corresponding room, and began recording both the video and the VGA feed. At the end of the session, the TCS disconnects and begins to transcode the video capture. Once the video is transformed into an editable format, a technician will edit the file and then place it back into the transcode queue for the final pass. The slides are captured in real time, allowing perfect sync with the presenter discussion.
The output you see here is the final version.
This pilot session capture project demonstrated the versatility of TelePresence to go beyond just video conferencing, to a system that creates, transforms and shares content. Our team plans to increase the use of this system at future events across Cisco, enabling us to further bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual world. You can watch these sessions, as well as over 1000 others at www.CiscoLiveVirtual.com.
If you have questions or comments on these Cisco TelePresence systems, please respond in the comments.
Cisco’s Global Sales Experience (GSX) just wrapped up and proved to be ground breaking yet again. The idea of a multi-location distributed hybrid event is daunting especially when it covers 90+ global locations in over 400+ conference rooms with 24X7 broadcasting for three days straight. When the audience represents a blend of in person attendees with virtual attendees creating a stimulating and motivating event experience is a challenge.
In the past GSX has risen to the challenge and this year was no exception. This year GSX leveraged rich content driven digital engagements including GSX TV (an on-demand cable network style of short format programming), Cloud Story (a video rich engagement highlighting the opportunity Cloud represents), A Matter of Time(a role playing game focused on Cisco’s top priorities) and an Architectures Mastery Program (a gathering of the cream of the crop eLearning courses married with live event technical breakouts) and once again demonstrated that when you align your experience with the fundamental goals of your event and listen to your audience you can truly break new ground and disrupt the notion of what the word ‘event’ means.
Of course GSX would not be possible without the depth and breadth of Cisco solutions available to execute it. GSX deploys a vast array of Cisco solutions to create the event experience for example Cisco’s Enterprise Content Delivery System, Digital Media Signage, and TelePresence. Check out the video below to learn more.
Another new element that proved very successful was the Achievements area of the GSX virtual environment. Read More »
, and prolific publishing. 
