[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.