Cast AR hands-on with Jeri Ellsworth at Maker Faire 2013

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Cast AR handson with Jeri Ellsworth at Maker Faire 2013" data-src-height="411" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/05/castarhandsonlead01.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">When Valve's first hardware hire, Jeri Ellsworth, tweeted back in February that she was fired from the company, we were disappointed but also intrigued by what she meant by "time for new exciting projects." Well we finally saw what she's been up to here at at Maker Faire 2013. It's called Cast AR, and it's a pair of 3D augmented-reality glasses that she and former Valve programmer Rick Johnson were working on at Valve before they left.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">The model we saw is still in the early prototype stages, but the concepts are already in place. Perched atop a pair of active shutter glasses are a couple of miniature LCD projectors, which bounce images from a connected computer onto a special reflective surface at a 120Hz refresh rate. A camera module sits on the eyewear's bridge and monitors an array of infrared LEDs embedded in the reflective surface. This allows for quick and accurate head tracking. Join us after the break for our impressions and stay tuned for a video interview with Jeri Ellsworth.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> <img alt="Gallery Image" height="425" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/05/castarhandson02.jpg" width="640" /><img alt="Gallery Image" height="425" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/05/castarhandson03.jpg" width="640" /><img alt="Gallery Image" height="425" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/05/castarhandson04.jpg" width="640" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Unlike VR goggles like the Oculus Rift, putting on the Cast AR doesn't cocoon you in another world. Even though we were immersed in a full 3D environment, we could still see our surroundings and what was in front of us. We interacted with a variety of environments, from a flying tour over a digital landscape to shooting up zombies with hooked up Xbox controllers. We also waved a LED-equipped wand around to throw a wrecking ball into a Jenga-style tower. Even as we bobbed and weaved, not once did we feel nauseous or disoriented.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Under their new company called Technical Illusions, Ellsworth plans to bring Cast AR from prototype to finished product. Ellsworth told us they plan on creating a Kickstarter later this year to help fund the project, and they've already created a mock-up of what they hope the final item will look like. She hopes to sell the whole kit -- the glasses, the wand accessory and the required reflective surface -- for under $200.</div></div>

Cast AR hands-on with Jeri Ellsworth at Maker Faire 2013

When Valve's first hardware hire, Jeri Ellsworth, tweeted back in February that she was fired from the company, we were disappointed bu...

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Hands-on with Nokia JobLens on the Lumia 925: what a way to make a living

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div class="p1 image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Hands-on with Nokia JobLens on the Lumia 925: what a way to make a living (video)" data-src-height="427" data-src-width="619" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/05/job-lens-lead.jpg" /></div><div class="p1" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">We're hoping we won't need to use Nokia's JobLens app for real any time soon, but at the Lumia 925 launch event, we thought we'd at least explore our options. It's essentially a proximity-based job searching tool that, in the lens mode, is much like the CityLens AR app for Lumias, and points you in the direction of your next potential employer using icons on top of the realtime camera view. In another mode, JobLens uses the Here Maps platform to show you a top-down view of openings in your vicinity, and can subsequently direct you to your interview on time. From either views, you can poke at vacancies to see more about the job and share it, email it to yourself, or respond directly with a CV -- various sites populate the in-app listings. The software also integrates with Facebook and LinkedIn so you can hit up your contacts for the inside track. No word on a release date yet, but we imagine it'll coincide with the Lumia 925 launch. As they say, it's who you know that counts, and now we know Matt from Nokia, who treated us to a quick tour of the app in the video after the break.</div><div class="p1" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><b>Update:</b> we've been having trouble with the video -- it works on some devices and not others. It may work for you right now, but if not -- we're working on a fix.</div><div class="p1" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><b>Update #2:</b> This should now be working for everybody. Apologies for the delay!</div></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="349" id="viddler-cb55d052" mozallowfullscreen="true" src="//www.viddler.com/embed/cb55d052/?f=1&offset=0&autoplay=0&secret=14759457&disablebranding=0&view_secret=14759457" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="545"></iframe></div>

Hands-on with Nokia JobLens on the Lumia 925: what a way to make a living

We're hoping we won't need to use Nokia's JobLens app for real any time soon, but at the Lumia 925 launch event, we thought we&...

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Vuzix's Wrap 1200AR glasses do 3D

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><hr dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" /> <div class="image-container" dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Vuzix Wrap 1200AR glasses" data-src-height="222" data-src-width="500" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/02/vuzix-wrap1200ar.jpg" /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"> We saw Vuzix shift to a more Google Glass-esque set of smart glasses at CES in January, but it looks like it's not about to abandon the more traditional wrap-around headsets it's been churning out year after year. The company's latest is the Wrap 1200AR, which is a lot like its Wrap 1200VR headset, but with a focus on <em>augmented</em> reality instead of <em>virtual</em> reality. That means you'll get two (VGA) cameras mounted on the front to capture stereoscopic video of your surroundings, along with a pair of displays (<span>852 x 480 each) to view that video -- augmented or otherwise -- in 3D.</span><span> As with the Wrap 1200VR, the glasses also come equipped with head-tracking technology, but they don't come cheap. These will set you back a hefty $1,499, and are available to order now. </span></div></div>

Vuzix's Wrap 1200AR glasses do 3D

We saw Vuzix shift to a more Google Glass-esque set of smart glasses at CES in January, but it looks...

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