Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock (and assuming your rock doesn’t have WiFi access) just knows. The news of Steve Job’s passing has exploded across the internet with tribute videos, old video viewings, and news blasts in the form of tweets, posts, and updates at an all time high. With one of the most poignant and impactful memorials ever created for… ANYONE on Apple’s homepage, the news hit the tech and consumer world with an impact that exceeded that of The King of Pop’s recent passing. But not to embark on an Apples to oranges argument, the influence of Apple Computers has had, in the tech consumer world, been undeniably profound with Steve Jobs at the forefront.

As also posted on Techzulu (with an Immersive Technologies take on the bottom of this article):

Steve Jobs, CEO, Chariman, and Co-Founder of Apple led nothing short of an extraordinary life with significant ups and downs. From sleeping on floors and collecting recyclables during his adolescent years, to being fired from the very company he founded, the peak moments of his professional career had seen him build not only THE largest computer company in the world, but also one of the most largest film studios (Pixar) as well. Upon news of his resignation as Apple’s CEO in 2011, it was also announced that Jobs was a victim of pancreatic cancer with public disclosure of his declining health. But even through that, he continued to serve as Chairman for Apple’s board of directors until the very end.

So whether you loved or hated Jobs, use a Mac or a PC, love the svelte aesthetics of your Macbook Pro, or prefer the full control of your Android based device, there is no denying Steve Jobs and Apple’s influence on the consumer tech-space. So for your reading enjoyment, we’ve compiled a list of neat Steve Jobs related factoids, some of which you may already know, some you may not. Paying respect to a truly inspirational figure.

“The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.” – President Barack Obama

R.I.P Steve Jobs 1955-2011

1. As of July 2001, Apple had over $4.2 billion in cash. Today? More than $76 billion in cash; 2 billion MORE than the US Treasury.
2. Steve Jobs studied calligraphy at Reed College and dropped out early in his educational career. He directly attributed influence a calligraphy class for the typeface and spacing of his Apple products.
3. The reaction to Steve Jobs’ death was recorded in record breaking numbers. 10,000 tweets per second following news of his death on Wednesday night.
4. The trending search item: “pancreatic cancer” reached Google’s rankings at #2 in a span of one night.
5. As of June 2011, there have been 25 million iPads sold cumulatively since its introduction in April 2010.
6. To date, 14 billion apps have been downloaded via the App Store. In April 2010, just about 1.5 years ago, the number was at 4 billion. Right around when the iPad was launched.
7. Despite lackluster buzz, the most recent iPhone 4S got 200,000 pre-orders in just 12 hours.
8. Jobs purchased animated studio ‘Pixar’ at $5M from Lucasfilms in 1986. In 2006, he sold Pixar to Disney for $7.6B and became Disney’s biggest shareholder.
9. Apple made the first mass-market color digital camera in 1994. The camera had no digital display, boasted one megapixel, took a total of eight photos, and cost $749.
10. Apple is the 2nd largest company in the world, right behind Exxon-Mobil.

And the ImTech take (please note this is my personal opinion and perception):

Steve Jobs’ Apple products have directly and indirectly influenced a huge spur in development and awareness of immersive technologies. The iPhone entered into the peak of a mobile industry monster that ran on button interfaces, and maybe sometimes, styluses. In just a few short years, they made touch-based interfaces the standard. Along with the iPod touch, multi-touch tracking pads and mouse, and the iPad; these devices fueled a continual growth in interest for touch-based computing further moving consumers away from the conventional (and aging) buttons and mouse.

The iPad and Macbook Air and the convenience of personal computing: Prior to the introduction and upgrades of these products, you were forced to choose between portable and lackluster, or powerful and inconvenient. The introduction of unobtrusive product offerings for personal computing that actually could handle a reasonable workload has been key, especially considering that the tablet and netbook market was small and slow to adopt. In addition, the iPad has played a huge role in the tablet industry BOOM.

Also, keep in mind the huge spur in momentum for the Augmented Reality industry from the iphone/iPad boom.  Prior to the iPhone, even the constant action of holding phones in the air (to seek & view visual digital information overlayed on the physical world) didn’t exist. The app store model and popularity of the iPhone also led to strong competitive development by Google’s Android OS and their (more open-source friendly) brand of products contributing to the augmented reality industry.

We can also discuss the iPhone as a technological extension of one’s self (human-android relationship) (there’s an app for that). The iPhone entered into a niche market of smart phone users at a high buy-in price Now, the prominence of smart phones (with touch-interfaces no doubt) is ubiquitous. We use our phones to guide us (GPS) and our decisions (Yelp); to schedule, document, then broadcast our lives, and to connect to others. Smart phones have become our first full-time extension of our physical forms within the digital space. (When’s the last time you put down your phone?)

And let’s not forget the influence on the development of the Android OS industry – whole industries and markets created to compete against Apple iOS. Some might enjoy the open source availability and rootability of Android’s devices, and maybe they curse Apple’s proprietary nature and marked up prices of their products. But no matter what side you’re on and what you prefer, we can at least mildly agree that the quality of Android’s operating system has been strongly influenced by the iPhone’s success… competition breeds continual innovation. From both sides.

And finally, we speak on the widespread adoption of 3D media. While Apple didn’t invent 3D technology, the wide monetary success of 3D animated films by Pixar (and a consistent growth of quality 3D productions by other studios) has given the 3D industry such a strong demand that 3D media appears to be rapidly on its way to being the standard.

I understand Apple doesn’t necessarily invent these breaking technologies, nor are they ever the first do adopt/implement. Instead, they do seem to be the ones to set the standard. So whether you admired Jobs’ vision, or thought he was pompus and abrasive, own Mac products, or prefer performance per dollar over aesthetics; I’d like to point out just the same to everyone how influential it appears Apple has been on the Immersive Technologies space as a whole.

We had the opportunity to attend SIGGRAPH 2011, Vancouver this past week and were really happy with what we saw. It takes a certain level of innovation to excite us at this stage of the game but the exhibitors this year definitely did not disappoint. The video above is a compilation of just some of the things we got to see in the Emerging Technologies section of the event.

Since it is not entirely clear what the functions of everything in the video is, I will do my best to explain each briefly in order here:
(please keep in mind that some of these names are not official)

Face-to-Avatar: A blimp that houses a projector, microphone, and camera for new age telepresence applications. It can display either a static image or a stream being sent to its on board wireless receiver.
Cyclone Display: A display that spins disks with different patterns on them. The speed of the disk, along with the speed that the projector is flickering at, determines what colors you will see. Essentially each disk is a sort of pixel.
ISCAN3D: A 3D scanner for your iPhone that works in a few minutes on just input from 5-30 pictures.
InteractiveTop: A twist on the game of tops with graphics and sounds galore. It tracks the collisions and features a magnetic controller for each top too.
Mommy Tummy: A strap on tummy that is used to simulate both the joys and stresses of pregnancy.
Recompose: Actuated Surface: A series of actuators that can be controlled using gestures as well as direct manipulation.
Vection Field: A device that can influence pedestrians to walk in a certain direction by displaying a certain dynamic pattern.
Toucheo: An immersive multi-touch workstation that can be used to easily manipulate 3D assets.
Telenoid: A telepresence robot that can transmit voice and facial movements and is neither male nor female, young nor old.
Virtual Crepe Maker: A haptic representation of fluid dynamics that has been made fun by the crepe making game.
True 3D Display: A 3D display that uses laser-plasma technology to output a virtual object with the amazing resolution of 50,000 points per second. (A part broke in transit and they only were able to operate it at half of its capability.
Thermal Interactive Media: A display that senses the temperature of its input and reacts accordingly.
PocoPoco: A new age musical interface and sequencer with 16 solenoids that are loaded with sensors.
HAPMAP: A sort of haptic navigation in which the user holds a device in their hand which simulates the feeling of sliding your hand along a railing. The “rail” is on a pivoting actuator so that it can steer the user in the right direction.

Here are some pictures and videos from the Mobius 8 show on Friday at the Vortex Immersion Dome.

All media is courtesy of our good friend Sam Joos of www.joosbox.tv

Mobius 8 and other special guests will be performing at the Vortex Immersion Dome from 7:00-9:30pm this Friday, July 29th. Vortex is located at 450 S. Bixel St., Los Angeles, CA and you must RSVP to info@vorteximmersion.com with the full names of all attending.

I had the pleasure of seeing Mobius 8 perform a demo recently at the dome and boy was I amazed. Mobius 8 (John Laraio) has invented a multi-dimensional instrument/controller called the Hydra; it is a rack that has infrared sensors mounted to it that can be “played” by passing your hand through its field of view. The sensors can pick up how fast the hand is moved into and out of its view and at what distance. This information then gets translated into MIDI which can be used to control sounds, lights, lasers, video, you name it.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Mobius 8 perform because you get more than just the listening aspect of a DJ. The video does not really do this guy justice, but when he is on stage your eyes are locked on how he is controlling the Hydra. Not only is it cool to look at the correlation between his movements and the music, but the lasers are just cool to begin with!

Here is a sneak peek of what to expect:

Mobius 8′s Demo Set

And check out their websites:

http://www.mobius8.com

http://www.vorteximmersion.com

Where were you on Thursday, April 21st, 2011? The ImTech community was having a great time at our first quarterly event, “The Era of Experience,” at The Brewery lofts in Downtown Los Angeles. This event’s aim was to build on discussions sparked at last October’s Immersive Technology Summit and foster dialogue between our industry leading panelists and attendees.

Huge thank you to TechZulu for covering the event!
CLICK HERE for a full gallery of the event photos!

Ken Rutkowski moderated the Q&A with the following amazing panelists.

Gregg Apirian – CEO, DVELOP
Andrew Cheeseman – Consultant, Previously Emerging Tech Dir at Mattel
Greg Davis – General Manager, Total Immersion
Matthew Forrest – COO, Social Animal
Wendy Heimann-Nunes – Partner, Zuber & Taillieu, LLP
Ed Lantz – CEO, Vortex Immersion Media
Phil Lelyveld – Program Manager at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center
Tyler Malin – CEO, Social Animal
Kate McCallum – Founder, c3 VisionLAB
Ernie Merlan – Owner, Merlan Creative
Patty Rangel – Producer, Pixie Dust Labs
Ishan Shapiro – Co-Founder, ThinkState
Gunther Sonnenfeld – SVP, RAPP
Evan Suma – Ph.D., USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies
Matt Szymczyk – CEO, Zugara
Scott Trowbridge – VP Creative R&D, Walt Disney Imagineering
John Underkoffler – Chief Scientist, Oblong Industries

With a solid lineup of great minds, the discussion was represented by many sides – tech hardware and software enablers, UX and content designers, and consumer trend trackers. The evening started off with panel one discussing and answering questions about trends (both early and present).  The panelists discussed topics such as early computing mediums, and our natural (and eventual) progression towards more intuitive gesture based interfaces.

The second panel then stepped in to discuss and build upon these topics with a technology focus.  After panel two talked about current available products and potential future developments,  the third and final panel came to stage to speak about the importance and development of quality user experiences when dealing with these new technologies. Ultimately, as Scott Trowbridge put it, “the technology is an enabler, but not a substitute for the experience itself.”

Our evening closed with a speech by John Underkoffler, Chief Scientist with Oblong Industries.  After receiving the Immy award for Oblong Industries at our October summit, he took the microphone and spoke a bit about his role at Oblong, as well as gave some hints as to where Oblong stands with their own work in the field.  For those not quite familiar, Oblong Industries is the amazing company that designed and developed the gesture interface technology for hit blockbuster, Minority Report (2002).  And for those who are interested?  “Oblong Industries is indeed hiring,” says Underkoffler!

In addition to stimulating their minds, guests were able to indulge their senses with a custom fractal laser light show by Bliss Lights and a showcase of WorldViz‘s high-res immersive system.  We really enjoyed seeing the reactions of excited tech early adopters as they put on the head mounted display and were directed to jump into a 150 foot chasm (in a virtual world of course).

We truly had a wonderful time opening our home and hosting an intimate evening with 150 of our closest friends and supporters.  But this is absolutely just the beginning.  The connections and organization are growing, so we definitely urge those interested to get involved by following our blog, becoming a founding member of the community, or joining as an industry partner.

Finally, we want to give an extra thankful nod to the panelists for taking time out of their busy schedules to share their minds with the physical event attendees and 40,000 tuned in through Techzulu‘s live streaming (videos linked below).  A big thank you to VeeV Spirits for sponsoring the cocktail portion of our event and event volunteers Rebecca, Jenny, Ellen, Minh, Tim, Albert, Kaushal, and Akemi.

A look at Techzulu’s video coverage (pt. 1)

Click here for pt. 2 of Techzulu’s video coverage!

Click here for pt. 2 of Techzulu’s video coverage!

CLICK HERE for a full gallery of the event photos!

For more information on future events and collaborations, please contact us at info@immersivetech.org

The video, shot by the Social Animal team (with the SA9 360 degree camera) allows the viewer to fully interact with the video by scrolling through the 360 degree plain. Neat and novel, but already done by Will.I.Am on a Black Eyed Peas song. The added dimension here though, is the ability to purchase certain items and clothing you see in the video. Immediately, scenes from Minority Report when Tom Cruise is walking through the interactive mall are spurred in my head. One of the first examples that I’ve personally seen of shopping inter-mixing with an otherwise passive activity of video watching, it makes us wonder how close we to that scene from Minority Report.

Either way, enjoy the cheeky Devo track called “What We Do” and equally quirky video. Their album, Something For Everybody will be their first album release in 20 some odd years. What a way to display their forward thinking!

We’ve seen some awesome motion tracking applications, especially since the Microsoft Kinect has prompted a LOT of at home development, however, this one really caught our attention.  At the University of Surrey’s Centre for Vision, Speech, and Signal Processing, Ph. D student and researcher, Zdenek Kalai has developed a smart camera system (Predator) that not only follows objects, but learns and differentiates from others.

This bodes some pretty huge implications for future human computer interfaces.  In the video, Kalai demonstrates an option to capture an image of his fingertips, and allow the system to passively track and learn this image until a simple turn of his hand is counted as a new image all together.  Closed fingers in the air to draw lines, then two fingers up to use as an eraser perhaps.

The system also takes into account depth perception to continue identifying images no matter where the object lies on the visible range.

Again, huge implications.  Upon seeing this video, we immediately conjured up ideas of trained home security systems that can identify your face and let you in, logging into your computer without having to use a keyboard but just by putting your smiling mug on the screen (and creating a more immersive experience).  And of course, what Kalai’s research is meant for, the limitless potential to aid disabled persons who could utilize this new HCI.

In one of more useful ways to utilize the Microsoft Kinect gaming sensor, Evoluce, creators of the I-voluce (a motion controlled HD LCD TV) has released the some new software that will allow you to control your Windows 7 computer with hand gestures. All you have to do is install WIN&I on your Windows 7 PC, hook it up with a Kinect, learn the required gestures and you’re good to go. While you’ll still need to use a keyboard to input text, you no longer need to use the mouse again for simple tasks such as reading websites or changing your music. WIN&I comes in two flavors – Home Edition and Business Edition that adds gesture controls to Microsoft Office. WIN&I is available now as a direct download with prices starting from $28.

This video is copyrighted by Evoluce: www.win-and-i.com