SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - The future may have just arrived. And, as one might have guessed, it was described in Sci-Fi novels first, then built in Japan and, finally, brought to California for inspection by the digerati.
The technology of the moment is a software application called the "Sekai Camera," developed for the iPhone by a tiny Japanese company called Tonchidot. It debuted at the TechCrunch 50 conference this week in San Francisco.
The demo wowed the crowd: The idea is to link tags created by Sekai Camera users and others to items in the real world, using the global positioning system (GPS) location abilities of the iPhone. That way, a user could point the phone at a store and see both the store and a welter of cyberspace tags with details of, say, the goods for sale inside.
Tonchidot CEO Takahito Iguchi showed a video of the application working as a user strolled through a mall. On the iPhone's screen popped up the sale price of products in the mall and details about the restaurants. (To see a demonstration, go here.)
The idea is like having X-Ray vision--or a Web browser implanted in your head.
The demo was interrupted by cheers from the audience, and attendees--hearing the commotion--crowded into the conference hall where Iguchi was speaking. Technology pundit Tim O'Reilly addressed Iguchi on behalf of the audience, "We've been fantasizing about this for years--it's in Neuromancer, Snow Crash. The question is: Can we build it?"
(For more on innovation, see "Eight People Inventing the Future.")
Unfortunately, specific details on the how the technology works--or how far along it is--were somewhat lost in translation. Like much of what he said during his presentation, Iguchi's answers were tough to follow. "Join us," Iguchi ultimately told the crowd, drawing cheers.
The Tonchidot Web site offered some evocative, though hardly clarifying, details: "What is difference between Google Maps and the 'Sekai camera' is view of the first person, space knowledge and point of information you can get our 'Sekai camera.' Also we would like to bridge Internet gaps. It means anyone easy to get information anywhere else like you see the real view. And we service to very local and particular information for people who are in the location." (sic)
But even with much ambiguity, the idea clearly caught the imagination of many attending TechCrunch 50, which aims to spotlight early stage technology companies that are prowling for funding, customers and press (in that order).
Cleverly, the event's organizers only gave 50 start-ups a shot at pitching their company to the roughly 2,000 attendees. That forces attendees to vie for each other's attention: Crowd members can hand out poker chips to start-ups that look promising at the event's "Demo Pit." Those with the most chips get a chance to present their ideas to the assembled throng. Women in skimpy red dresses prowled the conference floor with one startup's logo on their chests, soliciting chips.
The team from Tonchidot, by contrast, didn't need to ask for chips or. apparently, funding. Masayuki Akamatsu, a fellow at Tonchidot, wouldn't say how much money the six-person company had raised. Nor would he admit to coming to the conference to seek out additional financing. The application is slated to launch this quarter in Japan and next year in the rest of the world, he said.
This application might be the future as we've always imagined it, but until it arrives, it's impossible to know if it will ever dominate the present.
See Also:
Eight People Inventing the Future
Five Things Steve Jobs Must Do Before He Dies
Free Games, Big Money
Confessions of an Uber-Connected Gal
The technology of the moment is a software application called the "Sekai Camera," developed for the iPhone by a tiny Japanese company called Tonchidot. It debuted at the TechCrunch 50 conference this week in San Francisco.
The demo wowed the crowd: The idea is to link tags created by Sekai Camera users and others to items in the real world, using the global positioning system (GPS) location abilities of the iPhone. That way, a user could point the phone at a store and see both the store and a welter of cyberspace tags with details of, say, the goods for sale inside.
Tonchidot CEO Takahito Iguchi showed a video of the application working as a user strolled through a mall. On the iPhone's screen popped up the sale price of products in the mall and details about the restaurants. (To see a demonstration, go here.)
The idea is like having X-Ray vision--or a Web browser implanted in your head.
The demo was interrupted by cheers from the audience, and attendees--hearing the commotion--crowded into the conference hall where Iguchi was speaking. Technology pundit Tim O'Reilly addressed Iguchi on behalf of the audience, "We've been fantasizing about this for years--it's in Neuromancer, Snow Crash. The question is: Can we build it?"
(For more on innovation, see "Eight People Inventing the Future.")
Unfortunately, specific details on the how the technology works--or how far along it is--were somewhat lost in translation. Like much of what he said during his presentation, Iguchi's answers were tough to follow. "Join us," Iguchi ultimately told the crowd, drawing cheers.
The Tonchidot Web site offered some evocative, though hardly clarifying, details: "What is difference between Google Maps and the 'Sekai camera' is view of the first person, space knowledge and point of information you can get our 'Sekai camera.' Also we would like to bridge Internet gaps. It means anyone easy to get information anywhere else like you see the real view. And we service to very local and particular information for people who are in the location." (sic)
But even with much ambiguity, the idea clearly caught the imagination of many attending TechCrunch 50, which aims to spotlight early stage technology companies that are prowling for funding, customers and press (in that order).
Cleverly, the event's organizers only gave 50 start-ups a shot at pitching their company to the roughly 2,000 attendees. That forces attendees to vie for each other's attention: Crowd members can hand out poker chips to start-ups that look promising at the event's "Demo Pit." Those with the most chips get a chance to present their ideas to the assembled throng. Women in skimpy red dresses prowled the conference floor with one startup's logo on their chests, soliciting chips.
The team from Tonchidot, by contrast, didn't need to ask for chips or. apparently, funding. Masayuki Akamatsu, a fellow at Tonchidot, wouldn't say how much money the six-person company had raised. Nor would he admit to coming to the conference to seek out additional financing. The application is slated to launch this quarter in Japan and next year in the rest of the world, he said.
This application might be the future as we've always imagined it, but until it arrives, it's impossible to know if it will ever dominate the present.
See Also:
Eight People Inventing the Future
Five Things Steve Jobs Must Do Before He Dies
Free Games, Big Money
Confessions of an Uber-Connected Gal
* Fuente: Tech Forbes.com newsletter del 17 de setiembre de 2008.
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