Sesame Street has just unveiled the first of multiple apps that will be released for children.
Today’s toddlers are using smartphones even before they know how to read, but Big Bird and the Sesame Street gang are now working together with augmented reality technology to help to close that gap with a fun and fascinating mobile experience for kids.
Preschoolers will be able to use the devices to help to recognize the sounds of written words.
This augmented reality innovation is a joint effort between the Sesame Workshop and Qualcom. Their “Big Bird’s Words” app was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show, where the beloved yellow character took center stage.
The augmented reality app is designed for children to use on their parents’ smartphones.
It allows kids to use augmented reality technology in order to discover words in the real world so that Big Bird can help to sound them out. When the child aims the device at the word, he or she can then listen as the Sesame Street character gives them a hint by providing the sound of the first letter and the sound of the word as a whole. For instance, when a child points at the word “Milk”, Big Bird would help out by saying “You found the word Milk! It starts with the letter M.”
The Big Bird’s Words app is expected to become available to the public in mid 2013. Though the augmented reality application won’t be available for a few months, it will be the first of at least two releases by Sesame Street, aimed at preschoolers. Another app that can be expected following the initial release will be “Abby’s Fairy Rock”, which will feature that far newer, but highly beloved character.
According to the Dave Glauber, form the Content Lab at the Sesame Workshop, during his keynote, “We know that kids are entering kindergarten with a vocabulary gap.” It was during this speech that the augmented reality smartphone app was first presented by Qualcomm. Glauber proceeded to explain that “With this app we can introduce kids to words wherever they are and give them an understanding of what those words mean.”
Denny |
December 17, 2012
Metaio Cloud introduces cloud-based services
Metaio, a leading developer of augmented reality technology, has been working on a way to make it easier for companies to develop augmented reality campaigns. Earlier this year, the company introduced the Metaio Creator, which simplified the process significantly. Now, Metaio has introduced the Metaio Cloud, which aims to streamline management of augmented reality content across a vast network of mobile applications, ideal for businesses that have a wide reach when it comes to consumers.
Augmented reality gaining ground as a marketing and entertainment tool
Augmented reality is quickly becoming a very popular and powerful marketing tool. Tech-savvy consumers have praised the technology because of its ability to provide them with dynamic content. Mobile applications that incorporate augmented reality in some way often manage to attract aggressive attention from consumers. In the past, it has been difficult for businesses to keep track of the wide range of augmented reality content they provide to consumers. The Metaio Cloud aims to solve this problem by making management much simpler.
Metaio Cloud could be a boon for less-experienced programmers
Metaio is well aware than not everyone is a professional programmer. This does not stop some companies from adopting augmented reality, however, and Metaio is keen to ensure that consumers have a positive experience with the technology no matter which company is making use of it. The Metaio Cloud allows businesses to take advantage of a cloud computing network, which can be quickly accessed to pull resources into an application or other type of platform. The Metaio Cloud allows augmented reality content to be changed and pushed to consumers in real-time without having to submit updates to existing applications to various app stores.
Qualcomm also introduces features to make development simpler
Metaio is not the only player in the augmented reality space that is working on making the technology more accessible to businesses. Qualcomm also has a platform called Vuforia that helps simplify augmented reality content for businesses and consumers. Qualcomm recently introduced a new update to its Vuforia SDK that allows for cloud-based image recognition features for mobile applications developed using the platform.
