Author: Julie Campbell

Augmented reality may be the future of PS4

| May 5, 2014

Sony has been making some teasing remarks about this technology for its popular console.

The PlayStation Japan blog has just released an update that includes a number of videos that have revealed several different augmented reality experiments that the electronics giant has been conducting with its PlayStation 4 console and its camera device peripheral product.

The experiments include a number of different types of purposes for the AR technology.

For example, among the augmented reality experiments was one for fluid simulation, which was demonstrated in the video. It worked when the user held up a white card, which appeared on the display as a virtual cube that held water. That digital water could then be poured into a second container, which was also only virtually created. This illustrates a number of different challenging concepts that hold a considerable amount of potential to the console and mobile gaming worlds.

The videos went on to demonstrate the way that augmented reality can be used for a realistic experience.


For example, one of the videos showed AR dynamic lighting that was demonstrated through the PlayStation 4. In this video, the user had a light source in real life, which appeared to illuminate a dinosaur that was appearing virtually. This technology was not just for light, but also a range of different colors.

The PlayStation Japan also went on to discuss the “trading card recognition” work that Sony has been pursuing. This AR recognition tech demonstration uses AR in order to be able to recognize a trading card’s pattern in high speed and to then be able to display the character and play music related to that character, nearly immediately. That specific function was not demonstrated within the videos in the blog post.

The blog also underscored different two augmented reality demos that used the PlayStation Vita. The first was a demonstration of a diorama of the Narita Airport. It used an actual flight schedule from that airport and gave users the chance to see virtual planes that were taking off and landing as viewed through the PS Vita when aimed at the diorama. The second demo involved the so-called “VitaHoloPoP”, which is a “Super Cyber transmission box” that would use the PS Vita to project virtual images of various character figurines in a hologram-like way, into a display case in real life.

Social media marketing leaders in the celebrity world

| May 2, 2014

Though many are always trying, there are some stars that have managed to stand out above the rest.

Although virtually nonexistent a decade ago, social media marketing now plays a vital role in overall campaigns for movies and television, and when it comes to success over this unique channel, some celebrities have managed to make a far greater impact than the rest.

Among the leaders in this race are two late night talk show hosts named Jimmy.

The first is Jimmy Fallon and the second is Jimmy Kimmel. Those celebrities have found themselves in a continual race to generate the most popular social media marketing videos, posts, and other campaign elements. This helps them to encourage a larger number of viewers to pay attention to their own shows. While they’re at it, the battle between them has become quite intense.

Beyond them, other celebrities and their teams are using social media marketing to drive brand awareness.

These stars aren’t just on their own, posting at random. Many of them have complete sophisticated teams of experts that have a thorough understanding of the ways in which to draw viewers and build a brand online. Among those that are making the largest splash, at the moment, is Vin Diesel, who is currently at the top of the social world, particularly because of the Facebook presence that he has developed.

According to data released by RelishMix.com based on the number of official Facebook fans, this month, Vin Diesel has the most, with 72.3 million, with Will Smith in second place at 65.7 million. Selena Gomez has 58.1 likes from fans while Jackie Chan isn’t far behind at 55.7 million. Adam Sandler has been holding strong at 50.7 million and Megan Fox has 49.1 million. Farther down, Justin Timberlake has 34.9 million, Jennifer Lopez has 34.3 million, Taylor Lautner has 31.2 million, and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) stands at 31.1 million.

Interestingly, the leaders on Twitter are not the same, with Justin Timberlake being the most popular with 31.8 followers. Clearly, social media marketing is a serious strategy for celebrities, and while Twitter is playing an important and growing role, Facebook remains the network where the largest number of viewers can be found.