Verizon has teamed with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on a discovery app called Replica that lets consumers scan artwork to generate digital collectibles. The augmented reality Replica experience lets museum visitors scan items using a mobile app that stores them to Roblox as objects or avatar accessories. Roblox account holders can also virtually explore the Met’s facade and partake in other immersive experiences. The effort follows a previous Verizon collaboration with the museum and indicates the way institutions can leverage AR to engage consumers. Continue reading The Met Teams with Verizon to Create Roblox AR Experience

The Smithsonian Institution has developed an iOS app called “Skin & Bones” that uses 3D animation and augmented reality to help bring fossils to life for children visiting Bone Hall at the National Museum of Natural History. In addition to the 3D animations and related information, the free app offers detailed maps of the museum. Complimentary Wi-Fi is available on-site so visitors can easily download the app. The approach is another example of how organizations are exploring compelling use of immersive technologies. Continue reading Museums Bridging the Gap Between the Digital and Physical

The Guggenheim Museum, a premier art museum in New York City, is making its exhibits more interactive by integrating beacon technology. The beacons are small, box-like sensors that use Bluetooth technology to detect when a smartphone is in proximity. The museum will use its 20 to 30 beacons to track traffic flow through the building. In the future, the beacons may transmit informational alerts to visitors’ phones as they approach a painting or sculpture. Continue reading Guggenheim Museum Testing Beacon Technology for Exhibits

While Amazon has almost anything that most consumers need, the volume of products can be daunting for those who want to casually browse the site or discover well-designed or high-end products. Canopy is a website created by former Google designers that hopes to solve this problem by offering a curated storefront for products available via Amazon. Canopy offers a front-end alternative, while relying on Amazon’s back-end to make products available in just a few clicks. Continue reading Canopy Aims to Showcase the Beautiful Products on Amazon

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann announced during an event in San Francisco last week that users of the social visual discovery tool have created more than 750 million boards and contributed more than 30 billion Pins since Pinterest was founded in 2010. Acording to Silbermann, the number of Pins has grown by nearly 50 percent during the past six months, due in part to the introduction of Related Pins about a year ago. More than 90 percent of current Pins are connected to Related Pins. Continue reading Pinterest Touts 30 Billion Pins, Sees Big Hit in Related Pins

Samsung opened its Samsung Innovation Museum at the company’s headquarters in South Korea this month. The museum features some of the most iconic inventions of the modern era, including Samsung TVs, smartphones and semiconductors. The creation of the museum is an effort by Samsung to escape its image as a “fast follower,” and showcase itself as an innovator. The five-story museum occupies about 118,000 square feet. It comes as Samsung goes up against Apple again in patent court.  Continue reading Samsung Opens Five-Story Innovation Museum in South Korea

The Smithsonian has launched an online collection called the Smithsonian X 3D. The site includes a browser-based 3D viewer that allows users to experience objects that have been scanned, such as artifacts and fossils, up close. In addition, users can download related files in order to print models using their own 3D printer. The project supports 19 museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoo in its goal to expand Smithsonian digital assets. Continue reading Smithsonian X 3D Collection Brings Historical Objects to Life

The European Space Agency plans to apply 3D printing to metal in order to build parts for jets, spacecraft and fusion projects. ESA and the EU, together with industrial and academic partners, are developing the first large-scale 3D production methods to create metal parts that are lighter and more affordable than conventional parts. While 3D printing is already being used to produce plastic products, applying the process to metal parts for rockets and planes would save money and be more efficient. Continue reading The AMAZE Project: Space Agency Brings 3D Printing to Metal

The Getty Museum announced that its former policy banning access to digital images has been amended. Digital images are now available for free on the Getty website for anyone who is interested. Previously, the Getty granted access to an image for a fee and with special terms and conditions. While the Getty still asks for the reason an individual is requesting an image, the process of obtaining a digital image is now made simple for everyone. Continue reading New Getty Policy Allows Everyone to Access Digital Images

The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in downtown Chicago — founded in 1930 as America’s first planetarium — recently completed a transformation of its 80-year old historic Sky Theater, newly named the Grainger Sky Theater. With its 8K x 8K projection dome, the new theater is being touted as “the highest resolution digital dome ever built.” Next month the Adler crew will unveil “Deep Space Adventure” — an immersive exhibit simulating the formation of the universe. It was created with support from NASA, IBM, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the University of California Santa Cruz, the Astrophysics Institute Potsdam, and others.

The production team behind “Deep Space Adventure” is using a variety of modeling software systems, including Autodesk’s Maya 3D and 3ds Max and Lightwave 3D from NewTek, while Adobe After Effects is being used for compositing. The planetarium’s render farm and storage system includes 83 computers with dual processors. The system also uses the Uniview real-time visualization platform that allows users to fly through a computer model of the universe.

The new planetarium can project images, such as those captured by the Hubble Telescope, with more than 5 times the clarity of a standard movie theater. The system uses 20 Rockwell-Collins Zorro digital projectors powered by 45 computers working simultaneously.

Immersive experience designer and integrator, Global Immersion, was contracted by the Adler in April 2010 to design and integrate a high contrast and high resolution experience. As a result, Global Immersion’s Fidelity Black 8K digital theater solution has been fully integrated into the theater. According to the Global Immersion press release: “Powered by Global Immersion’s Fidelity Play comprising forty-six Media Servers, the Grainger Sky Theater is primed for both real-time and playback media and is capable of running at both 30 and 60 frames per second (fps) at 8K resolution. The Uniview real-time data and astronomy visualization platform from SCISS will be used for astronomy presentations.”

The first of these experiences will be “Deep Space Adventure,” debuting July 8, possibly the most technologically advanced space exhibit ever designed. According to the Adler press release: “The Grainger Sky Theater will project the largest single seamless digital image in the world with an ultra high definition screen resolution of more than 8K x 8K pixels. This far surpasses the cinematic standard of 2K x 4K pixels, presenting a level of realism that can only be surpassed by actual space travel.”

“It’s going to be really exciting,” explains Paul Knappenberger, president of Adler Planetarium. “For the first time people will feel that they are flying through space. They will be on an observation deck of an imaginary starship flying through the universe and witnessing, up close and personal, the collision and the merging of two galaxies or the explosion of a star as it goes supernova or they will see the black hole in the center of our galaxy consuming a nearby star.”

Related Global Immersion press release: “Adler Planetarium Chooses Global Immersion for 8K True Black Digital Dome Theater” (5/25/11)

Related Engadget post (includes Adler press release): “Chicago’s Adler Planetarium to start projecting 8K by 8K images from this July, put cinema screens to shame” (4/26/11)

Related PCMag.com article: “3D Universe Map Shows Most Complete Detailed Image Yet” (5/26/11)

Related NTDTV.com article (with video): “Chicago To Open Out-of-This World Planetarium” (5/27/11)