Augmented Reality App Sekai Camera Goes Multi-Platform. Adds API And Social Gaming. Tokyo-based Tonchidot has come a long way since the spectacular launch of its augmented reality app Sekai Camera at TechCrunch50 back in 2008.
We’ve spent quite a few articles on how the startup did since then, and the bottom line is that it did very well so far. Tonchidot is now offering up a lot more versions and features for its app (available for free on the iPhone with iOS4 support, iPad, and Android). Here’s a quick rundown of what happened in the past few months and what more we can expect from Sekai Camera in the future. To recap, Sekai Camera makes it possible to create text messages, photos, and audio recordings (dubbed air tags) and “drop” them on the spot in the form of floating bubbles and icons.
Other users in the vicinity who open the app and spin the camera around can then click on and interact with those geo-tagged virtual Post-It notes. Sekai Camera so far Sekai Camera in 2010 and beyond: API, iPad and Android versions, iPhone update, Sekai Apps. It’s Alive! Taking Android’s App Inventor For A Spin. By now you’ve probably heard of Google’s App Inventor for Android, a web-based development environment that’s meant to make it possible for non-developers to build their own Android applications.
The technology has been in testing for a year, primarily with educational organizations, and may well be a boon for the Android ecosystem as students are introduced to the platform in the classroom. A report in the New York Times quotes project lead (and MIT professor) Harold Abelson as saying “These aren’t the slickest applications in the world… but they are ones ordinary people can make, often in a matter of minutes.” So does this mean Android’s millions of users are about to start programming for their own devices? Not quite. I spent around 90 minutes this morning cranking away on a few test applications in App Inventor, and while I’m very excited about it, this is not going to be a walk in the park for “ordinary people”. Look (For The Right Components) Before You Leap Outlook.
Google open sources My Tracks GPS app for Android - The H Open S. Android App Aims to Allow Wiretap-Proof Cell Phone Calls « The F. Greystripe: Developer Sign-Ups Doubled Following Apple’s New Ad. Following the drama of Apple’s new developer licensing agreement a few weeks ago, independent mobile ad network Greystripe is reporting double the number of developer sign ups to its network.
According to the new terms of the agreement, only “independent” ad-serving companies will be able to serve ads, possibly ruling out Google’s AdMob, one of the largest mobile ad networks on the market. Greystripe could stand to gain from one less competitor on the iPhone ad market, and is apparently already seeing gains. Greystripe is also announcing today that it has updated its iPhone Advertising SDK for compatibility with Apple’s iOS4 Platform. The company says that it updated the SDK “over the air,” which means that app developers don’t need to pull their app out of the store, add the code, and resubmit to Apple. So publisher ads will work seamlessly with any apps served on the new OS.
Greysripe is certainly milking its Apple-ad network approval for all it is worth.