On the last day of the Internationale Funkausstellung, Schaltzeit, along with plenty of consumers and trade visitors, also drifted over for a visit to the IFA exhibition halls. What stood out in particular during the visit was that life as a whole is becoming ever more mobile and gaining an additional layer. Whether mobile TV or faster mobile internet with the new LTE technology, which is already much better rolled out in rural areas than DSL, for example. Not only were there huge 3D TVs everywhere drawing gasps and looks of surprise from visitors – reality itself is set to be virtually augmented in the future. At the same time, these technologies make everything much easier, from searching for a car to measuring rooms and objects.
The Telekom Innovation Laboratories are one example: they use augmented reality and image recognition to build applications that, besides party fun and Facebook tagging, also serve a genuinely useful purpose. The basic requirement for such apps is a powerful smartphone, which by now is widespread. In cooperation with AutoScout24, for example, they enable a visual listing search: you can snap a photo of any car you like at any time, and the app automatically searches for offers for exactly that model.
The second app that harnesses augmented reality helps with furnishing your home. Where we used to plan new furniture layouts – if we were thorough – with a sheet of paper and small, roughly-to-scale paper cutouts, today it’s considerably easier with a smartphone. All you need is the app “Happy Measure” and the accompanying QR code printed on an A4 sheet. Place it on or next to the piece of furniture you want to measure, and the app scans the image with the phone camera and creates a 3D model. Simply repeat this with every piece of furniture that is to go into the room. If you later place the QR code in another room, scan it with the camera, and call up the saved models, you can arrange the furniture virtually in the room and test how the layout works. With a bit more patience and additional pictures of an object from different angles, the app can even capture its surface. Whether the blue sofa goes with the green curtains is then easy to answer.
Other focal topics at IFA were green technologies and how individuals can help save CO2. There were many variants of small, portable solar cells, whether attached directly to clothing as part of Wearable Technologies, mounted on a backpack, or standalone in the size of an iPad, which can charge a power bank as a battery backup.
RH
