Advertisement
Advertisement
Toy box: AR gaming gadgets
A robotic ball that's controlled by a smartphone, the addictive Sphero (HK$1,000) has an augmented reality app called Sharky The Beaver (iPad & iPhone 4S and above) that allows you to take Sharky for a walk around your house. So far, so weird. You can also interact with him by throwing him virtual cupcakes.
A smartphone-controlled quadricopter packed with sensors and front and rear cameras, the AR.Drone 2.0 (HK$2,400) can share videos on YouTube and compete in AR.Race, a one- or two-player obstacle course, or battle with other pilots worldwide over Wi-fi.
A free app on Google Play for Android devices only, though requiring an invitation (register at ingress.com this urban game augments reality by transforming real streets and cities into a giant digital board game. Players claim, attack and defend real-world positions.
In an increasingly digital world, an instant photographic memory was bound to come along. The tiny, clip-on Memoto (HK$2,200) logs almost your entire life by snapping geo-tagged digital pictures every 30 seconds, then synchronising all of them to a smartphone app.
Not strictly augmented reality, but if you can't wait for Google Glass, then the Oakley Airwave headset (HK$4,700) is something of a dry run. It's designed for skiers and snowboarders, and its visor overlays live data for speed, altitude, time, battery level - and even the "air time" of your last jump.
Post