If we imagine the “Scouter” in DragonBall or “AR glasses” in Dennō Coil, it seems like a technology set in the future, but how is it like in the real world? Here I examine 5 cases of AR as used in business in the present moment.

1. Zugara – a service which allows you to have your virtual fitting room

This is one of the most famous AR examples and has caught the imagination of many bloggers. You print out what they call “markers” prepared for each item of clothing and show it to the web camera, fitting it to your body. The marker will then change itself to the clothing you picked up. Once it is set, you don’t have to keep holding it. The feature of this service is that it allows you to control with motion-capture in addition to AR. You can change the color or design and purchase the clothes using the scroll button that appears in the window, just like “Minority Report”. It isn’t a finished product and not commercialized yet as you only can try on 2D catalog pictures, but it may well be that it becomes the prototype of future online shopping experiences.

2. Lego DigitalBox – Lego box on which kids can see the completed model

Showing how cool the finished model is, will capture the attention and imagination of kids. Here is Lego Digitalbox which is developed by Metaio, a leading AR company in Germany. So what is Lego Digitalbox? Lego Digitalbox is a special box on which the completed model will show up when you show it to the special monitor which is set up in a Lego shop . Some people joke that it is so cool that kids will be satisfied with seeing the “Virtual Lego” and won’t buy an actual one.

3. My.IKEA – a service that let’s you try out virtual layouts before buying furniture.

IKEA is also trying out AR (Augmented Reality) for their promotions. IKEA also uses Markers like Zugara. If you print out Makers prepared for each item and show it to the web camera, the furniture pops up on the monitor. You can try out this cool service from “My.IKEA”, but at this moment (July 1st 2010) I can’t find that page and have no idea how to access it. Please leave a comment if you know how. In the meantime, you can watch the demo to get a general idea of how it works.

4. USPS – Virtual box simulator

“The Virtual Box Simulator”, a service USPS has started, is another cool AR service. With this service, you can check which box size you need using a virtual 3D box. Feature of this service is you can change the size of the virtual box by clicking the box icon on the site. You also can adjust the transparency so you can see which side is too long. There is no other way to check if it’s the right size than actually you put your item in the box. From that point of view, this virtual box is a good example of how to use AR.

5. Ray-Ban – a service that you can try on virtual glasses.

This is a service it enable you to try on virtual Ray-Bans with AR.
Unlike trying on clothes, only your face needs to be shown to the camera. So it might be one of the best services that combine AR with a web camera. You can download what they call “Virtual mirror” from here and set up. Unfortunately, this service is available only on Windows.

Today I covered 5 Augmented Reality services which are being used in business. Unfortunately, at the moment there are not many opportunities we can feel and touch AR, but you can extrapolate how our lives might change with the current examples. With other technologies like location-based services and motion-capture services, AR will be part of the future revolution of the Internet.

If you know of other ground-breaking examples of AR, please tell us via the comments.

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There are two common problems with passwords.  One is that they are too easy to guess, and two you forget them.  In fact, they are inter-related or inversely proportional, if you make your password less easy to guess, it becomes harder to remember.  So some people use things like pets names, birthdays and so on.  One additional problem is that it is a hassle to change them if you have many accounts.  OpenID helps but not all sites use OpenID.

The way I am outlining is more secure, you are less likely to forget them and changing them is easier.

Here’s a photo of my plain text passwords.

The Passpaper

It folds up into the size of a credit card and so can be easily stored in my wallet.  I also have a copy stuck to my monitor.

Here’s a close-up and how it works.

Passpaper Basic

For each account, say hotmail, facebook, twitter, select a password from the list.  Whatever you do DON’T mark it on the paper.  Just remember the start and end position of the password.  This way, even if someone sees your list, like it is on your monitor, they won’t know your passwords.  You can decide the length of the password but it’s best if it is not less than 10 characters, and the more important the account the longer it should be.

For extra security, don’t always start and end your password on the boundaries.

Passpaper Intermediate Step

And add a couple of characters (or word) to the start or end of the password that are not on the paper.  Like this:

Passpaper Final Step

This means if someone takes your password paper, it won’t be as easy to brute force crack your password.

When it comes to changing passwords, just change the starting location of the password.

The alternative is to use a password store, like 1password, or the multi-platform KeepassX.  But the disadvantages of a password store are that you still need a master password which has the above weaknesses, and if you have the passwords generated for you, you won’t know them yourself.  The advantage of a password store is that your passwords can be very long and you can easily include strange characters.

Remember DON’T MARK the paper in ANY way!

For storing on the iPhone, I recommend using Dropbox. That way you can sync it easily and store the password paper in pdf format.  I should mention if you use that link to sign up both you and I get 250MB extra space free.

How to make the password paper? I used Illustrator but you can use Excel or any spreadsheet.  To generate the groups of random characters I used Keepass.

KeepassX Password Generator Settings

I selected characters that would be easy to type on the iPhone and removed similar characters and created a very long password and then split it up into small character groups.  For better entropy (which makes it harder to brute force) you could include all characters.

If anyone wants it, I can post up the Illustrator template I use.

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Easy to use even for my dog

Have you ever seen someone uses his or her mouse with the other hand? I met some guys like that and I’ve joined them. Let me tell you why you should use your other hand.

Usually I’m a right handed person. Writing, eating with chopsticks and so on. But I switched to use my left hand to use the mouse when I’m working with my mouse. Why? Here are reasons:

1. Be more creative

Using the other hand stimulates you brain and it helps you to be more creative especially if you’re a right handed person like me. Using left hand stimulates our right brain.

2. Reduce risks of RSI

You know RSI? One of the most scary thing for people like me. Never too late to be careful. No cost required this way.

3. Can eat any kind of snacks while working

Really important, isn’t it?

You may feel uncomfortable for a few days when you switched but don’t give up! Just keep the new habit for a week!

BTW, the person who taught me the greatness of this hack was Ice. He can use his other hand even when he uses chopsticks! What!?

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