Cool GE Smart Grid Flash “hologram” gizmo
I wanted to to a little more than just re-tweet the link that Taylor posted earlier. I don’t have time to do a full-blown post, but here are some screen shots of the pseudo-holographic Flash gizmo that GE is doing as part of its Plug Into the Smart Grid campaign at work.
When you first visit the site, it asks you to print out a Solar Panel Marker. Like, with your printer. Now that I think about it, there’s a small irony in asking me to do that as part of a “green” campaign, but I digress. Print yours on the back side of a piece of scrap paper if you want to indulge your conscience.
So I’ve got this piece of dead tree in my hand, and from the Smart Grid Augmented Reality page I launch the windmill demo. Hold up the paper to my webcam, which just looks like this:
Holding up the Solar Panel Marker - BORING
Once I grant the Flash gizmo access to my camera and speakers, though, it draws on top of the webcam input an animated, quasi-holographic plot of a scene with three wind turbines and that scarecrow that I still don’t understand because I didn’t watch any of the Superb Owl, not even the commercials. Move the piece of dead tree around, and the camera angle changes. It’s really the kind of thing you just have to try for yourself — as Taylor commented, ::mind is blown::. Here’s the windmill demo:
Wind Turbine demo - Spiffy
And here’s the solar panel one:
Solar Panel demo - Also spiffy
