Showing posts with label Augmented Reality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Augmented Reality. Show all posts

Monday 8 May 2017

skignz proudly partners with The Sports Technology Awards

May 2017, took the skignz UK team to London to partner with this year's Sports Technology Awards (#sta2017) and wow! 

What an A-listed spectacular event it was with some amazing sports personalities attending, such as, Barry McGuigan, Martin Corry, Marlon Devonish, Kelly Sotherton, & Gemma Morris to name but a few.

skignz was thrilled to be asked to be a partner and bring our fresh, unique, engaging industry to the awards evening.

STA Awards Director, Mark Hunter, explained:

'The Sports Technology Awards is a unique celebration of innovation in sports globally, as such, our audience is highly sophisticated so each year we face a challenge of how to impress and engage them in ways they’ve yet to see. We had seen some creative yet practical uses of AR so decided that this should be one of the technologies we embrace this year and the response has been phenomenal.'

Alan Clayton, skignz Partnerships Manager, said: 'It’s exciting to work with prestigious brands like The Sports Technology Awards, especially when we are given the opportunity to demonstrate how practical, yet playful Augmented Reality can be. AR can be dismissed as signs in the sky but they can also be fascinating portals to more information and provide a highly effective and engaging way to inform audiences.'

For skignz, the project started months ago, augmenting the shortlisted companies invitations outside their office environment, which then allowed users to press a link through to the STA registration page. 

100's of individuals within the nominated companies downloaded the app to view the invitation and got a sneak-peek as to whether they was shortlisted or not. Ahead of everyone else who would have found out the next day via the STA website. 


Social media was going crazy with the companies posting images of their invitation outside their office and within the office itself.


Not only is skignz tech useful but it can also be fun, with this year's STA on May the 4th (for those few who don't know Star Wars) it was suggested that skignz be used to augment content around the Star Wars theme. 

So characters and ships were seen flying around the Roundhouse and life like size characters being found and photographed within the ceremony room. 

Prizes were offered for the best picture entry on Social Media. 





Back to the serious stuff, with Mark Chapman (Chappers) presenting this year's awards it was down to him to explain how skignz was used and the channels of content that were available during the awards evening. Some channels consisted of AR Table plans, AR Running order and AR menu, all of which were interactive linked to the relevant information. 

The other Channels were Star Wars as previously mentioned and a channel dedicated to the winners, where the content was placed live on the evening and linked through to a video explaining and showing why they were the winner of their award.

The awards were a huge success and our congratulations go to all the winners and the shortlisted companies for getting so close in this prestigious and competitive awards.

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels

Monday 17 April 2017

skignz talks to Hypepotamus - the go-to source for Atlanta's tech industry

Forbes has noted Atlanta as one of the top 3 tech mecca of tomorrow, so we are thrilled to be working with some key players in this ever-growing city. 

skignz is thrilled to be receiving the most awesome support from some inspiring people. Support recently came from Hypepotamus, who generate awareness about Atlanta's innovative tech & creative community. 

They are the ultimate go-to source of news and events for the Atlanta tech industry. 

Jamie Clarke, skignz, COO was thrilled to discuss why we chose Atlanta, our view on AR and our thoughts for the future...



If you want to find out more about Hypepotamus, then please visit their website (www.hypeotamus.com).

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels




Thursday 19 January 2017

From Pitch…to Panel

As many of you will know, skignz CEO Si Brown presented to HRH Prince Andrew over 2 years ago as part of the skignz involvement in Pitch@Palace 3.0.

 We have stayed in touch with the office of the Duke of York throughout that time and were delighted to be invited to speak about that experience as part of a panel recently in Sunderland.

The event was part of the Pitch@Palace 7.0 Series, in which several North East Start Ups were involved in pitching their ideas and businesses to the Duke of York himself!

The day was expertly hosted by Billy Webber, COO of Sunderlands own Software City, and gave a warm welcome to newcomers and guests alike.

skignz Head of Operations, Jamie Clarke, attended on behalf of the company and took part in a panel discussion which involved previous winners and participants.  Giving the attendees a flavour of what the series can do for start ups, including greater exposure, links into contacts and increasing the reach of a company network, was a great honour for skignz, something which we are excited about continuing.



Jamie had great things to say about the event, stating  “The whole feel of the day was one of solidarity, of opportunity and of expectancy.  The organisation of the event was second to none, and we were really excited to hear the pitches of some of the new start ups who were only just embarking on their own journey.”

The real value in the day was the huge opportunities to network with likeminded people and people from huge corporations who and trying to remain at the forefront of Technology developments.  

The guys thoroughly enjoyed the day, making some new friends and reacquainting themselves with old ones. Something which is a thread running through the Pitch@Palace events.


As Jamie said, “Part of what we are trying to achieve at skignz is to have a network of people who want to work in partnership, and can create a Win/Win situation for both them and us.  

The Pitch@Palace events are a great place for that to happen and we are really looking forward to our next visit/event in March, which we are so pleased to have been invited to.  

This is a place to gain support, for your business, and that shows in the interactions, the comms and the whole set up”

The guys lasting impression however, was of being summoned back from coffee breaks and lunch by a royal trumpet, something which gave everyone in attendee the sense of Royal Occasion!



For more information about th enext Pitch@Palace and how to enter then please take a look at their website: http://pitchatpalace.com

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels

Wednesday 16 November 2016

London Sport 2.0: Encouraging London to become more active

London Sport 2.0 is on a mission to make London a happier, healthier and stronger place through Sport. 


This was definitely a passion project for us, with our own former Pro/Semi-Pro footballers in Si Brown, Jamie Clarke & Alan Clayton, we were excited to join two of our life passions, technology and sport, together.

London Sport 2.0 are involved in numerous projects, activities and events to bring awareness to Londoners, in hope of encouraging 1,000,000 Londoners to be more active by 2020. It seems their first year is proving promising and they are definitely on track to achieving this result.

                                          
At skignz we love a new innovative project, that not only includes sports and technology, but pushes boundaries and encourages a change in people and society. 

So we were more than thrilled to work with Sport tech 2.0 in London on 15th November 2017. The digital revolution continues, at the IMAX in London, what a modern / fitting venue.

Si Brown, skignz Founder & CEO, was a guest speaker, amongst great speakers such as London & Partners, the Open Data Institute and Loughborough University


It was also exciting times for skignz as we were included in the Hub, an area which is designated to tech companies that are making waves in the sector and disrupting the norm. So this was an amazing opportunity for us to be part of something encouragingly progressive.

What a fabulous day with some terrific speakers and cracking companies. 
You can see the video here - LINK TO VIDEO HERE



Friday 21 October 2016

Fuse Annual Leadership Conference - Bringing AR to life with the views of London

We had a very exciting time at Fuse 2016 on 20th October - bringing skignz to life through the wonderful view of London.

Fuse is a leadership conference that began last year. Following the success from the last event, they decided to host their annual conference again. This was an invitation-only event, so imagine our excitement when La Fosse, wanted us to be involved. 


La Fosse are a specialist recruitment company, based in London, who annually have an event / networking / presentation / guest speakers for all of their clients / prospected clients. So it was an honour to work with La Fosse to bring skignz to Fuse 2016, enabling staff and guests to use our interactive digital technology.


skignz fitted perfectly with their mission, which focused on technology leaders and innovative business. This year's event centred around the challenges that digital businesses encounter. The aim of the event was to bring together executives from both international and national blue chip and fast-growing startups to discuss business evolution from the core. 


At skignz, we applaud all 'go-getters' who see potential in our developing digital world, those who won't stop and believe their business is a bigger part of the digital age. So we loved listening to stories from other tech companies who, too, would continue to keep up with our ever-changing digital world.


It was great to incorporate skignz into this powerful event, as we created accounts for all La Fosse staff. All guests were asked to download skignz so they could then find a member of the La Fosse staff, or even find out a little more about them. 

A fantastic personal touch for any event hosts.



This prestige event was held at the top of the Tate Modern Gallery; windows surrounded the top floor from 3 sides, allowing for the most magnificent view. This was a great opportunity for us, as we were able to place AR signs/logos of all the prominent locations in London, such as The Tower of London

This meant that not only could guests view the signs and logos of various London icons through their mobile and understand where the famous icon was in relation to the gallery, but skignz allowed them to click on the sign/logo and find out interesting facts about that particular landmark.



This was great fun for us, as it's what we do best; an interactive experience that benefits our users.


Saturday 1 October 2016

The ever increasing file size of OS & Apps..!

When the idea first came about for what is now skignz, in fact before then, one of the key factors that we would focus on would be the file size.

Back in 2011 we kept getting asked to remove Photos, Music, Videos and even Apps from our SmartPhones in order to accommodate the latest version of the handsets Operating System (OS).

This trend not only continued with the increase in file size of the Operating Systems, but it seems the App Developers were ‘running just as fast as they could’ to keep up with the upgrades and their focus on making retrospective 'fixes' to remove errors and bugs from their own Apps in response to the OS change.

Over the last few years we have seen how this has continued with the file size of the new OS's and Apps almost irrelevant to those building them, which creates a massive issue for the user… 

Why? Because if you're running out of file space on your current SmartPhone, then when you come to make a change or renew (as many of us do under our 'SmartPhone' monthly contract plans each year) then we look at the size we currently have and immediately go for the next storage size up from what we have. 

This proves difficult if the SmartPhone manufacturers don’t just increase the memory by 50%, or even double, but in some cases a quadruple times jump in file storage, then the price of the handset increases quite considerably. 

In most cases, this is because of the OS increasing in size with every new version or even update. This is the same with the apps we have on our phone and nothing to do with the fact we have more Photos, Music or video on there.

With all of this in mind in August 2015 we decided to review a selection of apps most used by the people we know across all areas of our lives. Obvious ones such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, as well as Google Chrome through to the other key players in our sector, Augmented Reality. 

Various member os the skignz team found over the ensuing 12 months that when we raised this with many people, all of them were not only shocked at the file sizes but also that they felt that they were constantly increasing. 


We have decided to monitor this fluctuation in files sizes monthly, but thought it worth providing an annual summary over the last 12 months from 1st October 2015.
Another reason for our research is that we have managed to keep the skignz app to just over 1mB. Yes, you read that right, it's not a spelling mistake! Earlier this year Pokémon Go made a dramatic experience and tens of millions have downloaded the app, did you know when it was launched the app was 178mB! that's not a spelling mistake either!



However, when we checked this week it has now increased to a whopping 210mB, Facebook has increased in the last month also, as have many of the other apps in our survey. 



Could this be 
since the launch of the latest version of IOS?
It's very easy to conclude that unless something significant happens and the SmartPhone manufacturers, rewrite their next OS from scratch, removing a lot of the 'fat and waste' then this trend will not only continue but will accelerate.

What does this mean? will it reach the point where your SmartPhone has more memory than your desktop/laptop... 

One thing we can confirm is that skignz will do its utmost to lead the way and reverse this trend and will never be the app you need to delete in order to update your Operating System.

What do you think about the memory of our devices being taken up by over inflated app sizes and ever increasing Operating Systems?

For further information on how you can use skignz please visit our new website or check out the usual social media channels.

Monday 4 July 2016

Face Time on the Move...

The desire to see people's faces when talking to them?
Why when you can just have it on audio?

Surely FaceTime is better suited to private talking, business or pleasure, not whilst walking down the street, getting on a bus or even as we experienced the other day... 

Talking on FaceTime whilst boarding a plane, from the gate, right through till being seated and the doors closing on the aircraft.... What extra benefit is a visual call rather than an audio one in these circumstances... Discuss?

Now you have read this, it will heighten your 'senses' and for whatever reason you will notice this more and more on your daily travels.

We are not saying it's right or wrong? We are not saying it's unsafe or safe... 

I suppose we are looking at it from a 'user habits' point of view and wondering if this is an indicator of people wanting more. 

Usual stimulation in all aspects of their lives, or even as we have coined the phrase, don't look down at your phone, look up through it... this is where skignz as a 'behaviour' will change how we interatc with the world around us!

OK we used a bit of artistic licence in the last part, because on FaceTime you are not looking through your phone, you are still looking at it.

But and this is where we see the but...

The position of the phone is changed and it's not laid flat in your hand perpendicular to your body, but up, in front of your parallel with your body... 

In a more engaging with the world around you way. Not the insular, looking down at your phone (your feet) way which society now sees every day.

We are just throwing this out there, a little musing on something we have noticed more often recently. 

Have you? What do you think? Will FaceTime whilst walking catch on? Or is it pointless and a waste of your battery life when you can have the same conversation simply using Audio? or might we suggest its a precursor to the new world enhanced by skignz?

If you want to find out more about skignz, then please visit our new recently launched website (www.skignz.com) as well as the usual social media channels 

Friday 8 April 2016

AR or Not AR, That is the Question?

Part of the role of skignz the company is to keep abreast of movements and innovations within the technology sector.


There are a thousand and one Blog posts, websites and twitter feeds ploughing information into cyber world.  

At the moment, the rise of Virtual Reality (VR) is big news.  Everything from uses of VR, the hardware required to use it, the costs of hardware, which platform to use and who is the newest ‘kid on the block’.

Augmented Reality (AR) is currently second in the cyber newsstands by comparison.  

Even though AR presents the largest percentage of the ‘Reality’ market in terms of uses, an awful lot of companies are seeing the benefits of including AR in their offering to customers or users.

The latest in this trend is Tinder, who has acquired Humin, a company that works on figuring out the context of social connections.


Cumin’s CEO views Tinder as Augmented Reality because it is all about meeting and connecting and it uses your phone to augment the special information around you, and put it into contact.  
They’re calling it Actionable Information, but… is it really Augmented Reality?











Are they placing ‘Augmented’ content into the real world?

Or are they ‘Augmenting’ information to make connections easier?

In fact, it is actually Actionable Information, NOT Augmented Reality…

Discuss…


And as always for further information on skignz then please visit us on the usual Social Media channels or drop us a line info@skignz.com


Monday 4 April 2016

SXSW - AR/VR Track...

...we were underwhelmed to say the least!


Before I go any further, it's not SXSW that left us underwhelmed, SXSW was a fantastic experience not only personally but also from a skignz point of view. 

We met with many important and exciting people, providing skignz with some quite exciting opportunities going forward.


That said where the underwhelming feelings come from is that related to the AR/VR track at SXSW, the panels, the presentations and the demo area. 

As most of them were focussed for the Wednesday (Most Interactive related parties closing parties happened on the Monday) it seemed wedged between the Interactive, the Film & Music. 

Sort of an afterthought fitted in to 'pay lip service' to the these 'two areas of tech' despite them being two of the 'the' biggest areas of advance in tech.

Let's consider this in a little more detail. AR/VR may be 'the NKOTB' to the majority, yet both have been around for decades... Then you could argue, if they have been around this long, why give them any consideration at all and if so why now?

Writing this article I realise that my thoughts and questions only bring up more thoughts and questions as I seek to answer each of them. That I now believe is because of the conflicting stories across the media, hype in areas that is unsustainable, the majorities actual understanding of VR and AR and been the difference between the two, not to mention all of the 'fringe' technologies that are reported to be one or the other but are actually neither.

'Breaking down my feelings of being underwhelmed into a few key areas may help you understand where I'm coming from?'

Panel Discussions:
I attended quite a few of these focussed on AR/VR and one or two other panels where it was discussed. I seemed to get the feeling that VR 'was here now' but more focussed on Gaming, Simulation and Sex (Porn). Also most of the panels didn't really reveal anything new, discuss any real 'gritty issues' more a soapbox for individuals to wax lyrical about their own careers and companies they worked for.



Nobody really engaged the other panel members in real debate or even the audience, who's questions seemed 'very pithy' and more about how the person asking the question could get to work with the guys on the panel.

Experiences & Presentations:
Across Austin there were a number of 'VR experiences and demo lounges' all of the ones we saw and engaged with were VR focussed with, if their were any AR ones, we either didn't see them or couldn't find them amongst all the noise and activity of SXSW itself.

Demo Area:
One of the most underwhelming experiences, of SXSW. Imagine walking into a large conference room, with a 15-20 'areas/stalls/stands' (can't describe them exactly as their wasn't an exact offering) littered (best word I can use to describe the layout) around the perimeter.

Each of these 'areas' were populated with a range of people from 1-2 up to 5-10 all wearing VR headsets, small queues of people waiting for their 1-5min experience. 

I have experienced VR and all the progression/regression this has shown over the last 20 years and taking my time to engage with a few different offerings.

It's clear that the tech has improved significantly over the last 2-3 years more so in the previous 17-20 years. The content was engaging and interesting in part and the feelings of motion sickness, latency reduced and rendering/lighting being the biggest improvements that I noticed.

I think the scene before me was extremely odd because you had so many people engaging with a very 'personal/individual' experience, all in the same space, when in reality these people would be using this tech in their own home or place of work on their own. 

It's like watching a 'silent disco', where each person is listening to totally different tracks whilst dancing to them.

So If you picture the room full of people with large headsets on, walking and moving around like it's the first time they had ever wore varifocal lenses listening to a 'silent disco' then you may come close to the surreal view laid out before me.

If you couple this with the queues of people waiting for their turn on each VR Headset, the layout of each brand's demo area and lack of engagement with each other, I hope you could forgive me for being underwhelmed.

Because the VR experience is very personal and singular, the experience around that experience is for me the underwhelming part. Growing up I enjoyed going in those giant hemisphere tents that projected 'a virtual ride on a roller coaster', the small simulators at fairs and theme parks with a small number of people who sit inside an immersive experience.


Even through to my early days in VR in the late 1990's, early Noughties, using the Universities Hemi-Spherion, nothing though prepared me for the SXSW16 VR experience.

Overall approach to VR/AR:
The total lack of an AR presence! This for me was one of the biggest shocks in as much as not only was there no AR presence (other than skignz all around you - you need the skignz app to access the content) but very little was discussed around AR.

Yes, we all understand VR is the buzzword and popular theme at the moment that said 2016 seems to be developing into the year where AR is more widely discussed as VR roles out.

You will see from our other blog posts.... What skignz brought to SXSW and demoed in UK@SXSW Great Britain House, so I won't go over that ground, or try to draw comparisons.

Suffice to say, even skignz could have done more to improve the visitors of SXSW experience, but we cannot do that alone...


And as always for further information on skignz then please visit us on the usual Social Media channels or drop us a line info@skignz.com