12 skignz Days of Christmas

Welcome to our Online Advent Calendar for Christmas 2018.
This year we will reveal 12 quite different ways, in which you can use skignz during 2019.

If you would like to find out each day what we have instore for you behind each window, then please Press Here!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas & A Prosperous & Healthy New Year.

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

2018: A year in the life of skignz

As we reflect back on this past year, here are just some of the skignz highlights of 2018:

Starting the Year at CES (Las Vegas, US) onto delivering a skignz experience at the GREAT Showcase at the Consulate General's Residence (Los Angeles, US), followed by a visit to Apples HQ (Cupertino, US) to talk about skignz's 'Precise Location Augmented Reality'.

Heading on to SXSW, (Austin, US) where we launched the first 'Live AR Feature Film', J1S with our partners First Word Tree Productions, on the Uk DiT's GREAT main stage. 

Further Trade Shows and Exhibitions included ICE (London), NE Satellite Conference, (Durham, UK), Georgia SMARTCity Expo (Atlanta, US), SMARTCity Expo World Congress (Spain) and SIGMA'18 (Malta).

In early summer skignz delivered a demo in time for Apples WWDC'18, showcasing the new skignz IOS functionality, captured through an in-app video on an iPhoneX. Press Here for a sneak preview.

As the summer was drawing to a close we had our first skignz 'wedding'. Our UK VP walked down the aisle with his blushing bride, as a direct result of meeting through 'location based technology' and skignz.

skignz Founder & CEO was then onto India as Part of Immerse_UK's 'VR/AR/MR Experts' tour, taking in three major cities, presenting, discussing and understanding how technology can have an impact across their continent.

The Atlanta Braves increased their exposure of the skignz Precise Location AR Technology to their fans at their Pre Season Alumni Parade, where former players were highlighted during the street parade with skignz above their heads.

skignz winning a SMART City Expo World Congress Award, coming 2nd in the European Satellite Navigation Competition and Runners Up in the UK EXPORT '18 and Dynamo 2018 Awards, is a testament to the progress we are making as a company and as a brand.

Add to the above with members of the skignz team providing notable Keynote speeches and participation on various panels, at events such as SXSW (Austin TX), NE Satellite Conference (Durham, UK), RetailLoco (Atlanta,US), AdMonsters Pub Forum (Austin, TX), participating in numerous AR & location community events, all capped by ending the year securing one of our biggest client contracts to date, for delivery in January 2019.

All in all 2018 has certainly provided its ups and downs for skignz. Yet we have emerged stronger, our own proprietary technology platform is improving and expanding its capabilities almost day by day. 

Increased investment in skignz as various VC's and Angel Investors supported skignz continued growth. Our new and existing clients are now taking advantage of what skignz's 'Precise Location AR' has to offer? And how it can help them deliver on their own targets, aspirations and in many cases 'cost savings'. 

We look forward to what 2019 has in store, especially with The NFL's Super Bowl being hosted at the magnificent MB Stadium in Atlanta, GA which is actually less than a mile from our skignz US HQ, watch this space for something quite special in January 2019.

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

The UK's CIC include skignz in the Createch Top 100

The UK's CiC (Creative Industries Council) have announced that skignz has been included in the UK's Top 100 Createch Companies.

At the conference it was outlined that, Createch differs from established uses of technology to automate processes or handle large volumes of data. In Createch, a creative element — such as the use of design, storytelling, audio visual material or performance — is the key constituent alongside the tech component in achieving the final output and its desired benefits.

Developing Createch fields include Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Programmatic branding, Creative Robotics, Immersive Technologies and the application of Interactivity to Performance and Experiential markets.

"The recent Createch Conference and launch of the The Resource Book, are guiding snapshots, made possible by the ongoing dialogue of the UK's creative and Tech ecosystem". said Tim Davie (Chair of CIC).

skignz was selected from over a growing 4,000 plus Createch companies and rank alongside the global brands, Facebook, King and fellow AR brands Zappar & Blippar.
Founder & CEO of skignz Si Brown Said: "We are delighted to be acknowledged amongst a great range of UK Createch companies, it's testament to the hard work of the whole skignz team and its dedication towards improving our technology in line with market trend and technology evolution.

Although its a great honour and really nice to be recognised by the CIC and other organisations we remain focussed on the development of the skignz platform, which we will be bringing out the new versions of our IOS/Android very soon.

This will be followed quickly by our new SDK/APi offerings for those who are keen to embed the skignz experience into their own Apps. 

We already have quite a large number of developers involved with our early release programme, however we are keen to get the skignz tech into the hands as many different developers as possible."

If you are interested in joining the skignz developer programme, please get in touch.

To see 'The Resource Book' please press here!

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

Where Al meets film and then meets real-time AR ...

We are delighted to say that the Department for International Trade (DIT) is promoting the collaboration between skignz, a British Augmented Reality (AR) company and the J1S Film.

Written and directed by Jay Cunningham, produced by Firstword Tree Productions at 2pm on the 12^th March 2018, on the UK@SXSW stand, in the main hall, at Austin Convention Centre.

When skignz CEO and founder, Si Brown, saw the film trailer for J1S, he contacted Jay Cunningham immediately. 

He outlined how he felt there was a way that skignz could utilise the AR tech to enable them to give the film a futuristic look, enhance the flow and drastically reduce the amount of ‘post-production’ required by embedding the AR live into the movie as it is being filmed. 
Once Jay sat down and understood what skignz could do, it was a no-brainer for him and the FwT team and the look is exactly what they wanted from all aspects of the filmmaking process.

Jay says, "skignz has allowed me as a writer, and a director, to push the boundaries of what I thought I could achieve in Independent filmmaking, with such ease of use, but also with such slickness that you would believe would come from a much higher production value."

The film is based on the obsession with technology and advancement.  IA industries release a project, J1S, who is an AI military experiment before it’s ready and the consequences are terrible.

It breaks loose in the 'City of Liverpool', and they must get him back before the public realise what happened and IA’s stock collapses.

AI industries utilise skignz tech to hunt J1S and his accomplices down, in the underbelly of the Liverpool nighttime.  Will they be able to find him in time?  And who are the actual bad guys here?  We will leave you to decide that! 

Jay says, "It's amazing to be part of such a forward-thinking company like skignz, who add such a cool dimension and element to our film, that it was just the perfect fit. 
Working with Si Brown and his team has allowed the team at J1S to change how the film developed, and that's what's really exciting.

Working with British innovators and talent that share your vision, but also add another creative element to our fantastic team. We're really lucky to have them onboard, and super proud that they too are British."

You can see the trailer here

And listen to Jay here talk about the importance of the film

Stay tuned on Twitter and Facebook to keep updated about J1S and his whereabouts.

More about Firstword Tree Productions:

Launched by Jay Cunningham a Liverpool (UK) based Film Director and Producer. Firstword Tree Productions recently announced its trailer for the ‘J1S’ film around AI. 

For enquiries please contact: jaycunningham@firstwordtree.com

Social: @firstwordtree

So please keep an eye out for the updates and changes either through this blog, our regular skignz Newsletters or any of our Social Media channels. 

Featured in Skift Article on how AR will Impact Meetings & Events

It was great to be featured in this great article on skift - we have been showing the world how AR can have a huge impact on meetings and events for a few years now.

We were extremely pleased to be acknowledged in this insightful article.

skignz has been involved in some major events across the UK and various other locations across the globe, where the use of the skignz technology has had a magnificent effect bringing a huge amount of excitement to many events.


You can find more details on the below events we have helped to enhance below through using the skignz AR Platform:

• Goodwood Festival of Speed (Goodwood, UK)
• The STA Awards (London, UK)
• 2016 Olympic Games (Rio de Janeiro Brazil)
• SXSW (Austin, US)
• Choose:ATL (Texas, US)
• Pride (London, UK)
• 2014 Commonwealth Games (Glasgow, UK)
• Pride (Atlanta, US)

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

Un-Augmented Reality:

Tales from the AR Trenches
by Si Brown, Founder & CEO, skignz

Long time readers of this blog – friends and family of skignz – know I’ve been pursuing the very real dream of making Augmented Reality easy, fun, and useful for the masses.

In the beginning, finding articles on the topic was as rare as finding Venusaur, Blastoise, or Charizard in Pokemon Go!. (Of course, back when we started, there was no Pokemon Go!) Try as I might to find something tangible, most of the articles were related to the promise and potential of the technology.

As time passed, it got a little easier because 'the space' was heating up. However, we still couldn't find much in our specific territory. (Don't get me wrong...that's not a bad thing!). The growing amount of information was about AR triggered by images (e.g. a QR or UPC code) or 'features' (e.g. logos or open spaces in a kitchen to place an augmented microwave). 

While location-based (what we use) is another known trigger, it’s surprisingly rare. In fact, we studied the 109 applications in Super Ventures AR Landscape and could only find a couple of possible examples.

Then came two thunderclaps: Pokemon Go! and Apple’s AR kit announcement. 

Boom. Boom.

Pokemon Go! was indeed the game changer that it gets the credit for. It taught us all lessons about the possibilities and established a credible example of how a niche technology could explode into the main stream. ARKit clearly will do all that and probably more.

Add Facebook’s pronouncements and you might think skignz would want to crawl into a virtual cave. 

How could a small angle-round startup possibly compete? This is how:

* We use 'geofencing' in a very different way than all other location-based experiences (AR or other)

* We don’t place content in the App (we’ve <5 MB on your phone vs +300mb for Pokemon Go!) Take a look for yourself www.skignz.com/download 

* We have real use cases under our belt and a growing sense of what works (and what doesn’t) for our particular flavour of AR see www.skignz.com

In addition, those same longtime readers know skignz has been identified by some of the largest brands in the world (Coca-Cola, IHG, Cox Enterprises, Porsche, to name just a few) and have selected us to be part of The Coca-Cola Bridge Community program. That prestigious recognition gives our partners the opportunity to bring location-based AR to the masses.

For this we offer our very real thanks to the teams at companies like Apple, Niantic and others for doing what we couldn’t do by ourselves: Make Augmented Reality a 'reality'.

Credit: Apple's WWDC 2017 KeyNote

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

Goodwood Festival of Speed introduces skignz

29th - 2nd July saw skignz having an awesome time at The Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Festival of Speed (FOS) offers enthusiasts an unrivalled opportunity to get close to the action and to meet the great champions who gather at Goodwood each summer. 

It has been running since 1993 on the same stretch of the March family's driveway. 

While the location has remained the same and Lord March continues to lead the creative direction, the main aspect that has evolved is the scale of the event: with the enthusiasm and investment of the wider motoring and motorsport community, FOS has become an internationally celebrated, sell-out occasion.

                       

skignz was part of the Future Lab which was the most popular stand/exhibition over the 4 days with numbers of 4-8,000 people entering the Future Lab each day. There were queues constantly from each morning until the end of the day.

Among the other exhibitors were:
Robocar - world's first driverless racing car. This was the focal point of future lab with thousands taking pictures of this amazing racing car - we took a picture created a png and placed the racing car on the Goodwood track.

 

Boom Supersonic - Boom, based in Denver, Colorado, is designing, building and flight testing history’s first independently developed supersonic jet.

Siemens with Tech partners Bentley Systems - 4 days prior to FOS they created a 3d Virtual Map of the Hill climb at Goodwood. using drones and a vehicle.

P-Val - Flying car concept which could be seen flying around Goodwood using our AR technology and APP.

Samsung VR - They had VR roller coaster seats the attendees got on and experienced the thrill of a Rollercoaster (their screams could be heard from outside)

Other exhibits included: Facebook 360, Ital Design Airbus, Trust UAV and also not forgetting the great Gran Turismo with their real driving experience (VR)

Being involved in this amazing event was very exciting, the atmosphere with its never-ending buzz.

We gave out our skignz QR code to guests around the festival to encourage them to download skignz. People could be seen scanning the QR and downloading then viewing the content around the Festival.

So how did we do it? How was skignz beneficial to those attending this awesome festival?

As always, our aim is to improve the experience of any event people attend and with Goodwood Festival of Speed it was no different ... 

We set-up the following Channels to help the guests/attendees:

* Facilities/Essential Info - toilets / water points / card machines / First aid points / disabled toilets / car parks

* Brands - Location of all the main car brands such as BMW / MINI / Maserati / Land Rover / Jaguar / Porsche / Ford / Bentley / Fiat / Audi / etc.
* Crossing points - points to be able to cross the track safely and via bridge/stewards.
* General fun skignz - flying cars/concords, driverless cars etc.
* Hospitality - Highlighting the Sponsored / Partnered catering.
* Family - Focus on family orientated areas - Big Wheel / GAS (motocross aerial display) Vauxhall sponsored kids play area / zipline / football golf and football theme events.

People's interaction with skignz on the day was a great way of people using AR at it's best. An event that not only provided essential information but added an extra element of fun to this already fantastic event.

For further information on Goodwood and its Festival of Speed and other events, please see their website www.goodwood.com

For further information on skignz and how it can help you and/or your business then please visit www.skignz.com or check us out on the usual social media channels under @skignz

This Years (2017) Winners of The Sports Technology Awards

Making The Sports Technology Awards Interactive...

Here's how we presented the winners

Best Elite Sports Facility or Venue

Sacramento Kings, Golden 1 Center

Rights Holder of the Year

The Championships, Wimbledon

Best-Integrated Digital Media

CricHQ

Most Innovative Sponsor

Dimension Data - Tour De France

Most Innovative Fan Engagement Campaign

Dimension Data - Tour de France

Best Technology for Fan Engagement

NBA Rapid Replay

Best App

Find A Player

Most Innovative Wearable

STATSports

Best Technology for Managers and Coaches

Performance

ForceDecks

Best Technology for Managers and Coaches

Athlete Welfare

DNAFit

Best Web Development

NBA Facebook Messenger with WSC Sport

Sports Tech Young Exec

Alexandra Willis, AELTC

Best Digital TV Product or Broadcast Innovation

Neulion 4K Live Streaming

Best Technology for Commercial Returns

KORE Software

Best Participation Technology

LTA ClubSpark

Best New Innovation

RightNow Digital

Outstanding Start Up

Football Whispers

Most Innovative Sports Partnership

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and DS Virgin Racing Formula

Most Innovative Live Sports

Experience or Event

BT Sport - UEFA Champions League Final

If you want to find out more about the Sports Technology Awards, then please visit their website (www.sportstechnologyawards.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