Robotics as a Service

Cloud-based software will manage the skills, cognitive capabilities and support for the coming robotic age. Robotics as a service (RaaS) will create a demand for skilled programmers that understand this technology. Robots will be everywhere. Eyes in the sky and on the ground. 

Some of the best camera apps will be on Robots. Checkout IBM Bluemix with Watson and Cloudant, a cloud based database. Developers are building SaaS and RaaS in Swift and Kitura, a web framework. IBM Watson

See this article on ZDNet 

"Representative companies employing a RaaS business model include PrecisionHawk (drone-based surveying for agriculture), Knightscope (robots for security and surveillance), Aethon (mobile robots for healthcare logistics), InTouch Health (mobile robotic telepresence), and Liquid Robotics (unmanned underwater vehicles."

Mobile Photo Connect

Mobile Photo Connect conference! Oct. 24-25

https://www.mobilephotoconnect.com

Best Camera will be attending and reporting on this event. 

This is where the action will be in San Francisco for Camera Apps. They will be hosting over 200 potential partners and industry leaders in the areas of: photo & video app developers, mobile vendors, cloud storage providers, software companies, camera manufacturers, trade press, and investors.

We hope to find some great Camera Apps and developer tools coming out of this event. 

Here's a list of some of the presenters.  We will be looking at their products in future posts. 

• Adobe
• Beamr
• CaptureLife
• Diagramics
• EyeEm
• Fujifilm
• Getty Images
• Google
• GumGum
• HP
• Kite
• Kwilt
• Lightricks
• Microsoft
• National Geographic
• Palmarés Advisors
• PastBook
• PhotoGurus
• Picanova
• PicsArt
• Polarr
• Polygram
• Pwinty Ltd.
• Rainhut Inc.
• SanDisk
• Streetography
• Taopix
• TeamFotog
• TechCrunch
• The Refiners
• Upthere
• V360
• Vicman
• Zink

What is ARKit from Apple?

Augmented Reality is becoming mainstream for Camera Apps.

ARKit is an Augmented Reality SDK (software development kit) from Apple for programmers, in particular Camera App coders. The SDK is basically a framework library that helps programmers create Augmented Reality Camera Apps for IOS devices. 

ARKit uses Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) for tracking what the camera sees.  It combines the camera sensor data with motion data. And ARKit uses scene understanding to locate horizontal planes for placement of virtual objects onto the scene.

ARKit can also estimate the amount of lighting in a scene to then adjust the brightness for virtual objects to match the scene. It's pretty slick.

This new toolkit is available for use on IOS 11 and is programmed by developers using the new Xcode 9. It's available for both the Swift and Objective-C programming languages. 

Some example Apps are already popping up in the App Store taking advantage of this new technology. A pretty good review of these first Apps can be found here on theverge.com

Many more to AR Apps will follow and we will be scouting for the best ones. 

Wikitude Augmented Browser

The Wikitude World Browser App is an augmented reality browser.  Using your smartphone’s camera the augmented browser uses over 3,500 associated content providers to give you information about where you are. For  example: landmarks, directions to the nearest ATM, suggested places to eat and hotels through Yelp and TripAdvisor.  Not sure about the bug-bug stating game included. But I like the ability to check mark and share your favorite spots via Facebook. That's cool.

Download for free:

Android      IOS 

iPhone 8 and Augmented Reality

The new iPhone 8 has wireless charging, freeing up a port for your headset. But this new phone also has a new camera with augmented reality features. Combined with the ARkit SDK and IOS 11, developers have a new toy and a new market to attack. This was predicted here on Best Camera. We can't wait to see the new augmented reality camera apps.

What coders are learning about AR

Apple intro to ARkit

iPhone X Front Camera Face Detection

So you're telling me there's a chance. The face detection has a one in a million chance of letting the wrong person into your phone. The X  has no home button, it's water proof and costs $999. One more thing:

Steve Jobs’ boat in Hanalei, Kauai 

Check your heart health with new Camera App

A new App from Caltech replaces urltrasound to Measure Heart Health

Can You See The Future?

Nikola Tesla Predicted Smartphones In 1926

But he did not predict this:

The future of smart phones and the path to virtual reality and artificial intelligence belongs to the mobile camera and mobile camera software.

For more than a decade, smartphones have become smaller and faster and the cameras have improved dramatically.

Best Camera makes these Big 10 predictions for the future of Smart Phones!

1. Virtual rendering for purchasing. See your purchases of large objects, such as furniture, in your own home before you buy them.

2. Owner recognition and unlocking by facial recognition.

3. Scanning of 3-D for objects for mobile ordering of 3-D printing.

4. Point and translate of printed materials from one language to another.

5. Faster duel camera rendering. The Galaxy Note 8 is paving the way already.

6. Mobile App Drone control and photography will advance in hundreds of directions.

7. Rapid scanning for nearly perfect facial recognition and ultimate security.

8. Augmented reality will bring still objects to life and lead the way to real time virtual reality.

9. 3-D hologram projections

10. Mobile Artificial Intelligence.

Now you can ride your camera

This was just too incredible not to write about. Here is a video of a man riding his drone. Now that is a basis for photography and great camera Apps.

Quickshot App from Lighttricks

The new Quickshot app from lighttricks adjusts your photography in real time. It basically aligns, adjusts exposure, and shows filters in real time. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's a subscription paid model. Still worth a look. It's free to download for limited features. Only on iPhone, not IPad. Quickshot Link

The Skyrocketing business of Drones

App developers are discovering the benefits that drones and image evaluation can bring to fire fighters, builders, farmers, miners, scientists and many others. 

Here is an interesting article about an upstart software company DroneDeploy focused on Drone App technology and image analysis. 

The next gen Camera Apps

CNBC article

Make Gif's from Photos and Vides

Gifx 

GIFs are fun and shareable. But how is a good way to take your mobile photos and videos and create Gifs. 

Try Gifx. This App has over 200 GIF effects for your photos and videos. It lets you add music, and it has over 100 optional masks to use as well, a cool feature.