LAS VEGAS--Initially launched in July of last year, Aurasma, the augmented reality platform for Android and iOS, has just gone 3D. And did we mention it's a top-10 finalist in this year's Mobile Apps Showdown at CES?

If you're not familiar with Aurasma, it's a bit like a QR code reader that doesn't actually use any QR codes. See, with Aurasma, you simply have to point your device's camera at something, and if the app's image recognition technology fires, then a 3D pop-up will appear. You can watch the pop-up as-is, overlayed on the object you're pointing at, or you can double-tap the pop-up to enlarge it and watch it like a video.

And now, thanks to Aurasma's brand-new 3D engine, the augmented reality elements that pop onto your screen can be perceived from different perspectives. So as you move around a target, the pop-up elements adjust accordingly, which gives the augmentations more realism and a stronger visual appeal.

While Aurasma's 3D overlay does seem a bit raw at this point--with rough edges and less than perfect image quality--it is nonetheless a stunning technology. And since there appears to be a growing roster of commercial partners producing ads with integrated Aurasma components, we can only expect its quality to improve. Plus, we can only hope to see Aurasma bring more dinosaurs to major metropolitan cities.

Aurasma (... [Read more]

If you are running Adobe CS5 or CS5.5 and have updated to OS X Lion, you may encounter an error with the Adobe Extensions Manager utility in which you cannot install any new extensions.

This issue was found in early December by a number of Adobe CS5 users who had upgraded to OS X Lion, and after investigating the issue, Adobe issued a patch to the software that should allow the Extensions Manager to work properly again. The update has been available in Adobe's Update Manager, so if you regularly update your Adobe software, then you should be fine if you have not yet upgraded to Lion and plan on doing so; however, if not, then you can either update with Adobe's software or do it manually.

Adobe offers the update as a standalone downloader that is available here:

• Adobe CS 5.0 (3.0MB)
• Adobe CS 5.5 (11.9MB)

To install the update, download the updater for your version of the Adobe Extensions manager, open it to extract the DMG installer disk image located in it, and then open the disk image file. Then quit the Adobe Extensions Manager utility if you have it running and apply the patch in the disk image, following the onscreen instructions to install the patch.

Be sure the Extensions Manager is f... [Read more]

The Google Web Fonts site now can compress fonts for Internet Explorer using Monotype Imaging's MTX technology.

Hoping to aid fancy typography on the Web, font powerhouse Monotype Imaging has released technology called MicroType Express (MTX) so it's free for public use, CNET has learned.

MTX is patented compression technology that shrinks font download sizes, hastening the moment when a person can see a Web page with its intended typography, but Monotype Imaging is releasing the technology under very liberal licensing terms. Microsoft licensed MTX for use in Internet Explorer, and now Monotype has won over another major browser maker, Google, the companies plan to announce today.

With its "make the Web faster" initiative, Google is a powerful ally. In addition, Google will use MTX on its Google Web fonts site for free-to-use fonts that can be embedded on Web pages. The company estimates that MTX cuts font-size downloads by 15 percent compared with the prevailing alternative, the gzip algorithm.

There has been some disagreement about the merits of MTX. In 2009, one study found gzip did just about as well as MTX, but ... [Read more]

LAS VEGAS--BlackBerry OS 7.1 wasn't the only thing RIM announced today. Three of the most popular apps on the BlackBerry platform also got some major work done.

First, BBM 6.1 is here, and it adds some sexy NFC flavor to its feature set. Now, friends can invite each other to connect on BlackBerry Messenger by simply tapping their NFC-enabled phones together, which, let's face it, is a hell of a lot easier than inputting those crazy BBM PINs. Also, BBM 6.1 gets the powerful message and profile customization options--animated avatars, emoticons, and colored chat bubbles--that were previously seen in the app's beta release.

Next, BlackBerry Travel also got a big boost. According to the folks at RIM, the newly updated app "virtually plans your trips for you from airport pickup and drop-off to accommodations and scheduling." You can use it to find deals on hotels and car rentals, and it can notify you of any delays or changes in your flight schedule. Also, there's an automatic trip-scanning feature that can pull your trip details directly into the app, no matter where you booked your trip. Since many of BlackBerry's remaining followers are likely the business-travel type, these updates are sure to raise a lot of eyebrows.

Finally, BlackBerry Traffic now has turn-by-turn voice ... [Read more]

BitTorrent will be available this year on numerous televisions, set-top boxes, and other devices in Asia and Europe.

LAS VEGAS--A phalanx of deals involving the commanding general of torrent protocols, BitTorrent, and next-generation hardware marched into CES 2012 today, the unofficial Day Zero of the show. BitTorrent also announced that more than 150 million people used sibling programs BitTorrent and uTorrent last month, making them by far the most popular torrent clients around.

Following up on the announcement from CES 2011 that it would partner with hardware manufacturers to ship their devices with torrent support built in, BitTorrent revealed four companies based in Europe, Russia, and Asia that have prepared new hardware that automatically works with the current BitTorrent program. BitTorrent-certified devices from these companies will carry the BitTorrent logo.

This is more than another hardware partnership, however. In the wake of much negative news about people using torrents to illegally share media files, BitTorrent has spent much of the past two years rebranding itself as a way to easily exchange large-file homemade movies and photos, as well as legally owned entertainment files. In addition to the hardware partnerships, the past year has seen BitTorrent create its ... [Read more]

LAS VEGAS--Windows multimedia mainstay Corel today introduces AfterShot Pro, a powerful photography workflow program tailor-made for professionals and high-level enthusiasts.

Positioned as a competitor to the popular Adobe Photoshop Lightroom program and the less popular ACDSee Pro, AfterShot Pro offers a full raw workflow and nondestructive editing environment based on the core technology of Bibble Labs, Corel's latest acquisition.

One unique aspect of AfterShot is its flexible asset management. While many other programs ask you to import files in order to open them up, AfterShot Pro lets you view, edit, and process images without having to worry about cataloging. Couple this with the program's powerful metadata features, and zipping around and organizing your media becomes pretty simple.

Another feature we like is AfterShot's batch processing. Comparable with Adobe's Sync Settings feature, AfterShot's batch processing lets photographers potentially save hours of editing time by renaming, converting, or applying adjustments to several files all at once.

As expected, AfterShot is seamlessly in... [Read more]

Nuance is known for its voice-to-text software.

Nuance Communications, the leading voice recognition software company, is jumping into the TV market.

The company said Monday--at the International Consumer Electronics Show--that it will launch Dragon TV, a voice and natural language platform for TVs, devices and set-top boxes. The idea is that Nuance’s software would be included in these devices. Nuance’s move is notable as chatter about Apple delivering a TV connected with its Siri software heats up. Nuance appears to be going for the broad-partnership-in-multiple-devices approach.

Dragon TV, the name of Nuance’s system, will be designed to allow voice to replace remotes and connect couch potatoes to content, tweets, and Facebook.

According to Nuance, Dragon TV will allow viewers to navigate listings, ask questions about content and timing, and find genres to watch. Dragon TV aims to integrate social applications and communication tools, connect to listing, and allow for messaging. Nuance’s Far-Talk technology will be able to home in on your voice.

On the business front, the TV market is another key vertical for Nuance to exploit. The company is dominant in the auto, mobile, and health care markets.

This story originally appeared at ZDNet'... [Read more]

The innovative travel search service Hipmunk is ringing in the new year by adding powerful hotel search capability to its mobile apps.

While hotel search has been available on Hipmunk's Web site for quite some time, users of the native Android and iOS apps are only getting the function starting today.

Hipmunk for iPad showing search results and hotel details

For those not familiar with Hipmunk, it's a travel site and mobile application, similar to Kayak, that offers a unique way of searching for flights by "Agony." Using an algorithm to factor in things like departure time, arrival time, stopovers, and price, Hipmunk returns search results based on how enjoyable (or agonizing) it thinks each flight would be. This makes it easier to compare flights along a number of different parameters simultaneously, which is difficult to do on most other travel sites.

And now, with the newly integrated hotel search feature, the Hipmunk app brings yet another proprietary algorithm into the mix, as it lets you search hotels by "Ecstasy." Similar to the Agony rating, Ecstasy takes into account factors like price, amenities, and TripAdvisor reviews to show you the hotels that would provide the best overall experience. From what I've seen, it works well, and is an absolute godsend when... [Read more]

LAS VEGAS--Opera Software may be known for making a solid desktop and mobile Web browser, but the company is also taking steps to blur the line between television and the Web as it debuts a TV-based app store.

The new Opera TV Store is an HTML5-powered Web app store for televisions that works with HD-ready screens, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and standard remote controls. It does pretty much what we've come to expect from app stores, which is provide you with Web-like experiences outside of the traditional browsing experience. Ready-to-use apps include Facebook and Vimeo, as well as games and news, indicating that hardware makers think that Web content is of at least equal entertainment value to traditional cable TV.

Opera TV has been in development for some time, and now it gets a Web app store.

In a statement, Opera CEO Lars Boilesen said that the goal of the Opera TV project is to expand entertainment choices, but it goes almost without saying that he wants that to happen through Opera's platform. "We had a simple idea that, in order to bring apps to the world of TV in a huge way, you need to provide users with a lean-back web experience and developers, content providers and manufacturers with the most convenient, cross-platform technology," he said.

Opera has also provided ... [Read more]