{"id":7618,"date":"2017-07-20T00:18:21","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T19:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nasimword.ir\/?p=7618"},"modified":"2017-07-20T00:18:21","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T19:48:21","slug":"augmented-reality-startup-blippar-hopes-to-turn-your-face-into-a-digital-billboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nasimword.ir\/?p=7618&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Augmented reality startup Blippar hopes to turn your face into a digital billboard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AAoqfML\"<\/a>The latest product from augmented reality startup Blippar has a simple, if somewhat unnerving, pitch: what if you could turn your face into a digital billboard?<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s new Halos feature allows you to do exactly that. You scan your likeness with the Blippar app and it saves a version of you on its servers. You can then fill out some personal tidbits, like your favorite music or latest tweets, and anyone who \u201cblipps\u201d you in future (i.e., scans your face with the app) will see this information as a halo of bubbles floating around your head.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] your unique way to express yourself,\u201d Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra tells The Verge. \u201cYour face is like your billboard \u2014 we recognize human beings by their faces \u2014 and this is like a digital manifestation of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conceptually, it\u2019s a bit weird, but the facial recognition part is quick and accurate, and for Blippar that\u2019s what matters most. The company says it\u2019s pitching the app to consumers, but also wants it to act as advertising for its technology (a billboard, if you will) that it hopes to sell to third parties. Mitra suggests the tech could be incorporated by banks for authentication purposes, or by apps for conferences and events, with attendees able to scan each other\u2019s faces to find out who they are and what they do.<\/p>\n

Anyone can sign up for Halos now, but the feature actually launched last year for celebrities only. Since then, though, a number of reports have suggested that the UK startup is struggling to makes its business work.<\/p>\n

A blip in the finances<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe company started life as what was essentially a marketing agency, partnering with big clients like Coca-Cola and Cadbury to add AR features to their advertising. (You\u2019d scan an ad with the Blippar app to see some extra content or a special offer.) But according to a report from Business Insider, the company didn\u2019t get enough repeat business to sustain this model. It\u2019s since pivoted to developing its own AR and object recognition, and selling these features to other firms.<\/p>\n

But this approach might not be working either. In its most recent financial accounts, Blippar posted a loss of \u00a325.8 million ($31.3 million) in the 16 months leading up to March 2016, while revenues over that same time period were \u00a38.5 million. Reports from Bloomberg and Business Insider said the company is burning through cash fast, and needs another funding round to stay soluble. (The company\u2019s CEO was also caught in a minor scandal when the Financial Times found he\u2019d been embellishing his CV.)<\/p>\n

When asked about these problems, Mitra was upbeat. \u201cNo, we are not in the middle of a funding round, in fact we have several product launches coming up,\u201d he told The Verge. \u201cBlippar is in a very healthy financial condition.\u201d He also dismissed reports interpreting the closure of the company\u2019s San Francisco offices as a sign of trouble: \u201cWe actually moved into a bigger offices with bigger head count. We shut down our San Francisco offices with a 2,200-square-foot office, and moved to a 10,000-square-foot office in Mountain View, which is way more expensive real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitra did acknowledge that the company was currently spending a lot, but explained it as a natural result of the company\u2019s pivot to tech R&D. \u201cThe burn is a natural factor,\u201d he said. \u201cYou cannot hire the world\u2019s smartest people and not expect burn, and AI, particularly, is an industry where talent costs […] But this is something we\u2019re welcoming. We\u2019re not worried by it, we\u2019re excited by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building the AR Wikipedia
\nAnd Blippar\u2019s end goal is pretty exciting. Eventually, says Mitra, he wants the company to build a complete \u201cvisual browser\u201d \u2014 an app that recognizes and identifies anything you point your phone at. Scan a car, for example, and it\u2019ll identify the manufacturer, make, and year, and then maybe bring up the Wikipedia page and tell you how much one costs to buy. In fact, Blippar\u2019s app already does this in the US, but Mitra wants it to cover more, from animals to products to people. Thus the new facial recognition feature.<\/p>\n

At its best, Blippar could be an AR Wikipedia, the ultimate tool to satisfy your curiosity. At the moment, when I point it at my kitchen it just tells me where the nearest Muji store is. Meanwhile, rivals are diving into the same space, offering their own augmented reality products. There\u2019s Shazam for food, Samsung\u2019s \u201cBixby Vision\u201d on the new Galaxy, and Apple\u2019s ARKit. If Blippar wants to build the ultimate visual search engine, it needs to get a move on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest product from augmented reality startup Blippar has a simple, if somewhat unnerving, pitch: what if you could turn your face into a digital billboard? The company\u2019s new Halos feature allows you to do exactly that. You scan your likeness with the Blippar app and it saves a version of you on its servers. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":7619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5951],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAugmented reality startup Blippar hopes to turn your face into a digital billboard - Nasim Word<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nasimword.ir\/?p=7618&lang=en\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fa_IR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Augmented reality startup Blippar hopes to turn your face into a digital billboard - Nasim Word\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The latest product from augmented reality startup Blippar has a simple, if somewhat unnerving, pitch: what if you could turn your face into a digital billboard? 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