Sekai Camera
Sekai Camera is an iPhone application/service that allows you to place air tags and photos in any location around Japan - and soon the world when its launched worldwide.
Its currently available for a free download from the app store.
Here I have Sekai Camera booted up on my iPhone. It uses the GPS and compas in the iPhone 3GS to determine where the phone is and in which location the phone is pointing in.
As you can see from this photo, there are things floating about the screen and a radar type display at the top.
As I move the phone around, the tags and photos will scroll with the view until they disappear off the side of the screen. That's because those tags and photos are tagged to a single location.
The video below in Akihabara gives you a good idea of how it works. In the video you will see tweets, photos and air tags floating about. In the video, you will see a load of green air tags with the name "姉ヶ崎 寧々" (Anegasaki Nene) - a character from Love Plus. A load of Nene fans went around spilling her name all over the place.
Here I am having lunch tagging my food. The tag will remain in this spot forever and can be seen by anybody else with an iPhone+Sekai Camera in the area.
If I click on a tweet or an air tag, I can see who left it there - their photo and profile. As you saw from the Sekai Camera vid in Akihabara above, air tag pollution is starting to happen with the area just full of tags.
We planned to do a hijack of a town leaving Mirai-chan's image everywhere but not got round to it yet ^^;
I can see use cases where shops can leave food coupons floating outside their shop.
By looking at the world through Sekai Camera, not only can you see the normal stuff that you view with your upper set of eyes, you can also see a whole lot more information including landmarks.
When somebody clicks on a photo, tweet or air tag I left lying around, they would see my profile like this.
Another interesting thing about Sekai Camera is that you can "pocket" stuff. If I see a photo or air tag left by somebody, I can pocket it and view it later. Great for treasure hunting games.
Speaking of hunting games, Steve Nagata and I are planing a hunting game with Sekai Camera in Akiharbara soon. Each contestant will have Sekai camera on their iPhone and be paired with a camera wo/man.
The aim of the game is for the Hunters to catch the Runner. Each Hunter and Runner must leave an air tag at their current location every 3 minutes which will allow all players to know each others general location. Hunters will hone in tags left by the Runner in order to catch him/her. The Runner will see tags left by the Hunters so that he/she can run.
A map of Akihabara will be provided with a Barrier around the play area. Players must not go past the Barrier or its game over for them.
The game will be filmed, edited and released to the Tubes. More details as we flesh em out.
With Sekai Camera, its the world as we know it with a digital layer on top - get it from the App store. I think its only available from the Japanese app store but if you manage to download it, does it work where you are?
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Student.
It looks like the anime Higashi no Eden. This app is really interesting.
http://kikiyasha.deviantart.com/
lol i was thinking the same, i really wish i had an iPhone ^^
A Curiosity
Next thing you know, this app saves the world...
三年せいとオタク
Lol that's the first thing that popped into my head.
Time Traveller/High School Student
http://thetsundere.wordpress.com/
That's what I thought too! ^^
Want to try this app when I hopefully get an iPhone for Christmas...
Student, artist, dreamer
http://tranquil-solace.com
Noblesse Oblige...I can already imagine the characters with phones in Higashi having to tag their location any time they spend money. This app looks promising.
http://www.c-games.info
Higashi no Eden - ahaha, true, it was also the first thing that crossed my mind when seen that article :)
Engineer-wannabe
http://sora-k.deviantart.com/
Indeed! the first thing come to my mind when reading this article^^
part-time worker and full-time slacker
we all have the same idea in mind when reading this article then...^^
Accountant
LOL I thought of that too. Looks pretty much exactly like it to me :)
Grad Student
My first thought: someone was watching Eden of the East. It's really almost exactly like the program in the show, except a bit more static. Next, they need to upgrade it so that it can compensate for things moving and track people, and then we can start sending out Noble keitei.
Developer/Student
http://threedeecomplex.wordpress.com/
I thought Eden of the East's program was more of an real-life search engine, where you could take a picture of anything and then look it up, and it would tell you either who the person is, or the make and model of whatever object you are looking at. A bit different from this tagging business.
Student, Otaku, She-Geek(Sheek lol)
http://meimi132.wordpress.com/
Didn't someone have to tag something first in Eden of the East though? Then people would name it or something. It is weirdly similar...
Professional NEET
Mindhive train
Wanderer of the Mist
http://hangmen13.16ops.com/
Hivemind. Great minds think alike.
student
lol same here
Student, Otaku, She-Geek(Sheek lol)
http://meimi132.wordpress.com/
Same thought here. Very cool app. Still not enough to make me want an iPhone though.
Student
hahah
Thats what popped into my head first too
Full-time geek/Part-time student/Part-time musician
http://randomgeekness.livejournal.com/
Aww man I was going to write that! LOL!.
College Student, Computer Science Major
http://www.projectsaber.com
Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. There's one in the works for the Google Android as well. I'll probably be getting the Nokia n900 in the future, so no iPhone for me I guess.
Webdesigner
http://www.templaworld.net
Yep I thought the same lol! ^^
Manga-ka
http://d-fox.deviantart.com
Its coming true! I think I need an iPhone now...
college student
http://otakuartist.wordpress.com/
I have a iTouch and I;m loving it!
Student
http://volzel.net/
I can see that you're lying.
iPod Touches don't have cameras nor compasses. This app would not work at all!
Jack of all Trade
http://www.themugshow.com/
He didn't lie about anything. Simply stated that he had an iTouch and that he loves it...
Otari Vader, Sith Lord for Hire, will fillet Makoto Itou for free
http://coffeebugg.blogspot.com/
I has an 8gb iPooed Touch. I don't think Sekai Camera works on mine though.
http://akari-nyan.deviantart.com/
Yeah...wish the the app worked on the iPod touch...T^T So coool
student , otaku and awesome blogger
http://otakudan.com
that is a very cool app, apps like those make me want to get an iphone.
Student, part-time worker
My thoughts exactly...curse the expense though. :(
studying comp studies, planning to look for part time job
http://bruneian-otaku.blogspot.com
Very nice apps. Will try it out when I got my iphone.
Engineer by weekdays, Hikki by weekends
http://ejump.wordpress.com/
Nokia need to have this!!
You know what, modify the screen to your helmet visor/sunshades, you get a scouter..
"what did the scouter says bout 'my' powerlevel?"
Wanderer of the Mist
http://hangmen13.16ops.com/
Tag: 9000
Part time student, part time hikikomori
-gasp- It's Eden!
Poet (not)
It's a great idea, but in its current state, seems to be open to abuse.
Student
Yea I agree, they're are similar projects like this happening on other phones and platforms right now too, I believe it's called augmented reality. If this kind of thing ever takes off it's going to be borderline useless only months after it gets popular. If post stay there forever just think what a big city or popular location is going to look like after only weeks, there's gonna be crap every where; Making the whole concept just stupid. Now I'm not saying it couldn't work, it would just need a easy way to sort though post, or make it so post only last a certain number of days. They'd also need a way to stop spammers that would probably make a program to post an ad for something every step they take through out the day, or people who'd think it'd be funny to post porn everywhere lol. Overall I think the idea is cool it would just have to be implemented very well.
Terrorist ? =)
=O, Eden !!
No iphone here, waiting for that Eden phone to come out T_T
Student
After the Web 2.0, it's the beginning of the World 2.0.
I wonder if you will find these kind of tags in WCs that say : "Took a sh** here.".
Engineer by weekdays, Hikki by weekends
http://ejump.wordpress.com/
feels good man
NEET part-time - Technical Support Officer - Network security engineer
http://burugureibi.blogspot.com/
OH U
Student, part-time slave
http://yakuri.wordpress.com/
Oh wow that's way too sweet of an app! that's like the prototype of what we'll be able to see in our won heads like in GITS or Real Drive!
Man, I never thought iphones were that interesting, but I might get one just for these sweet sweet piece of app.
Student
App looks cool. But the tag pollution is surely a threat, maybe some tags should have expiration time or smth.
>Do you own an iPhone or iPod Touch?
No, N97 user here.
???Confused???
How nifty...a Mirai take over sounds like a great plan...kinda wish I could partake of the game...
Part-time God, Full-time Dog
http://supermariabros.deviantart.com/
LOL mirai invasion...
Student/Building a blog
http://otakucy.wordpress.com
This is quite interesting. A whole world being created, not visible to the naked eye. Gives me a feeling like it's a matrix, or Digimon world xD
(almost) latin teacher, viking-in-training
http://suexcelencia.wordpress.com
Looks coool. Definitely something like this'll go to my Samus suit. It's a pity, but wireless connection in my kingdom is pretty poor, so even if I had these godly items it wouldn't be of use =__=;
Still do want ^w^
Student
Amazing app! Was also reminded of Higashi no Eden.
I'm guessing you'd need 3G to use this program.
research student
http://osakacchi.blogspot.com/
ah.. it can be use as advertising too...
that sounds like an interesting game, wish i'm in tokyo.. ;_;
NEET part-time - Technical Support Officer - Network security engineer
http://burugureibi.blogspot.com/
Wow, AR is really getting very good exposure
Student
http://www.shangri-la.2ya.com
This hunter-runner game sounds interesting (similar to Tousou-chu tv show .
I'll be eagerly anticipating this show :D
Keep up the great work DChoo and crew !
Modern Languages Student
http://www.nickwords.com
Hope Japan has lots of wireless connections, cuz it's too bad the ipod touch doens't have GPS.
BTW Noblesse Oblige XD
Illustrator / Photographer / DDer
http://kiwira.deviantart.com
the rapid growth of digital age ^_^
student, gamers,computer programming
http://omnitube.wordpress.com
Ughhhhh.. I wanna own an iPhone!!
mahou kishi
http://www.animedia.com.mx
I dont know why I have a bad feeling about this software
Professional geek
http://www.npng.org/blog
Interesting game idea. Definitely interested in participating if you manage to roll out all the details :)
student
http://listlessink.wordpress.com/
Super cool. I need to get an iPhone sometime.
Extremely stressed student XDDD
http://www.altariaalbio.blogspot.com/
Higashi no Eden has just successfully penetrated into the real world...Can't wait to get this app X3 its too cool!
Extremely stressed student XDDD
http://www.altariaalbio.blogspot.com/
On a more serious note, something like this is gonna bring lots of problems...increased abusing of technology, loss of privacy etc etc They had better have enough admins to sort out all the junk
Postgrad student
That's Augmented Reality for you.
I can hardly wait for this to become an integral part of our daily lives...
NEET
http://austrianotaku.com/
Ährm what? We already had that news a few weeks ago. http://www.figure.fm/post/en/2877/iPhone+app+Higashi+no+Eden+becomes+reality.html
I downloaded it (with my Japanese iTunes account xD) but I guess I have to sign in or something first. I have no idea what the text is saying so I'll wait for the international version whoch should be coming soon according to the developers.
NEET
http://austrianotaku.com/
Oh it got an update. English interface get!
NEET
http://austrianotaku.com/
Nope still just part English.. orz
Dance Trooper: DCX-001 O.D.E. (Order of the Dancing Empire)
http://dannychoo.com.my
The programmer of this application is so genius!
Eden Of The East real-life tagging is now a reality!
I hope it'll very soon available around the world, it's great for a lot of things!
http://moemoekyun.wordpress.com
can they made special glasses for that ^^;
Student
Just wish i have an iPhone. I'd make it a point that i will definitely get such goodies.
Multimedia Technology Student
http://thehappyninjadrawn.wordpress.com
That is a very cool looking app. I'm looking forward to when it goes global, it'll make things a lot more interesting ^^.
thousand master II, Internet Learner, Auto didacta
http://pipopaz.wordpress.com/
Sekai camera is an amazing idea! Wish my ipod touch had a camera so I could get to use it XD
Student in Internet-based Systems
Nice invention but it seems even now the "air tag spamming" goes to the annoying level. The developers should implement categories so the user can turn off categories in which he or she has no interest at the moment.
Student
http://payuki.deviantart.com/
cool feature, but i think it is most effective in bigger cities.
I want an iphone even more now ^w^
Student
This looks like something really interesting, hopefully it gets a worldwide release.
College Student
http://theakiba.com
It's true. I was wondering when this kind of tech will come to the real life after watching Eden of the East; and here it is. Hope other devices can have the same application.
Nyoro-n...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yuki-to/
Awesome that the app really came to life so soon from the anime Higashi no Eden.... now they must maintain it well like wikipeda :3
Grad Student
Cool idea, but how does this work on the iPod touch? No camera or GPS. Seems like it's for iPhones and iPod Nanos only right now.
College Student
http://www.xanga.com/coolmikeolgx
Want to get an ipod touch but it wont be able to use this app because it doesn't have a camera.... Why didn't they add one to it than the ipod nano!?
IE
http://otakujanai.org
thats a pretty good motive to get an iphone...too bad that it will take a while to make this app work in my country :(
Policy & Research Officer
http://www.alafista.com/
Wow this concept is similar to what was featured in Higashi no Eden. I'm gonna try and see if it works in Singapore
Student
I can see a device with the tegra chip like the one the Zune HD has to have something like this in the near future.
Student
http://volzel.net/
Ah, things like this made me wish I got an iPhone instead of an iPod Touch...
Student
I feel exactly the same ! I had better buy an iPhone instead of this shitty iPod Touch =_=
http://personal.babelred.com
sounds funny! :)
http://www.stefkov.com/
That game sounds incredibly fun. Things like this really amaze me and the possibilities one can achieve with it are mindblowing.
Here's hoping we humans create a transparent screen so we can have these in our glasses on our faces as we walk around.
Future Mangaka,God,Student
http://www.hiyono.net/blog/
EDEN OF THE EAST!!!
Lol awesome
Student.
Oh God... I would like to have an IPhone or an IPod Touch, just to test this app. It's really useful.
System Admin
http://idarmadi.blogspot.com
I'll find a time to try this app with my father's iphone.... :D I'll see whether this app will work outside of Japan....
Network Technician
http://www.myyaruki.com
Looks excellent cant wait for it to be available over here, the iphone seriously is the best phone by far at the moment.
Web Developer/Software Engineer
http://www.nyannet.com
Nice. This does remind me of Eden of the East. I will definitely be getting this when its made available in the U.S.
Professional Web Surfer
that's a pretty cool app, but my only concern is what's gonna happen when everyone starts tagging everything. tagging overload?
pop culture archivist
http://supremenothing.blogspot.com/
I wonder about this too. Overzealous tagging could wear thin quickly.
Lazy Gamer at home
http://www.espadakiller.wordpress.com
Wow this application is good! :O
Dental Technician, i make teeth!
http://antsizedman.blogspot.com/
Got itouch, glad i got that instead of the iphone, bit of a dissapointment me thinks.
Student / Software Engineer
I want the iphone for everything except making phone calls.
Electrical Engineer
Danny i have a question though i may already have an answer for it and just want to make sure of something, does the app require one to be on the internet for it to functino
CEO MIrai Inc
http://www.dannychoo.com/profile/eng/
It sure does.
Software Developer
That is just fantastic. As many others have said very Eden of the East.
Can't wait for this to make it over to the UK store.
~Undine~
http://bluebluewave.wordpress.com
iPhone still looks mighty tempting, but it's crazy expensive here. There's HTC smartphones available for half its price.
University Student
I only have an iPod Touch and I'm really jealous of this app! It has sooooo much potential but it's a shame that only the iPhone can use it, because not everyone has one.
New sexy uni grad in search of a suitable career for himself
This is pretty awesome, and as many ppl already said- reminds me of higashi no eden
Planeswalker
I have an itouch, I'm gonna upgrade it when a camera actually gets put on it. I like it cuz I don't need the freaking expensive plans, the extra money can be saved for other stuff, plus it's thinner than an iphone, and has a nice shiny back too.
CEO of clock work inc, lazy, immortal
Crazy awesome! makes me wish i had an iphone. If i got the iphone !'d spend a ton of time making scavanger hunts and putting tags in random places.
フリー漫画家
http://mangayomo.com/member/tofu
これ、ニュースでみたけど、おもしろそうだねｗ
IT Support
Very impressed by this, but its only as usefull as the imformation provided. If there is too much redundant information cluttering it all up then it will be like tralling through spam in a rarely used e-mail box looking for valid items.
Web programmer
http://www.micky2be.com
niiiiice, I'll take it in a minute, and will see it in action (I don't think it's interesting in CHiba but I'll go downtown this week-end)
Student
http://lordofgundams.blogspot.com/
Nice app, I might pick that app off the store.
pop culture archivist
http://supremenothing.blogspot.com/
I showed this article to a few of my co-workers and they were flipping out over it! I think the possibilities for this are HUGE!
Full-time geek/Part-time student/Part-time musician
http://randomgeekness.livejournal.com/
It's one of the best ideas ever,I wish I could have an iphone and that I could take calls in the street T^T. (Here you can't walk with any phone,ipod or whatever with value, unless you want to be beaten up and robbed @_@).
.NET/Web Developer
http://scrumptious.animeblogger.net
When I saw this demoed at techcrunch50 about a year ago I was so amazed at the concept. I hope they go beyond the iphone because I could totally see this being used by a multitude of devices. Now if only Apple released that ipod touch with a camera I could totally get this. Why'd they have to postpone it anyway.
Young Grasshopper
http://miragestrike.blogspot.com
The event sounds like a lot of fun!
Would love to get an iPhone, but the plans are too much for me, and I'm still under a contract for my current mobile.. Though I might get an iTouch just to see what the buzz is about. ^^
Hmm... something like virtual grafitti... Neat concept, and could be useful for all sorts of things.
DIYBio-er, Student
http://codexlib.blogspot.com
iPhones certainly do have interesting apps. Hopefully the sekai camera team will consider porting their apps to android platform as well...
It would be awesome to have AR search game of sorts, like in the Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.
Student
http://johndiew0107.wordpress.com/
wow... hope I have an iPhone... grrr
Web Developer/Software Engineer
http://www.nyannet.com
I wonder if this app can be plugged into other applications.. say one that reads barcodes or numeric codes in general. Could be an interesting way to do coupon distribution.. or better yet it could be used to make a pretty sweet monster hunter/pokemon style game where you find monsters in the form of a tagged space with a barcode that links up to another app that has your character information etc...
Star Gazer
http://vixums.wordpress.com/
Wow that's a neat feature! I don't have an iTouch yet, but I've been thinking about getting one, since the people I'm usually with have one and it's so much fun to look over and see what they're doing.
a similiar application was invented much earlier by KDDI.
as seen here -> http://www.diginfo.tv/2009/07/31/09-0259-r-en.php
its exactly the same thing.
sekai world is just a plagiat
CEO of iKurisu.com
http://www.ikurisu.com
lol higashi no eden....
Would be great if an Android version was released that shared the tag database.
http://www.allotaku.com/
This is an awesome phone!!! O_O
Student
http://shockerz.wordpress.com/
It's like the technology from Dennou coil but this time it's on an Iphone and not the glasses.
Myself-finder
Barrier lol sounds like Nanoha or Rockman EXE
It's worth noting that you _CAN_ get this program outside of Japan.
In iTunes, go to the store, and scroll to the bottom. You'll see a flag icon of your home country. Click it and change it to Japan, and iTunes will reload the Japanese store. You won't be able to buy anything (not without a jp credit card or iTunes gift card), but anything that's free is fair game, so search 'sekai camera' and download it! Oh, and make sure to set your region back.
Sadly, I can't test the app, since it only works on the 3GS.
Transition
Interesting app, but seems to be over saturated with junk tags already...needs to have time limits...otherwise instead of being able to navigate, its just going to be a full screen of tags anywhere you pointed at.