Audi Q3 augmented reality advertising

 A friend of mine pointed me to a new iPhone app by Audi Australia - "Virtual Q3" which uses a picture as a trigger to project a 3D image of the new Audi Q3 onto whatever your camera sees.
You can zoom in and out by moving closer and further away from the picture, even to the level of looking inside the car. While it is not a particularly useful app for me it gives an informative glimpse into the furture of mobile devices augmenting our reality. This will also include articles like Google specs.
This is quite a smooth app and as you can see from the screen shots below it really does augment reality. I printed out the pdf mentioned in the app description and placed it on my willing(?) dog. In reality I see just a piece of paper, while through the camera I a 3D Audi on her fur. As you will notice the perspective of the Q3 changes with my angle to the printout.
The last picture shows the piece of paper without the app (i.e. just a regular photo).
All up it was an interesting glimpse into the present.

I suffer for art

... and I'm spent.

Australian government kidnaps pregnant mother.

Michael Gordon published this story in The Age - "Wife, mother ... security threat" about a Sri Lankan refugee given an "adverse security assessment" by ASIO.

This is secret police, state sanctioned kidnapping by the Australian government. It is heartless and immoral. It scares me.
I don't know how else to describe the Immigration Department: tricking a pregnant mother (legally deemed a refugee) into their offices; taking her and her two young children away to indefinite detention; giving her husband only 5 minutes to say goodbye; and here's the kicker - refusing to say what she has done wrong and giving her no right to appeal.
Ranjini has had an ASIO "adverse security assessment" raised against her. Under Australian law this can't be questioned, appealled or detailed by her family and friends.
Sorry Ranjini, you and your two boys just have to rot in Villawood until the men with guns deign to loosen your shackles.

Here's the link to the GetUp! petition - No detention without appeal

Here's the ABC Lateline story on the subject - Refugee family torn apart by ASIO

Feral Pig sub-species

In the outback the wily feral pig, sus scrofa, has spawned several ultimately elusive sub-species: sus scrofa eucalyptus stumpus, the 5pm pig bush, the woolly shadow boar and sus scrofa acacia branchia.