I was made aware of this post on VentureBeat yesterday, PAR Works ushers in the maturity of augmented reality, and immediately got captivated by the title. As a person in the field, I have seen how augmented reality has been out in the mainstream for a few years and the AR experiences now don’t seem much different than when everyone got the AR bug a few years back. With this VentureBeat post am I going to learn about a company that has solved some of the problems the existing big AR providers have not yet? How are they ushering in the maturity of AR?

Well it seems that this is not the article that I thought it would be. PAR Works states from their website, “Unlike other augmented reality systems, virtual overlays created in PAR Works aren’t just tied to a geographical coordinate. Since our technology leverages advanced image recognition techniques, overlays can be tied to a specific window on the side of a building, a particular knob on a car dashboard, and more. As long as your images are sufficiently detailed, overlays can be placed with a high degree of accuracy on just about any man-made object, from buildings to engines to remote controls.“

The concept is cool and I was pleasantly surprised that they have a demo of it being used in the construction industry, which makes sense given one of the Virginia Tech labs the research came from, but to say this is what will usher in the maturity of AR, I am not quite sure. Yes it is just a title to get one to read it and obviously it works, but for some reason I am bothered by it.

First it sets the bar rather high for this young company. Yes the different research departments at Virginia Tech do amazing work that constantly wows me, but is this research turned business really ushering in the maturity of AR? PAR Works states that advanced image recognition needs sufficiently detailed images. Granted I am no expert on image recognition, but from what I have learned from those that work in the field, there are a number of things that can affect this from working properly. How does it handle different lighting, shadows, things that obstruct the whole picture like cars on a street, different times of year that produce different detailed images because of the loss, addition, or color changing of foliage, and a number of issues that I know create problems for companies big and small?

Second, from the company videos it looks like the AR they deliver is more interactive images than adding interactivity to a live view. I saw the app scanning a real world object or scene and placing annotations and interactive elements to the proper location on an image, not a camera feed. This is augmented reality but as similar to what the other AR companies are doing with geolocation and/or image recognition using a live view as indoor soccer is to outdoor. It’s in the same family, but not the same.

Finally, I am curious about the company itself. “We just announced a developer competition for $25,000,” said Serafini (CEO). “Our platform is complete and available for developers to build upon. For the next couple of months we’re gonna take a hard look and watch what people are building on top of our base technology. We want to see the traction we’re able to build. That’ll help dictate to us where the business is.” This is a very cost effective way to get a lot of ideas and help identify ‘where the business is’, but do we need more AR technology looking for a solution?

Regardless, I recommend a visit to the PAR Works site and try the demo. I do plan when I get a free weekend to join their developer program to see what the platform can do. It deserves a proper writeup after a hands-on review and not just a reaction to another’s post. Don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater just because I don’t like what someone else says. That just wouldn’t be mature.

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On the bright side, $41 million certainly gives a company room to experiment, and Color executives have promised that improvements will come quickly.

Color is a photo/video app. The idea is to organize photos and videos by events and groups, rather than by user– so that you can see all the photos taken at a party you attended, even if you aren’t friends with some of the photographers. Color is also supposed to become smarter about who your friends are as it sees where you use the app and with whom.

After watching co-founder and president Peter Pham’s demo last week, I thought that Color offered a really promising model for social interaction on phones. Once I downloaded the app for myself, however, I was left scratching my head about what exactly to do, especially when there was no one using the app with me.

The Palo Alto, Calif. startup released an update today with significant improvements for Apple’s iOS devices (the Android update is planned for tomorrow). There are now new icons for navigating the photos — you can see photos from events that are “Nearby”, a “Feed” of relevant photos, and a “History” of groups that you participated in. And yes, there are actually words underneath each of the icons explaining what they do, so you don’t have to stare at icons and wonder. Color says that the update also improves the app’s speed.

Even though these changes are relatively superficial, I’m still encouraged. By making it a little easier to navigate, Color is taking a step in the right direction, though there’s still lots of room for improvement. Pham has admitted that there were problems with the user interface and promised that there are more updates coming soon.

Calling all mobile executives: This April 25-26, VentureBeat is hosting its inaugural VentureBeat Mobile Summit, where we’ll debate the five key business and policy challenges facing the mobile industry today. Participants will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. The invitation-only event, located at the scenic and relaxing Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito, Calif., is limited to 180 mobile executives, investors and policymakers. We’ve pretty much finalized the invite list, but have a few spots left. Request an invitation.

Companies: Color

People: Bill Nguyen, Peter Pham

This is a big change in Acer’s strategy. The company has previously focused on the high-volume consumer PC business, trying and failing for a long time to overtake Hewlett-Packard as the number one PC manufacturer.

The CEO responsible for the previous strategy, Gianfranco Lanci, resigned yesterday after many disappointing months. During the fourth quarter of last year Dell overtook Acer as the number 2 PC maker in the world. This year did not start well either: Acer’s stock price has plummeted 22 percent since March 25 when the company slashed its first-quarter sales forecast.

Now the company is leaving cheap consumer notebooks and the quest for market share behind. It is focusing on profitability.

“There is good consensus among the board members that the tablet is the way to go,” Chief Financial Officer Tu Che-min told Bloomberg.

It’s no wonder tech companies would like to be like Apple with high margins and desirable products. According to Bloomberg, Apple had 21.5 percent profit margin last year. Acer had 2.3 percent. But it’s not easy to transform a company from a mass producer of netbooks to a high-margin brand. Acer knows that, and that’s why it is searching for a new CEO who is a leading player in smartphones and tablets.

Moving to tablets won’t be an easy task. Apple dominates the market with the iPad, and the competition is fierce. Motorola’s Xoom, BlackBerry’s Playbook, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab and HP TouchPad are just some of the devices trying to find their place in the market. Acer has its own Picasso tablet that uses the Android operating system, but there in no information available on the release date or pricing.

Tags: Galaxy Tab, iPad, market share, pc, PlayBook, tablet

Companies: Acer, Apple, Dell, HP, HTC, Samsung

People: Gianfranco Lanci, Tu Che-min