Sekai Camera v2.1.1 released to fix some bugs. Please update from App Store now!!

v2.1.1 Updates:
* When you start Sekai Camera without logging in, in either portrait or horizontal positions, it will now display the liveview mode which is designed to be held in landscape position.
* Fixed the bug that the application crashes after you post an Air Tag.

Finally !
We are officially releasing the API of Sekai Camera on March 4th.

The API release will now allow developers to deliver their contents to the world through Sekai Camera.
Continue Reading »

We are planning to release our API in March 2010 in an effort to deliver more exciting contents to users ! At this memorable turning point, we decided we would like to hold a video contest. Please share your Sekai Camera experience with the world !

【About the Contest】

Please show the world your experience of Sekai Camera via video! Win the Grand Prix and get an Apple iPad ! More prizes available.

【How to Submit】

Please upload your video via YouTube, and send us the URL by email to contest@tonchidot.com. Your video will be checked by our staff, and if it complies with contest rules, it will be put on our contest site.

【Submissions】

Feb 3rd, 2010 – Feb 25th, 2010 24:00h

【Contest Rule】

Please refer to the contest site below.

【Reference】

“Girls touching Sekai Camera for the first time” by Ken Hosoi

We are proud to announce Sekai Camera new version v2.1.0 is now available in App Store!

v2.1.0 Updates:
* Profile names and post dates in the Air Tag detail view have been made easier to see.
* The Air Tags in the map view have been fixed to show the correct pictures.
* The Sekai Life time-line and history have been fixed to prevent showing wrong pictures.
* Sekai Life detail view has been fixed to prevent showing wrong pictures.
* Fixed problem about the application sometimes crashing after posting Air Tags.
* The Compass Interference dialogue can now be switched off in “Settings”.
* Sekai Life now shows the location of every Air Tag in map view.
* You can now jump to the twitter time-line when tapping text starting with “@”.
* You can now see the twitter time-line in full screen after tapping the Air Tweet profile.
* A dialogue has been added to check if you really want to post an Air Tag when the long/lat are both 0 degrees – when your iPhone probably has not located itself accurately.
* The distance between you and Landmark Tags are now shown.
* You may now start the Sekai Camera application while holding the iPhone in the portrait position with Sekai Life.
* Air Profiles are now shown as double circles in the indicator.
* Air Tweets are now shown as blue dots in the indicator.
* Sekai Life now has a button to jump to the Footprints feature.
* A feature to adjust the acceleration sensor and the compass preferences has been added in “Settings”.
* Sekai Camera and Sekai Life now switches between themselves faster.

Shibuya, the cultural epicenter for youngsters in Tokyo, will be filled with heart-shaped Air Tags seen through Sekai Camera. These hearts will contain bitter-sweet messages gathered from the public, of love fulfilled and unfulfilled.
The setting is what was once called “Love letter Alley” in the backstreets of Shibuya, the scene of a well known movie. This sweetly named side-street will be revived by Augmented Reality, in a way never before imagined.
Along with this event, J-pop unit Sweet Vacation will be releasing their new song “Love Camera” at Apple Store Shibuya, in a live performance.
Please join us at love-filled Shibuya for a sweet, sweet event!

Event Website (Japanese Only)

Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera was selected as one of the 6 nominees for “Best Mobile App” in the celebrated 2009 Crunchies Awards – our management members attended the awarding ceremonies in San Francisco held on January 8th, 2010.

We were not able to win first prize, but we are extremely proud and grateful at the fact that we were nominated along with the most popular mobile apps in the U.S, just 3 weeks after our worldwide launch! The other nominees were Google Voice, Amazon Kindle, Foursquare, Gowalla, and Skies of Glory – it was a very humbling experience indeed.

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who supported us during the Crunchies voting process. We also extend our thanks to all our business partners, and everyone rooting for us all over the world.
Thank you!

We look forward to your continued support and patronage.

Look up!

2009 Crunchies Awards Winner (by TechCrunch)

2009 Crunchies Awards Winner (by VentureBeat)

The Crunchies Photo Gallery

Tonchidot’s Crunchies Report (Japanese)

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Sekai Camera v2.0.2 released to fix some bugs. Please update from App Store now!!

2.0.2 Updates:
Enabled weblinks in Profile view on Sekai Life.
Changed the way Follow/Unfollow, Block/Unblock is displayed on Sekai Life.
Changed error message when unable to download Twitter timeline on Air Tweet.
Brushed up selector buttons on Sekai Life.
Brushed up Profile view layout on Sekai Life.

A collaboration between Sekai Camera and 15×24 will bring you an unconventional reading experience – Air Novel.
Further information is available only in Japanese.

Behold!

Just ONE day after the Global release of our “Sekai Camera” (app name “Sekai” in U.S.), we have been nominated for the “Best Mobile Application” in the “2009 Crunchies Awards”, the Internet/Technology equivalent to the Academy Awards!! It is a great honor that Sekai Camera has been selected alongside giants “Google Voice” and “Amazon Kindle”, as one of the 6 nominees in the category – WOW! Public voting starts from December 22nd, and lasts 16 days until January 6th.

PLEASE VOTE for us! Your support is greatly appreciated.

If you root for underdogs and dark-horses, this is THE ULTIMATE opportunity! If a tiny start-up from Japan can cause a stir in the internet world, this is the time! Join us!

How to Vote:
Please CLICK HERE or on the button that says “Vote Now”, and vote for “Tonchidot” found in the third category from the top, “Best Mobile Application”. You can vote ONCE a day, EVERY day until Jan 6th – don’t be shy! It would be of great help if you could make this voting a daily routine in the coming weeks. Please also Tweet, Blog, post Air Tags, and tell all your friends and even far distant relatives. We thank you for your support!

About The Crunchies Awards:
The 2009 Crunchies is the third annual competition and award ceremony to recognize and celebrate the most compelling startups, internet and technology innovations of the year. The Crunchies is co-hosted by the 3 major IT Media companies GigaOm, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch. Best of all, the internet community is invited to choose who wins. The Crunchies award ceremony takes place on Friday, January 8, 2010 at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco at 7:30 pm.

Sekai Camera v2.0.1 released to fix some bugs. Please update from App Store now!!

2.0.1 Updates:
Added “status-bar” on Sekai Life.
Fixed bug to show thumbnails on movies.
Fixed bug to enable the showing of entire list on Sekai Life.
Fixed bug to show Air Tags when moving between floors in multi-floor enabled areas with application ON.
Changed button in filter screen.
Altered some text messages for certain languages.

At last, Sekai Camera is in AppStore!

拡張現実（AR）インタフェース「セカイカメラ」が、ついにiPhone App Storeに登場しました！

これまでご期待いただいた皆さま、大変長らくお待たせいたしました。iPhone App Storeより今すぐダウンロードしていただけます。

セカイカメラについての詳しい情報はSERVICEをご覧ください。またダウンロード後の操作についてはHOWTOをご覧ください。

現実世界とインターネットをつなぐ新しい情報ブラウジングとコミュニケーションをお楽しみください。

Join us!  Let’s Tag the future!

We will be providing information about our service, maintenance, and other relevant news via Twitter. Please follow our Twitter account @sekaicamera !

今後 Twitter でサービスやメンテナンス、ニュースなどの情報を提供してまいります。ぜひ@sekaicamera をフォローしてください！

We will be featured in the popular “Ketsudan Potofu” live stream by Sorano. The live review will be broadcast on Sep 10 13:30 JST. Please check out Ketsudan Potofu !

ustreamで「ダダ漏れ」レポートを続けていることで有名な、ケツダンポトフの「そらの」さんに、デビュー直前のセカイカメラを「いじって」いただきます。中継開始は2009年9月10日 13:30 からの予定です。ぜひ当日はケツダンポトフをご覧ください。

※2009年9月11日追記
ケツダンポトフにレビューが掲載されました。

Tonchidot is exhibiting at the Tokyo Game Show held at Makuhari Messe from 24th to 27th of September. You can try our yet to be released Sekai Camera at the booth of Japan International Contents festival.

Come see and check out Sekai Camera!

2009年9月24日(木)-27日(日)に幕張メッセで開催される東京ゲームショウに出展いたします。期間中は、JAPAN国際コンテンツフェスティバル（コ・フェスタ）のブース内で、セカイカメラを体験いただけます。

ゲームショウにお出での際は、ぜひお立ち寄りください！

Today, the governor of Gifu Prefecture announced at a regular briefing, plans to further promote the use and experience of iPhone services within the area.  As part of the plan, the so called “GIFU – iPhone Project” will be using the iPhone application “Sekai Camera” to provide tourist information in the historic Hida-Takayama region.

Tonchidot Corporation, creators of Sekai Camera, utilizes the incubation facilities at Gifu Prefecture’s Softopia Dreamcore complex.  Tonchidot will be actively supporting the “GIFU – iPhone Project” and the promotion of tourism in Gifu Prefecture through Sekai Camera’s services.

本日、岐阜県知事の定例会見にて「GIFU・iPhoneプロジェクト」に関する発表があり、県としてiPhoneの体験や活用をさらに推進すべく、今後の取り組みがアナウンスされました。そのプロジェクトの一環として、飛騨高山地域で、セカイカメラを活用した観光情報の提供がおこなわれる予定です。

頓智・は岐阜県のインキュベーション施設「ソフトピア・ドリームコア」に入居しており、今後も「GIFU・iPhoneプロジェクト」およびセカイカメラによる岐阜県の観光振興を積極的に支援してまいります。

2009年9月17日
頓智・株式会社
ソフトバンクテレコム株式会社

“AR(拡張現実)インターフェイス”「セカイカメラ」
「ロエベ アマソナ」展で商用サービスを開始

ソフトバンクテレコム株式会社と、頓智・（トンチドット）株式会社（以下、頓智・）は、頓智・が開発した“AR（拡張現実）^※1インターフェイス”を持つiPhone^TM向けアプリケーション「セカイカメラ」の企業向け商用サービス^※2を開始し、レザー製品で有名なスペインの老舗ブランド、LVJグループ株式会社 ロエベ ジャパン カンパニーが開催する新作展示会「ロエベ アマソナ展」^※3（会場：ロエベ表参道ブティック）において、ロエベブティックを訪れるお客さまを対象とした商品紹介のナビゲーションツールとして採用されましたのでお知らせいたします。 Continue Reading »

Tonchidot Corporation (Tonchidot), together with SOFTBANK TELECOM Corp. （SOFTBANK）, premiered Sekai Camera’s Augmented Reality (AR) services for B2B applications, at LVMH group luxury brand Loewe boutique located in Tokyo, Japan. Continue Reading »

Thank you to all those who visited our booth at the Tokyo Game Show!  The first day of the show coincided with our long-awaited release on AppStore, and a mass of people crowded our little exhibit.

The photos show our exhibition booth and the surrounding area with floating AirTags.

東京ゲームショウにご来場いただきました皆様、ありがとうございました。展示会初日にアプリケーションのリリースというニュースが重なり、小さなブースには黒山の人だかりが出来ていました。

会場内のブースと、周辺のエアタグの様子を写真でご紹介します。 Continue Reading »

Beginning October 6^th, 2009, and prior to our global launch, Sekai Camera will be augmenting an exhibit called Ma Terre première, pour construire demain at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, one of the largest and most innovative science museums in Europe.  Our service will be provided in partnership with French mobile carrier Bouygues Telecom, with the assistance of Koozyt Inc.’s PlaceEngine location solution.

At the venue, iPhones pre-installed with a Global version of the Sekai Camera application will be made available to visitors.  Users of the Japanese version will also be able to view the AirTags that augment the display.  Please come and experience a brand new AR exhibit at the Cité!

2009年10月6日より、フランスのパリに位置する欧州最大級の科学博物館、Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie でおこなわれる展示、Ma Terre première, pour construire demain において、セカイカメラによる「展示の拡張」がおこなわれます。この展示はフランスの携帯電話キャリア、ブイグテレコムとのパートナーシップによって実現し、屋内での位置測位にはクウジットの PlaceEngine を採用しています。

セカイカメラのグローバルローンチに先駆けて、会場内では国際版のセカイカメラがインストールされたiPhoneが貸し出されます。もちろん日本語版でもエアタグを表示することが可能です。パリにお越しの際は、ぜひ「拡張された展示」をご体験ください！

For the period from October 6^th to 10^th, Tonchidot will be exhibiting at “CEATEC JAPAN 2009”, the largest IT/Electronics Trade Show held in our country.  At our exhibition booth, you will be able to experience a special Sekai Camera application with yet-to-be-released functionalities planned for future versions.  Please come visit us at the Life Contents Frontier booth!

Furthermore, our CEO Takahito Iguchi will be speaking at a symposium on AR technologies and its implications on contents businesses, to be held on 10:30 on October 9^th.  Reservations can be made at the CEATEC website.  We look forward to meeting you there!

2009年10月6日から10月10日まで幕張メッセで開催される、国内有数規模のIT総合展示会「CEATEC JAPAN 2009」に出展いたします。展示では将来バージョンの機能を一部搭載した、特別版のアプリケーションをご体験いただけます。ご来場の際は、ぜひ Life Contents Frontier のブースにお立ち寄りください！

また10月9日 10:30より行われるシンポジウム「−AR技術が牽引する− コンテンツ技術が示す日本の未来」にて、弊社CEOの井口が講演いたします。聴講ご希望の方は、CEATECのWebサイトから予約が可能です。皆さまにお会いできることを楽しみにしております！

As of September 27^th, 2009, in 4 days since the release in Japan of Sekai Camera on September 24^th, the number of application downloads has surpassed 100,000.  We extend to users our deepest appreciation for the overwhelming response, ingenious ideas, and indications of yet new possibilities.

Moreover, we apologize that our service was somewhat unstable for the few days following our launch.  We will do our utmost to reflect your many ideas and advice to strengthen and improve our service, and sincerely hope that you will continue to use Sekai Camera in the future.

日本時間の24日早朝にアプリケーションを公開してから27日までの4日間で、セカイカメラの日本国内ダウンロード数が10万件を超えました。予想を超える大きな反響と、想像を超える多様な利用シーンと可能性を見せていただいたこと、ユーザの皆さまに深く感謝を申し上げます。

またサービス開始当初は不安定な状況が続き、ご迷惑をおかけしました。これからも皆さまのご意見を糧にして、サービスの改善と強化に努めてまいりたいと思いますので、引き続きセカイカメラをご愛顧いただきますよう、お願い申し上げます。

We made AirTag templates available for download under CC license. Enjoy!!
エアタグのデザインテンプレートを、CCライセンスで公開しました。お楽しみください!!

Air Tag by Sekai Camera is licensed under a Creative Commons 表示-非営利 2.1 日本 License.

Sekai Camera turns Tokyo into the world of Blade Runner. Super Cooooool!!

We have just released version 1.0.2 of our Sekai Camera Application.  We have fixed bugs, made improvements, and added several new features.  Please update on AppStore free of charge, and enjoy!

Please let us report to you our activities at CEATEC Japan, which started today. We provided a brand new AR + Music experience at the Life Contents Frontier booth, in collaboration with Yamaha’s “Disklavier” grand piano, best selling iPhone application “Finger Piano”, and Research Institute AIST’s humanoid robot “Miim”.

本日より幕張メッセで開催されているCEATEC初日の様子をレポートします。ライフコンテンツフロンティア内のブースでは、セカイカメラとあわせて、ヤマハのグランドピアノ「ディスクラビア」、iPhoneアプリケーション「Finger Piano」、産業総合研究所のヒューマノイドロボット「未夢」とのコラボレーションで、拡張現実と音楽の新しい未来を体験いただけます。

[Picture]
Musical pieces played on Disklavier are saved on our “Piano Lifelog” server, and are immediately shown at the site as AirTags. FingerPiano replays the pieces when you tap on the piano tag.
ディスクラビアで弾いた曲は「ピアノライフログ」サーバに蓄積されると同時に、弾いたその場所の拡張現実空間にエアタグとして表示されます。ピアノタグをタップすると、FingerPianoで再生・演奏できます。

Continue Reading »

We have just released version 1.0.3 of our Sekai Camera Application. We have fixed bugs, made improvements, and added new features. Please update on App Store free of charge.

Our next update will be version 2.0, which will have several brand new functionalities. Please look forward to further info about the coming 2.0 release!

Gifu prefecture is using Sekai Camera as its tourism campaign. It already has posted more than thousand AirTags, and is going to post 3500 AirTags till the end of 2009.
This is a report of  how Gifu, famous for its scenic beauty of old hometowns, is promoting tourism with AirTags.

Continue Reading »

Sorry, this entry is now only available in 日本語.

国内リリースからおよそ2ヶ月。セカイカメラ Version 2 のリリースを間近にして、今後のセカイカメラの新しい展開を発表するイベントを開催いたします。

セカイカメラが如何に世界を変えるのか。その先に何があるのか。12月2日は、セカイカメラの未来を体感しに、ぜひ銀座Apple Storeへお越しください！

Continue Reading »

We just released Sekai Camera 2.0.0 at AppStore Japan.

As we announced in #Sukiyaki, we have added some exciting new features, including “Sekai Life”, our life-log and social communication service.

Updating and downloading Sekai Camera are free, so please check it out!

We will be releasing Sekai Camera globally very soon.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Tonchidot announces the global release of the iPhone application “Sekai Camera”

Sekai Camera now supports 7 languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish.

Sekai Camera is designed for use on iPhone 3GS. Sekai Camera can be downloaded on both iPhone 3G and 3GS, but use on iPhone 3G is not recommended. iPhone 3G lacks various features, including a compass and advanced processing power, which does not allow for a responsive Sekai Camera experience.

Sekai Camera is now available for free, at iPhone AppStores (search for “Sekai Camera”), in 81 countries. To download our app, go to DOWNLOAD. Also check our HOW TO for instructions.

Continue Reading »

Your World Enhanced: Creation & Communication in a New Dimension
Tonchidot Announces the Global Launch of “Sekai Camera”,
a Social Augmented Reality App for iPhone

TOKYO (December 21st, 2009) – Tonchidot Corporation today announced the global availability of the iPhone application “Sekai Camera,” a social, Augmented Reality (AR) service for browsing and sharing user-generated text, photo, voice, and other location-linked information. Launched September 2009 in Japan, Sekai Camera was recently named the Best App in 2009 by Apple Japan. Sekai Camera is now available for free outside Japan at iPhone’s AppStore worldwide (search for “Sekai Camera”).

Continue Reading »