Wearable computers enhance the world we see

An emerging technology known as “augmented reality” will allow people like Tobias Hollerer, above, a graduate research assistant at the Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab at Columbia University, to peer through computer-fueled goggles to overlay virtual images atop those of the real world.

For a firefighter, the computer-aided streetscape might show locations of stored chemicals and sprinkler connections vital details in a fire. For the tourist, the glasses might show a virtual arrow and neon message reading “Joe’s Shanghai, turn right, walk three blocks.”

For now, augmented reality a clever amalgam of computing, Global Positioning System navigation and a device that tracks a person’s head movement lives mainly in the cluttered realm of university research labs. After testing by U.S. soldiers, augmented reality should be ready for consumer use in a decade or so.

Cafe mixes muffins and browsing the ‘Net

In the heart of New York’s Times Square, nestled among the electronics stores, the theaters and the newsstands, is easyEverything, the world’s largest Internet cafe.

Inside, about 800 computer workstations offer the public instant access to the Internet. Pop a $1 bill into the vending machine against one wall, and you too can buy the right to surf the Internet for 35 minutes.

Better still, the cafe’s coffee bar will keep you sustained with java and muffins if your surfing tour turns into a marathon session.

The cafe’s computers offer a handy way to check e-mail or otherwise summon the Internet for those who may be traveling without a laptop. It’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Microsoft Xbox creators form production company

Two of the key figures behind Microsoft’s Xbox game console have launched an independent production company to find and fund undiscovered talent in the game industry.

The newly formed Capital Entertainment Group hopes to identify promising but untested development teams with good ideas but no cash; and provide both funding and the technological expertise to guide the game through its development phase. Once the game nears completion, the company will seek publishers to market the games.

Xbox founders Kevin Bachus and Seamus Blackley said they started Capital Entertainment for the same reason they lobbied Microsoft to create the Xbox: to spark a renaissance in game development.