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Media Power Donates $5M to GVU Center

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ATLANTA (May 28, 2008) -- Media Power Inc., a global developer ofhigh technology products, today announced it is donating $5 millionover the next five years to Georgia Tech's GVU Center for research andeducational activities in Augmented Reality (AR) and mobile computing. In addition to the funding, Media Power is providing hardware anddevelopment tools to the GVU Center to aid research and will assist theCenter to find realistic settings to deploy and evaluate game ideas.The gift partners Media Power's AR division, Magitech, with the GVUCenter to envision, prototype and evaluate the next generation ofmobile AR games and entertainment applications and positions thecompany as a leader in AR.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a field of computer research that dealswith the combination of real-world and computer-generated data. Atpresent, most AR research is concerned with the use of live videoimagery that is digitally processed and "augmented" by the addition ofcomputer-generated graphics.

"Augmented Reality is one of themost exciting technologies available today. Thus far, it has onlyexisted in the research lab. It is our intention to commercialize thetechnology and make it available to the public at large. AugmentedReality offers us the opportunity to create an entirely new advertisingparadigm," said Carl Freer, Co-Founder and Visionary.

"Wepartnered with Georgia Tech because of their reputation for excellencein this area. The work they have done thus far is very exciting andtheir open stance with commercial entities such as Magitech providesfor a great opportunity," said Rich Jenkins, CEO Media Power. "We arevery excited about the work we will do together."

Under theguidance of Georgia Tech professor Blair MacIntyre, GVU's faculty andstudents with expertise in computer science, human-centered computing,digital media and game design will partner with Magitech to explore newmobile AR application concepts. The gift from Media Power also enablesresearch in new kinds of design and authoring tools for handheld ARsystems, including systems empowering end-users to create AR gamesthemselves. The partnership will create opportunities for GVUresearchers to evaluate commercial-grade AR applications in realisticsettings.

"Augmented Reality is one of the most significantemerging industries in the world right now," said Rich DeMillo, Dean ofthe College of Computing at Georgia Tech. "Its influence will be feltfrom entertainment to education to health care. Georgia Tech'sleadership in AR research and Media Power's strength incommercialization make this an ideal partnership to achieve our mutualgoal of creating breakthrough technologies that achieve sustained realworld impact."

"GVU has a long track record in AugmentedReality and mobile computing," said Elizabeth Mynatt, Director of theGVU Center. "This partnership with Media Power strengthens our abilityto look at the entire ecosystem of mobile computing from humanexperience to technology, design strategies to business opportunities."

Magitech also announced today the opening of its Atlantaoffices, located at 817 West Peachtree Street in the Biltmore Hotelbuilding, a location providing easy access to Georgia Tech. Magitechhas already hired a sizable compliment of designers, 3D modelers, ARprogrammers, researchers and content developers, consisting of over 15Georgia Tech and Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta graduates.

Magitech is Media Power's Atlanta-based augmented realitydivision. Its world class research partners include the GeorgiaInstitute of Technology in Atlanta, the Graz University of Technologyin Austria and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Magitech'sgoal is to develop commercial grade Augmented Reality products andnetworks.


About Media Power

Media Power is a uniquetech company that develops consumer and business products based onAugmented Reality technology (AR) and other advanced systems. MediaPower has four divisions offering a range of hi-tech goods andmarketing services: Magitech; GetFugu.com; Gizmondo; and Chinetic. Formore information visit the company's website.

About GVU
The GVU Center at Georgia Tech is aninterdisciplinary research center encompassing a number of individualcolleges at Georgia Tech as well as external collaborators. GVU focuseson unlocking and amplifying human potential through technicalinnovation in computing technologies. The faculty and studentsassociated with GVU bring expertise ranging from science andengineering to the humanities and design. It is through deepcollaboration between these diverse domains that enables the GVU Centerto engage in research that would otherwise be difficult to tackle intraditional academic and industrial settings.

After more than adecade and half of practicing interdisciplinary research, GVU hasgained an international recognition in 3D Compression, Animation,Augmented Reality, Collaborative Work, Educational Technologies,Gaming, Graphics, Human-Computer Interaction, InformationVisualization, New Media, Online Communities, Perception, Robotics,Ubiquitous Computing, Virtual Reality and Wearable Computing. For moreinformation visit the center's website.

For more information, contact:
Becky Biggs
GCI Group
rbiggs@gcigroup.com
(404) 260-3510

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  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Louise Russo
  • Created:06/20/2011
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016

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