Tuesday, 04 April 2017
Print Videos. Seriously. Meet LifePrint.
How do you print a video? It sounds like something straight out of The Jetsons, right? For those who can’t identify with the reference - The Jetsons were a cartoon family living in space, in a futuristic utopia where robots ruled, holograms appeared and all kinds of whimsical inventions worked seamlessly.
But back to 2017. LifePrint is a revolutionary new app and printer combo that instantly prints photos directly from your iPhone, Android or GoPro. LifePrint gives your photos an augmented reality treatment such that when you view the physical photo in the LifePrint app’s augmented reality viewfinder, your photograph comes to life – complete with sound. No lie. Check this out:
LifePrint consists of three components – an app, a social print network and a portable printer. The app enables you to ‘watch’ HyperPhotos™, the social print network allows you to share your photos to anyone else in your LifePrint network, and the portable printer is small enough to fit in your pocket and uses ZINK paper technology so there’s no need for toner.
The app integrates with your social networks including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Vine and even GoPro footage. Your photo and video library seamlessly feeds into the app without the need for opening multiple windows on your phone or downloading footage and transferring it between apps. In addition, the app itself contains its very own robust photo editing suite where you can crop, focus, filter, add text, create effects, amp up or down brightness and more.
When LifePrint prints a HyperPhoto™ (the magical sort that comes to life) – it adds a special code to the still image that isn’t visible to the human eye. The LifePrint app then uploads the associated raw image file (the GIF, mini vid, etc.) to the LifePrint cloud. When you want to view the moving image, the app uses photo recognition technology to pick up the invisible code and matches it to the file of the moving image. Pulling up the raw file from the LifePrint cloud, the app then plays it instantly – with audio. Hence the magic of bringing a photo to life and well, the term augmented reality.
The social print network that is part of LifePrint allows you to send the photo to anyone else within your app’s social network. Such that, if I take a HyperPhoto™ and send it to my mom who also has LifePrint – it will print to her machine (supposing she accepts the print) and she can view the looped video by viewing the HyperPhoto™ through the app. This means, you can share printed physical photos across the globe with anyone who also has LifePrint and if it’s a HyperPhoto™ – they can view it through the app wherever they are. Cool, eh?
LifePrint launched a Kickstarter campaign on November 17, 2015 and within 11 hours of posting their project online raised their initial funding goal of $30,000. In total, they have raised $209,515 in crowd funding.
You can buy your very own LifePrint Photo and Video Printer online at the Apple Store.