3D@ISTE 2013 (1)

This year’s ISTE 2013 conference, attended by more than 18,000 educators and industry representatives, took place in sweltering San Antonio. I cannot remember as much happening in the educational 3D world since Texas Instruments proudly displayed their then nascent technologies more than three years ago.  Here’s a brief description of the many 3D happenings that were baking in the Texas sunlight.

Stalwarts in the 3D content manufacturer industry, Cyber-Anatomy and DesignMate were there. Yet, newcomers were aplenty. Zspace was the most popular new player. (I will write more about the implications of Zspace technologies for education in a future posting.) To say the least, their exhibit was boiling over with activity and interest. ISTE attendees like anything new, and Zspace came to fulfill their hopes. They demonstrated their near-holographic hardware platform and it raised the eyebrows and caught the attention of even the most discerning educators I know. 

Zspace's nnear-holographic display technology. You had to be there!

Across the exhibit hall, award-winning app producers Vito Technology were found showing off some of its apps in anaglyph format, using both iPads and an eye-catching display dome. They were offering three apps, including StarWalk (an interactive astronomy guide), SolarWalk (a 3D solar system model on steroids), and GeoWalk (an interactive globetrek allowing learners to explore new and remarkable things—like animals, plants, history, people and inventions—600 unusual objects in all).

Vito Technology's 3D iPad apps on display at ISTE

ClassTeacher Learning Systems decided to move on from FETC to the ISTE conference and were showing their 3D content for the first time at ISTE. So, too, FortunaPix offered a display in the new startups booth, showing the hundreds of 3D content titles they are just ready to push into the market.

FortunaPix's 3D content on display

 And there's more! Stay tuned for our next post...