An augmented reality system that makes walls transparent could prevent road accidents.

Augmented Reality Applications are more than just a simple accessory for your smart phone, it combines the physical real-world environment with interactive digital data providing you information or sometimes, just for fun using your phone’s camera, compass and GPS data to identify your location & field of view.

Many AR Apps have filled the market place in recent times on all the major OS and this category is quickly gaining momentum. Here are some of the best Augmented Reality Apps I found for Android Phones:

1. Wikitude World Browser

Wikitude World Browser is an augmented reality browser based on location-based Wikipedia and Qype content. You can search from 350,000 world-wide points of interest by GPS or by address and displayed in a list view, map view and “Augmented Reality” cam view, very handy for planning a trip or to find out about landmarks in your surroundings.

You can also share your AR Camera view you experience with your friends too

Search for Wikitude World Browser in the Android App Market to download it.

More Info

2. Layar Reality Browser

One of the first of it’s kind in the world, Layar App is a beautiful, fun augmented reality Browser app that displays real time digital information on top of the real world as seen through the camera of your mobile phone based on your location.

Watch this video to see it in action (Youtube)

Search for Layar in the Android App Market to download it.

More Info |

3. Wikitude Drive

Wikitude Drive is an Android navigation app that make use of the AR technology to overlay video being captured through your phone’s camera with driving instructions. This allows users to literally drive through their phone, watching the road even while they are looking at directions.

Search for Wikitude Drive in the Android App Market to download it.

More info

4. Weather Reality

Weather Reality allows you to explore the weather around you in an augmented reality view through the camera of your mobile phone. You can check current conditions, real-time radar and severe weather alerts. Plus track the path of the sun and moon. You can even share geo-tagged weather pictures on social networking sites.

Download it Here

5. AugSatNav

AugSatNav is an augmented reality navigation system which overlays WALKING directions upon a live camera feed of the PATH/ROAD ahead.

With AugSatNav there’s no need to follow instructions or interpret maps – you can find your way by walking along the route highlighted by a bright white line.

Download it Here

6. 3D AR Compass

This app is an augmented reality 3D compass which comes with Multi-compass types, Auto rotate map facility, Heading and degrees, Current address, Fast bright with one tap and much more

* Only as good as your hardware. Beware surrounding metal and magnetic field

Download it Here

7. Tweeps Around

Tweeps Around is a free App which shows users tweeting in full Augmented Reality around you. Its basically a launch application which works with Layar but its awesome.

This app requires that the Layar app is installed on your device and provides a shortcut to the Market if it is missing.

AMSTERDAM, Tuesday June 16th, 2009. Mobile innovation company SPRXmobile launches Layar, worlds first mobile Augmented Reality browser, which displays real time digital information on top of reality (of) in the camera screen of the mobile phone. While looking through the phones camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, jobs, healthcare providers and ATMs. The first country to launch Layar is The Netherlands. Launching partners are local market leaders ING (bank), funda (realty website), Hyves (social network), Tempo-team (temp agency) and Zekur.nl (healthcare provider).

How it works
Layar is derived from location based services and works on mobile phones that include a camera, GPS and a compass. Layar is first avaliable for handsets with the Android operating system (the G1 and HTC Magic). It works as follows: Starting up the Layar application automatically activates the camera. The embedded GPS automatically knows the location of the phone and the compass determines in which direction the phone is facing. Each partner provides a set of location coordinates with relevant information which forms a digital layer. By tapping the side of the screen the user easily switches between layers. This makes Layar a new type of browser which combines digital and reality, which offers an augmented view of the world.

Dutch launch
The premier launch is for the Dutch market. Launching content partners are ING (ATMs), Funda (houses for sale), Hyves (social network hot spots) Tempo-team (jobs) and Zekur.nl (healthcare providers). Layar will be launched per country with local content partners in order to guarantee relevent results for the end user. SPRXmobile is planning further roll-outs, together with local partners, in Germany, the UK and the United States this year. SPRXmobile wil continue with regular releases of new layers after each local launch. The Layar application will be available via the Android Market. Other handsets and operating systems are in development with a prime focus on the iPhone 3G S.

SPRXmobile

Layar is developed by SPRXmobile, a mobile innovation company.

Eventually, the physical and the virtual worlds will become one. Many visions on Augmented Reality have already been developed, but we are proud to be able to bring this one step closer to reality, says Raimo van der Klein, co-founder of SPRXmobile.

More information:
http://layar.eu en http://www.sprxmobile.com.

Launched at this year’s Future Everything digital arts festival in Manchester, RememberMe is a collaborative project between TOTeM (Tales of Things and Electronic Memory) and Oxfam which infused personal history into donated items by enabling people to attach stories to them using RFID tags.

People donating items at an Oxfam store in Manchester were asked to tell a story about the object into a microphone, including when and where they acquired it and any personal stories associated with it. The audio clips were linked to an RFID tag and QR code and items tagged with a story were added to the shop’s stock as part of the in-store exhibition. Visitors to the shop used their own smart phone or a bespoke RFID reader to listen to the stories through speakers in the shop, and were invited to purchase the story-tagged objects.

Beyond the Oxfam project, TOTeM’s free iPhone app gives purchasers anytime access to attached stories, and can also be used to scan, comment and add location to things in the wild. Consumers can also tag their own items at the TOTeM website, linking any object to a snippet of video, audio or text describing its history via printable QR code tags.

The concept steers people away from thinking of an item’s value as purely financial, encouraging them to realize the sentimental value of objects and (maybe) think twice before throwing things away. It’s also a retail concept that would no doubt appeal to authenticity-seeking consumers everywhere—one to implement on a permanent basis? (Related: Secondhand store in Tokyo showcases previous owners — App lets users attach digital content to any barcode.)

Website: www.talesofthings.com
Contact: info@talesofthings.com

Post courtesy of http://www.springwise.com

Couple of great posts from contagious magazine hit our inbox today:-

Orange, via Poke  is attempting to create the most tagged photo ever. This 1.3 giga pixel image is of the Glastonbury crowd at the Pyramid Stage basking in the sunshine during the England vs. Slovenia match a couple of weeks back 

All you have to do is simply connect via Facebook at http://glastonbury.orange.co.uk/glastotag and tag away on the super high res image -  a great way to spread memories of the festival amongst friends and connect with the lunatics that you thought you’d never see again.

Since going up yesterday, the site has amassed almost 3000 tags and 5000 likes via Facebook Connect. Orange is aiming for the world record of the most people tagged in any image online and, given that there are around 70,000 people in the picture, the record could well be on the cards.

The panoramic image was taken with two Hasselblad H4D-50 Cameras mounted one on top of the other and rotated at 10 degree increments to take in the entire crowd, going back 350 metres.
 
The mobile brand’s festival presence also included Orange’s established Chill n Charge tent – a haven for mobile phone users out of battery, and a GlastoNav app which included full listings for the festival and an interactive map of the site.

“Touching Stories” – iPad Demo + Behind The Scenes from Tool of North America on Vimeo.

Four interactive films for the iPad have been created for Apple that demonstrate how story telling and content consumption are moving on to another level of immersion.

Created specifically for the iPad, users can navigate their way through the narrative by touching, shaking and turning the device, unlocking and revealing unexpected variations along the way.

What’s it got to do with shopping? Well, it’s probably not too much of a stretch of imagination to suggest that sometime soon you may well be able to navigate your way around a real-life 3D composite supermarket, shop, mall or even high street by twisting and turning your i-pad to move through the aisles and along the shelves, using the touchscreen to select and pay for products as you go (without having to hang around at the checkout of course. )

The ability for brands and retailers to provide added value information, provide rich media content and interactive promotions to bring the shopping experience to life would surely create an entirely new shopping experience that could also sync with exitsing apps to help you buy just what you need for dinner or find that perfect present Auntie Betsy’s birthday. 

The ipad app is available now free of charge and it will no doubt be exciting to get to grips with what is possible.

Unveiled today to the global advertising community @ Cannes, the world’s first smile-activated vending machine for Unilever. Apparently this ice cream vending machine is an industry-leading innovative brand experience and part of Unilever’s new ice cream mission to encourage people everywhere to share life’s small moments of happiness.

‘It offers a revolutionary new way for consumers to buy ice cream and, simultaneously, a revolutionary brand experience,” said Ian Maskell, Global Brand Development Director for Wall’s at Unilever.’

Here is how it works: An entertaining “attractor screen” playfully immerses a passerby into the world of augmented reality. Once drawn closer to the machine, the person is prompted for a big smile and the ‘smile-o-meter’ measures his or her grin. A photo is then taken and with permission uploaded onto Facebook. The consumer can pick out his or her free ice cream by using the touch-screen interface on the vending machine.

To create this groundbreaking experience, creative technologists at SapientNitro harnessed the power of the latest technology across a number of realms, including facial recognition, 3G and Facebook.

The smile-activated ice cream vending machine made its first public appearance in May 2010 at the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal. It will roll out into high-traffic consumer locations like shopping malls across the globe over the next 18 months.

If only getting a free cash sample out from the hole in the wall was that easy – we’d all be smiling

In shopper marketing circles we often talk about ‘barriers to purchase’ i.e things that directly impact people’s motivation and behaviour and prevent them from buying what’s on offer. Sometimes they’re things to do with perception, past experience or budget e.g. I don’t believe that it will do what it says, i don’t need it now, i don’t know how to use it or i think it’s too expensive. Other times the barriers to purchase are more contextual or environmental e.g. i don’t go to that part of the store usally so i won’t buy it, I’ve memorised where to find my favourite brand on the shelf so i tune out of everything else, i don’t like asking for help because it makes me feel stupid etc etc.

What we love about this example is that technology and a simple social media (SMS txt) is used to overcome a massive ‘barrier to purchase’ or in this case, barrier to a decent life i.e. – People feel weird about interacting or talking to homeless people.

By using a projection and a simple SMS mechanic, passers by can engage and sympathise without having to ‘engage and sympathise … It also creates ‘disruption’ and has strong ‘stopping power’ for the average Joe walking down the street. Will be interesting to observe how else technology itself is a means of changing attitudes and behaviour.

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/the-virtual-homeless-a-digital-installation/

You may well not have seen the original projection stunt on a building in Amsterdam a few weeks ago – if not click here - but the way the orignal execution has been integrated into the you tube video above is pretty cool. For the shopbabbles team this has consolidated a hunch we’ve had for some time about how to activate your brand via social media as part of a multi-channel or ‘integrated’ campaign.

The rule of thumb seems pretty simple. Do something that gets attention. Turn it into an experience (whether you’re actually there or not) and then socialise it. We’ll keep an eye out for other examples that pop up but in the meantime, if you find any, let us know….

Intel has created an intelligent holographic window display which helps shoppers find what they are looking for faster. It offers digital floor plans, augmented reality and the shopper can view products individually.

Watch the video for more:

Intel admits this is “three to five years out from what we’ll see in the retail space,” but it’s still a compelling example of how new technology is changing the nature of shopping, even in-store.

http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/video/the-next-big-thing-in-retail/425041/

Lego Group has assembled a bit of technological wizardry to drive foot traffic into its stores.

Customers can pull a Lego package off the shelf, hold it in front of the Digital Box kiosk and see an animation on the screen of the completed Lego project overlaid on the box in their hands. A camera interfaces with the screen to pull off the augmented reality trick.

If we’d had this when we were 8 years old, our minds would have exploded.

After a trial last year at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., the Danish toy manufacturer is setting up augmented reality stations in its more than 50 shops worldwide. The stores at Disneyland in Anaheim and in the Glendale Galleria have seen numerous shoppers excitedly interact with their Digital Boxes, employees say.

Lego Group has been smart about keeping its brand relevant among kids, as potential distractions have increased substantially since the Lego building blocks hit the market more than 60 years ago.

The company has attached the Lego brand to a variety of popular, critically acclaimed video games based on the “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “Batman” franchises. There’s also an iPhone app called Lego Photo for making digital pictures colorful and blocky.

Lego Stores that participated in the trial of the video stations saw sales and revenue increase, according to Metaio, the San Francisco company that supplied the augmented reality technology.

The Digital Box seems to be an effective way of using high-tech gizmos to wow mall shoppers into buying a thoroughly low-tech construction kit.

– Mark Milian

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/05/lego-augmented-reality.html