Layar, which first popularized the concept of Augmented Reality (AR) on mobile phones, now has something they call Layar Vision that takes the real-world object scanning features associated with barcodes, QR codes and Microsoft Tag to a new level.
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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
Augmented Reality (AR) has made its way to elementary school. PBS Kids released a free app for the iPhone and iPod touch this week. The app is based on the PBS Kids TV show “FETCH!” which combines at animated dog (Ruff Ruffman) with real kids and science and math education.
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If you really need a good reason to make yet another trip to Starbucks, here’s one to consider. On November 15, apps for Android and iPhone will be released that uses Augmented Reality (AR) to bring characters encoded on the Starbucks red cups to life.
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GoldRun, an Augmented Reality (AR) marketing firm, teamed with OMGPOP to create an AR campaign for the free iPhone game Puppy World. Taking photos of virtual Puppy World characters in the real world earns points. The winner of the month-long AR game will be able to choose which dog breed will be added to the Puppy World game.
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The free Toyota Shopping Tool iPhone app just got an upgrade to version 2.0 which includes an interesting Augmented Reality (AR) twist.
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Every wished you could get a picture with a Playboy bunny? Now’s your chance! An awesome new campaign from Bloomingdale’s, NBC and augmented reality app GoldRun lets you pose with virual characters from NBC’s new fall lineup, including The Playboy Club.
If people and pets have social networks, why not leaves?
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Summer 2011 is nearing its end. But, there’s always time to discover something fun, interesting or useful around you. One iPhone app that can help is was just named an App of the Week in Apple’s iTunes App Store.
Where To? (iTunes App Store)
Where To? helps you discover things around you. It provides 11 broad categories with many subcategories in each to help you search for specific venues. Search results can be displayed in one of three ways:
1. Pushpins on a map
2. A list with results grouped by distance from you
3. Augmented Reality view (a 99 cent in-app purchase) that show results in a camera view. Result shown in large text are near you and results in small text are farther away
Detailed information about a particular search result can include a phone number, address, directions and distance from where you are. Location information can be shared via email, text message, Twitter or Facebook. The app can also work with Navigon MobileNavigator, TomTom, MotionX GPS drive or “Maps” (without voice) to give you directions to your selected destination.
One characteristic I really appreciated about the app was its responsiveness in the map and list mode. There is a bit of setup time required by the Augmented Reality viewing mode. However, this is not surprising or unexpected for a function that requires a lot of computational resources.
Note: FutureTap provided a free evaluation copy of the app and its Augmented Reality option.
Here’s an interesting Augmented Reality (AR) app that is only for the iPad 2.
The app makes use of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology developed at NASA. It builds 3D maps of the world seen through the iPad 2′s camera and requires the proceesing power of the iPad 2′s dual core A5 processor. The SLAM technology provides tracking for the game’s AR that does not require the special markers needed by most AR apps.
The object of the game is to shoot the virtual balls “hiding” in the real world view. You can get an idea of how this works in the video embedded below.
The developers note that the app requires a lot of the iPad 2′s resources and that you may need to perform a soft reset in order to make sure the app has as much of the system’s resources as possible.
The app is currently available $1.99. This introductory price is half of its normal $3.99.
Video courtesy of 13thlab
Qualcomm released their Augmented Reality (AR) Software Development Kit (SDK) for Android last summer along with a $200K developer challenge.
Qualcomm Announces Augmented Reality SDK for Android & $200K AR Developer Challenge
Numerous Android phones use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor. So, a way to show off its capabilities was a natural fit for the SDK and the challenge. All Things Digital reports that Qualcomm is making a somewhat unusual move to provide an AR SDK for the iPhone (which uses Apple’s own processor) later this year.
Qualcomm Bringing Augmented Reality Software Kit to the iPhone
You can see examples of Android AR apps created using Qualcomm’s SDK in the Developer Challenge 2010 sizzle reel below.
Video courtesy of QUALCOMMVlog
