This Gives Me A Headache

In recent meetings with clients, I can't seem to shut up about Augmented Reality and how cool it is going to be when someone finally gets one of these apps working in Germany. (Buncha cool stuff already working in the US. Unfortunately, I don't dare use my iPhone in the US because of how outlandishly expensive it would be...).

I am guessing that not everyone knows what I am talking about when I casually throw out the words Augmented Reality - this is the ability of an application to take something like a photo or a video or merely a glimpse through a camera lens, combined with your GPS-sensed location and layer on additional, potentially useful information.

Here are some examples below - ripped directly from GigaOm. (Thanks for the tip, Scholly!)






So you can use this kind of info to help you find the subway, get recommendations at a restaurant, etc.

But with all the hype over Augmented Reality, you might imagine that things could get a bit out of hand. And they have. According to AdFreak, this little video showcases the crazy imagination "from London architecture student Keiichi Matsuda, who envisions just how bizarre your life might look in the not-too-distant future—a logo-dominated age in which every structure and visual space is aglow with advertising and the insignia of global commerce is woven into all aspects of your existence."



Augmented Reality Overdrive. And I already have a headache. No thanks. Pass on this one.

More Augmented Reality

Just took a look at this video - a Ted Talk - by Pranav Mistry, who works and does his research over at MIT Media Labs. Reminds you (of course) of Minority Report a bit. But this is where Augmented Reality is going in the future. Don't want to watch the whole thing? Start watching at the 6'24 point (6 minutes, 24 seconds).

Augmented Reality in Esquire Magazine

I gotta say, that when I hear about Augmented Reality these days (the *new* *big* *up-and-coming* *thing* in the digital space), it is generally in conjunction with mapping and navigation. (All kinds of crazy cool stuff happening here and I can't wait to try out a bunch of it next week in San Francisco...).

So this little video surprised me a bit - I hadn't heard of people combining Augmented Reality and print....and digital...all in one. But Esquire magazine is doing it this month. Based on the clip, I have to say it still looks a bit more gimmicky than really useful (unlike the augmented reality for the mapping and navigation applications). But the potential is there.

It also looks like it might be a bit of a pain in the neck to experience. You have to download special software (I assume QR code reader software...) and install it, and then hold the magazine up to a web cam...and then you get the extra content. There should be a way to consume more easily. Of course...they need to offer the same content via the iphone...is the next obvious step.

Here's the promo clip: