Blow Off Some Steam: Go on a Legal Graffiti Spree

Image Credit: UrbanArtCore

More augmented reality news, perfect for those of you who like the idea of changing your world--if only on your smartphone screen.

The new Steet Tag app lets you tag buildings, sidewalks, buses and more to your heart's delight, all without buying a single can of spray paint. Street Tag, the developers say, enables users to "adorn everything and anything, even those buildings you never thought possible to tag."

The app turns your smartphone into a spray can and lets you share and showcase your "graffiti" with others using geo-tagging technology.

Sounds like a fun use of augmented reality tech, which is becoming more and more mainstream. Ready to try it out? Download it for free via iTunes.

New Augmented Reality App Shows the Violence of Past Car Crashes

Talk about a PSA. This new app will make those old “Buckle Up for Safety” ads seem like child’s play.

Developers in Moscow have built a new safety campaign around an interesting smartphone app. In an effort to improve road safety, they’ve created a tool that uses location-aware and augmented reality technology to recreate car accidents. That way, users can view what has happened in a given area before they drive through it.

Along with the augment reality view, the app will include photos, videos and full details about how the accident happened.

It’s a compelling use of location-aware and augmented reality tech. But will people learn from it, or simply gawk at the gory details?

The View from Above: InHardFocus Round-up (August 2, 2011)

AR bridges real world and digital content: Layar, a company working in the Augmented Reality space, has just released Layar Vision, an app that reveals layers of content and interactivity on real world objects, reports Ubergizmo. As the video above demonstrates, this app will enable its user to interact with everyday objects, specifically printed materials, in order to access valuable digital content such as coupons, a Twitter feed or location-based data. In a lot of ways, one can compare Layar Vision’s technology to QR codes, as both increasingly work to break down the walls between the offline and online worlds.

Bringing the game to your living room: Football fans of England’s Premier League may have something new to cheer about – according to The Guardian, the league is in talks with Sony and EA to create an “immersion technology” that will allow viewers at home the ability to get their heads in the game, virtually. While still at the earliest stages of development, this feature could allow someone to plug in from across the globe, choose viewing locations around the stadium and experience 3D representations of the in-game action, all from the comfort of one’s lounger. 

Facing criticism, Microsoft restricts its location data: On Friday, we discussed Microsoft’s Live.com open database and the concerns it poised for location privacy. Following similar public criticism (and corresponding action) of Google and Apple,  Microsoft has now restricted access to its database after CNET pointed out that one could determine location of devices on account of their ability to tether Wi-Fi. 

Pizza Hut Delivers AR for its iPhone App

Pizza Hut is delivering more than just pizza, breadsticks and the ever-famous Cheesy Bites these days. Today they announced they've now added AR capabilities to their existing iPhone application. 

According to the press release, "People hold up their iPhones, the camera opens and the screen shows not only what is in front of the user, but small tabs highlighting the direction and distance of Pizza Hut locations nearby."

We could definitely see this type of AR feature catching on across a number of food service chains, not just Pizza Hut. Not only is it a nifty tool for consumers to always know the closest location (and direction) of their favorite chain (and save their topping preferences in another tab of the application), but also a way for restaurants to engage with frequent customers and ensure they're eating their product – and not their competitor's.

The View From Above: In Hard Focus Round-up (August 1, 2011)

Augmented Reality Can Fix Your Flat: Who needs a mechanic or car salesman when you have a nifty iPhone app? Wired shared two videos today of car companies that are leveraging Augmented Reality to draw in potential customers and keep car owners on the road after flat tires or engine problems. A great substitute for car manuals, which are notorious difficult to read.

Video Projection on Your Phone: Geek.com reports that Alps Electric is working on a technology that will enable future smartphones to project high quality movies and pictures beyond the display screens. The lens that’s making this possible will be small enough to fit easily within smartphones and will project images without overheating or killing the battery thanks to a high light transmission efficiency.

Facebook profile as your new credit card and ID? Facial recognition has been cropping up recently in law enforcement and security, but TechCrunch brings up an interesting point concerning its future usefulness beyond safety: commerce. While online profiles are learning your real interests and starting to become legitimate sources for identities among those in your network, there’s a continuing reliance upon “transaction mazes” in the form of tedious online to offline commerce processes (think about researching, purchasing and using an airline ticket).  Not sure if I’d want to share my Facebook posts with the local Best Buy, but it’s certainly interesting to think about the future of online identity and its benefits to both customers and businesses.