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One of the biggest buzz words in technology at the moment is the idea of Augmented Reality or AR as it's become known to its friends. Smartphone users will know it through apps like Google Goggles or Street View on the G1, both of which involve waving your phone out in front of you and looking at the world on your 3-inch LCD display along with a few computerised annotations.

Without meaning any disrespect to Total Immersion and what they've done, they're essentially using AR as a marketing gimmick and none of it is particularly useful to the consumer sitting at home in front of their machine.

Of course, the other bonus of our new and improved pocket computers, rather than just their mobility and connectivity, is that they have more than just cameras to get a measure of their surroundings. There are microphones that can detect wind or sound, accelerometers for movement, digital compasses to tell which direction we're facing and proximity sensors as well. Now we're in a place where we can really experiment with AR on a personal level and explore our worlds in a whole new way.

A major component of Total Immersion’s proprietary AR solution, markerless tracking enables an AR application to use natural targets to trigger the augmented reality experience.

“Mobile innovation continues to drive rapid change for business and personal interaction, and this spring’s CTIA educational program will address next generation technologies, new players and emerging opportunities,” said Robert Mesirow, vice president and show director for CTIA. “We are delighted that Bruno and Total Immersion will be contributing to the discussion.”

“Augmented reality is a new human interface, and as such, offers enormous potential to create engaging new experiences – especially using mobile platforms,” Uzzan said.  “AR is already beginning to transform the way people see and interact in the world.  It’s ushering in an age where destinations, data and details will be as close as a smartphone.  AR can turn a simple cell phone into a marketing and information delivery device with seemingly limitless capabilities.”

With the release of the iPad just weeks away, enhanced e-book apps are becoming a hot trend in publishing, with many major publishers announcing plans for enhanced titles.

"An eBook by itself is not enthralling; what's on it is. And we have the technology that allows us to do all of this. So why not use it?"

For nearly forty years, the keyboard and mouse have been the primary means to interact with computers.

Now, new devices are appearing on the market that take advantage of motions that are easy and intuitive to make, allowing us an unprecedented level of control over the devices around us. Cameras and sensors pick up the movements of our bodies without the need of remotes or handheld tracking tools.

It is already common to interact with a new class of devices entirely by using natural gestures.

Shortly after reading that Augmented Reality was the hot-topic at this years International CTIA Wireless conference , I caught an NY Times piece on AR’s tie in to portable real estate listings. Upon reading, I was quickly convinced that mobile augmented reality can reshape tourism, real estate and travel and is already beginning to.  From there I began pondering how it could be applied successfully to other industries such as retail. Clearly the opportunity is there. Industry reports say that mobile handset integration will make a significant impact on Augmented Reality and catapult the industry size to over $350MM. Secondly, It is a technology that when done well can add incredible levels of utility to a mobile device.  So far the mobile AR concept is simple, add live data population (metadata) to what you are already looking at through your mobile devices camera, or respond to an image capture with data. Whether it is a real estate listing, a state monument, or an important location in relevance to the Beatles’ history.  Once you point your camera, the information pops up right over it on your screen. Given the opportunity & usefulness it seems like a wise choice for companies to adopt early. However, companies looking for ROI must enter this arena with the intention to offer utility & improve the lives of their customers, not just give them a fun gimmicky display of a new technology (see Fanta, or Coke Zero).  While some say this technology is going to be quickly “overhyped and abused” many will find new and innovative ways to increase convenience in consumer’s lives, in turn for brand allegiance. Big box store IKEA is already testing out a future augmented reality catalogue showcasing building instructions. It’d be even better if you could use the pictures of your own home from your mobile device to find out while in store what that red chesterfield would look like in your living room. As for grocery innovation, imagine walking into the canned beans section of your local supermarket on a hunt for the lowest sodium beans. With an application dedicated to healthy eating, you could potentially point your camera at the entire beans category and it could point you directly to the can with the lowest amount of sodium. Recipes would be a simple way to innovate & add useful data. Perhaps Mixology could help you think of drink recipes before hosting a party while you are shopping at the liquor store, all you would have to do is point your camera at a bottle of vanilla infused vodka and presto! Whatever the use, AR is quickly becoming a respected medium and one of the most advanced marketing utility tools. As for other industries that can quickly be transformed the ones that come to mind are transportation, greeting cards, restaurants, and cinema. Those who adopt and integrate into their mobile strategies early will win customers & gain big shares of the opportunity, while those who sleep on this will likely get outshined by their competitors.

Upon reading, I was quickly convinced that mobile augmented reality can reshape tourism, real estate and travel and is already beginning to.

1) “Augmenting the map as interface: AR and Locative Narratives” - Jeremy Hight *Map augmentation of the historic route 66 can house an essay contest and publication globally but as embedded within that map augmentation instead of books or even web sites. * A place on a map can be a graphic index and database to save and collect the writing of that place with a graphic or textual search index. *One can pop immersive visualizations of abandoned or lost buildings from map location in shared software and collectively augment (imagine channels within the lost core of detroit where one is memories and accounts tagged within parts in the immersive visualization while another is of poems and stories written by people moved by the place and its semiotics and story). *The news stand is to be the map. *New forms of literature will be born of mapping, spaces,augmentation and new tools