Augmented Reality

So Stephen and I were walking back to the office today and we came across this great interactive display ad for Atlantic Lotto's new Lotto Max. When you walked by the window, you saw yourself on the screen, but the cool part was that thought bubbles appeared over your head or various, hats and glasses and digital props showed up around and over your face. (Stephen has more pics here)

It is a very well executed idea using Augmented Reality. I know it seems like very new technology, but actually it's been around for almost twenty years.

Remember the Fox "Puck tracker" in NHL games (which I HATED) or more recently the first down lines etc. on the field during live NFL games. That's basically the same thing. It's being used in everything from video games to military training.

Here's some other online examples of AR being used creatively:

Mini Ad:


John Mayer Video:


Marco Tempest Magic Trick


Me Playing:


Try the business card one for yourself here:
http://augmentpro.com/business-card-augmented-reality/

Lost Valentinos Video:

http://lostvalentinos.com/


This is definitely some cool stuff that we're just at the front end of. I can already imagine future implications of this... Can you picture walking into a shoe store and seeing what different shoes look like on you without even trying them on? What if you could go to a live sporting event and look through special binoculars that would show you stats, scores and markers on the field? I could see this being used in schools, museums, grocery stores, info kiosks, hotels, and that's not to mention all the advertising and mobile applications, many of which are already in use. Pretty exciting stuff.

Stay tuned.