In my last post, ARound the corner, introducing AR, or augmented reality, I was hoping to see AR break into the mainstream, becoming a ubiquitous media rather than an also ran.

What didn’t occur to me at the time was in times gone by, and I mean recent times, not even as far back at the vhs vs beta wars, that the emergence of new technologies and ideas was largely dependent upon the companies developing them being successful, perhaps the marketing of the idea or product, perhaps the timing, perhaps something else? These companies were the elite few who had the budgets and teams to develop such ideas and take the financial risk that comes with such an investment of time and effort.Not any more, especially where software is concerned. So Apple, and now a whole hoard of others who have had the same great idea, coincidence? I think not!, have already provided us with the technology right in the palm of our hands. Step 1, tick. Now AR is in the realms of software development, and nowadays that doesn’t mean the elite few, but on the contrary, the masses. Well maybe not quite the masses, but its no longer the domain of those restricted to a team and budgets, but rather hungry developers the world over pushing and probing the new technology, developing ideas, trying new things. Almost weekly there is a new application, a new use for AR, and particularly interesting are the latest batch of apps which have seen it tackle mainstream ideas. Something which actually makes a difference.

Where am I? Where are those who I am in touch with, Who is that I am in touch with? What is that building I am looking at? Where can I get a drink? How do I get there? What do others think of the place selling me this drink? If you are reading a blog you will no doubt be at least familiar with the surge of interest in social media applications, photo sharing, online communities and so on. Perhaps once the realm of the geek, and there is nothing wrong with a geek, I am a proud geek and it is geeks who enable this development. Social media is already a mainstream idea with over 300 million people using facebook worldwide. There are countless others too, tweeters, diggers, myspace users, reddit, LinkedIn and Skype to name a few.

Skype? It’s another thread I know but its worth mentioning that Skype has blown from a geek phone, frustrating at times, to something I encounter daily, families huddled around the PC chatting to friends and family on the other side of the world or the other side of the wall. It really doesn’t matter, it has skyrocketed. I even heard this week a friend justifying moving to the other side of the world because with Skype it is something she is happy to consider. Before, learning of her nephews and nieces growing up, keeping in touch with her siblings, parents and friends would have been restricted to the odd expensive phone call, a few emails, maybe a parcel or a letter and an annual trip home if possible… now they are in the next room, wrong, they are in the same room. Incredible.
You will also be familiar with Google earth, Google maps, street level mapping – which has caused a bit of a stir, for daily mail readers anyway – well AR has reached these territories, its knocking on the door, loudly, and is very likely, given the scope of this market, that it will take off.

You only have to look at the numbers, who do you know who doesn’t have a mobile phone? 3 billion people do, 1.1 billion people use the internet, compared to 1.5 billion televisions and only 800 million cars worldwide. I say only, that’s a lot of chugging CO2, but its OK because Exxon have started exploring algae, bless them, all heart, but that’s also a different story. Look a little closer and you will find 13 million of those handsets are iPhones, who knows how many more pretenders, and the iPhone appstore has surpassed its billionth download. These numbers are representative of a massive market, a hungry and growing market and I think a market which will embrace AR with open arms.

So after a few digressions, a few digs (not diggs) and the odd geek salute, onto the applications… Well here are a few which have started to catch the eye. Hold up the camera of your smartphone, who am I kidding? I meant iPhone, and check out who is tweeting nearby and what are they saying, point the camera at a face and have it tell you who it is, referenced from online profiles, have it overlay directions, distances and mapping to that person, to food outlets, buses, trains and tubes. Find out more about the history of the place where you are standing, engage in virtual tours. Its all here… what is more this technology, doesn’t cost £300 for a buggy and frustrating piece of sh… [very poor software], so don’t stand back watching others gorging themselves, this is an all you can eat buffet for around 79 pence a go, get stuck in…

http://www.augmentreality.co.uk/

http://mashable.com/2009/08/04/augmented-reality-twitter/

http://mashable.com/2009/04/22/polar-rose-2/

http://mashable.com/2009/10/02/wikitude/

http://mashable.com/2009/10/14/urbanspoon-augmented-reality/

http://www.tat.se/site/products/overview.html