Augmented Reality Ramblings

Forever 21 Partners with Aurasma on Augmented Reality Holiday App

2012-11-07T21:11:00.001-05:00

Tween clothing retailer, Forever 21, recently partnered with Augmented Reality (AR) app-maker Aurasma on an in and out of store holiday activation. Using the new F21POP app, shoppers can scan images on store window clings or on the pages of the Forever 21 magazine to reveal videos of the brand's winter collection. The videos feature models Chanel Iman and Alexandra Spencer showing off the

Augmented Reality Brings Angry Birds into Your Living Room

2012-10-03T07:37:00.000-04:00

Augmented Reality is becoming more and more popular in video games of all types. The ability to bring digital elements into the real world using a mobile device provides enormous potential for game developers. Now, developer PendAR has transformed one of the most popular titles of recent years, Angry Birds, into a 3D augmented reality video game. The app uses a mobile device's camera to detect

Maybelline Mobile App Lets You "Try On" Nail Colors Before You Buy Them

2012-09-17T19:51:00.000-04:00

Maybelline recently teamed up with augmented reality app maker Blippar on an activation that allows consumers to virtually try on nail colors before purchasing them. The process begins when you view special Maybelline print ads through the camera on your mobile device using the Blippar app. Once the app recognizes the ad, it will unlock a 3D color wheel that displays a number of Maybelline nail

Obama Campaign Raises Money Using Augmented Reality App

2012-09-08T20:12:00.001-04:00

Never ones to shy away from using trendy digital marketing technology to give their campaign a boost, the Obama campaign is now using augmented reality to fundraise and do much more. Supporters of the Obama campaign can download the Blippar app, hover over a U.S. $5 bill or any Obama campaign logo and unlock a bunch of exclusive content. The Blippar app is available for both iOS and Android.

What is Augmented Reality? (Infographic)

2012-08-20T20:07:00.003-04:00

Here is an interesting infographic that gives us a little of the past, present and future of augmented reality. I like the inclusion of an AR timeline, but it would be interesting to see the past two or so years broken out a bit. Mainstream adoption has really picked up steam with the explosion in mobile device usage. Now that consumers are being exposed to AR through small promotional

Blippar Turns Dollar Bill into Augmented Reality Experience for Movie Promo

2012-08-19T08:53:00.001-04:00

Check out the latest augmented reality activation from AR platform/app Blippar. They have turned a one dollar bill into an AR marker. When viewed through the Blippar app, the dollar turns into an animated, 3D promotion for Will Ferrell's upcoming movie "The Campaign." SNL:BEST OF WILL FERRELL VOL 1 BY SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (DVD) (Google Affiliate Ad) The Blippar app is available for iOS and

App Lets You Run With the Augmented Reality Bulls

2012-08-18T18:18:00.002-04:00

Here is a fun way to use augmented reality to gamify your run. Participate in the Running of the Bulls. BullDash by Explorence tracks your run using GPS and pushes you to run faster by sicking a bunch of bulls after you. The bulls appear on your running map and can be heard through your headphones as they get closer to you. Currently, the app is only available for iPhone. It is unclear if

IKEA's Augmented Reality 2013 Catalog App

2012-08-08T17:20:00.000-04:00

Millions of copies of the 2013 IKEA catalog are hitting mailboxes this week, and this year's edition has a pleasant surprise for mobile technology geeks like us. Readers are able to reveal a boatload of additional content by hovering over the print catalog with a mobile phone or tablet. The key to this activation is the IKEA Catalog Android or iOS app, which uses augmented reality to deliver the

Blippar Brings Augmented Reality to Justin Bieber Album

2012-06-24T06:38:00.000-04:00

Over the past year, we've seen Augmented Reality in malls, transit posters, direct mail, print magazines, restaurant menus and now music album covers....and who better to be the musical AR pioneer than Justin Bieber. The cover of Bieber's new album, Believe, is actually an AR marker that contains much more content than your eyes can see. When you hover over the cover with a mobile device using

GQ Creates Augmented Reality App to Add Online Content to Magazine

2012-06-17T04:26:00.000-04:00

Augmented reality has seen a great deal of adoption by traditional print magazines of late. With the launch of Layar's Creator web service last week, more and more magazines are sure to continue this trend and look to this technology that creatively bridges the off and online world and is much more desirable than the not-so-pretty QR code alternative. The latest publication to bring AR

Travel Guide App Uses Augmented Reality to Get You Around the London Summer Olympics

2012-06-10T05:20:00.000-04:00

Photo credit: Wikipedia Travel guide appmaker eTips recently launched a number of mobile apps that feature augmented reality to add online information to real world landmarks and other venues in large tourist cities. To help out Olympic attendees get around town this Summer, eTips has included London in its stable of apps. In addition to the super-cool AR guides, the app also includes

Augmented Reality Brings the Arctic to Shopping Malls

2012-06-09T03:15:00.000-04:00

Brands have truly fallen in love with augmented reality over the past year and have made the technology the cornerstone of a number of high-profile experiential marketing campaigns of late. The most recent augmented reality activation is brought to you by BBC Home Entertainment partnered with Appshaker Ltd. In support of the new BBC/Discovery Channel "Frozen Planet" DVD, 3D scenes were

[VIDEO] The Muppets Star in New Augmented Reality Band-Aids

2012-06-06T03:04:00.000-04:00

Always trying to make having boo-boo a little more fun for kids, Johnson & Johnson's Band-Aid has introduced augmented reality to their signature bandages and have recruited The Muppets to be the stars of the effort. Now, when a parent hovers over one of these AR-marked Band-Aids with a phone running the corresponding app, the Muppets on the bandage come to life. The app, currently available

Pioneer's Augmented Reality Windshield GPS

2012-05-14T16:50:00.000-04:00

Pioneer is close to releasing a very cool device that will change the entire way we look at GPS going forward. The Cyber Navi device (I apologize in advance for the video being in Japanese) will mount directly to a car's sun visor and projects a augmented reality heads up display in front of the driver almost like it is on their windshield. Essentially, the GPS appears as an overlay for what you

Coors Light to Launch Augmented Reality App this Summer

2012-05-12T04:17:00.000-04:00

I just noticed this little piece of info buried in a recent Coors Light press release about the brand's summer plans. Apparently, the beer-maker is planning an augmented reality app. According to the release: The Coors Light Facebook page and YouTube channel will feature exclusive content including a new augmented reality app, Coors Light Cold FX, which allows you to insert the Silver Bullet

Augmented Reality Finds its Way to Sesame Street

2012-05-10T17:40:00.000-04:00

According to a minipcpro video shot recently, Qualcomm is helping Sesame Workshop to introduce augmented reality to its line of educational toys. The app uses Sesame Street toys and a special playmat as AR markers and when they are hovered over with a device running the app, Bert and Ernie come to life and offer educational lessons. If you've paid any attention to this blog over the past

Stuff Latest Magazine to Add Augmented Reality

2012-04-21T04:44:00.000-04:00

Stuff Magazine, a publication aimed at 18-30 year old males, is the latest magazine to partner up with augmented reality app Blippar to enhance their print advertising platform. Using the Blippar mobile app, readers can hover over specific advertisements ion the magazine and access extra digital content including product demonstration videos and online contests. Integrating augmented reality to

The New Augmented Reality, Location-Based Ghostbusters Mobile Game

2012-04-14T08:45:00.000-04:00

I just stumbled across a video by iMoreVideo for the upcoming Ghostbusters mobile game, Paranormal Blast, which will be coming out later this Summer. The game uses both augmented reality and location-based services to create a sort of scavenger hunt for whatever city you are in. Once you find the ghost, you need to shoot and trap it. The game was created by XMG Studio and will be available for

Nokia's Augmented Reality Angry Birds Mobile Tour

2012-03-25T06:39:00.000-04:00

To promote their new Lumia phone, Nokia has launched a mobile tour that includes an augmented reality street activation featuring Angry Birds and Timomatic. Ok, well it's not exactly an augmented reality version of the Angry Birds game (which would be awesome, by the way), but in this game, using Xbox Kinect technology, you can test your field goal skills by kicking the Angry Birds characters.

Augmented Reality: Bringing 3D Virtual Reality to Real World Marketing Campaigns

2012-03-20T10:37:00.000-04:00

This post was originally written as a guest post on wedu.com. To read the entire article (and other awesome digital marketing posts), please visit their blog by clicking on "read more." Augmented reality has been around for some time but marketers have been relatively slow to find a way to work its technology into traditional marketing campaigns in a way that makes sense. If the term augmented

Marvel Brings Augmented Reality to Comic Books

2012-03-13T03:18:00.000-04:00

Marvel Comics announced this week that they will be including augmented reality markers in their comic books in the future to give additional, 3D content to readers. Check out this demo video by cnet. Nothing really ground-breaking here, but AR in comics is interesting concept and foundation to build on....

It Wouldn't be St Patrick's Day Without a Guinness Facebook App

2012-03-12T17:34:00.000-04:00

For the second year in a row, Guinness has created a "Friendliest Day of the Year" Facebook app to celebrate St Patrick's Day (this Saturday, BTW). In 2011, Guinness was a trailblazer in digital marketing by utilizing augmented reality approximately seven months before it became cool to do so. They created a 3D "virtual pint" that you could produce after printing a "beer mat" AR marker and

LEGO Uses In-Store Augmented Reality to Show Off Star Wars Products

2012-03-11T07:09:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago, I told you about LEGO's plan to use augmented reality kiosks in their stores to show off their products in 3D. Here is the plan in action. Using augmented reality, this LEGO store in Ströget, Copenhagen, Denmark shows off your LEGO Star Wars product in animated 3D when you hold the box up to the kiosk. Augmented Reality + LEGO + Star Wars...I may be in heaven...

Hasbro's New Augmented Reality Lazer Tag Game (VIDEO)

2012-03-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hasbro has reinvented their Lazer Tag product and it the new and improved version is really, really cool. The new Lazer Tag blasters now have an iPhone dock and corresponding augmented reality app that essentially lets you play a first-person shooter game without a game console. The new blasters are expected in stores in August. Check out this recent demo that was shot at the New York Toy Fair

Another Practical Use of Augmented Reality: Alphabet Flash Cards

2012-03-05T15:34:00.000-05:00

I just stumbled across this YouTube clip demonstrating some new augmented reality alphabet animal flash cards.This is a very cool way for kids to learn the alphabet. Check them out: