Weekly Mashup 35

There’s augmented reality… and then there’s Aug(De)mented Reality

Using a Sharpie pen, sheets of plastic and his camera phone, storyboard artist Marty Cooper created a series of awesome fake AR cartoons, in a project he calls Aug(De)mented Reality. Watch this amazing video of his hilarious (and very cute) stop-motion animations.

How mobile is being weaved more than ever into in-store experiences

Younger shoppers are ignoring traditional in-store marketing displays in favour of their own mobiles – so retailers should be shifting focus to their individual screens.

Coca-Cola tests smart fridges

Can augmented reality boost our sense of empathy in sports?

Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe gives a TED Talk about the role AR will play in sports. He predicts enabling fans to feel what players do by ‘standing in their shoes’ will be very profitable for the sports entertainment industry.

Could the army’s ARC4 software system be preparing to hit consumer shelves?

Scientists at Applied Research Associates (ARA) have been working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the past six years, developing an augmented reality system called ARC4. And now they’re preparing it for commercial usage.

Comedy Central uses guerilla AR app to make European Parliament posters silly

Whoever said AR had to be so serious? Not the people at Comedy Central, who have created a new AR app that adds a layer of ridiculous humour to some very sombre European Parliament posters.

At last! The AR goggles that don’t give you a headache

If you’ve suffered eyeache from an AR headset, you’ll be thrilled to hear a solution is on the horizon: a device developed by researchers at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the University of Connecticut in Storrs, which superimposes 3D images instead of 2D.

IN THE NEWS

Blippar launches augmented reality gaming platform on Google Glass

Our CEO Rish announced Blippar’s Games for Glass platform at the Augmented Reality Expo in California. We will release our software development kit (SDK) in about six weeks, and developers will be able to use it to make games for Glass that overlay AR onto the real world.

Blippar adds interactivity to Triathlon 220’s landmark 300th issue

To celebrate the magazine’s 25^th year, Triathlon 220 teamed up with Blippar to make the whole edition blippable, offering a number of superb blipps, including kit and training session prizes and a host of exclusive interviews.

Love interactive apps? Love dogs? Look what we did with Purina Beggin’ Strips…

Blippar and dog food brand Purina hooked up to make their Beggin’ Strips interactive. Use our app to blipp the packet and make Hamlet the cartoon dog perform tricks. Woof!

Beggin Strip's in-blipp