LAYAR: SPRXMobile recently launched Layar, “the world’s first augmented reality browser for mobile.” Layar “displays real-time digital information on top of reality in the camera screen of a mobile device. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, jobs, healthcare providers and ATMs.” Layar premiered on the Android platform in the Netherlands yesterday, with five launch partners: ING (bank), funda (realty website), Hyves (social network), Tempo-team (temp agency) and Zekur.nl (healthcare provider). Until this amazing utility is available State-side, you can read more and view screenshots at Layar.eu, and/or watch this YouTube demonstration.

TRACKLE: We recently learned during research for a client that, while some people are aware that they use RSS on a regular basis, many users of RSS are not aware of what it is even though they already subscribe to updates from their favorite sites, podcasts, and the like. People don’t know what RSS is – and they don’t need to. It's not the simplest thing to describe: say, “oh, it means ‘really simply syndication’” and you haven’t really explained it any better. The challenge becomes: how do you say “subscribe to this content or update” in a way that’s more intuitive? You could come up with a name/skin for RSS feeds and alerts that implies "a way to track your favorite digital content"… Trackle, currently in beta, aims to be an effortless way to keep you notified about all the things that are important to you. There's already a whole catalog of Tracklets to choose from.

GET HUMAN: Automated phone systems are notoriously clumsy and user-unfriendly. When you have a problem you need addressed by customer service, talking to a glorified answering machine often only exacerbates your frustration. The desire to circumvent automated systems and speak directly to a human was the impetus for GetHuman, a site that collects all the ways to “bypass phone systems, talk to a live person, share customer help tips”. GetHuman isn't exactly new, but their new mobile app is. Now it’s even easier to get better customer service from anywhere with the free Get Human app on your iPhone or iPod Touch (iTunes App Store link).

TWEET PSYCH: See what your Twitter may reveal about you with TweetPsych. "TweetPsych uses two linguistic analysis algorithms to build a psychological profile of a person based on the content of their tweets". It works best on account with more than 1000 tweets, but may still be revealing when applied to those with fewer.

Folks from all around the Tribal DDB network have been getting more-than-acqainted with Augmented Reality (AR). To pick up where I left off with my last post about AR, here is a great example of AR in action, from our fellow Tribalites in Hong Kong.

In the few years it has been running, McDonald's Dip Jack promotion is one of the most popular programs in Hong Kong. To build on this success, and target for remarkable sales results this year, Tribal was asked to develop an integrated through-the-line campaign that strongly engages consumers in a way that highlights the uniqueness of Dip McNuggets.

Tribal DDB Hong Kong bet Augmented Reality (AR) technology would perfectly fit the Dip McNuggets promotion. And they were right. This McNuggets "Do the Dip" 3D game, not only extends the excitement long after the food is comsumed, but also playfully reinforces the "Dip action". (Click here to view in English, or here to view a demo video on YouTube.)

A unique AR code is printed on every puzzle card (received with purchase of a McDonald's McNugget meal), consumers simply visit the local McDonald's HK website, point their card at their web cam, and a virtual McNugget becomes a gamepiece for three different mini-games: Fast Dip, Follow & Dip and Catch & Dip.

Giving McDonald's fans a new way to play with their food seems to be paying off, too. Just one month after launch, "Do the Dip" has attracted more than 173,000 page views, over 8,000 people registered on the site and generated an astounding 30,000 game plays.

 
Thanks for the tip, Kaya!

I spent some time this afternoon researching Augmented Reality (AR) for a couple client initiatives, and for our own curiosity. What I found was too cool not to share...

Augmented Reality is working its way into everyday use, thanks to the likes of Google’s Street View, as seen from Android which uses the device’s accelerometer and compass to re-orient the on-screen view to the direction you’re standing or holding your phone. See it here.

Of course, we wanted to find more than just Street View... Next, an exploration of an iPhone app by Pankaku called Xmas Camera2. It was intriguing, but left something(s) to be desired. You’ll see what I mean once you compare to the next link.

ARf is an Augmented Reality pet application, still very much in development at Georgia Tech. Lucky for us, there’s a video of it in action – click here to view it.

A step beyond ARf is this amazing Augmented Reality program developed for Topps Baseball Cards. From Topps’ 9 March 2009 press release:

“For Total Immersion, Topps 3D Live trading cards represent the company's first consumer product available commercially, introducing a broad audience to augmented reality, an interactive experience where virtual components are dynamically merged into a live video stream in real time.

Interactive code cards can be found in every pack of Topps 2009 Baseball Series 1 pack and also in packs of the new Topps Attax baseball card game. Fans log on to www.toppstown.com, enter the Topps 3D Live section and select the player on the code card. Once the player is selected and the program is initialized, it's game on! By simply holding the card under a standard webcam, the player magically pops up from the card onscreen and springs to life. Players can then be rotated around, and fans can control the action with just a keystroke or two as it unfolds on the desktop.”