An augmented reality app for the Paris metro has been in the store for a month, as has Yelp's easter egg: shake three times to activate the feature so as to avoid the reviewers!<p><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/first_iphone_augmented_reality_app_appears_live_in.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/first_iphone_augmented_...</a><p><a href="http://mashable.com/2009/08/27/yelp-augmented-reality/" rel="nofollow">http://mashable.com/2009/08/27/yelp-augmented-reality/</a>
I'd say we can expect a sudden surge of augmented reality apps over the next, maybe, two years. It should be pretty interesting! What I like about these is that they use readily available consumer devices - it was waiting to happen, of course, but it took a bit. Personally, I would love to see more stuff done with audio though, something I worked on in uni.
This reminds me of the Wall-E movie where everyone is fully emersed in their personal digital device and totally oblivious to the world around them.<p>Instead of staring at a screen while walking down the street I'd rather ask someone for directions. But who knows in the future they may be too busy with their own augmented reality app to notice...
I must admit, it looks fairly simple. Just using compass and GPS, presumably? I don't think it interprets the image from the camera.<p>Still, might become a hit.