This brings the book a long way from the black and white paperback it once was.
Next year’s edition of the Guinness Book of World Records will have a curious new feature that smartphone users may find appealing, when they view the augmented reality elements of its pages.
The copy of the book just appeared this week, showing the book’s new mobile friendliness.
The traditional format of the book will use augmented reality for an instant update to complement the latest technologies that are being used on a regular basis by today’s consumers – those who will be purchasing and reading the book.
Augmented reality will help to add a whole new level to the information and images in the book.
Though the same record setting statistics and pictures will still be available in the book, when using an iOS or Android device, the augmented reality technology will turn the static pictures into something much more active and real life.
Once the book has been purchased (or received as a gift), the free Guinness World Records 2013 Augmented Reality app can be downloaded. This allows anyone with a compatible smartphone to take advantage of all of the images and their additional features.
Another free app is also available with the book, the Guinness World Records 2013 The Bonus Chapter application. This is actually another ebook that is filled with additional supplemental information that is not available within the print version of the annual.
The augmented reality app allows the reader to aim his or her smartphone or tablet camera at the designated pages in order to view various types of animations. So far, readers seem to be taken with this little gimmick, and are interested in giving it a try. While some are reporting that it is fascinated, others seem rather indifferent. The one complaint that has been mentioned is that the angle of the mobile device needs to be relatively precise, or it won’t work properly.
It is expected that the augmented reality feature will be most popular among children who purchase or receive the book as a gift. There are approximately a half dozen instances of AR images throughout the hundreds of pages in the book.
