Barcelona, Spain: Aurasma, the world’s leading augmented reality platform, has announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC 12) a new feature that enables the real world to be merged with live, dynamic web updates. This announcement follows hot on the heels of Aurasma’s launch of its 3D engine at CES 12, since rolled out by commercial partners including Bandai – one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers.
The new feature, powered by HTML5, allows partners to deliver live web updates augmented into the real world. When viewed with Aurasma, print, products and even places can show live twitter feeds; buildings can be augmented with real-time information from social networks to show who is inside; share prices can be continually updated in newspapers; and tickets for public transport can show travelers the latest travel information. Being able to view live web updates using a mobile device in this way enables the “Internet of things” to become an augmented reality.
Launched in June 2011, Aurasma now has over three million users and three thousand commercial partners are also using Aurasma’s free technology to merge their online and offline activity, making it one of the fastest growing platforms in the world.
With Aurasma, even everyday items can have digital depths. The MWC delegate badge now delivers twitter updates of tweets that include the hashtags #MWC12 and #Aurasma. The back of a 20 Euro note transforms into an interactive audio-visual experience.
Available as a free app for iOS and Android devices or as a free SDK for app developers, Aurasma uses advanced image and pattern recognition technology combined with a meaning-based approach to computing to recognise and understand images and objects in the real world. It then augments the real world with interactive digital content, such as videos, 3D animations and now, live web updates.
James Loxam, Chief Technology Officer at Aurasma said: “Integrating live web updates into the platform allows partners to deliver up to the minute content within an “Aura” – our name for when the physical and virtual worlds merge. This feature, powered by HTML 5, adds a new, real-time dimension to the augmented Aurasma experience and opens up a host of new use-cases – we’re looking forward to seeing how our partners innovate around it.”
Martina King, Managing Director at Aurasma said, “There are a host of applications for this new live feature on the Aurasma Platform. It enables the “Internet of things” to become an augmented reality, with print, products and places delivering real-time information and to access it, you just point your mobile phone at them. Aurasma is changing the way millions of people see and interact with the world using their mobile devices and this new feature looks set to spark a new wave of innovation on the platform by our partners.”
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