Over the years we have seen many advertisers trying to hack, mock or leverage their competitors ads. In Brazil, Burger King with the help of ad agency David SP used augmented realtiy to burn their competitors ads via their consumers mobile phones while rewarding the participating consumer with a free Whopper.
Burger King is expecting to give away 500,000 Whoppers through this promotion, so that more and more people use their Burger King Express service which lets customers pre-order food for pickup.
Car companies today are relying more and more on augmented and virtual reality to help visualize their work. And for about six months now, Microsoft and Volvo have been working on a way to incorporate a “mixed reality” into the process of choosing a car. Now with the help of Microsoft’s HoloLens technology they have successfully put together a car showroom straight out of science fiction.
The below video shows how car buyers will be able to check out useful features that are often overlooked because they no longer read car manuals. This detailed mixed reality visualization will also help buyers understand how the respective features work in various scenarios.
Last week at Microsoft’s Windows 10 event, the company unveiled a new augmented reality experience for the platform, called HoloLens. Using a special holographic headseat, Windows 10 users will now be able to make holograms appear in real life. 😎
The device is said to use see-through lenses, spatial sound, advanced sensors and a holographic processing unit to provide a state of the art untethered augmented reality experience.
Here is a short demo video of the next step of computing…
Coca-Cola has recently launched 20 special edition mini bottles to get fans around the world excited about the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in Brazil from June 12th to July 13th.
The bottles come wrapped in flags of countries that have hosted the World Cup previously i.e. Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, USA, England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Japan and South Korea, as well as the three upcoming host countries Brazil, Russia and Qatar – plus two special Coca-Cola editions.
Coca-Cola fans can also create and send special messages and avatars to other bottle owners through Facebook and iPhone or Android apps. In addition, special markers on the bottles activate augmented reality animations when held up to a smartphone camera.
In September I had written about how a father of two had decided to re-write the Tooth Fairy experience for the 21st century. Now in this latest example of interactive 21st century fairytales, Eindhoven University of Technology has created TexTales, a new kind of smart textile that when combined with augmented reality can enhance the experience of reading a fairytale to your children at bedtime.
TexTales consists of a set of bed sheets that have images woven into the fabric. The images are recognized by a custom made software that displays 3D characters from a fairytale through a tablet or smartphone onto the textile. This allows parents to create personal stories with their kids before going to sleep or during a play time.
With the support from the Kickstarter community they want to develop TexTales further by creating a storyline and characters that actually matter. For more information visit their Kickstarter page here.
Last year Ikea re-imagined their catalog via a special visual recognition app that brought its pages and offerings within to life in the form of inspirational videos, designer stories, ‘x-ray’ vision that peeked inside furniture, and more.
Now for their 2014 Ikea catalogue, they have given people the ability to place virtual furniture directly into their homes by simply placing the printed Ikea catalogue where they want the furniture to appear. 🙂
Oreo Cookies to commemorate the first video game created by Ralph H. Baer, has used modern day technology to create an augmented reality game called “Catch the Oreo”. The game is available on Android and iOS devices.
People living in Norway and Denmark are automatically entered into a sweepstake competition by just playing and uploading their high score. There are weekly prizes and the winners are decided by drawing lots. Competition lasts from 8th of April to 28th of July 2013 (both dates included). So start playing. 🙂
Augmented Reality (AR) toys and games that combine physical and digital interactions are a fantastic way to get kids away from TV and computer screens. And so this year at the Toy Fair in New York there were a whole bunch of such toys…
Barbie Digital Makeover Mirror
Lets kids try out make up while avoiding all the mess. The game uses the iPad camera to track faces.
Mattel Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle
The first mass market doll house to support augmented reality.
Popar 3D Books
A new line of children’s books that use AR technology to make books come alive with virtual 3D objects and animations, that pop right off the page.
Sphero Ball and Sharky the Beaver
The first app ever to let you take a virtual 3D character for a walk around your house.
Imaginext Apptivity Fortress
Combines playset and app play all in one, while giving children endless possibilities for adventures, activities and games around the fortress theme.
NeuroSky
Brain waves control furry ears.
Lego Mindstorms EV3
User-created robots that can be controlled by various sensors and smartphones.
Cubelets
Cubelets are magnetic blocks that can be snapped together to make an endless variety of robots with no programming and no wires.
Sifteo Cubes
A magical new interactive game system built on the timeless play patterns of legos, building blocks, and domino tiles.
People in Tokyo who wear headphones or simply want to try new ones, were treated to a first of its kind Augmented Reality Music Festival. Using proprietary 3D augmented reality technology, Sony Japan created original augmented reality (AR) videos of four best-selling local rock groups. Then they enabled their band tour posters in key locations to play these AR videos. Special Sony branded headphone trial stations were also setup for anyone interested in joining the festival.
Connected devices such as smartphones and tablets have contributed to an explosion in digital media consumption. As these devices gain adoption, print newspapers around the world are seen suffering from declining readership and revenue. To combat this the Tokyo Shimbun along with Dentsu Tokyo came up with a new way to connect with readers. An Augmented Reality Reader app was created that brought to life the newspaper by overlaying educational versions of the articles for kids.
