Tag: iPad

Augmented Reality. Hyperlinking the real world

A French company called Capturio turns a t-shirt into a business card. You point your phone at what someone is wearing, and the “link” is the fabric itself. No QR code required.

Right after that, Blippar in the UK takes the same idea to printed images. A newspaper page, poster, or pack becomes the trigger. The result is a 3D augmented reality overlay that appears on-screen the moment the image is recognised. Again, no QR code.

Is the end near for the QR code?

QR codes get put to good use in countless innovative projects. But the drift is clearly towards technology that produces similar results without visible codes.

Capturio. A business card you wear

Capturio’s concept is simple. The physical object becomes the identifier. A t-shirt behaves like a clickable surface in the real world.

Blippar. Turning print into a trigger

Blippar creates augmented reality effects from printed images without “activating” anything via a QR code. The interaction is straightforward:

  1. Download a custom app, in this case the Blippar app.
  2. Scan a Blippar-enabled printed image, identifiable by a small Blippar logo, using an iPhone, iPad, or Android device.
  3. Start interacting with the augmented reality 3D overlay on the screen.

Telibrahma. The same pattern shows up in India

In India, Telibrahma uses the same approach to increase experiential engagement for brands via traditional media like newspapers and posters.

Why this matters. Hyperlinking the physical world

The bigger idea is not the novelty of 3D overlays. It is that physical surfaces become links. Clothing, posters, newspaper pages, packaging, storefronts. Anything that can be recognised can behave like a gateway to content, commerce, or interaction.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “hyperlinking the real world” in this post?
Using image recognition and AR so physical objects like shirts, posters, and print behave like clickable links without QR codes.

Which companies are the concrete examples?
Capturio (France), Blippar (UK), and Telibrahma (India).

How does Blippar work at a high level?
Download the app, scan a Blippar-enabled image (marked with a small Blippar logo), then interact with a 3D AR overlay.

What traditional media does this apply to?
Newspapers, posters, and other printed images.

Disney Appmates. The next toy revolution

Disney recently announced a new line of toys called Disney Appmates. These new toys and the iPad work in tandem to create a very new age play experience. Featuring the likenesses of characters from Cars 2, the Appmates are miniature figures with special sensors mounted on the bottom. The sensors work with the Cars 2 Appmates app to identify each figure when put against the iPad screen.

The Apple and Disney Stores will start selling Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell in October. Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki will be launched in November and will made available exclusively through the Apple Store.

What is actually new here

The interesting shift is not “toys plus an app.” It is the iPad becoming part of the physical play space. The figure is not only a character. It becomes an input. Place it on the screen, and the app recognizes it and reacts. That is a different play loop than tapping icons, or watching a video, or playing a standalone game.

Why the Cars 2 character lineup matters

The character list makes the product strategy visible. Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell anchor the launch. Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki extend the line later. The Apple Store exclusive adds a distribution edge for a toy that is, by definition, tied to an iPad experience.

What to borrow if you build connected experiences

  • Make the physical object a trigger. The figure is the key that unlocks a specific interaction.
  • Design for collecting and replay. Each character creates a reason to return to the app and try combinations.
  • Align the channel with the behavior. If the experience requires an iPad, selling through Apple Store channels is a direct route to the right audience.

A few fast answers before you act

What are Disney Appmates?
They are miniature character figures designed to work with an iPad app to create a hybrid physical plus digital play experience.

How does the iPad recognize the figures?
Each figure has special sensors mounted on the bottom, and the Cars 2 Appmates app identifies the figure when it is placed against the iPad screen.

Which characters are available first?
Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile, and Holley Shiftwell are scheduled to start selling in October.

Which characters arrive later?
Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki are scheduled for November.

What is exclusive to the Apple Store?
Francesco Bernoulli and Shu Todoroki are made available exclusively through the Apple Store.

3D Video Mapping Interactivity Test

NuFormer after executing 3D video mapping projections onto objects and buildings worldwide, have now used interactivity in their latest addition to this technology.

During the interactive projection test the spectators became the controller and interacted realtime with the building by using gesture based tracking (Kinect). People could influence the content by using an iPad, iPhone or web based application made available for both mobile phone and computer use. For this test Facebook interactivity was used but any type of social media can also be incorporated into the projection.

This is an exciting development for projection mapping and we should be seeing this featured in some great campaigns to come.