T-Post is a monthly magazine that gets delivered as a t-shirt, with the news story on the inside, and an artist’s interpretation of that new story on the outside.
This month, they’re talking about Higher Education, and Marc Stromberg’s t-shirt design includes an augmented reality tag that allows you to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with a hand that comes out of your chest when you sit in front of a webcam.
Don’t believe me? Check it out:
Now I’m not quite ready to call Augmented Reality clothing a trend, but with the Adidas AR Game Pack and now a shirt that plays Rock, Paper, Scissors, the world of fashion is quickly becoming a world where things aren’t always as they appear.
Sure, your shoes look good and show off your style, but do they do anything besides keep your feet protected?
If they’re part of the Adidas Augmented Reality collection they do! Starting in February of 2010, Adidas will release a collection of shoes with an augmented reality code built directly into the design. These five special kicks, called the Adidas Originals AR Game Pack, will unlock an exciting online experience with challenging games and exclusive content living within a virtual version of the Adidas Originals Neighborhood.
Google Goggles is the future. But not the ‘eventually we will have something that can do that’ future, since it already exists, but the ’10 years ago, we thought we would have something that could do that in 100 years, but now we have it today’ future.
To use Google Goggles, you just take a picture of something with your Android phone using the Google Goggles app, and it automatically searches Google for the thing in the image. For instance, snap a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, and it will automatically show you the search results for that landmark:
You can take pictures of landmarks, books, business cards, artwork, places, wine, or even a logo, and it will do its best to figure out what you’re trying to search for. And while that’s a neat trick on its own, the future part comes into play when you think of what this could enable with a few small tweaks.
Imagine if you had a pair of glasses with a camera in the front and screens on the inside. (See the Vuzix Wrap 920 for an example.) Then imagine that the camera is connected to the Google Goggles app, so that whenever you look at something, it automatically pulls up additional information from the web and displays it right in front of you. Suddenly you’re walking around like the Terminator with an augmented reality style display giving you extra information about the world around you in real time.
That might sound futuristic, but the technology to make it happen exists today, and all that’s needed is for someone to put the pieces together and get everything to play nicely with one another. Throw in a machine gun and add some Michael Bay to the mix, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a party!
PopScopic is an interesting mashup that uses augmented reality to enhance your shopping experience.
On PopScopic, you can print out three symbols that are linked to the top ten lists for music, movies and games. Then, just fire up your webcam and put one of those symbols in front of it, and you’ll see the cover art from the top ten list projected in front of you. You can tilt the paper to change selections, and then just tap on the $ sign to visit a page where you can buy that item.
It’s not a world changing experience by any means, but it is a peak into the future of shopping, and it’s fun and easy to play around with, so check it out!
