A UK-based technology company has developed an innovative new way of searching the internet by using augmented reality (AR) as the primary tool.
The Blippar visual app uses the camera on a smartphone or tablet to activate an instant digital search to draw information from the internet about the object in focus.
According to The Telegraph newspaper, the technology can lead to many possibilities. For example, when focusing your device on an album cover, the technology can generate videos of the band, a source to buy concert tickets, Twitter posts, and the latest photographs.
The app can be used for many other avenues, including fiction books, DVD covers, and film posters, and is being used as an educational tool for students, and even those with learning difficulties.
Not only is the technology helping the everyday consumer, but is also going a long way in the education sector via Blippar for Education, where the augmented reality is being used to empower educational institutions and workplaces to make their environments interactive.
Now, the software is taking off in the United States after being listed as one of CNBC’s top 50 disruptors of 2016. The app is so popular that the makers claim more than 65 million people in 170 countries use it.
Blippar also works with some of the world’s largest brands, Coca-cola, Nestle and Jaguar to name but a few, to add an Augmented Reality layer to their products to allow consumers extra information when looking through their camera lens. Cosmetic brand Maybelline are already using the program to help promote a new line of nail polish in print magazines, where users can try different color options using the app.
Admit it or not, we have now in the Digital Generation era as Augmented Reality used in education. For example, if you point your phone at an apple, the app can give the user all the details about that object, where to buy it and the nearest store that stocks it.
With investment in the product reaching far beyond $100 million, founders of Blippar Visual are confident that their Augmented Reality technology will take off in a big way, and even become the norm.
So, as the digital world evolves at a rapid rate, it is specific ideas like this that make a bold impact on internet-based technologies. As humans crave quick, fast and up-to-the-minute information about the world around them, Blippar Visual is tapping into a market that’s endless, and extremely lucrative.
