Yelp Brings First US Augmented Reality to iPhone Store

[derwiki]

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yelp_brings_first_us_augmented_reality_to_iphone_s.php

[hyperbovine]

Is anyone else as bummed as I am at the thought of having to hear the phrase "augmented reality" bandied about for the next 5-20 years?

[blasdel → hyperbovine]

At least it's less bullshit than what Jaron Lanier spewed for decades

[teeja → blasdel]

It'll become AugR or AR or something. Damn jargonistas.

EDIT: Oops .. shud have read all the comments first. Sorry jargonistas, what I really meant was ...

[sho → teeja]

I can't decide if I want to yell at you for writing "shud" or praise you for conserving bandwidth while preserving all information.

[bkudria → blasdel]

Amen.

[jrockway]

Uh, I've had "Augmented Reality" via Layar on my Android phone for quite a while. In the US.

So instead of "first", they should probably use the word "second".

[jeroen → jrockway]

"to iPhone Store". No one is claiming this is the first AR app.

[jrockway → jeroen]

Aha. English needs more parentheses to disambiguate the parsing. I read "Yelp brings (first US AR app) to the iPhone store".

[philwelch → jrockway]

I wonder if you could write poetry with block indentation to designate these things and have it come across as obvious and meaningful.

[derwiki → jrockway]

have you had good luck with Layar? I can't get my Android to notice that I'm turning with it and I always see the same landmarks

[jrockway → derwiki]

Technically, everything works fine. I don't see what AR buys me over a map, though.

I find Google Sky Map to be a more useful use of the same data. (GPS + compass + accelerometers.) That is one cool application.

[sho]

Yelp Brings First US Press Release Simultaneously Utilising Buzzwords "Augmented Reality" and "iPhone Store"

[frossie → sho]

Confused. The OP says it was a hidden feature, not a press release?

[sho → frossie]

readwriteweb is one big continuous press release. Yelp scored with this one. It's all a game.

That said, I personally think AR will be absolutely freaking massive so it's actually good to see them trailblazing in this new space. Kudos.

edit: Actually, I think AR will obliterate much of what we know as the web today. I advise HN peeps to go watch a japanese show called Dennou Coil. That's the future right there and if you don't believe me, go watch anyone playing nintendogs on DS.

[mtrichardson → sho]

I know a couple of the ReadWriteWeb folks and I would never characterize them as "one big continuous press release." In fact, quite the opposite.

[sho → mtrichardson]

Well, thank you for your opinion.

[paul9290 → frossie]

Yes but that's called marketing (viral). An easter egg found by a prominent blogger whose audience would spread the word and to press outlets.

Wonder how many more easter eggs we will now see in apps?

[aditya → paul9290]

also, i think AR uses an undocumented API (another reason to use an easter egg) so I can see apple pulling this app.

[aditya]

3GS only. :-(

I wish they could do AugR without the compass, even if it was a bit halfassed...

[potatolicious → aditya]

Just tried it, even with the compass it's still a bit halfassed. The internal compass simply isn't accurate enough for this - and the margin of error is huge. I have had the iPhone think I'm facing in the direct opposite way.

IMHO we can't get true AR until we actually start making sense of the picture coming into the camera.