Published on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 by paullewis Today Layar announced the news we've all been waiting for - image recognition! It's called Layar Vision and it looks fantastic. There's no need to scan the image as Layar automatically reads the image 'fingerprint', which then opens up the augmented reality content. Combine this with geo-coded markers and you've got one of the most powerful mobile AR systems a...

Published on Monday, April 18, 2011 by paullewis Layar released version 5.0 of the reality browser this month with some great new features, bug fixes and a shiny new interface. We've been waiting eagerly for the update for the iPhone, as previous versions were buggy and didn't deliver the full experience as seen on Android. Tests we've done show a greatly improved app which will hopefuly prove to be more stable. ...

Published on Thursday, January 27, 2011 by paullewis Following a lengthy beta testing phase (a good thing to iron out the bugs), Layar announced today the launch of the Layar Player, a simple tool to be embedded in iPhone apps to deliver the Layar augmented reality experience. Read Layar's press release here. Get your hands on the tool here. It all sounds very exciting and I'm sure we'll see a plethera of new A...

Published on Friday, January 21, 2011 by paullewis It's not that often that a new technology arrives that is clearly ground-breaking, yet at the same time remains a mystery for many - they just don't get it. Maybe they've become blasé about technology, and unless it can change the orbit of nearby planets or send birds flying towards egg-stealing pigs, it just doesn't excite them any more. Which is a real shame bec...

Published on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 by paullewis It's always comforting to know that a start up company who's products you've been supporting, are capable of not only making great products in the first place, but also of raising enough capital to continue trading for some time to come.   Layar announced yesterday that they have raised EUR €10M/ USD $14M from their newest investor Intel Capital. They join Su...

Published on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 by paullewis The Lions have now left the streets of Bath and they look much emptier now they're gone. The auctions took place over the weekend of the 15th/16th October with the star of the show being Euan the Lion with his coat of 2000, 10 pence coins. He sold for an amazing £15,000.   We thoroughly enjoyed creating a layer for the Lions of Bath art project, which had almo...

Published on Friday, July 23, 2010 by paullewis The past few weeks has all been about concepts - clients seeing the potential of using Layar for their business, and wanting it to do so much more! This isn't a bad thing, as all technology needs to be pushed to make it better, as long as the results don't stray too far from its intended use. It's very much like someone inventing a screwdriver with a hammer attachm...

Published on Friday, July 23, 2010 by paullewis Layar on 3 in 4 global smartphones by 2011! Following Layar's one year anniversary, news came about that growth of the Layar Reality browser app will soon be readily available for tens of millions of smartphone users. Partnerships with LG, Samsung, TCT Mobile and a yet unnamed Chinese handset manufacturer will see the app pre-installed on these devices by the st...

Published on Thursday, June 3, 2010 by paullewis The new Layar Reality Browser (version 3.5) was released today for Android phones. The new release comes with new Stream Technology which completely changes the user experience from search-based, to discovery.   With so many layers now available, finding content in Layar relied heavily on making layers known, via tradtional marketing methods or hoping the user ...

Published on Friday, May 28, 2010 by paullewis The first layer to go live was for the Lions of Bath. The public art project, following in the successful footsteps of King Bladud's Pigs (or should that be trotters), was screaming out for it's own layer; a new and unique feature that made it stand out from the numerous copy-cat (see what I did there) public art projects. You've got elephants in London, cows in Brist...