KinectShop allows shoppers to cycle through an assortment of products, in this case purses, and visualize the products as part of their outfit, thereby better informing the purchase decision. The natural interaction offered by the Kinect platform allows the shoppers to quickly develop a 1-to-1 connection with the product through the use of augmented reality. In augmented reality, shelf space is infinite, so while this concept experience is limited to purses it could host entire catalogs of products, such as clothing, hats, sunglasses, shoes, jewelry, makeup and more.

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Yesterday, Total Immersion revealed the very first augmented reality app for the iPad 2. This Magic Mirror application utilizes the forward facing camera to give the user a selection of virtual hairstyles, glasses and other accessories to try on.

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Blaise never ceases to amaze. 3 years after his jaw-dropping Photosynth demo he takes the TED stage yet again with a new masterpiece. Watch how he and the entire Bing Maps team succeeded in integrating augmented reality technology into searchable maps:

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Yes, augmented reality is being overhyped (see Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies 2009).
Nonetheless, it’s a pretty nifty piece of technology.
And no, it won’t go away.

Expect more useful applications (other than “hold a marker in front of a webcam and see a 3D object appear on the screen which could have been there anyways”) to start hitting the masses anytime soon.

But we’ll keep it in the “boys and their toys” category just for now… :)

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