Information at Hand
Summary:
We need a gadget that offers information about anything we point at. Here’s a solution.
Mac Funamizu has a very convincing idea of a gadget that enables you to get any information at the point of need. You just point at the object of your interest - may it be a street, a corridor, a flower or anything else - and you get the desired information. But read yourself: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3 and Example 4.
Although it has the flaw of being a gadget you need to carry around, it has the great benefit of being able to communicate information about things that cannot communicate for themselves (like stars or a flower that may be poisonous) or that require different information depending on your point of view (e.g. a look at a building and your way towards it).
Kooaba is a service that enables your mobile phone to give you the information you need. Read more about Kooaba’s Visual Mobile Search
Total Immersion has a demo video of a mobile phone (FLV) that shows real-time information about things captured with its camera.
Another demo video is available at YouTube: Augmented Reality for Mobile