Augmented Reality: Much, Much Better Than Coupons
Using IBM’s new augmented reality app, supermarket shopping will get a little easier and a whole lot cheaper. Augmented reality, in its most basic sense, describes the overlay of digital images on the real world, usually viewed through a mobile device. VentureBeat reports that IBM’s app will display ingredient information, prices, recipes allergy warnings, discounts, and streaming data from social networks. When you scan a shelf with your phone, that information will be rendered as a digital illustration over the real image. The app can be customized for dietary parameters, too, meaning that a paleo-diet user could identify the grass-fed beef without scrutinizing every package. My experience with augmented reality apps like Aurasma has been frustrating: the technology holds a lot of promise, but the actual processing speed feels painfully slow. As their speed improves, augmented reality apps promise a more efficient consumer landscape.
