Asina Pornwasin of The Nation reports, “In the second country to launch the iSnap multimedia augmented reality (AR) capability after Malaysia, Nation Multimedia Group’s three national newspapers – The Nation, Kom Chad Luek and Krungthep Turakij – will enable readers to watch video, scan through more photos and graphics, play games, and engage in social media communication as well as interactive advertising.  People can read newspapers with the iSnap multimedia capability through smart phones with the iPhone and Android ‘Nation News’ app from February 4. Nation News already has a download base of 208,000, which is expected to swell.” Read more

According to Charles Arthur of the Guardian, Microsoft has obtained a patent for augmented reality glasses, and the possibilities for semantic technology to be incorporated are endless. Arthur writes, “Microsoft has been given a patent on ‘augmented reality’ (AR) glasses that would enhance sports and other live events with streams of information beamed directly in front of the user – even including action replays and lyrics of songs. The move means that it could soon join Google in offering AR systems for widespread use, after the search giant unveiled its own Google Glass project earlier this year, intended to be used all the time as the user goes about their daily life.” Read more

Chris Nerney of Data Informed has reported on a new “augmented reality” app coming out of IBM. He writes, “Imagine being able to point your smartphone’s video camera at a store shelf and instantly get personalized, detailed information about the products on your device’s display screen. In a few months, some shoppers no longer will have to imagine this marriage of the Internet, data analytics, mobile technology and the physical spaces of a shopping aisle. IBM researchers at the company’s lab in Haifa, Israel, are developing an “augmented reality” mobile shopping application that should be offered by some supermarket chains to customers before the end of the year.” Read more

A recent article talks about a young company in the realm of augmented reality: Wikitude, a company that is “leading the charge on today’s Augmented Reality front. Wikitude has seen a number of accolades over its short three year history, including today’s announcement of their pre-installation on every future BlackBerry device.” CEO Martin Herdina describes augmented reality as “an enrichment of reality, via additional information and virtual content, making it much more than just some text overlaid on top of an image. It could be text, but we’re seeing more and more video and animation enrichment, including 3D object overlays.” Read more