In my Scientific American column this month, I wrote about the dawn of augmented-reality software: phone apps that overlay informational graphics on a live video view of the world. As you hold the phone in front of you, these apps can show you what crimes were committed near the spot where you’re standing, which subway lines are under your feet, what apartments are for sale in the building in front of you, and so on.

The app called Layar already lets you choose from 1500 different kinds of overlays (nearest cash machines or WiFi hot spots, restaurant reviews, descriptions of attractions, and so on).

But AR is only in its infancy. Someday, our phones will show us even more useful glimpses of the invisible world. Here you go: Five AR apps that don’t exist but should.

Introspector. Buying a house is always thrilling—and nerve-wracking, because you have no way of knowing what problems lurk. A house inspector can see only the visible, current problems. The historical problems, the future ones, and the intangibles remain unknown to you.

As you tour the house you’re considering, this app identifies the far less visible sources of expensive grief. Its overlaid icons let you know that the radiators whine during the winter; that the next-door neighbor’s chickens noisily begin their day at 5:30 am; that the basement floods twice a year; that the water heater is three months from death; and that the shower water goes blistering hot when someone flushes the toilet.

FluBugger. It’d be a lot easier to stay healthy if we could see the clouds of germs around us. FluBugger to the rescue! It represents the bugs around you as bright speckles—on doorknobs, people’s hands, computer keyboards, and so on. (Great fun when someone sneezes!) Tap a cloud to identify the virus strain.

Kitchen Spy. Either inside or outside the restaurant, hold your phone in front of you for a view into its kitchen. It’s just like having Superman’s X-ray vision—if Superman were interested in finding out the cleanliness standards of the people who are about to prepare your meal.

Porthole in the Floor. When you take a plane flight, you’re sitting in an enclosed metal tube, oblivious to the wonders of the passing landscape beneath you. (Having a window seat helps, but you’re still too high, and looking too sideways, to see much of the majesty you’re passing over.) This app gives you a virtual porthole through the floor of the plane, showing you a closeup of the landscape five miles below you, complete with annotations that identify points of interest, fascinating facts, and funny local tales.

Insufficient Dater. You aim your phone’s camera at a potential romantic partner, perhaps on the premise of taking a photo. There on your screen, superimposed around the candidate’s face, you see everything you might want to know about getting romantically entangled: Time since last breakup, hygiene standards, emotional stability score, and more. Finally, there’s a way to learn from the mistakes of your sadder but wiser predecessors!

5 Comments

1. 1. Teaxsmagician 08:55 AM 12/9/11

   wow,that can be really fantastic lifestyle when achieves those ideas

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2. 2. poihths 08:10 PM 12/23/11

   Would you really want to live in a society so intrusive that everything about you is public information? It's one thing that people carelessly reveal everything from their anal health to their zinc levels, but it would be quite another to have your entire personal life on public view, as would be required for any of these fantasy apps to function. Orwell wouldn't look like a prophet; he would look like a person with a woefully weak imagination. The regimentation such a society could impose would make the Borg look Libertarian.

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3. 3. poihths 08:15 PM 12/23/11

   The point that needs to be made about "augmented reality" is that it will inevitably be paid for just as online search is now paid for: with advertising. Advertising is already a pervasive part of life; with "augmented reality" advertising will be a pervasive part of sensation. This technology won't actually deliver "augmented reality" at all; it will deliver, instead, "augmented advertising."
   
   It's funny how the world goes round. I believe I first saw this idea adumbrated somewhat over a decade ago, and the obvious outcome sketched above was as thoroughly ignored then as it is here, in spite of a decade or more of highly instructive experience.

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4. 4. Video Dave 03:55 PM 3/26/12

   Just stumbled across this and found it very intriguing and humorous. Augmented Reality has so many possibilities. I never thought of it as a dating service or "avoid this dangerous situation detector". It would be quite handy to know that a woman you are about to approach has certain felonies or large older brothers. I honestly didn't think of the privacy issue until I read the comments and now wonder if I should be concerned that I wasn't worried about that.
   
   I find myself looking more at AR as an educational tool. Most people look at it as an informational/advertising overlay. But think about using it to teach kids. My son is blown away by AR and keeps asking what I did with the animal that just popped up.
   
   Because of my son's reaction to it, I recently made a flashcard app, AR Flashcards, to see if AR is helpful in teaching kids. It seems to be a viable option, but doesn't seem to be catching on in the mainstream.
   
   It would be interesting to see a list of the educational possibilities of AR (textbooks that come to life, flashcards, architectural overlays etc....)
   
   Maybe people only see AR as pure entertainment or a neat way to find the local dry cleaner.

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5. 5. fhipp 05:03 PM 7/23/12

   funny - but scary because these will all be real apps soon
   

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