UrbanSpoon is one of the featured iPhone App by Apple that discovers nearby restaurants when the users give their iPhones a vigorous shake.  Now UrbanSpoon users have a new way to discover nearby restaurants with its new Scope feature.

The Scope feature is an Augmented Reality application exclusively to the iPhone 3GS.  Users will see their surrounding as if viewed through a periscope.   Prominent round colored bubbles containing restaurant popularity will appear on the iPhone screen.  When tapping or aiming the cross hair on the bubbles, more information such as restaurant name, distance, pricing, and cuisine category will appear as a square box.

Along with Yelp, UrbanSpoon has also jumped onto the augmented reality bandwagon with its periscope experience.  These applications are making going out more fun than ever.  But this is only the tip of the iceberg.  More innovative augmented reality apps are bound to appear soon.  I wonder what they will think of next?

The Apps Machine Via New York Times

Want to try out the new Augmented Reality on the iPhone?  You are in luck America.  After the English and the French got their first augmented reality apps, somebody discovered that in the Yelp iPhone app, when you shake the iPhone one to three times, a secret augmented reality mode, “monocle”  will appear on the upper right hand corner of the yelp app.  Just touch the button and you are able to enjoy the first free augmented reality app on the iPhone.   

Yelp’s augmented reality mode allows the user to find restaurants, bars, and other points of interest using iPhone’s camera mode.  The Yelp app allows user to see the direction and distance of user reviewed establishments.  This would come in very handy when choosing a good restaurant on a crowded block.  Just choose the ones with good reviews and having a good time shouldn’t be a problem.  Wow, wait a minute, is augmented reality already changing the way we spend money on eating out? 

Yelp’s augmented reality mode is an Easter egg.  It could have been sneaked in there so it wouldn’t be discovered by app reviewers as AR apps shouldn’t have been released before the OS 3.1 update.  Some say that this function was not mentioned by Yelp because the app may be still in beta, and not fully ready for prime time.  It could also be a marketing gimmick, as this Easter egg news is sure to generate lots of buzz and give Yelp instant popularity among iPhone users.  Whatever the reason for keeping it a secret, hundreds and thousand’s of people are now using the Yelp app to try out this new augmented reality mode.  But be warned, this app, along with all upcoming augmented reality apps only works on the new iPhone 3GS.  iPhone 3G owners now have a reason to upgrade to the new hardware after all. 

The wait is over.  Augmented reality apps have landed in the App Store.

Paris Metro Subway and London Buses have released  updates that not only give their apps push notification, but augmented reality function as well.
These apps allow the iPhone users to detect metatags for bus stops, subway stations, and  point of interests right from it’s camera view.  When a user places a building into the view of his iphone camera, A tag for a point of interest such as Mc Donald’s should hover before it.  These tags are set so only points of interest that are within 1 kilometer of the iPhone will appear.  

This comes in handy especially for tourists, unfamiliar with their surroundings, to quickly find landmarks of importance.  With augmented reality, tour guides may be out of jobs as the iPhone can do all the work for them, giving tourists freedom to explore point of interests and attractions around them. 

These apps may also be helpful for locals unfamiliar with their surroundings. If someone needs to look for the nearest bus station or subway exit, just swing their iPhone around.  Augmented reality will point him or her to the right direction.

Augmented reality is only supported by the iPhone 3GS.  It should only have been available with the iPhone OS version 3.1, which is not yet available.  However, rumors say Presselite, the two apps’ developer, may have used third party codes or software to implement augmented reality, allowing them to be the first apps to be downloaded with augmented reality function. 

London Buses also sell layers via in-app purchases, allowing users to add specific points of interests.  It will be interesting to see how the layers business will advance augmented reality.  In the very near future, we can expect tourists to use augmented reality to guide and explore their surroundings.  Moving forward, perhaps our shopping, dining, and even every aspect of our social life will be affected by augmented reality on the iPhone. 

Look below for a video on augmented reality in action. 

via ReadWriteWeb.com