Tag: ar app

The financial institution intends to release the first 3D banking app in the world this September.

The new smartphone app uses augmented reality technology to assist customers in locating the closest branch or ATM, shows transactions, account balances, and spending locations, all of which is displayed in three dimensions, and Westpac New Zealand (NZ) hopes that the app will help customers gain better control over their credit card spending.

The app was the concept that took the top spot in The Westpac Global App Challenge in the UK.

The application utilizes the smartphone camera, which scans a consumer’s debit or credit card. After scanning, it instantly generates a 3D visual representation that is equipped with bar charts to show the user the amount of money that was spent in different categories, for instance, utilities, food, travel, etc. It also sums up loyalty points, allows the customer to make on the spot payments and flags the number of days that are left before a bill is due.

The unnamed rocket scientist, who developed the application, has a side business of building apps. Simon Pomeroy, the chief digital officer at Westpac NZ, said of the challenge winner that “His job is in innovation. He spends his time thinking about apps and saw the ability to create one he’d use himself. He was just really blown away by the fact that he could enter something online and have it taken to this level.”

Augmented reality technology takes mobile banking to another level.

Pomeroy said that after seeing the concept for the app, it became clear the impact AR tech can have in terms of “adding a new dimension to mobile banking.” He also noted that one of the important features of the app is its ability to find ATMs that were part of the ATM Global Alliance around the globe that could be used by Westpac customers free of charge.

Pomeroy stated that Westpac customers are constantly asking the company for quicker and more convenient ways to conduct their banking. What Westpac feels the app will accomplish is it can bring everyday banking to life in a visually appealing way that is easy to use. It will take daily banking to a whole new level.

The new augmented reality app will be released for iOS in September. Westpac said that there will also be an app released for Android mobile devices, which will come out later this year.

Blippar demos ar game on Google’s wearable tech.

The augmented reality company has dedicated itself to finding a way to combine the digital world with the physical world and recently took another step forward toward its goal by running one of its AR games on Google Glass for the first time.

A simple game using Glass demonstrates the first steps of gesture interaction.

According to The Next Web (TNW), Blippar used Kung Food for the test. A pretty basic game that is not unlike the popular mobile game, Fruit Ninja, Kung Food revealed what playing a game on Glass could be like one day. To play, all that is required is the Blippar Glass app and a poster that is used for the game. Players use the “mouse” button on the side of Google Glass as the blasters controller. The object of the game is for players to slash at food that flies at them in 3D space to stop it from “splattering” their face.

Since the game is played with Glass, both of the player’s hands are free, which is a key point for playing the game and illustrates the start of gesturing interaction using this head mounted wearable device. Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra said that the augmented reality gaming technology is still in its beginning stages. In the company’s short demo, the Glass device overheated within a matter of minutes of continuous use.

Although earlier this year, in February, Blippar demonstrated its AR app using Glass at Mobile World Congress, this is the first time that is has been demoed as a gaming platform.

Blippar is not limiting its augmented reality technology to gaming.

“Our ambition is to build a browser where you just look at things and you get spontaneous information, whether that’s some [sort of] utility or something entertaining… When we think of mobile we don’t define mobility and restrict it to your mobile device itself. Mobility is a lifestyle choice,” Mitra said.

The company’s vision extends beyond augmented reality mobile entertainment. It wants users of mobile devices to have an optional layer of information available to them whenever they need or want it, whether it is looking at products to obtain additional information or to play a game when they are looking to amuse themselves for a few minutes.