Tag: augmented reality app

This represents the first time that AR technology has been used for managing money in a smartphone application.

Westpac New Zealand has now announced the release of an original type of mobile banking app that allows customers to be able to manage their money through the use of augmented reality technology.

The application was made possible through an international crowdsourcing effort in the United Kingdom.

This crowdsourcing occurred through the Westpac Global App Challenge – UK. This augmented reality mobile app brought together a 3D technology with a simple platform that provided a new level of dimension to the user’s ability to manage money. Simon Pomeroy, the chief digital officer of Westpac New Zealand explained that the primary goal of the bank in creating the app was to make it easy to use for the average consumer.

The use of augmented reality is a unique one when it comes to this type of mobile banking experience.

Mr. Pomeroy explained that “Once the app is set up a customer only has to tap it open and hold their credit or debit card under the camera on their phone. They then have access to a number of features that use 3D to bring the information alive.” He also went on to add that the bank is devoted to simplifying the banking experience for its customers and that this is only one of a number of examples of the ways in which they are doing this.

He stated that “This is another example of how we are using customer data in a far more personalized and visual way allowing customers to better understand and get more out of their finances.” Using AR technology can make it possible for the bank’s customers to check on the amount that they have spent on their credit cards over the prior five weeks, as well as the due date of their credit card payments, their previous five purchases, and their Hotpoints loyalty card balance.

Westpac has also revealed that it is seeking to broaden its augmented reality capabilities so that it will be more convenient for customers to make mobile payments transactions when purchasing products and services.

New ad-blocking app replaces billboards in subway stations with art.

Called No Ad, the augmented reality app can change the advertisements that subway riders see on billboards to interesting pieces of artwork, and all the mobile user has to do to make this happen is launch the app, hold up their mobile device, and point the camera at an ad and watch as the poster for the movie, soft drink, etc. is replaced by digital static or animated artwork.

The app is free and works on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

No Ad comes from Re+Public, a creative collaboration of artists. The AR app was created by Jordan Seiler, The Heavy Projects and Jowy Romano. So far, the app has collaborated with 50 artists and the plan is to grow this number with new partnerships, such as an upcoming partnership with the International Center of Photography, which will provide photographs from its collection. The intention is to display new art on a monthly basis.

According to American Photo Magazine, Artists like COST and Keith Haring “sought to take control over and diversify the imagery with which upwards of 5 million commuters were bombarded on a daily basis.” Essentially, the augmented reality art project gives subway riders something else to look at instead of the same ads everyday.

Furthermore, although the app has been designed for mobile devices, its creators “envision a future where users passively experience AR without cumbersome handheld devices, and instead simply use heads-up displays to experience an augmented public space hands free.”

The augmented reality app will not work on every ad.

There are certain circumstances in which the app will not work. For starters, it will not work if the advertisement has not been catalogued in the application’s system. Some other examples of when it won’t work are if the ad has been altered in some way, there is graffiti on it or there is one dominant advertiser.

Currently, the augmented reality app only works on the one-hundred most popular subway platform ads that are horizontally shaped, which are usually popular products, television shows and movies. In addition, at present, New York City is the only place where the No Ad application works.