The Explosion of Augmented Reality Apps
From almost nothing about six months ago, there's now an explosion of AR apps for Android and the iPhone. They're cool, they're novel but most of them are not that useful as a practical matter.
As I wrote previously, AR is a form of search. However the best AR apps incorporate more conventional methods of searching and discovery that don't rely on the camera or use AR to complement their existing app (i.e., Yelp, Urbanspoon).
Indeed, Urbanspoon (now part of Citysearch/IAC) just released an app update that includes AR for the iPhone 3GS. Called "Scope" it shows a tab at the bottom of the screen that launches the camera-based experience. Hold the phone up and through the camera you see icons that indicate restaurant popularity and distance. If you point the phone toward the ground, you'll get a traditional map instead. You can also manually locate yourself for greater precision (so that you can see the restaurants immediately near you) if GPS isn't working well.
The rest of this post is at Search Engine Land.