NIce! Tweepsaround is used as a unique feature in a TV ad for LG which aired last week on Dutch TV networks. The screens are showed approximately halfway the commercial.

More about Layar and Tweepsaround.

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Image via CrunchBase

Today Dennis Crowley from Foursquare gave an excellent presentation at  Mobile Monday, Amsterdam edition (#momoams on Twitter).

If you were there, you now know everything about the city as playground (pacmanhattan.com) and personal metrics.

I’m very grateful and proud that he took the opportunity to announce my Foursquare application for Layar, which allows you to use the most popular features of Foursquare from Layar.

What it is

Foursquare is a very popular social network game which integrates virtual social networks with the real world. Friends meet friends in cafes and bars and let each other know where they hang out. If you haven’t yet, it is definitely worth to check it out.

The Foursquare Layar app gives you access to the most frequently used features of the network.

• Show venues around you, including which people are frequenting them, who is the mayor and user tips what to do.
• Find nearby tips what to do and see at a glance what makes a location special.
• Check in to a venue and let your friends know that you hang out there.

Open Layer with foursquare

A basic version of these views is accessible even when you’re not signed in to Foursquare, which gives you an excellent opportunity to look around before jumping in and signing up (I’m quiet sure you will eventually plunge in and sign up to connect with your friends)!

These views are greatly enhanced when you’re signed-in. Then all venues where you or your friends have checked in are prioritized and highlighted. Tips from friends stand out. And you’re able to view what users have on their profile, which “badges” they earned and so on.

Give it a spin: open the Foursquare Layer on your mobile device.

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How cool would it be if Second Life was not constrained to its own virtual world, but existed right here, as an overlay on the real world around you?

I tried it at least twice, but never really “got into” Second Life. Maybe because it is too “virtual” for me, too much disconnected from real people and real places. But what if the existing environment could be enhanced with – well… anything goes! Some examples:

• A virtual tour through an ancient Roman settlement which existed once around the 3rd age
• A virtual guide telling you about the history of a building (with audio and video)
• Time travel: see this place how it evolved over time
• Architectural development: project 3D renderings of a future building on a construction site
• Yourself with a virtual “skin”, symbolizing some character you play in a role playing game
• …and then: options to connect in the real world, connect the real you with the game character somehow
• Education: labeling items such as buildings, trees, traffic signs and attach quizzes about their meaning
• Remember the crazy Japanese gadget called Lovegetty? Oh well…
• See? really, the sky is the limit!

That was one of the dreams I had when thinking about the future possibilities of Augmented Reality applications, such as Layar, but then equipped with a real 3D rendering engine and real-time update possibilities.

It looks like this future is actually right around the corner with the announcement of Layar 3D, yesterday. Not all of this will be readily available – let alone work smooth enough on today’s mobile devices, but the start is definitely here and soon available on a handset near you.

Some videos from the announcement embedded below, be sure to check out the Layar 3D site as well!

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Bandsintown is a really nice service which lists upcoming music events all around the world. They focus on providing the best matches to your musical taste and near your location. If you sign up and give them your last.fm or pandora account name, the magic starts working.

But wait, how would this information work out for you if you could view upcoming concerts on your mobile phone, overlaid on the camera video as Reality View?

Here a storyboard of a soon to release layer for your Layar app, called, not surprisingly, bandsintown.

Select the Bandsintown layer and let the fun begin

Continued after the jump…
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Yesterday, during the 12th edition of MoblieMonday Amsterdam, Raimo van der Klein of Layar was interviewed by Vincent Everts. Some history, insight about the current state of the company but also a peek forward about where the platform is going.

Some highlights:

• Approx. 600 developers
• Approx. 100 published layers
• 75k downloads for the Android platfrom
• Still not clear when iPhone version will launch, waiting on OS version 3.1

Watch the interview below.

Source: Dutch Cowboys.

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QR Code: link to Layar at Android Market

Update (20091119) Cyrket appears to be down, use Androlib instead.

QR codes are used in a very useful way on the Web version of the Android Market: Cyrket. Here applications are listed together with their Market link, which, in order to be useful, needs to be entered in your Android device (e.g. your G1, Hero or Galaxy phone).
Typing is annoying and error prone, so the site developers chose to encode the link in a QR image instead.

Visiting the entry in market is as simple as opening one of the excellent barcode scanner apps, point your camera on the QR code, snap an image and off you go!

There’s just one shortcoming, at least for the G1: the image is not very large and focusing can be a problem at times. However, his is easy to overcome with a small Greasemonkey script I wrote: Android Market Cyrket QR image enlarger.

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