Latest blog entries

What? LINDA. again?

Yes, that's right, LINDA. magazine and Layar have come together again to augment the popular Dutch women's magazine. This marks the third time LINDA. has used Layar in its magazine.

Not too long ago, we first introduced our partnership with LINDA. to activate the pages of its print magazine with augmented digital content. Videos, graphics, links to web-shops, social media integration - you name it, it was there! And again just recently, LINDA. was back at it again with its annual L'HOMO issue - using Layar to add interactivity to print.

Now, this May's issue of LINDA. has even more digital enhancement with Layar. So maybe you've noticed a trend.

Hmmm... LINDA. seems to be using Layar in every new issue! 

That's exactly right. The wonderful people at LINDA. have completely integrated Layar into their editorial and publication processes. Now when designing, creating and arranging content for the printed page, LINDA. is also simultaneously considering what digital content they can use to accompany it.

In this issue, LINDA. is helping women slim down into shape just in time for summer and those skimpy bikinis. All sorts of products advertised in the magazine are instantly purchasable with "Buy now!" buttons, and features on women getting into shape have extra images attached to them.

Now that LINDA. is using Layar in every new issue, we're very excited to see what kind of stuff they come up with! There's lots to see in this issue, over 50 pages have augments on them, so be sure to take a look!

You can check it all out in the latest issue, which is on newsstands today. Try scanning he example pages after the jump and have a look at the video below to see it in action.

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Earlier this week, Layar CEO Raimo van der Klein spoke with Anita de Beijl of Sanoma Media's vtwonen at Mobile Convention Amsterdam. The two shared statistics and insights from vtwonen's recent campaign using Layar to augment the pages of its magalogue.

Embedded above is the entirety of this presentation, which was given in Dutch (sorry non Dutchies). Click here to learn more about the vtwonen project!

Thanks to MoCoAm for letting us record and post this presentation.

Depending on where you live, if you've ever wanted to hear from the founders of Layar up close and in person, this week is a good chance to do just that! This week, both Maarten Lens-FitzGerald and Raimo van der Klein will be speaking at events in both Europe and North America.

Tuesday and Wednesday this week is the third annual Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara, California. Maarten will be making his third appearance at the event, and will be presenting in the business track about the augmented reality market.

Maarten's talk, dubbed "Where the Money Is," will be an overview of lessons learned by Layar as we strive to make our technology ubiquitous, secure a strong hold in existing revenue streams and make money for ourselves.

"It is about what lies beyond today's AR with geolocation, games, 3D campaigns, animation, etc.," says Maarten about his talk.

You'll also be able to watch a demo of a new product coming soon from Layar which aims to achieve these goals. The talk is at 10am on Tuesday, May 8th at ARE2012 at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

As for Raimo, he'll be much closer to home at Mobile Convention Amsterdam (MCA). After a highly successful sequel event last year with over 800 visitors, MCA is back again for the third time to bring together the best and brightest in the mobile world in Northern Europe.

On Tuesday, May 8th, Raimo will be speaking with Anita de Beijl, marketing manager for Sanoma Media's vtwonen. You may remember our project with vtwonen not long ago in which they used Layar to enhance the pages of their magalogue with extra content and direct buy buttons.

Anita and Raimo will discuss the process of partnering up to create this project and the results of the experiment. You can see the discussion live tomorrow at 12:45pm in the Media & Publishing track at MCA.

The following is an entry from Layar CEO Raimo van der Klein.

Last year, Peter Vesterbacka from Rovio asked me to present in Helsinki, Finland at Slush, the leading startup conference in Northern Europe.

Peter is a great supporter of the Finnish startup scene. Helsinki is not an uncommon place for me being half Finnish and having worked for Nokia earlier in my career, but the startup scene is certainly new to me.

I was kindly invited to visit Startup Sauna at the Aalto University, a great hub for startups that now even extends the Finnish borders and has links to the Baltics. I was really impressed with what I saw. I met many super ambitious Finns hungry to conquer the world and a healthy ecosystem between governments, schools, industries and entrepreneurs.

To me, it seemed to be very fertile ground for people with great new products in the technology sector. Recently, a video of my presentation became available online, so I thought it would nice to share it. In my talk I provided answers to the questions that young startups ask me most. These include:

• How did you get started?
• How did you get funding?
• How did you get traction?
• How do you build a great team?
• How do you earn money?

So check out the video below or watch it on YouTube. I want to thank the Slush11 team for being extremely great hosts and for organizing an amazing inspiring event. Also, thanks to Peter for inviting me.

Readers of Jackie magazine will find a nice addition to one of the magazine's interviews in the current issue on newsstands today.

Dutch fashion designer Joline Jolink is profiled by Jackie in the magazine's Style Files section, and she managed to include Layar alongside her interview. In her own words, here's Joline's take on how this collaboration came together.

"The magazine contacted me for the style page. I was immediately thrilled about the possibilities to use Layar on my images in magazines. They will make the step so much easier for women to explore my online store after seeing a publication," she says.

"So, when Jackie asked for text and images, I offered them a picture of one of my favourite looks with the Layar logo in the corner." 

The image Joline provided shows off her "summer must-have look," and has been enhanced with Layar. Scanning the image shows a few simple buttons: one to Tweet about the look and another which links to Joline's online shop to buy the items. It's a really simple implementation, but it's very effective for bringing readers of Jackie directly to a place where they can buy the items.

"I expected that Jackie would not recognize the icon or realize the wonderful extras it can bring to their readers, so I explained it to them up front," adds Joline. "They then suggested to add a little info about Layar to the text under the picture."

This is a perfect example of just how easy it can be to add engaging and deeply connected content to otherwise static print pages. Click through to see more photos of the Jackie magazine featuring Joline Jolink and Layar!

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