If you’ve ever found yourself in an unfamiliar part of town needing that one item (be it a water bottle, allergy medicine or cigarette) so desperately that you feel like screaming it at the top of your lungs in hopes that someone will point you in the right direction, then the “Where Can I Buy?” layer is for you.

Let’s say you’re in Phoenix, AZ and you want to buy some Advil for your pounding hangover headache. Just type “Advil” into the search field and the “Where Can I Buy?” layer finds stores in your vicinity that carry the item.

Hover over the icon closest to you (which will also be the largest) and you see that it’s $7.99 at a Walgreen’s drugstore .25 miles away. Tap the icon and you can call the store, see a full listing and photo of the item, or view the location on a map. If you tap through to the full listing you can even see that the 80-count liquid gels are $2.00 off.

“Where Can I Buy?” is available in the United States, and was created by Howard Ogden, founder of AugmentReality.co.uk and Mobilistar. Ogden is an Amsterdam-based developer and top-tier member of the Layar Partner Network. His Layar portfolio runneth over with some of our most popular layers including the AR Beatles Tour, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Your Street, and Funda. You can contact him at info@mobilistar.com.

The what? Yeah, that’s what we thought at first too.

As we mentioned yesterday, AR icon Bruce Sterling dropped in on Layar HQ to tell us all about the class he’s going to be teaching this summer on the subject. During our Q&A, he answered a question about the best medium for augmented reality, and his answer was, well, surprising.

He brings up the idea of the “uni-modern uni-medium” in which there is no real difference between one medium or the next, it’s just all one big blended medium.

It’s a really fascinating concept, so have a look at his answer in the video below!

Today at Layar HQ in Amsterdam we had a special treat as sci-fi writer, futurist and all-around AR guru Bruce Sterling graced us with his presence and wisdom. 

As Bruce says, a healthy part of the growth of any important industry is the proliferation of education on the subject. Bruce will soon be teaching a class in augmented reality, which we think is a great step towards to the popularization of the technology. 

Bruce reminds us that today, it is very common to see courses, majors and professors focused around newer subjects like video games - so why not get the ball rolling on AR education?

We also bestowed upon Mr. Sterling the noble title of Guardian Seer of Augmented Reality, and presented him with a fancy trophy. 

 To hear more about the class and Bruce’s thoughts on the current state of the industry, check out the video below!

UNTETHER.tv is an Internet video series hosted by entrepreneur and mobile industry expert Rob Woodbridge. The thesis of the series, Woodbridge says, is to discuss the new business environment created by the burgeoning mobile industry and to hear the stories from the people on the front lines.

The series features interviews with notable mobile industry figures, and recently our very own Maarten Lens-FitzGerald was Rob’s guest for a discussion about Layar and augmented reality. In this interview, which clocks in at just under an hour, Maarten discusses how Layar got off the ground and how we’ve reached where we are today.

But more importantly, Maarten explains where Layar is headed and how augmented reality itself will impact the world in the near future. So take a look at the embedded video below, or if you’d rather kick back with your eyes closed you can also download and audio version of the interview for your listening pleasure.

Enjoy!

Wait, a Layar TV show? That’s not a typo, I assure you, but allow me to explain a bit.

A Dutch broadcaster, AVRO, is researching new reality TV show ideas for the Netherlands. One of the ideas is a show concept called “MeesterJacht” (or “Master Hunt”) where contestants would use Layar to search for clues about the secret pasts of historic figures and artistic masters.

This actually wouldn’t be the first time AVRO has come up with a unique show idea centered around mobile technology. In 2007 the broadcaster launched a popular show called “The Phone” in which two cell phones were placed in random locations in a city and those who chose to answer them would be immediately launched into a cooperative mission to win a cash prize. Kind of like Die Hard III but without the bank robbery and threats of violence.

“The Phone” has won several awards and has been sold to networks in 52 countries so far. Will “MeesterJacht” and augmented reality be the next international mobile tech reality television sensation? Wouldn’t that just be something?

Here’s a pair of videos (the second after the jump) that describe what the show is all about, but as you may have guessed, they are in Dutch. For the non-Dutchies out there, still give the videos a watch; you can get the gist of it, we promise!