Bzenia, a family-owned and operated luxury organic winemaker from the Czech city of Bzenec, recently teamed up with design agency Little Greta to add a bit of Augmented Reality flair to the company’s bottles.

As part of a project to refresh the label of Bzenia wine, Little Greta made use of Layar’s technology to enhance the label with interactive AR elements. Nicknamed “your personal sommelier” or the “genie in the bottle,” the added AR content allows customers to view a short video showing the winery owners sharing interesting trivia about each bottle’s unique contents.

To access the content, customers need only to scan the bottle’s label with the free Layar App, available for iOS and Android.

“The AR features have been commended by many of Bzenia’s customers, even to the point where Bzenia’s very own clientele requested AR to be featured on the bottles Bzenia produced exclusively for them as Christmas gifts,” said Little Greta. “Thanks to Layar, Bzenia was able to boost their sales and enhance its reputation as a technology pioneer among Czech wineries.”

To try it yourself, head on over to our client examples page and scan the bottle with the Layar App!

Earlier this year we told you about Popcards, a personalized Augmented Reality (AR) greeting card application custom built with Layar technology.

The app, available in U.S., allows anyone to create printed greeting cards that come to life with an AR video experience. The user can simultaneously take a photo and record a personal video. The photo is printed on the greeting card with a personal message. The greeting card can then be scanned using the same Popcards app, bringing the card magically to life.

For the holiday season, Popcards has partnered with the Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF) to donate $1 from each purchase to the charity. Based in the United States, the CCRF is dedicated to eliminating childhood cancer by funding leading-edge research in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of childhood cancers and blood-related disorders.

“Children’s Cancer Research Fund is near and dear to my heart. As a stage 3 cancer survivor and a CCRF board member, I’m dedicated to helping children and families in their battle with cancer. Popcards is a fantastic new invention that helps people uniquely stay connected, and if it can help in the fight in any way, we are over the moon,” says Stephanie Hansen, Popcards Owner.

Popcards is an amazing example of the power of AR and how the Layar platform can be leveraged to create new, innovative mobile apps and experiences.

In September we told you about House of Fraser, one of the UK’s largest department store chains, and how it was using the Layar SDK to bring Augmented Reality to its customer retail experience. The store allowed customers to browse its online store from a print catalogue by scanning with the Layar SDK-powered House of Fraser mobile app.

With the Layar SDK, you can quickly and easily embed our Augmented Reality technology into your existing mobile app, giving you the ability to create a custom AR experience for your users within your app.

Now, HoF is back again with more great interactive content – this time in the form of shoppable windows for this year’s Black Friday promotions. The windows will launch on Wednesday, November 25th in stores across the UK and Ireland and will feature instructions for customers to download the House of Fraser app to access the shoppable windows journey.

A “Scan to Explore” feature on the House of Fraser iOS mobile app is triggered by scanning the window displays, which will allow customers to shop the best Black Friday deals in just a few taps, avoiding the busy queues inside the stores. A “Scan to win” feature will also be available so that customers can be in entered into a competition to win a £250 House of Fraser gift card.

To help guide customers and highlight the new technology, Black Friday “angels” will be on hand on November 27th in the top 14 stores across the UK and Ireland demonstrating to customers just how easy it is to scan the displays and to interact with the immersive content on the House of Fraser app.

“The event is a natural next step for House of Fraser on the path of setting trends in digital retail following previous trials of their app’s Augmented Reality features earlier this year,” said Hsio Ling Hee, Head of Custom Solutions at Layar/Blippar. “The new HoF app, powered by the Layar SDK, has a lot more to offer in the future and we are confident they will continue being one of the leaders of innovation for digital and Augmented Reality retail.”

Shoppers in the UK and Ireland can download the House of Fraser app for iOS here.

In a technologically advanced near future, where people upload memories onto “Thoughtshare,” Special Agent Brenda Bloodworth heads up a special FBI task force that solves crimes by diving into these memories.

At least that’s is the setting for “BLOODWORTH,” the latest comic from author Daniel Corey. And what better way for a comic book about a techy future to grab readers’ attention than with a bit of impressive tech of its own?

That’s why if you scan the cover of BLOODWORTH with the Layar App, the magic of Augmented Reality brings the cover to life with a video previewing the forthcoming series of comics.

Read more »

The Yas Marina Circuit, home of the upcoming 2015 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, has worked with Flip Media and Starcom MediaVest Group to release the YasHUB app for iOS and Android with Layar’s Augmented Reality SDK built in.

The app allows visitors to scan their tickets to view additional information about the event, including day-by-day information about events around the circuit.

The YasHUB app also allows race fans to purchase tickets and stay up-to-date on the latest F1 news and social media, but also provides an interactive map of the circuit grounds that directs visitors to key points-of-interest using the Layar Geo SDK.

The new upgrade to YasHUB allows users to scan their ticket packages, resulting in an animation of all main seating areas and venues around the island being built up in 3D on their phones. Ticket holders can then select their seating area and will be shown precisely where their seats are as the animation zooms into their seating zone – allowing the user to understand in three dimensions where exactly they will enjoy the action.

Not only that, but people can use the AR technology to check out the view from their seat through a series of images on the app. The app retains the helpful navigation function so people can use their phone to find out information on key locations at the circuit by simply holding up their mobiles and looking at the landmark through their screens. Relevant information of that location is then displayed, offering an immersive digitally enhanced experience to ticket holders.

“Each year, we aim to bring something new to racing fans that enhances their enjoyment of Yas Marina Circuit during F1 weekend,” said Nick McElwee, Director of Sales and Marketing at Yas Marina Circuit. “The new YasHUB app uses the latest app-based Augmented Reality technology from Layar to give users a new perspective of Yas Marina Circuit. Key areas of the track will come alive on users’ mobile screens with the addition of real-time information. The YasHUB app will help Yas Marina Circuit build meaningful interactions with our thousands of global fans as we transition to our new incarnation as a media brand and content publishers.”

“Starcom was very excited to continue the collaboration with Yas Marina Circuit and Layar to improve the YasHUB app by utilising Layar’s technology to further enhance race goers experience,” said Dimitri Papadimitriou, Head of LiquidThread MENA. “With Yas Marina Circuit, we have a client that understands the digital landscape and the changes in the way people are using technology and as such we are able to bring companies like Layar to the table to produce innovative and new customer experiences.”

The Geo SDK is a powerful way to create interactive, location-based AR experiences for your audience. Visit our solutions page to learn more about the Geo SDK, or contact us if you have any questions!