Imagine walking down a street with a pair of high-tech augmented reality sunglasses. As you walk informative graphics pop-up for places of interest in the area, like restaurants, clubs and museums. If you are interested in a particular restaurant you can instantly access information about it and within a few seconds you will know how the restaurant is rated by other users, what is on their menu, have looked through their current specials and checked their opening hours. This is augmented reality and, according to those in the know, our not-so-far-off future.

Augmented or virtual reality blurs the line between what is real and what is computer-generated by enhancing what we hear, see, feel and smell by adding graphics and sounds to the real world. It utilises data from the Internet about places (and in future people too) to merge the physical world with the Internet. According to HowStuffWorks.com using image-recognition software in augmented reality will soon allow us to point our cellphones at people, whether you know them or not, to see their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social network profiles.

The possibilities of augmented reality are immense. Watch these videos where Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry from SixthSense explain how they foresee the future of augmented reality.

Simpler versions of augmented reality are already available on smart phones like the iPhone and Nokia N97. For instance, an app called Layar is available in the Netherlands and uses your cellphone’s camera and GPS capabilities to gather information about your surrounding area. When you point your phone at a street, Layar shows information about restaurants and other places of interest in close proximity by overlaying this information (augmented reality) on the camera image (reality) on the phone’s screen. Definitely handy for travelling!

There are several augmented reality applications for phones that run on the operating system Android. A few of these apps include:

Twitter 360 for the iPhone 3GS
This application makes use of Twitter’s new Geotagging feature and allows users to “visualise” their Twitter friends located near them by using the iPhone’s camera.

Le Bar Guide
An extensive guide of the best bars around the world this application includes reviews and ratings of the clubs plus an integrated taxi number service.

Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy
Keen to learn about the night sky? Download Pocket Universe and learn about the starts, planets and constellations.

On the one hand this technology is fascinating and exciting and on the other scary. Is human interaction going to become something of the past? I certainly hope not.