Right now, augmented reality, or AR for short, is mostly being used as a gimmicky marketing tool. Sure, there are a few useful applications that provide plenty of real-time information, but for the most part, companies use AR to promote one product or another.

Of course, this should not be taken as the true form or purpose of AR technology in our society. With each human generation being more and more focused on visual-oriented learning, we will find ourselves needing the use of AR in our daily lives. Today’s GPS device rely on showing a separate screen with either a 2D map or a 3D simulated graphic of our environment, but tomorrow’s GPS devices will incorporate a heads up display allowing us to see navigational information layered on the windows –imagine Google street view but spread out to the size of your windshield.

It may sound overly ambitious, but the technology is there. With the development of super thin transparent LCD screens, it would not be so far off to have this kind of technology in development.

Outside of cars and navigation, AR is also going to see plenty of use in various professional fields. Mechanics, engineers and other field based workers could wear AR-capable goggles that would allow them to see important structural information in real time. For surgeons, a special set of visors can stream data about heart rate, blood pressure and other valuable information without needing to look away from the patient.

For now, we are pretty much limited to our desktop webcams and smart phones in terms of being able to experience augmented reality. But with better screen technology and smaller, faster processors being developed, we will certainly see more of this technology in the next few years.

Learn more about the trends and news regarding augmented reality applications at Pocket Lint.

Apple is certainly trying to win over the hearts of book lovers this year.

First they announce that the Apple iPad touch screen tablet will be supporting eBooks and will have works and published materials from major publishers as part of the iPad library. Now, they are also bringing out an interesting little augmented reality app that will certainly pique the curiosity of book fans in London.

For anyone who has ever wondered: “has my street ever been mentioned in any book?”, the new Get London Reading will have you pointing your camera all over the streets and sights of London and learning which book mentioned what (or rather, where).

Obviously, walking around Baker Street would have you hitting plenty of references to Sherlock Holmes. It is unsurprising, but still a delight for any book fan. And London has served as the setting and backdrop for many books; in fact, it is even home to hundreds of fictional protagonists and antagonists alike.

The interface for the app is simple, point it around London and with your GPS and camera, the phone will give you a floating book icon indicating the respective literary work or works that have referenced the location you are pointing at.

This form of book marketing can also be applied to other forms of media. Television shows and movies are often shot in location at London or at least, have a set recreation of the city as its setting. There are also comic books and video games that take place in London –giving the Get London app plenty of potential for expansion to other media.

For those who would want to try out Get London Reading, simply download the free application straight from iTunes.

Read about the Get London Reading app at Mobile Choice UK.

A 25 year old French citizen was arrested recently for “hacking” into Twitter, Facebook and Google. The man, identified as Francois Cousteix has confessed to the allegations. Under his net handle Hacker Croll, this single individual was able to get into the private user accounts of hundreds of individuals including those of famous personalities – even that of US President Obama.

The most surprising part of this news report is that François is not really a hacker. Sure, the man loves computers, it is his self-proclaimed passion and he spends a good ten hours of each day in front of the monitor. But without any formal training in programming and without the use of hacking tools such as phishing software and other similar programs, it is a miracle that the man was able to achieve so much.

The answer to his feat lies in something that we all overlook: the security of our own passwords.

Passwords in general, are meant to be security codes that are kept private so that only we may be able to gain access to it. It is like a digital key of sorts, but unlike the real world where guessing your precise key shape is close to impossible, the variations possible with letters and numbers are considerably lesser. And with people preferring to use significant, but ultimately common words or phrases as passwords, guessing becomes a matter of methodical research as opposed to something more random.

Security questions are also a good target. With specific questions such as “the name of your first pet” or “your mother’s maiden name”; it becomes a matter of checking blogs, profiles and in the case of celebrities, fan sites or magazine interviews. We as a society have to learn to value internet security more, this latest event clearly shows that it does not take a seasoned hacker to be able to get into our online accounts.

Read more about the Hacker Croll at the Times Online UK.

In a contest to see which internet browser is most prepared to handle attacks from hackers, Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple all put up their respective browsers to the test.

While somewhat expected, all three systems fell victim to different hacking methods. The contest was pretty rigid, currently known exploits and weaknesses could not be used, instead, hackers had to find new ways of finding vulnerabilities in the browsers.

Of course, this was not really a rest of which browser is most secure –it would be silly to think that a browser provides enough safety sans security software, but it is a great way for developers to understand how attackers think and approach their programs in order to developer better security measures.

For incentives, cash prizes were given for every new bug or exploit found by the hackers, with Apple and the other companies coughing up plenty to handsomely reward the efforts of the hackers. The attackers were composed of individuals who are experts in the field of IT and security, while many refused to be named or identified, it has been confirmed that these talented individuals have been hired by many companies in order to create better security protocols.

The convention will continue with the attackers giving their own presentations in order to explain how to find weaknesses in programs. This should help developers learn how to troubleshoot their own software for weaknesses in the code and what they can do to prevent being hacked, hijacked or worse.

As a disclaimer, do be aware that though these tests prove that browsers have weaknesses, the attacks on the systems have not been prevented by software such as firewalls and other programs not present in the standard operating systems on which the browsers were running on. Always make sure that your anti-malware, anti-virus and firewall programs are regularly updated and that you only your credit card information on safe and verified websites.

Get to know more about the vulnerabilities found on browsers at the Register UK.

T-Mobile Android devices are now available on the mobile network operator’s website. While originally announced for an April release date, the HTC Desire and XPERIA X10 have been long awaited for by Android fans and this announcement by HTC is sure to make plenty of people happy.

The lead in release time however is not that much. Despite the fact that you can already purchase the device as early as right now, the phones will not be shipped until a matter of days. The HTC Desire will have a waiting period of 7 days prior to shipping while the XPERIA X10 goes out after 10 days.

Both devices can be obtained for free under the £35 monthly tariffs. The plan is good for two years and offers some pretty good monthly allowances for calls and text messages. The plan will give subscribers up to 1200 minutes and 500 text messages for the HTC Desire and 500 messages and 900 minutes for the XPERIA X10. Both will get unlimited internet and free flexible boosters.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 may be the first Android smart phone from the joint venture, but it comes with some rather impressive specifications. First off, the phone will be running on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor for fast load times and seamless animations. As shown with the new Sony Timescape tool, the device is able to run dynamic visuals without skipping a beat. The 4 inch capacitive TFT touch screen display deliver high quality images at 480 x 854 pixels of resolution. Lastly, the device comes packed with an 8 mega pixel camera.

The HTC Desire also runs on the 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Much like the Nexus One, this phone comes with a 5 mega pixel camera and a 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen. The device has an extra feature or recording videos in 720p.

Grab all the details of the T-Mobile offers at Stuff TV.

The Digital Economy Bill is getting plenty of support from corporations and of course, from lobbyists. At the same time however, there is also a strong opposition to the Bill. It is pretty obvious that people wish to protect their privacy and are pretty outspoken about opposing the bill, but the truth of the matter is, the entire bill itself is not flawed.

There are actually plenty of pretty impressive gems in the bill, some might even be called a little too ideal to actually see implementation (poor Ofcom), but there are also some parts that are sure to make people’s blood boil.

Pushing for internet accessibility is actually the big line on top of the bill. To actually say that internet access is a right would be pushing it, but there is much kudos to be given as the government now recognizes how crucial the internet has become to society. There is also a part about ensuring high quality internet connections speeds at a minimum of 2mbps –again, another miracle for Ofcom to create (though expect free WiFi to become extinct as it places network owners as responsible for any “illegal” activity).

The Bill goes on to support the newest and fastest growing creative industry: video games. Video game manufacturers might be getting a much needed tax break. No word yet if this will still be part of the agenda when the bill is brought up in April, but many are hoping that it will at least push through.

Of course, the most controversial portion of the Bill is the part where it discusses government access and control of all internet activities. While “all” might seem like an exaggeration, it is not. And “copyright holders” will be given a scary power that could potential ruin the lives of ordinary citizens if they are accused of being pirates.

This is the part that people want to have removed, completely. It would not be much of an assumption to say that the lobbyists themselves are biting off more than they can chew if this one passes through legislation.

Get to know more about the Digital Economy Bill at the Guardian UK.

While most traditionalists have a problem with typing solely on a virtual keyboard, the iPhone has proved to be one of the best virtual-only text entry devices to exist in the market. Even if your fingers are not as used to typing on the click-less flat screen, predictive text input helps give you a faster means of communicating. Even predictive text has boundaries however and is supplemented by other technologies such as Swype.

Swype technology allows a user to connect a series of letters by “swiping” through a path. With practice, even those with a slow learning curve could type like pros. However, for the rest who have Android phones and are not quite happy with Swype, ThickButtons for Android phone users may be the answer.

ThickButtons goes by the same technology as predictive text but improves on it in terms of its learning curve. What it does is that it supplements your typing by dynamically shrinking or enlarging buttons depending on which letters you are most likely to type next. This is definitely good news for those with big thumbs.

The app depends less on dictionary input and is able to learn new words. This means that even slang, text messaging acronyms and shortcuts as well as internet lingo are stored and predicted with ease. In fact, once you have typed a term, it will automatically be stored in the app for future use.

Version 0.6 has just come out in the Android Market and it is offered for free to those who want to improve their typing speeds. For those who are wondering if ThickButtons will be ported to Windows Phone any time soon, the answer is yes. ThickButtons is also going to be released for the Windows Phone 7 series when it launches.

Learn more about ThickButtons in Geek.

When you have been in the industry long enough, claims of patent infringements become more than just lawsuits, they are also an affront to the work of a company. This is why HTC is not taking the Apple lawsuit sitting down.

Apple recently filed a patent infringement case against HTC covering 20 patents. Affected HTC devices are mostly Android phones but a few Windows Mobile handsets are also in the mix. While Google has not been directly named in the lawsuit, it is pretty obvious that Apple has attacked HTC for being a major Android supporter.

The CEO for HTC has said that “HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible.”

“From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”

Jason Mackenzie, VP of HTC USA stated that “HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators.”

“It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”

To find out more about what HTC’s reaction to the lawsuit, go to ZD Net.

Thanks to the progress of HD television sets, we are not seeing a potential shift from SDTVs to HDTVs in the near future. Obviously, not everyone is fond of the idea of shelling out so much money for a large screen HDTV; but just as the world had to adapt to colored TV sets and throw out their old black and white units, we too will have to conform. At least HDTVs provide us with 1080 reasons to change.

Anyway, we are not done with that just yet and already we are seeing another big change in the horizon –internet on our TVs. Okay, the last time we checked, Japan was not ruling the world, so why is everything turning into an internet ready device?

Kidding aside, we already have net books, desktop computer and smart phones; do we really need to have internet on TV?

Intel, Google and Sony certainly think so. Streaming content off the internet is basically the same as getting a bizarre mash up of cable TV and TiVo.

Not to be redundant, but HDTVs often have input ports for computers. This means that if you already have a desktop, then you can just turn your HDTV into a monitor and stream content. Besides, even if you did not have a desktop computer, most net books have video out ports.

The basic premise is that the new Web enabled HDTV will be hooking up to your existing internet connection in order to stream videos. But since the technology already exists -by hooking up a computer to the HDTV, then the technology really is not providing users with anything new. After all the innovations we have seen from those three companies, we certainly expected to see something more than an internet capable TV.

Read more about the Intel, Google and Sony TV device at the Telegraph UK.

Exactly how much excitement can Microsoft deliver?

Reactions that “it was too early” were pretty common when Steve Ballmer went up onstage to show the world how much progress they have made with the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform. The new user interface was impressive and many felt that the OS could potentially change the way we look at mobile phones. But at the same time, there was that constant worry that such an early announcement would leave people spending too much time waiting for the new OS.

Fortunately, it seems like Microsoft already expected this.

With each passing week, we have seen new news updates for the OS. Ranging from news about upcoming devices and systems meant for the OS, to the recently released developer tools for making apps.

Looking back, we already know that each WP7 device will be following one of three standardized forms (basic touch screen, a QWERTY keyboard version and a third chassis type). It is also known that the OS will need a high speed processor, plenty of ram and importantly, a capacitive touch screen. Naturally, the phones need to have GPS, 3G support, WiFi and other basic functions.

Just this week, the XNA Game Studio and Visual Studio tools were shown off, revealing that WP7 has more than just XBL games, but also the ability to handle full 3D graphics and games that can be ported over to the PC or the Xbox 360 while continuing the game progress from the phone. It has also been confirmed that the mobile platform will be supporting Silverlight as well.

Bing, Zune and the XBL services will be joined by the Microsoft Location and Microsoft Notification Services which will turn the phone into a one stop shop for news updates.

Read more about what is new with the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform at Softpedia.