Everyone has been talking about how this year's SXSW will be the "year of location" as Foursquare and Austin-based Gowalla go head-to-head in a location-based battle royale. Location, however, is not the only emerging technology that will be on display in Austin; American auto maker Chevrolet announced it will be debuting new augmented reality promotions at SXSW this year.
Festival attendees can download the Chevy iReveal application on the iPhone which will allow them to participate in a scavenger hunt-like game that blends augmented reality with location-based functions. A map in the application shows the location of Chevy vehicle promotions around Austin where users can "unlock" the ability to view 360-degree 3D models of the cars in an AR view using the phone's camera.
Using AR to promote vehicles with 3D models is nothing new, but this is one of the first versions to reach consumers on their phones. The automotive industry has been one of the leading areas pushing desktop webcam-based AR experiences that have allowed users to interact with 3D models of cars from their homes. This new promotion from Chevy is unique in that it allows customers to have the same experience on their iPhones.
According to the App Store, AR iPhone application developer acrossair has produced the application for Chevrolet. The interesting thing about this experience is the way it blends the dichotomous features of mobile and webcam-based AR. The 3D model manipulation we are used to seeing on the desktop is wisely mixed with the location-based map info seen in most mobile AR applications. By taking the best of both worlds, acrossair and Chevrolet have opened the door to a new breed of mobile AR advertisements.
Augmented reality isn't the only emerging technology Chevrolet is experimenting with at SXSW; quick response (QR) codes, which are like a technological cousin of AR, are a large part of the company's promotions as well. When investigating Chevrolet's latest cars, users can photograph QR codes placed strategically on the cars to learn more about specific parts of the car. A QR code placed on the hood, for example, will launch information about the car's engine. Christopher Barger, Director of Global Communications and Technology for General Motors, is excited about the future of QR codes and AR for the automotive industry.
"Imagine using Quick Response Codes to download the price and options for a vehicle on a dealer lot right to your cell phone. Or, imagine using augmented reality to virtually preview different colors of the Camaro in your own driveway," Barger says. "We are just scratching the surface of what's possible with mobile technologies and social media applications."
Chevrolet is also teaming up with Gowalla to provide location-based advertisements to people checking in at SXSW. One promotion they are offering is a shuttle ride from the airport in one of their new cars to select users that check in at the airport, so don't forget to fire up Gowalla when you land in Austin. For more information about mobile and desktop AR advertising, be sure to check out our report on the subject coming soon!
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Once upon a time, smartphones were mostly about connecting busy professionals with their email accounts while on the go. Now that smartphones have reached the mainstream consumer market, however, people are looking for more than just email access - and a surprisingly large number of smartphones hardly ever leave their owners' homes.
According to a new study from Web analytics firm Compete, 74% of smartphone owners now primarily use their devices for personal reasons, and they often spent the most amount of time with the device at home.
As we noted last October, when they leave their homes, a lot of consumers with iPhones and phones that use Google's Android operating system are now also using their devices to compare prices and look up reviews while they are out shopping. Compete looked a bit further into this market and found that more than 35% of consumers with smartphones would be interested in receiving coupons on their devices. Another 29% would like to be able to scan barcodes with their phones and get more information about the product as well as access to coupons and other promotions.

While it doesn't come as a surprise that a lot of consumers would like to receive coupons, one surprising result from Competes report is that 21% of respondents would like to get SMS alerts with promotions when they walk by a store. Another 15% also would like to receive ads via SMS. Chances are that a lot of marketers would like to offer these kinds of location-aware ads and coupons that catch a consumer while they are already out shopping and close to a retailer. At the same time, though, most modern smartphones don't allow developers to create these kind of applications. The iPhone, for example, doesn't (yet) allow developers to run application in the background, which would be necessary if a developer wanted to create a service that could send out ads via SMS based on your location.
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Google is "99.9%" certain to close down its Chinese search engine, the FT reports after speaking with a source at the company.
Even after Google closes the search engine, it will take time to close down the business and the FT says Google wants to "takes steps to protect local employees from retaliation by the authorities."
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Google just cannot stop releasing great products this month. Today the Google News team is releasing a great new feature that will help you scan through older archived newspapers in style.
From the Google News team:
We’re excited to announce the launch of browse mode for newspapers in Archives! To do so, click “Browse this newspaper” to view other editions from that newspaper!
Google has somehow found, indexed, scanned, and made available endless newspaper material for you to browse (for free of course). Exactly which papers you can browse is not laid out in perfect terms, but if you are searching for an article and you see the “Browse This Newspaper” button, you are all set.
The view that Google provides for you to browse is quite pretty. Newspapers are sorted by newspaper name, and month of publication. Google for example has a good selection of papers from the News and Eastern Townships Advocate. The browse screen looks like this:
Good on Google for making more information even more accessible. I doubt that I will ever use this, but knowing that it exists makes me even more sure that our past will not be lost.

Apple (AAPL) just re-opened its online store and is now taking pre-orders for the iPad, which will be delivered on April 5.
Go! Go! Go!
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Hearst's LMK division is pumping out dozens of cheap iPhone apps to bring in a new revenue stream, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Lead by executive vice president of Hearst Entertainment George Kliavkoff, LMK's five-person team uses a simple template and creates a kind of "aggregator app," gathering links to news stories, blog posts and other information, WSJ reports.
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Last night, Reuters released their social media policy, which includes instructing journalists to avoid exposing bias online and tells them specifically not to “scoop the wire” by breaking stories on Twitter.
The strict instruction makes it clear that even though news continually breaks on Twitter first — especially in disaster scenarios — Reuters journalists are to break their stories first via the wire and not on Twitter.
The social media policy in question also addresses a number of other Twitter, Facebook, and online concerns, offering up instructions and recommendations whenever possible.
For example, journalists are advised to get manager approval before using Twitter for professional purposes, have someone double-check their tweets before posting, avoid disclosing personal biases (especially political), and to separate professional and private activity with separate accounts.
The policy as a whole is a fascinating read and exposes that Reuters, as a media organization, is torn between encouraging employees to use social media and the realization that the online behaviors of their staff put them at risk, a sentiment expressed in the comment that these tools, if misused, could “threaten our hard-earned reputation for independence and freedom from bias or our brand.”
In their eyes, a reporter that exposes their political leanings on Facebook, even privately, is no longer free from repudiation. A journalist that follows sources on Twitter or friends them on Facebook risks sharing those identities with the competition.
What’s interesting, though, is the idea that social media poses a threat to the traditional news cycle and notion of journalism has been around since the days when blogging first surfaced. As other news organizations, reputable or not, continue to break stories on Twitter and even mandate social media usage, it will be interesting to see whether or not Reuters can maintain their relevance and position atop the news chain.
Tags: media, Reuters, social media, social media policy, trending