Just in time for the weekend, this is about the wackiest use of augmented reality that we’ve seen yet. The Panasonic Viera AR Setup Simulator is a brand new free app in the App Store that uses AR to put a virtual big screen television right in your living room, so you can see what it looks like in place before you actually buy and “install” it. The idea is that you download and print the AR market from Panasonic’s site, and then install the app, and use your iPhone to “see” the TV in place.
Once you see your future television, you can even snap a picture, and send it out via email or a few social networking services. I like the idea of using augmented reality for home improvement a lot — this is a pretty narrow solution (only really useful if you’re buying a specific Panasonic TV), but it’s a cool idea. Maybe we’ll see more fun uses of AR like this in the future.
