In Inman News I read about a technology that is being worked on at Columbia University called MARS.
MARS is an acronym for "mobile augmented reality systems." It is software built for mobile devices that displays Web data about the physical world where the device is located.
With MARS, you point your cell phone camera at the physical environment and you will see an overlay of information (images and/or text) describing what the camera is seeing --- information on buildings, businesses, as well as the location of bus stops, ATMs, places of interest.
Maybe someday we'll be able to point our cell phones at a person and get everything we need to know about them....Just think what that will do to the dating world!
Technology like this is currently used in Zillow applications for the iphone where you can get details on a property.
I've always believed that things we read in a book or see in a movie will often become a reality for our future because our imaginations are limitless.
For MARS technology they use GPS, tilt sensors and a compass. It enables a handset to calculate a location, while the Internet connection allows it to retrieve information on the surroundings and to display that information on the screen.
Someday we just might be the Jetsons!
