10 Membranes

» Foursquare (and Layar)

Geo-locative and augmented reality apps are, in my opinion, the nearest thing consumer technology has come to being the future. Easy to salivate over, one could only dream at how utterly beautiful and slick and astoundingly amazing the future is, that oft used Clarke quote about technology being indistinguishable from magic swirling endless in our gawping conversation.

Now I have had the chance to use two- Foursquare and Layar on my Android powered HTC Hero. And while they are not perfect, they are still squealingly exciting to use.

The problem with Foursquare is that of the problem common to most bleeding edge yet social technology - you don’t really know anyone on it, so the utility is diminished.

The problem with Layar is that the technology still isn’t perfect.

HOWEVER: both are still immensely useful, immensely easy and most importantly of all, make you shake you head with wonder that people can do this kind of thing.