Phone Cameras To Tell You What You're Looking At

You've probably heard of geotagging--cameras interfacing with GPS devices to add location data to your photo, so you'll always know where that picture was taken. At the TechCrunch50 conference last week, a Japanese company called Tonchidot (weird English warning) showcased what may be the future of geotagging, called Sekai Camera.



Here's how it works: Sekai uses GPS and your iPhone's camera to tell you what you re looking at. For example, if you were looking at, say, the Taj Mahal through the camera, the phone could tell you that, and perhaps a little history, too. In a supermarket, it could even tell you where products were, and what users thought of it.

This is all part of the quest for good, proper, Augmented Reality, which will change the way we look at the world. However, we mustn't discount the possibility that Sekai Camera may be a complete hoax--nobody has seen the actual product in action--just videos.

Thanks Josh Lowensohn