Newspapers around the globe – from national dailies to local weeklies – are using Interactive Print to boost revenue and reader engagement. Given this growth, we thought it was a great time to share our insights on how AR adds value to this industry.

Yesterday we hosted another of our popular webinars in which our North American Director of Business Development Nigel Newton detailed how Interactive Print can benefit the newspaper industry. We also shared great Interactive Print examples from papers all over the world.

These included the Toronto Star and Glacier Media from Canada, De Volkskrant and Wegener Media from the Netherlands, Folio Magazine from the United States and Lancashire & North West from the United Kingdom, among several others.

To accompany to the webinar, we’ve created a Newspaper Industry Overview, which dives into trends, methods and the 6 business benefits of Interactive Print for newspapers. Visit our Layar for Newspapers page to download the overview and to download the slides and recording of the webinar!

We are very excited to announce today that Layar can now be used on Google Glass. Check out the video below to see how it works, and if you’re a lucky owner of Glass, click here to learn how to install Layar.

As pioneers in the augmented reality space, we were extremely curious when Google first announced Google Glass. We immediately acquired multiple pairs through the Glass Explorer program and have been experimenting and hacking with how this new technology and UI fits with Layar and augmented reality.

From this hacking, we are now able to bring the full power of the Layar App to Google Glass. By just saying “Ok Glass, scan this,” Glass will capture what you’re looking at and match it against the content in our system – the same way the Layar App does today. Now with Layar for Glass, you can view Geo Layers, Interactive Print and QR Codes with a simple voice command.

In the video above, you can see how you can use Glass to view any of the existing AR and Interactive Print content on the Layar platform. From browsing Geo Layers like Funda’s real estate listings, to viewing movie trailers right from the poster, to seeing magazines like Glamour jump to life with video, to immersive 360-degree panoramic experiences.

You can view any of Layar’s nearly 6,000 Geo Layers in one of two ways: by scanning the QR code associated with the layer, or scanning a piece of Interactive Print from the Layar Creator with a Geo Layer button. If you know the ID name of a Geo Layer, go to layar.com/layers/{layerIDhere} to view that layer’s QR code.

As you look at the items in the Geo Layer, you can tap on the side of your Glass to select an item, and you can browse other items by scrolling side to side. Give it a try with some popular Geo Layers, like Funda Real Estate, Instagram Photos, Casper Aircraft Tracking and Tweeps Around. You can launch these examples on Glass by scanning the QR codes on these pages.

Speaking of QR codes… Layar for Glass makes for one heck of a QR code scanner! If you want to use Glass to view QR codes, just say “Ok Glass, scan this,” and you’re quickly viewing the content on Glass.

Glass users can now access Layar’s rapidly growing platform of Interactive Print campaigns, including magazines like Men’s Health, Inc. and Glamour, as well as newspapers, advertising, art and more. There are already over 200,000 interactive pages that can be viewed on Glass.

“For nearly five years, Layar has invited developers, designers and creators to use our platform to explore the new medium of Augmented Reality,” says Layar Co-Founder Maarten Lens-FitzGerald. “With Google Glass, an important new tool has become available and we are very excited to be part of this amazing platform and explore together this new world of augmented reality.”

From a technical standpoint, we’ve modified Layar to match the UI of Glass, allowing you to interact and browse items using side-scrolling cards. By performing a two-finger tap while viewing Interactive Print, Glass will switch from the AR camera view to a “Pop Out” or fullscreen view, so you can enjoy the contest as comfortably as possible. Additionally, the technology behind the image recognition and AR has been optimized for Glass to make things as smooth as possible.

“When we first got our hands on Google Glass last summer and installed Layar on it, we quickly realized that in order to provide a truly useful experience on Glass, we needed to radically rethink our UI and optimize our technology for this new platform,” says Layar CTO Dirk Groten. “We didn’t just port Layar to Glass, but put in a tremendous amount of effort to create a dedicated app that feels like a first-class citizen on Glass. I believe we’ve created one of the most amazing apps I’ve seen to date on Glass.”

As this version of Layar is still a beta, you won’t find it in Google’s official Glassware catalogue, but installing it is very simple. To get started, download the Layar for Glass APK and read our guide on how to install it.

We will be continuously updating the app as we refine the Layar experience on Glass. If you encounter any trouble, we would love your feedback. Also, be sure to check back at Layar.com/Glass for the latest update to make sure you have the latest version of the app.

You can also contribute to the content on Google Glass right now by using the Layar Creator to make your own interactive content.

“Full Frequency,” the latest album from international recording artist Sean Paul, features an interactive cover that comes to life when scanned with the Layar App.

When scanning the cover with the Layar App, fans can watch a video of Sean Paul himself welcoming them to his new album and point out links to his social channels, tour info and more.

Khaliq King and Kai Williams of the Jamaican company Creative Solutions were hired by Sean Paul to add interactivity to the cover of his new album. The company partnered with local web developers ZIPTEQ to collaborate on the project and produce the video.

“The idea was to not only present this really cool new technology, but to provide an intimate and personal experience for Sean Paul’s fans and an entrance for people who have purchased the album to know more about Sean Paul,” said King.

In addition to promoting the interactive cover through his Facebook page (where he has over 9.3 million fans), Sean Paul has talked about the campaign in interviews on TV and on radio.

To check it out yourself, click here to scan the album cover with the Layar App.

The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, and Nissan Canada have been nominated as a finalist for the renowned International News Media Association (INMA) Awards for its “Go Beyond” Interactive Print campaign in the Best Marketing Solution for an Advertising Client category.

The paper collaborated with Nissan Canada – which worked previously with creative agencies TBWA and OMD on an award winning 2012 Interactive Print campaign – to create an interactive newspaper experience that brings digital content to the pages of the paper. They launched the “Go Beyond” campaign in September of 2013, allowing readers to interact with the newspaper by scanning the pages with the Layar App. 

Nissan Canada contributed 30 interactive advertisements and sponsored the “Go Beyond” campaign. Readers could see photographs morph into videos, videos of their favorite columnists and even a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of a new aquarium. Additionally, a contest provided users with the chance to win a $3,000 travel voucher. 

The results of the campaign were a huge success, producing lots of encouraging reactions from readers. The well crafted and positioned calls-to-action in the Toronto Star created a 2,200% boost in Layar App downloads in Canada above the daily average. Of those that scanned a page, an unprecedented 95% clicked-through and interacted with the content, and 20% went on to scan content again in the 3 days following the campaign.

“It was important that the audience had the opportunity to participate in an augmented newspaper that leveraged the technology to provide a deeper connection to the content,” said Tami Coughlan, Associate Director of the Toronto Star’s Integrated Solutions Team in an article on INMA.org.

“We wanted to create anticipation for what was coming next and create motivation to look for the clues throughout the paper that uncovered deeper stories, videos, interactive games, and animations,” she added.

The campaign has also been submitted to Canada’s National Newspaper Awards which will be announced on May 30th. The INMA Awards winners will be announced on May 13th at INMA World Congress in San Francisco.

We’re crossing our fingers for the Toronto Star’s campaign. Lots of hard work went into this project, and it would be great to see a second Interactive Print campaign in Canada be rewarded for its efforts.