With the Layar Reality Browser 5.0 beta release for Android we’re introducing some great new features integrating richer augmented reality experiences into people’s everyday lives. Layar 5.0 allows for sharing, more interactivity, and more attractive layers. So what’s new? Integration with social networks We’ve made it easy to share your augmented reality experience with your friends and followers. Just log in and connect to Facebook or Twitter (either from the “Settings” menu or from within a layer) to share your favorite layers. You can easily post screenshots and status updates of all your achievements.

For developers, by customizing (using the Sharing API) and posting messages on popular social networks, your layers get pushed into the spotlight and drive additional traffic.

Enjoy the experience
The new animation API includes the option for interactive objects to perform any of several predetermined animation effects. This allows developers to create even better augmented reality experiences by bringing their 3D objects to life and engaging the user.

Find your way around in Augmented Reality
Easy exploration is key in this release. After extensive usability testing and feedback from our community, we re-designed Layar 5.0 to be more user-friendly and intuitive.

One notable change is that Layar 5.0 emphasizes full layers rather than individual spots within each layer. The start-up screen now shows the user’s favorites, rather than spots nearby. The “Nearby” stream is now part of the “Popular” section, and it displays nearby layers instead of spots.

Start-up screen	Nearby view in the popular section

How do I get Layar Reality Browser 5.0 beta for Android?
Download the Layar 5.0 beta release for Android, try it out and let us know what you think. New features will become available for iPhone soon.

Try it out yourself
Visit our wiki to learn more about the following topics:

• New Navigation


• Animation API


• Sharing API


• User Interaction Dialog


• API 5.0 Tutorial

A few weeks ago we announced the migration of the developer and publisher environment into one environment and now we’re ready to release! To make sure that the migration will have a minor impact on all the developers and publishers we will migrate this weekend on Sunday, the 3rd of October between 10.00 AM and 6.00 PM CEST.

During the migration the current developer and publisher environment will be down and it won’t be possible to create, edit, manage and change your layers

After the migration you can find all your layers by login in on www.layar.com . Based on your current account(s) there are several steps you have to take to actually get to your layers.

If you have a developer account but NO publisher account you have to take the following steps:

1. Go to www.layar.com


2. Create a layar account with the same email address as your developer account’s login (Google account)


3. Login in with your account on www.layar.com


4. Fill in developer information form and accept terms and conditions


5. Click on “my layers” button next to username.

If you have a developer account and a publisher account you have to take the following steps:

1. Go to www.layar.com


2. Login in with your account on www.layar.com


3. Check your developer information and accept terms and conditions


4. Click on “my layers” button next to username.

To get a better understanding on how this will look like and where you can find everything please go through the slides or download this file. More detailed information about this new environment can also be found in these slides.

As more people enhance their world through Augmented Reality, we are continuously looking for new ways to help developers easily offer this experience within their own apps. At this moment adding Augmented Reality in your own app is a real hassle. White label solutions are in most cases very costly. Free open tools don’t give you the features, support nor the desired experience you want. Until now. Enter the Layar Player.

We are introducing a simple line of code that can help developers easily build an augmented reality experience into their own iPhone app. The Layar Player simply plays your published layer right in your iPhone app. This solution is by far the easiest way to get augmented reality in your iPhone app.

To kick things off, we are supporting 10 developers with their ideas during our beta program. See below for details on how to enter and get started.

What does the player do?
The Layar Player can be compared with a video of YouTube which you can embed on a website. The Layar Player plays any of your layers you configure it to play. It shows the layer content in the newly designed Augmented Reality view, map view and list view. Through its authentication solution there will be a seamless handover to the player when personal data is being exposed.

What does it cost?
You can embed our player in your app and benefit from all the features, our platform has to offer now and in the future, for free.

How do I get it to work in my iPhone app?
The Layar Player will be a binary and one header file that you can embed in your own application by adding the project in Xcode. This project will open the AR view to your published layer without the need to have the Layar Reality Browser installed.

Unfortunately, you’re no longer able to register for this beta program.

A challenge for users is to discover popular Augmented Reality content which is located around them. The latest iPhone release of the Layar Reality Browser solves this. From now on the Layar app starts with a list of nearby popular augmented spots. From this list users can select a spot they like and play the associated layer in Augmented Reality.

Other changes are a new navigation tab bar. The tab bar is used to quickly switch between Nearby, Layers, Search and Yours. Also we updated the search functionality. It now searches both spots and layers.

This latest version of the Layar Reality Browser is available now for download in the App store.

More Relevance
In the previous version users first needed to choose a specific layer, either from the featured or the popular list, before they could see content. This worked well with a limited amount of layers. The amount of layers has now grown to over 1.200, many of which are great local layers. In this new version users don’t need to choose a layer to see relevant and available AR content, the app right away opens with it.

Android users have had the nearby augmented reality search ability since June. The Android release has shown that users discover more local content and are no longer confronted with layers that don’t contain content around their location. Layer owners like brands, publishers and agencies now can be sure that their content will be shown when it is relevant: when the user is nearby.

How the new nearby screen works
On top is the “compass” with all spots plotted in a 360 degree view. This shows you exactly where all spots are located.

Each spot in the list has a category icon like Games, Fun or Food & Drink. Next to that, the title of the listed spot is shown as well as the layer title. Also the distance to the spot is displayed. On the right-side of each list item there is a “play” icon which opens the layer with the spot in focus. When a list item is tapped more information of the specific spot is shown.

Slide a spot to the left or to the right to see other options. A spot can be seen on the map, saved or you can select to hide content from this layer from your nearby view. This hide option comes in handy when for example during a concert you want to hide all tweets which most likely will fill up the list at that specific moment.

You can find your hidden layers in the your filter settings (top left corner). Other filters are amongst others a custom search range which can be enlarged when in a rural area.

The list is refreshed by pulling the complte list down. The list starts with 10 spots. More popular spots can be loaded by taping “load more items” at the bottom of the list.

Two weeks ago we announced that we merge the developer and publisher environment in one environment that fits all.

The migration of these two environments is scheduled for September. On the 16th of September we will organize a webinar to talk you through this new environment and explain you all the basics. After the webinar there will be room for questions. So don’t miss this one!

Webinar - New publishing/developers environment

Date: Thursday, September 16, 2010
Time: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM CEST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.