Thanks to the ubiquity of the Internet and the capabilities of laptops and portable devices, working remotely has become a common practice for millions. Freelancers, the self-employed or just those with employers who allow remote working - they all undoubtedly enjoy occasionally perching themselves at a coffee shop for a day of work.

The only problem is, what if you’re new to an area or you’re travelling to an unfamiliar city? It can be hard to find that perfect place to get some work done. That’s the problem that the startup WorkSnug tries to fix.

WorkSnug has teams around the world visiting popular workspaces, rating the Wifi, noise levels, environment and - of course - the coffee! The company lets users find workspaces using their iPhone and BlackBerry apps, and now, Android and Symbian users can access this wealth of workspace knowledge on-the-go in augmented reality with the WorkSnug layer.

Here’s a video of WorkSnug’s San Sharma talking about the layer!

On your mobile device? Click here to launch this layer now!

Watch out that you don’t get pinched today, because that’s your fate should you fail to adorn yourself with something green. Yes, it’s that time of year again where everyone abandons their differences and unites under a common nationality - the Irish!

St. Patrick’s Day began as a day of feast in honor of Ireland’s favorite patron saint, but now it’s an excuse for everyone to find the Irish in them, wear green, chase leprechauns to the pot of gold and - of course - drink lots of beer. Green beer, especially!

And who are we to get in the way of a good time? So here’s a couple of layers you can use to find your way to a memorable St. Paddy’s (not Patty’s) Day.

Irish Pub - [Launch now!]

If you’re not in Ireland, you’ll need to find a good Irish Pub, and what better way than with the help of Layar? And what better name for this kind of layer than “Irish Pub”? The Irish Pub layer from HPSC has a database of over 1400 authentic Irish pubs, so chances are there’s one in your area. Simply navigate to this layer and you’re on your way to a hearty celebration that will make you think you’ve teleported to Dublin.

Ireland.com - [Launch now!]

But maybe you’re the kind who takes this holiday seriously, making a pilgrimage to the land of the Irish. In that case, check out the Ireland.com layer, the “definitive guide to what to do in Ireland,” with news, entertainment venues, eateries, hotels, activities and - wait for it - pubs! Over 3,000 pubs, to be exact! With that many how can you ever choose? Don’t worry, we have faith in you.

With these two layers in your pocket, a good time is inevitable. Enjoy yourselves, be safe, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the protests and uprisings that are sweeping through North Africa like wildfire. Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have all seen massive movements of civilians protesting their government, thanks in no small part to the presence and organizational power of social media.

When a dictator’s first strike against protestors is to shut off the Internet, you know that the age of the digital revolution has arrived. The social web is not just helping to fight these battles, but also to remember them.

John Craig Freeman, a digital artist and new media professor at Emerson College, has created several layers promoting social awareness and memorializing pivotal moments in history, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square “Tank Man” incident.

The morning after the Chinese government forcibly removed protestors from Tiananmen Square in Beijing, an unknown man blocked a column of Chinese tanks simply by standing in front of them. Images of the tank vs. man standoff became a well-known symbol of the struggle between the Chinese people and their government at that time.

Freeman has allowed this moment in history to live on through augmented reality. With his Tiananmen SquARed layer, visitors to Beijing can see a 3D representation of the incident appear right before their eyes.

“Although it has been more than twenty years since Tiananman Protest took place in 1989, the authority persistently uses all means erasing the facts that Chinese people pursued democracy in this democratic and anti-corruption movement,” says Freeman in the layer’s description. “History should not be forgotten.”

Freeman’s other layers include “Décharge De Rebut Toxique,” a toxic waste art installation; and “Azadi SquARed,” a digital memorial to Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian citizen gunned down during the 2009 Tehran protests.

Perusing London’s wide array of art museums, a personal tour guide is the ultimate way to augment your experience; so when a charming British artist dandified in a variety of custom suits appears before you at each of London’s top museums offering commentary about its history and architecture as well as a list of exhibiting artists, you find his “presence” pleasant and helpful despite his disarming lack of flesh and bone. 

As you progress from museum to museum, however, you begin to question this “invisible artist’s” motives. 

Artist and Derby University professor John Goto came up with the concept for The Invisible Artist in a period of frustration after being dropped from a gallery’s books. Ruminating over the politics of the art world, where an artist’s visibility requires the approval of a small group of “gatekeepers,” Goto began sketching the headless figures that would eventually become the 3D models in his Invisible Artist layer.

The nature of Goto’s frustration fit perfectly with Augmented Reality’s open space platform because Goto could place his art at any location—or in this case, at any museum he desired, without permission, and anyone (with the Layar app, that is) could see it. The result was a subversive layer satirizing the bureaucracy and lack of diversity of London’s contemporary art scene (notice how the list of exhibiting artists contains the same few names at every museum).

While its derisive nature is clever, the “must-see” factor in this layer is its exquisite 3D modeling. Peering through your mobile phone at these life-sized figures, you can see the shadow behind every fold in the artist’s clothing, the texture of each material, and the soft glow of London’s cloudy sky gently reflected off of each garment.

The Invisible Artist is an excellent example of what can be achieved on the Layar platform with the right combination of skills in the artistic as well as the technical fields. In order to build this layer, Goto utilized his artistic talent to create the 3D models, then colleague Matthew Leach (from whom Goto first learned about Augmented Reality) used his development skills to set up a server, place the models, and program functionality to make for the best possible user experience.

The Invisible Artist is Goto and Leach’s second layer in their Augmented Reality repertoire; their first, West End Blues, explores the history and sounds of London’s jazz and blues musicians. The two have recently become Pioneers in the Layar Partner Network, and you can look forward to more groundbreaking AR content from them in the future.

Here on the Layar blog we have featured many layers that help us peer into the past with photographs and historical information. Augmented Reality has enormous educational potential both in and out the classroom, and one layer is helping visitors of old battlefields to envision history.

The layer “Battle of Franklin Sites” shows Layar users POIs associated with the historic American Civil War battle in Franklin, Tennessee. These include historic buildings, military cemeteries, medical facilities, locations of notable deaths, and even models of the front battle lines. Some practical tourist information, such as the location of nearby public restrooms, is also included.

Tourism officials in Franklin are hoping that using emerging mobile technology like Augmented Reality will help attract and engage visitors as the 150th anniversary of the war approaches in 2014. Why visit an old battlefield only to stand around and imagine what happened where? With this layer, visitors can use their mobile phones to see exactly where the battle lines were drawn.

Interestingly enough, this isn’t the only project using Augmented Reality in conjunction with the history of the American Civil War. The Civil War Augmented Reality Project is an effort by teachers in Pennsylvania to use the technology to enhance student experiences at historic Civil War sites. Along with mobile applications, the group hopes to install stationary “pay binoculars” which they hope will attract less technical visitors to engage with Augmented Reality.

These historical sites are prime targets just waiting to be enhanced by great Augmented Reality experiences. Soon, gone will be the days of tour guides saying, “A long time ago, important evens transpired right here on this ground.” Instead they will allow the visitors to see for themselves with Augmented Reality.

Layer: Battle of Franklin Sites
Location: Franklin, TN, U.S.A.
Required: iPhone or Android device
Developer: GDM