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It’s like 2005 again. Cory Doctorow gave an interview in Second Life today. It was nice visiting the Metaverse again. But Second Life is still the same.

From today on the original augmented reality Twitter viewer TwittARound for the iPhone 3GS is finally available in Apple’s App Store. TwittARound shows current Tweets around your location right at the spot they were written via augmented reality. First demonstrated in July 2009 it was the first augmented reality application for the iPhone showing real time social network data.

iTunes link

TwittARound’s Annotation Engine is 100% based on web technology and standards like HTML 5, Javascript and CSS and thus renders in every Webkit frame (Google Android, QT, …). Due to its scalability it will adapt WebGL (X3DOM) as soon as it will be available on mobile platforms.

Michael Zoellner (Dipl. Designer) works for more than 7 years on augmented reality solutions at Fraunhofer IGD, the world’s leading institute for applied Visual Computing. His main focus is augmented reality in cultural heritage where he developed projects like iTACITUS (EU), Augmented Reality Sightseeing (FhG) and Future for the Past for the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam and published several scientific papers on the topic.

iTunes link

While TwittARound is still in Apple’s review process the media coverage had been fantastic.

Print magazines:
Wired Italy (including iTACITUS by Bruce Sterling!)
Fast Company
c’t

Online:
Los Angeles Times: Augmented reality iPhone apps for finding subways and Twitter neighbors
Wired Gadget Lab: Twitters Enters Meatspace: The End is Nigh
Wired Gadget Lab: If You’re Not Seeing Data, You’re Not Seeing
Techcrunch: Augmented Reality Twitter App Looks Awesome. Hope Apple Thinks So Too.
The Boston Globe: iPhone app adds tweets, audio to camera view
Ajaxian: Augmented Reality is just hot, and the Web can do it
ReadWriteWeb: Hot, Hot, Hot! A Twitter Augmented Reality App for iPhone
Trendpiraten Blog: Guck mal, wer da twittert
Gizmodo: TwittaRound Twitter Reality Augmentation Looks Amazing, Even If It Is a Horrible Idea
Handelsblatt: Apple erweitert die Realität auf dem iPhone
Mashable: Augmented Reality Twitter is the Coolest Thing Ever
Fast Company: Augmented Reality Is Both a Fad and the Future – Here’s Why
The Next Web: TwittaRound: An Augmented Reality Twitter App
The Collective Well:Top 10 Innovations at TEDMED

TwittARound is finished for weeks and ready for the App Store. Unfortunately it’s been rejected by Apple several times over minor UI misunderstandings. But the current submission should be accepted in the next days.

The App review process is getting better but it’s still a mess. A lot of other developers are complaining about it, too. In parts it’s necessary to guarantee working and stable applications. But in the end it slows innovation. It reminds me of the bureaucracy of a German Amtstube (office).