Autonomy helps images jump off the page

A newspaper with scenes that come alive, like a scene from a movie, may soon be a reality thanks to new technology.

British software company Autonomy has developed a vision recognition system for smartphones and tablet computers, which embeds pictures and videos on top of real-life objects.

So pointing one’s iPhone at a film poster could play a trailer of the movie and send 3D characters jumping into the landscape, or pointing one’s phone at a sports page could replay goals from last night’s match.

The technology is a step on from Google Goggles, where users can search information on a building or object after taking a picture of it.

“We’ve been working on this technology for the last 10 years. Then in the last year we decided to adapt it for the phone,” Autonomy chief executive Mike Lynch says.

“We believe there will be a big change in how we use our mobiles. We will use the phone to interact more with the world around us through visual browsing.”

Any software linked to mobile devices, which can potentially boost a company’s marketing efforts, is bound to take off, particularly if it combines location-based marketing with digital media. What other ideas can be developed as a result of mobile devices?