EBay Inc., the largest online retail marketplace, is introducing a technology that lets people browse and try on sunglasses using an Apple Inc. iPhone, as it seeks to mimic the real-world shopping experience.

The so-called augmented-reality feature is part of EBay’s fashion application, Steve Yankovich, vice president of the company’s mobile unit, said in an interview last week. The app will be available in December, he said.

EBay is using handset-friendly tools to benefit from rising demand for mobile commerce, an area of retailing where Colin Gillis, an analyst at New York-based BGC Partners LP, says it established an early lead. The company has said its apps will generate as much as $2 billion in volume this year. Worldwide, there will be about 150 million to 200 million mobile augmented -reality users by 2012, from about 600,000 last year, according to Perey Research & Consulting in Montreux, Switzerland.

“Within a year or two, I would be shocked if we didn’t see it everywhere,” said Norman Winarsky, a vice president at Menlo Park, California-based SRI International, a technology incubator known for developing the computer mouse. The future of mobile shopping will allow consumers to experience and try anything they want, Winarsky said. “You can put your finger in front of the camera and a diamond ring will appear,” he said.

Ikea introduced an app on the iPhone earlier this year that lets people see how the retailer’s furniture would fit in their homes. Companies such as Lego A/S, Europe’s biggest toymaker, have store kiosks through which shoppers may hold up a box and see what the Legos will look like assembled.

As technological hurdles fall and companies start synchronizing their online and mobile business strategies, more retailers may introduce augmented reality-style apps, said Rob Gonda, global lead of creative technology at SapientNitro, a Boston-based marketing firm.

By Joseph Galante
source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/ebay-mobile-fashion-application-lets-shoppers-model-3-d-glasses.html

She’s never been the most dedicated follower of fashion but the Queen’s eyewear was more Lady Gaga than Her Ladyship today.

The monarch is unlikely to mimic the more outrageous style of the Poker Face star but for an official state visit, Her Majesty combined her usual austere couture with nifty glasses more suited to the catwalk.

The Queen was being shown 3D footage of a scientific research project but onlookers might have wondered if the head of state was settling down for a viewing of Avat-ER.

Cinema traditionalists have resisted the so-called ‘3D revolution’ but it seems even royalty have caught the bug, as heartwarming new pictures showed today.

And after learning she is to gain a granddaughter-in-law following the announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s engagement, it seems the Queen is considering whether a 3D ceremony is worthy of royal appointment.

The unusual glasses sported by Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh were more functional than fashionista, however, as the pair were back on state duty following a significant week for the Royal Family.

The Queen was in Sheffield to open £12 million world-leading research centre dedicated to the study of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

And while her spectacles had a touch of science fiction about them, the Queen’s visit to South Yorkshire was wholly concerned with fact-finding.

Accompanied by Prince Philip, Her Royal Highness unveiled a state-of-the-art research institute which is set to be a leading centre for studying MND.

The royal visitors also met scientists and medical specialists who will dedicate their research to finding the causes and cure for MND and toured the new facilities at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN).

The occasion for the Queen’s most modern eyewear came as part of a visit to Sheffield University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre where she and her husband watched a 3D display.

Ahead of the monarch’s visit to the city’s university today – her first since 1954 – vice-chancellor Professor Keith Burnett said the tour promised a ‘first hand’ look at the institution’s achievements.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arts/article-1330937/Queen-model-modern-monarch-joins-3D-revolution.html?ito=feeds-newsxml