Métro Paris, an iPhone app [see also the FastCompany article] to help us navigate the Paris subway has been beefed up to include heads-up^[1] displays that allow you to see pop-up displays of information about the buildings and businesses around you. You turn on the app and it shows you what your camera is seeing (vélos, motos, voitures moving along the street, and buildings) and rectangular squares pop up that tell you what the buildings and businesses are. In addition, you can get a big red arrow (like in SecondLife when you’ve teleported close to your destination but still have to fly to get there) that points you at a nearby Métro station that you can duck into to take the train to your destination. These augmented reality^[2] apps [see article on LA Times site] have been rumored to be on the way for quite some time. Apparently the heads-up portion was sneaked (snuck) into the app without Apple pretty much noticing that it was there. Thus the speculation about whether it‘ll be taken down. The photos/videos tell the story – take a look. [SEE VIDEO BELOW vids are in French – the demo is at Place de L’Opéra – I know it well.] [Read more…]