iPad App of the Week: Aurasma is an Augmented Reality Treasure Hunt

What geocaching is to the physical treasure hunt, Aurasma should be to the virtual one. With Aurasma, the treasure isn’t physical – it exists only in the digital world. Take your iPad with you around town and check out the app to find locations near you where Auras can be found. Once you’ve found a location, look at it with your iPad and the app to see an augmented reality surprise, which could be anything from an e-greeting to a picture to an animated video. For example, friends could create greetings and put them in the front of your house. You’ll be able to see them by going outside and looking at your house using the app. You can create Auras, too, either for friends or the general public to go out and discover for themselves. Auras can even be created for periodicals, meaning you can possibly see an animated weather forecast for your local paper, if someone creates such an Aura (or, you can just create it yourself).

The Aurasma App is free off the iTunes App Store, and is also available for iPhone and Android devices. It’s about the closest you’ll come to living in a Harry Potter-like world of animated newspapers and pictures moving in their frames, so give it a spin.