What is a BadgerSpot?

I haven’t posted much here lately because I’ve been very, very busy with a very, very neat project called BadgerSpot.  It’s an augmented reality location-based social networking app.  I know that’s a mouthful, but here’s the short version: Anywhere you go, you can use it to create a virtual message board tied to that location.  That’s the core functionality.   We’ve also got some fun characters that jump out of boxes (that will tie into a character collection function not too far down the road), a large gun you can put on your arm (well, that’s what it looks like, anyway!) and a number of other fun things in the works.

BadgerSpot Augmented Reality Gun

Screenshot of us keeping our graphic designer in check with our augmented reality gun in BadgerSpot.

What can you do with a BadgerSpot?

For now, after printing out the “markers” from the website, you can create a new BadgerSpot anywhere that you go and use it to leave messages for friends, the owner, other patrons or even leave a message for yourself so that when you go back to that amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant a year from now at your favorite vacation spot, you can remember what you got last time that you enjoyed so much.   That’s the BadgerSpot side of the app.

What’s a Paper Companion?

After launching the app. when you select Paper Companion instead (the other “side” of the app), you select your publication and then you can use the app as your “secret decoder ring” for various forms of print media.  We currently have two newspapers active within the app — the Memphis Flyer and Kansas City – The Pitch, although we’re working on deals with several other newspapers around the country and a few other types of publications that we’re not quite ready to disclose!  If you’re in one of those areas, or have the “demo paper” PDF (available upon request, presently), then while you’re reading your paper, certain ads will show up with extra images, audio sound clips and even video!  If you thought print was dead, then you haven’t seen an augmented reality newspaper through the eyes of Paper Companion.

What can I do with Paper Companion?

Imagine browsing through your local newspaper and being able to hear a clip of the band instead of just seeing a picture of them or watching a short video of someone doing dough tricks at your local pizzeria while looking through the paper, and you’ll start to get an idea of what Paper Companion is really all about.  If you’re logged in with Facebook through the app, you can also leave messages or comments on various stories that the newspaper is running.  Here’s a video showing how to use Paper Companion:

Who made this crazy thing?

I did the software design, architecture and programming of the software.  Troyan Turner of The Danse did most of the layouts and many of the graphics.  Chris Magee of Fuse9 did all of the character work, 2D and 3D, within the app.  Madeline Ward of The Danse is our CEO and has helped shape and mold the idea and the app from the beginning, as well as helping business owners understand how they can benefit by being in our app.  The design of and ideas for the software has been a collaborative effort from the start, with all of us participating in that process.

Why on earth should I download it?

Because it’s entertaining, because it’s new, and because I made it.  :)  Just kidding!  There’s a lot of neat stuff in there now, and we’ve got a lot of neat stuff planned for the future — character collection, scavenger hunts, more augmented reality you can wear (like the gun marker that’s available from our Facebook Fan Page) and a whole lot more.  If you’re a local business and want to attract and retain more customers by having custom content and interactions with those customers in your store, we can help with that, too.  BadgerSpot has been and will continue to be a fluid thing where we’ll continue to offer different kinds of content for different people.  The core will remain the same — cutting edge technology, fun characters and a new way to interact with other people and/or customers.

The app is free, so please click here to download the BadgerSpot app if you’ve got an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or iPad 2.  After that, you’ll need to be in a place where a BadgerSpot Marker is on the wall or you can print out (or you can use your monitor/iPad to pull them up) the markers from this page, and then you’re ready to use the coolest new iPhone augmented reality around.  You can find even more information at the Official BadgerSpot Website.

So that’s what I’ve been up to for the last several months — working with some talented friends on a really cool project.  Oh, and for the record, Sparky the Road Clown will be coming out of hiatus very, very soon.  We’re sad that dimeRocker went away and took the web version of Sparky with it, but I’ve already got the codebase updated with the newest version of Unity 3D and running on my iPhone and iPad.  I’m focused on getting what I’ve got into the app store as soon as possible, because I don’t want Sparky to sit idle for another year while I get busy.