Everything is Toy is a prototype augmented reality device created by
Keio Media Design's Yuichiro Katsumoto, Yu Uchida and Masa Inakage. Rather than cringing from RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags in our consumer goods, these people make music to enrich consumer lives instead.
Here's how it works: when you acquire a new item, the RFID reader checks out the item, reading its code. The system then selects an appropriate musical sounds and then plays them on the user's sound system.
This device is the opposite of a standard iPod, which immerses its user in a separate world that is not related to the user's actual environment. This device provides entertainment by taking specific elements of the user's current space and building them into a play scene.
Check out these other cool augmented reality experiences:
Poul Anderson's 'Brain Wave'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors." - Poul Anderson, 1953.
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