Demo shows how ARKit will change bookstores forever

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iOS 11.3 ARKit
Augmented reality will be even better with glasses.
Photo: Apple

ARKit hasn’t produced any apps that are absolutely must-haves, but that could soon change with iOS 11.3.

Apple has added some new ARKit features in the updates slated for release this spring. iOS developer Andrew Hart has already created a demo that utilizes the image recognition tools to identify books on a store shelf while providing reviews and ratings from the internet.

Prepare to be amazed:

All of the image recognition occurs on the device, according to Hart. That might sound like it would take up a lot of data or require you to download a ton of book images, but each image only contains less than 0.5kb of data. So for 1MB you can compare 2000 books.

Other apps like Amazon’s already have a similar feature, but the fact that any developer can access this type of software practically for free should be a huge gamechanger for all sorts of apps.

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