The ARIA Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has always been known to lead Sin City in technological innovation, and is furthering that reputation with the release of three new iPhone apps.

The first one, simply dubbed “ARIA,” is an interactive concierge app for guests of the hotel, giving users on-the-go access to news, menus, directions, tickets, weather, special offers and much more within a single app.  User can take advantage of all the complex has to offer directly from the app, including reserving show tickets, booking reservations at the numerous restaurants or navigating the massive grounds.

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I’ve long had a keen interest in Qdero Pateo, a unique startup working on their own brand of augmented reality known as “articulated naturality,” and who’s even released a first-of-its-kind AR-based device called the “Ouidoo Gaian Scene.”

The company today announced its first mobile app known as “Worldlenns,” which is an augmented reality app for the iPhone 3GS that incorporates “SpaceTagging,” a concept pioneered by QderoPateo to allow users to “touch and tag the real world.”

Being called the “first augmented reality fan social interaction tool,” the new app allows users to take a picture, upload it, and even leave a virtual note for other users to see- it’s a social-based augmented reality experience that integrates digital information with the real world.

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Layar, the augmented reality app for iPhone and Android, has announced a plan to monetize its technology through a newly launched content store.

Users will be able to access the content store within the app to purchase and download additional layers of information to add to their “dual-world” experience.

Already launched for Android, the content store includes additional layers from four content partners, with many more planned for the near future.  iPhone users will have access “soon,” the company says.

The idea behind Layar’s new content store is to allow content providers to distribute “extra info to help app users better navigate the real world,” with a perfect example being “Mouse Reality” who’s made a $3.45 Disneyland layer that serves as a pocket and parent-friendly park guide with 2,700 points of interest, including shows, shops, dining options, rides and other attractions.

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QderoPateo is an interesting company we’ve covered here before, specializing in their own brand of augmented reality known as “Articulated Naturality.”  The company is set to launch its very own device known as the “Ouidoo Scene,” that was specifically designed to handle the “merge of real-world environments with augmented reality’s 3D digital features.”

Being the first of its kind, the Ouidoo Scene goes well beyond traditional smartphones to include features like a multi-core CPU and multiprocessor chip system designed specifically to flawlessly handle the rigorous demands of articulated naturality applications.

Paul Saleh, General Partner of Menza Partners LLC and previously acting CEO of Sprint Nextel described it best in saying ”the Ouidoo is the first fully capable augmented reality mobile device with a complete end-to-end platform designed specifically for Articulated Naturality. The Ouidoo from QderoPateo seamlessly blends the physical and digital world in a very natural way. Ouidoo is a giant leap forward in mobile computing that set a standard not only in chipset, hardware and speed, but in its ability to redefine the mobile Internet experience.”

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Samsung unveiled it’s newest US-based smartphone at CTIA today, indicating the company’s new focus on mobile content.

The Galaxy S, as it’s being called, is an Android-powered smartphone that takes into account the three factors Samsung has identified as being the most important with today’s smartphones: screen, speed and content.  The latter of which being what the Galaxy S was designed around.

In a multi-media demonstration and unveiling event today at CTIA, Samsung demoed the intense capabilities of the Galaxy S, which include the company’s latest hardware technologies combined with killer mobile content such as ebooks, full-length video, social networking hubs and augmented reality browsers, just to name a few.

Several prominent features were highlighted during the demo, including the phone’s maps and navigation abilities, an HD video recorder, a “smart alarm” and an augmented reality browser that overlays thousands of points of interest on a map.  Another key feature is its extendability through content partnerships, with Paramount Pictures, for example, the first to sign on to contribute full-length movies to the phone.

Though mobile content was the focus, the device’s hardware is rather substantial as well, boasting a 4-inch display, a “Super Amoled” screen, a 1 GHz processor, a 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording a play-back, TV remote control functionality and 16 gigabytes of internal memory.  The device signifies Samsung’s newly found emphasis on being a major player in the smartphone race, though no mention of pricing or carrier partnerships for its “summer release” were mentioned.

In case you missed it, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, an architect at Microsoft Live Labs, architect of Seadragon, and the co-creator of Photosynth demoed the truly amazing possibilities of augmented reality when integrated with mapping solutions at last week’s TED2010 conference.

The demo highlighted what’s possible with augmented reality, and what Microsoft is doing to leverage the jaw-dropping technology to bolster its mapping solution.  With augmented reality embedded into Bing maps, you’re left with a Google Street View-like interface that goes well-beyond anything offered today.  Things like the ability to walk indoors, look up at the sky to view astronomically correct data, view live-video of the location you’re looking at in maps, and view user-generated content and images layered directly on top of the mapping image are all possible with Microsoft’s new technology.

Of course, the possibilities when integrated with mobile devices will define mobile advertising, social networking and just about any other segment for a long time to come.  It’s an exciting technology and is becoming closer than ever to becoming a reality- or “augmented” reality if you will.  Hit the read more link to view the video, be prepared to be amazed…

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a buzz word you’ll likely hear more and more in regards to mobile marketing these days, and for good reason.  The concept holds the all-to-important “wow factor” needed to engage consumers in an entirely new way, and keep them coming back over and over again.

While still in its infancy, marketing campaigns that integrate augmented reality are becoming more common everyday, and are increasingly mystifying consumers by letting them interact with various brands in a way never before available.  Marketers are quickly taking note and putting the concept to good use.  Accordingly, I wanted to showcase some examples of marketers and brands utilizing augmented reality in really cool ways.

Esquire magazine recently debuted an interactive AR issue of its magazine chocked full of engaging elements made possible by downloading a small piece of software and holding the magazine up to your webcam- see a video of the issue in action here.  Similarly, GE implemented AR into an awareness campaign a while back to show its potential and to improve awareness of its “green planet” agenda.  You simply print out a page with a special image printed on it, hold it up to your webcam and watch the AR magic happen.  See the video here.

Circ.us, a digital marketing agency making heavy use of AR, also created an impressive branding tool for Criss Angel and A&E that involved using AR to allow users to play 3D games using a print-out and their webcam- see a video here, or try it out for yourself.  Of course, it’s hard to mention augmented reality without thinking of Layar and it’s mobile AR browser that takes augmented reality mobile, and provides unprecedented potential for marketers.

These are just a few of many applications for AR that are already in use.  The future is undoubtedly bright for the concept, and as hardware, software and the implementation on mobile devices matures, the wow-factor will only grow larger.