A new Kickstarter campaign has introduced the world to Prynt, an automatic printing attachment for your phone that will create a physical version of any photo in an instant. But it does more than that. It also takes a video at the time of taking the photo, so when a smartphone with the app scans over the physical copy, it plays the original video it made.
It is the first time printing and augmented reality have been combined, much less in a consumer device meant for personal use. It is meant to give your photos more versatility and depth, letting you print them on the go for anyone, but also see a more expanded view of the original.
TechCrunch described this product as “a Snapchat you could hand off to someone”, which is the perfect way to put it. That is exactly what you are doing, creating a video that you can print and hold, with nothing more than a simple app download necessary to view it.
Just imagine creating little video shorts and handing them out as mementos for special events, for example. You could make customized photos that turn into personalized videos for very person who attended.
You will be able to frame these shots, then hold your phone over the frames to see what is contained within that simple image. A remarkably poetic idea, if you think about it.
It works by recording the video from the time you snap the photo, until you stop it. At that point, the video is uploaded immediately to their cloud with a signature that helps it identify the original. When the camera scans over the photo in the app, it tracks down that signature in the cloud and plays the clip that was generated alongside it.
Right now, you can get one of these cool gadgets for $99. Which isn’t bad for a photo printer in general, much less one that gives you decent prints anywhere from your phone, which has become the average person’s digital camera.
The only downside is how little paper comes with it. They give you 10 sheets with the order, but you have to add $25 to each pledge to get 50 sheets at each level. Refill packs are $5 for 10 sheets, so it is a cool idea but not super affordable at the moment. That will probably change fast once the mainstream gets a hold of it and it starts being manufactured on a mass scale. Or other companies come out with their own version, which you know is only a matter of time.
Source: Kickstarter
