NY Times Combines Crossword Puzzles with Augmented Reality on Instagram
The New York Times has made available on its Instagram account a filter that transports the traditional pastime of crossword puzzles to augmented reality. The initiative came about through a partnership between the newspaper and Facebook.
The filter called Shattered Crosswords takes the newspaper's pastime and puts it in a puzzle-style setting like Polysphere, requiring the player to move the cell phone camera so that the pieces displayed on the screen form the letters of the crossword puzzle in augmented reality.
The player can also use their fingers with pinch movements to zoom or even rotate the challenge.
A little of history
The New York Times crossword puzzle section has been published since 1942. This came after more than two decades of the newspaper accusing others of wasting time and space publishing them. Since then, it has become one of the most innovative. Every day, thousands of readers buy the paper just to do them.
The success is so great that the newspaper managed to double its number of subscribers in 2018, simply by making its entire collection of crossword puzzles available on mobile devices. At the time, the newspaper reached the incredible mark of 2,8 million subscribers around the world. Playing crossword puzzles in augmented reality is simple, just access the The New York Times official account On Instagram, click on the filter tab and then save it to your account. For now, the application is only available in English. It may also come out in Spanish, which is widely spoken in the US – Portuguese is unlikely.
For those who prefer to enjoy NYT crosswords in a traditional way through the Crossword app available at App Store e Google Play. The app has a free mode with timed challenges, as well as the option of new challenges for subscribers.
Partnership with Facebook brings together AR and Journalism
The crossword puzzle filter is just a taste of what the company aims to achieve with the future of augmented reality. The New York Times and Facebook recently partnered to produce a series of exclusive reports on Instagram that would use augmented reality to expand reader interaction.
Among the materials, the owner of Instagram developed a filter for the newspaper to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, as well as report filters that use AR to illustrate how coronavirus particles spread through the air, or even how the flames from the fires caused in California affected the environment.
In addition to journalism, augmented reality has been explored by several companies to bring solutions to everyday life. Recently, Samsung announced that it is working on a solution that uses the technology. to find lost cell phones. Google also explores the technology in projects ranging from its use in online shopping, to the video recording and the interaction with Star Wars characters for entertainment.
Street: Tech Crunch
