(CNN) -- Blair MacIntyre imagines a world where tiny clouds of information -- Facebook statuses, business cards, Twitter posts -- float above all of our heads.



"Augmented reality" can combine live video with data and information from the Internet.



In some ways, it's not that far from reality.



Advancements in mobile phone technology have cleared the way for a coming wave of "augmented reality" applications that merge the physical world with information compiled about people and places on the Internet.



"When the technology gets there, this stuff could be amazingly useful and mildly terrifying in some ways," said MacIntyre, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who has taught classes in augmented reality for a decade.



The idea of pairing digital information with our real, 3-D environments is not especially new -- think robot-human vision in the "Terminator" movies. MacIntyre even plodded about college campuses in the 1990s wearing a 40-pound backpack and nerdy goggles, trying to make something similar happen.



But as mobile phones become better equipped with GPS systems, which use satellites to locate the phones; compasses, which tell the direction the phone faces; and accelerometers, which relay the device's tilt; the once-lofty idea of augmented reality is being put into the hands of consumers.



Last July in the Netherlands, a company called SPRXmobile released a mobile browser, Layar, that lets people see pieces of this new info-reality through their phone screens.



A Layar user sets his or her phone to video mode, aims it around and sees all kinds of information pop up on the screen: blinking dots on apartments that are for sale, the values of those units, pull-down reviews of the bar up on the corner or details about sales at a nearby retail store. Watch a video demo of the app



This makes information easier to find and helps people make better sense of the physical world around them, said Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, co-founder of Layar.



"I think it will actually get you out more than you would stay at home," he said. "You're not at your couch anymore, you're not at your desk" when you need to find information.



Layar, which bills itself as the first mobile browser that features augmented reality, is only available in the Netherlands and only on certain phones, including Google's Android, T-Mobile's G1 and the HTC Magic. But Lens-FitzGerald said the company plans to announce a global expansion plan on August 17 and will develop an app for the iPhone if Apple changes policies that obstruct developers from creating such applications on that device.



A range of other "AR" apps are in development or are on the market. One, called Nearest Tube, highlights subway routes in New York and London. Wikitude is an app that aims to show people encyclopedic information about nearby landmarks. Like Wikipedia, users can add information to the service. The idea could usher in an era of cell-phone tour guides.



Total Immersion, a French company, developed an app that makes 3-D baseball players spring to life from baseball cards. Users can turn the card to see their favorite players, through a phone screen, from all angles. And at Georgia Tech, researchers are working on video games that may one day make it look like virtual zombies are chasing players down real-world streets.



Alex Michaelis, CEO of Tweetmondo, a site that pairs Twitter posts with geographical information, said he has developed an app that will let mobile phone users see their friends' tweets through the video camera on their phones. He expects it to be available within the month.



"It adds information to your world, and this is what it's all about," he said.



To picture how that service would work, think about walking into your living room in the evening. If a roommate had posted to Twitter from the couch, his or her Tweet would hover in that space when viewed through a mobile phone's video camera.



Michaelis admits the model is a bit clunky for now
What is Augmented reality? what is helping the advance of these technologies? What do AR apps do? What devices are AR apps being made for? what is the Augmented reality?
combine live video with data and information from the Internet. MacIntyre merge the physical world with information compiled about people and places on the Internet. Google's Android, T-Mobile's G1 can combine live video with data and information from the Internet.
question: What is Augmented reality?, answer: combine live video with data and information from the Internet. | question: what is helping the advance of these technologies?, answer: MacIntyre | question: What do AR apps do?, answer: merge the physical world with information compiled about people and places on the Internet. | question: What devices are AR apps being made for?, answer: Google's Android, T-Mobile's G1 | question: what is the Augmented reality?, answer: can combine live video with data and information from the Internet.