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Design

New App Lets You 'Hide' Secret Digital Messages IRL

This new messaging app that wants to take social media to the streets— literally.

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By inserting digital content into the physical world, a new messaging app called Traces is attempting to solve the problems of 'passive' social media. Simply select some digital content— anything from a text to a GIF to the latest episode of Game Of Thrones—and use the Traces app to assign it both a physical location and specific recipient; once present, the content, which comes in the form of a big, floating, augmented-reality bubble only visible when looking through the app—can be "popped" open, activating the media.

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Explained Beau Lotto, the CEO of Traces developer Ripple Inc., to New Scientist, "Facebook and WhatsApp broadcast frequent, out-of-context information that's of very little value to you, leaving you a completely passive receiver."A reaction to the possibility that digital communication is changing the way people talk to each other, "Instead of reading tweets in a random location you can choose the location to add context to your delivery." There exists a plethora of writing on the subject of the the negative effects of screen-to-screen communication— Traces hopes to step in and reconcile the world's smartphone addiction with the need for contextualized communication.

Although these are lofty goals for such a foray into augmented reality, if Traces catches on, it might inspire the beginning of a new breed of social media. Its description suggests you, "Give your street a soundtrack," or, "Tag your classroom with a hidden video," opening up the possibilities for art-in-communication.

We envision it being used for special music features for festival-goers, breadcrumb trails of content that lead to secret parties, and ephemeral public art shows. Just like the burgeoning content-makers using Snapchat to make short-lived work go viral, Traces taps into our nascent fascination with digital content that doesn't last forever— memories that live on as, well, traces.

Traces is currently only available in the UK App Store, but as soon as it opens up in the rest of the world, you'll be able to get it hereh/t New Scientist

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