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Ikea augmented-reality app helps prevent sofa shock

Retailer's app uses augmented reality to help ensure that your new table or chair fits just as nicely in your home as it does in your imagination.

Aloysius Low Senior Editor
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
Aloysius Low
Ikea

When purchasing a giant Ikea shelving system, there's always that concern it will turn your living room into a habitrail. Ikea's 2014 Catalogue app offers a new augmented-reality function to help you ensure that what you're buying is just the right size.

To use the free Android or iOS app, you just need to place a printed copy of the catalog booklet in the room you want to decorate. Using the camera on your phone or tablet, the app then captures an image of the room, using the catalog as a size guide, for the virtual furniture that you can place in the room.

Since the app uses the front cover of the catalog as a reference, it's likely you can use a printed copy of the Ikea catalog cover instead of having to bring along an entire book. Here's a link to the 2014 Catalogue. Check out the video below for more information.

(Source: Crave Asia via Dezeen)