This is one example of how AR (augmented reality) can be used in a large retail store:

In this particular case, it's an example of a customer being guided to a particular screw in a large hardware store.

The company, which is called Hyper, is also working to expand their product to other physical locations, such as malls, campuses, airports, and hospitals. And broadly speaking, their mission is to "build the digital layer for the physical world."

Where they have started seems to make a lot of sense. If I'm in a large hardware store and I'm trying to find a very specific product, I'd be more than happy to pull out my phone and have it guide me there.

I could also see myself pulling out my phone if I were standing in Yosemite National Park and I wanted to know all of the important points-of-interest. So from these perspectives, AR seems obviously useful.

But these are discrete moments in time. I'm looking for something right now, help me. And this is arguably how we will all start regularly using AR -- with our phones for brief periods of time.

But at some point, it is likely to become more seamless and constant. Maybe that sounds far fetched (or completely undesirable). But I'm still hoping that this becomes possible with a cool pair of sunglasses.