London's Tech Scene Gets Its Own App

See what's going on in the tech-centric East London.

London's burgeoning tech scene now has its own application for iPhone and Android. The app, published by HM Government but powered by Mobile Roadie, is designed to allow people like you and me to keep up with the latest goings on in and around the tech hub in East London. However, the Tech City app isn't just any old news application. The App Side reports that the application also makes use of augmented reality technology from Autonomy.

"It seems absolutely right that Aurasma – a technology developed here in the UK by Autonomy – has been chosen to enable this Tech City app," Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch is quoted as saying. "Aurasma is going to bring a whole new dimension to Tech City, bringing physical locations to virtual life and allowing visitors to see and interact with the area in a completely new visual way."

If the name Autonomy sounds familiar it's because HP just purchased the company for $10 billion in August of this year. Autonomy utilizes a number of different technologies borne out of research at Cambridge University for the development of a variety of enterprise search and knowledge management applications. Former HP CEO and President Léo Apotheker said at the time that HP hoped the acquisition of Autonomy would help "accelerate" HP's enterprise software business. The deal, expected to close by the end of this year, is worth $10.3 billion, which equals $42.11 per share for Autonomy.

It's not yet clear what the AR features of the Tech City application will be (we've had a poke around the Android version and we're a bit lost), but if you figure it out, let us know in the comments. The app description on the Android market seems to allude to it with the line, "Most exciting of all, drop in to Tech City itself, and take a look around..." However, we couldn't seem to find the right path to that feature.