There’s this new movie coming out, maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s called AVATAR?

James Cameron’s sci-fi juggernaut has been gradually building buzz in anticipation of its December 18th release date. As one of the most anticipated and costly films ever made, AVATAR is bringing the hype—especially with the promotional campaign.

A partnership with McDonald’s was recently revealed that includes sneak peeks of a planned interactive Web site and a Twitter promotion. McDonald’s is pulling out all the stops by incorporating augmented reality into the mix, with “thrill cards” that put customers on Avatar’s home planet. Cool.

The official Avatar interactive trailer is pretty darn cool too. While you watch the trailer, interactive “hotspots” come up where you can learn about the characters. Not to mention the integration of Avatar’s Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube accounts.

It may be the unofficial end of summer (Happy Labor Day everyone!) but Augmented Reality is a tech topic that’s only getting hotter. We’re tripping over stories about new AR applications everywhere we look, but here are a few of our favorites of late:

TechCrunch just covered the latest in augmented reality browsers for mobile phones, including panoramic and bird’s eye zooming. Watch your back, Safari—looks like you’re in danger of becoming tragically unhip.

BMW has channeled AR technology in a crazy innovative way: augmented reality glasses that offer step-by-step audio and visual instructions for repairs. Can AR take the labor out of costly auto repairs? The parts will still get ya.

Everyone was talking about the Yelp augmented reality app that snuck through app store approval recently, including us.

Here’s a game developed at the Augmented Environments lab at Georgia Tech using portable devices that act as a window onto a zombie infested city. It looks really cool and actually pretty playable, but it sure looks like hell on your back!

Official page here

Augmented Reality technology is inherently sci-fi cool, so it would stand to reason that Paramount would use it for their Star Trek Promotions.

In what may actually be a practical application of augmented reality, you can now project a US Mailing box over whatever it is you want to ship, and see what box will be the right size for you.

Check it out here.