I've Seen the Future...or Have I?

The December '09 issue of Esquire presents...according to the cover...a "living, breathing, moving, talking magazine." Buy the magazine, download the software, hold the marker up to your compuer webcam, and Robert Downey Jr. is comin' at ya! Here's a video that tells you how it works.



A lot of people (including a majority at BRC Imagination Arts) believe that museums, science centers, brand centers and theme parks will soon be using augmented reality to add a new, exciting dimension to the guest experience.

We bought the magazine. We tried it out. We were...underwhelmed. What happened here is what often happens when people who know one medium well dabble in another medium -- they treat the second medium as a gimmick, rather than a tool.

As I played with the magazine, I was reminded of the scene in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie finally gets his hands on his Little Orphan Secret Decoder Ring. He decodes his first secret message, and it's "Drink Ovaltine." An AD! The radio show used this new piece of technology to deliver a commercial! That's what this felt like.