Try a little magic...

So sang an odd little magician on the telly whilst dressed as a yellow pyramid (google tells me they're bringing it back - oh God!). Anything entertained me in the 80s.

Anyway, I digress, this is actually about a different kind of wizardry.

The BBC's new show Merlin (not that I could have possibly watched it though my license fee must have gone to fund it - I'll save the iPlayer rant for later) includes the now usual show website with some extras. One of these extras (see press release here) includes a neat trick that made me think ARG (as they're calling it an augmented reality I'm assuming that this is all toys in cereal boxes stuff rather than involving real interaction - but I've not explored that much, who knows?).

They're distributing cards in cinemas (and other means) that when you hold them up to your webcam display the character of Merlin from the series casting a spell. The magic symbol is also printable, but (of course) the video is region locked to the UK and the software is PC only. If you're in the UK, give it a try and let me know how well it works.

The idea of the interaction of a physical object with the web appealed to me (and it's going to seem like real magic to the kids that watch the show - even the most computer literate kids are going to be impressed by the technical wizardry) and then I checked out the site of the people behind the technology - MagicSymbol see the sample video below.



Mesmerising.

Please someone with a big budget for an ARG do something with this and then send me one - a beer mat with a pint already on it? A great big one on a wall opposite a TV shop so that you see yourself with something looming over your shoulder that isn't really there as you walk past? Or just lend me the money to get business cards printed that display a little 3D me waving or doing my signature funky run (invented by a 4-foot tall Latvian doctor. This is true).