Print magazines have included online extras for years, but not quite in the way Time Out New York has done it with the publication’s latest issue of TONY Kids. In the August edition of the magazine, one of the articles includes a video extra that can be viewed through the Junaio browser on either an iPhone or an Android device. Point your phone camera at the article, and the relevant video launches. Presto. Instant multimedia from the flat pages of your printed periodical.
Unfortunately, from the video demo posted on YouTube, it doesn’t look like the augmented reality (AR) application is as seamless as one might hope. Users have to go through the Junaio app and then drill down into an additional content channel before any specific video is accessible. It would be just as easy to access a multimedia RSS feed with the latest video clips from TONY Kids; no AR or camera required. However, the concept is cool. And if it isn’t as easy as point and click yet, well, it’s still early days for AR.