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Road Rage Gone Awry

Monday links

June 3, 2013 at 5:09PM

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Not that these things usualy go well, of course. Enough Russian dashcam video! Here's the latest from Ukraine:

ERR Here's a local headline they might want to reword.

TECH The colors of the Google Glass unit will be: Charcoal. Shale. Cotton. Tangerine. Sky. So, black, grey, white, orange, blue? Probably. I think this guy is kidding:

Sigh.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Actually, I do, but within limits. DKNY has a new "augmented reality app," which works like this: "hover over select DKNY images where you see the DKNYfx logo and bring them to life launching exclusive video content and more." So not all DKNY images that have the DKNYfx logo. Screenshot:

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The icons on the bottom say My Auras, Super Auras, and Location Auras. Apparently you can make, or use, or look at, business cards based on the famous works of famous painters. It uses the "Aurasma Technology," the app site says. Well, that leads to this.

So you stand there looking at a little video that was triggered by a bus shelter ad? Great way you get your pocket picked in a big city.

I'm not trying to be curmudgeonly Luddite about this - on the contrary. It's not enough, and that what makes it frustrating. It's like knowing that IMAX 3D is inevitable, and someone's showing you this little thing he invented where the pictures appear to move when you spin it around and look through a mirror. Eventually it won't be glasses, but contact lenses. Transparent displays that will show you all sorts of things, from ads to heads-up display information about traffic or menus or people's online profiles. They will be hacked so people can redesign the environment as they please, making everyone look blue, or making the world look black and white, or whatever you like.

I don't see that not happening. The worst part will be wondering whether the person to whom you're talking is seeing the same world as you're seeing, but we'll get over that. Augmented reality is the end of shared reality, but we'll get over that too.

MAD MEN Among the interesting revelations in last night's episode - which included the hallucinatory power of hashish - was the confirmation of the Megan = Sharon Tate theory. Based on her shirt. She was at the hippie party. And then there was the soldier. Also a reference to "Sunset Boulevard." THEREFORE twins, and also Don is sick. Right? Make sense?Here's my theory about "Mad Men" - no theories are necessary. There's no meaning to any of it, although you're free to read as much as you can into the random motions the characters make as their lurch through their lives. Everyone's wondering about the Deep Meaning and Secret Subterranean Messages of the "twins" and "double identity" plotlines, but what if nothing comes of it? What if nothing shocking happens to Megan? What if it doesn't conform to everyone's desire to make it an arty soap? In other words, what if Weiner intentionally drained everything of any overall point just so everyone could pour whatever they wished into the nice shiny vessel?

That's my theory, anyway.

Related: Here's a round-up of the ads that offended Australians, including one that tried to raise brand awareness of a Blonde beer with blonde people, so, Nazis. Of course Nazis.