MAGIC MIRROR

Make a know-it-all animated reflection that talks back.

BY AL LINKE

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STEP RIGHT UP: It detects your presence, cracks jokes, automates appliances, streams your tweets, and knows you’ve had one too many. The author exhales.

Photograph by Sam Murphy

Who’s the fairest of them all? Ask the Magic Mirror, which plays prerecorded animations keyed to real-world data like how close you’re standing, the current weather, stock market data, even alcohol level readings from an onboard breathalyzer.

Touch a magic “weather” spot on a rainy day, and a courtly visage greets you with, “Rain I see, in all its glory. When will it end? Ask tomorrow, for ...

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