magic wands: new AR app allows for “enchanting translations”. casting better spells getting easier with every roll.

This year’s worthiest sequel to the Harry Potter series may be an app. Word Lens debuted on potentially millions of screens just in time for the final holiday shopping weekend. The timing of magical elves from the north pole.

Using either the short-range Apple Touch or long-range Apple iPhone the new augmented reality app Word Lens allows users to point their hand at a sign written in an unfamiliar tongue and “presto change-o!,” their eyes are enchanted: they can now navigate a foreign world. (The World Lens site asks, rhetorically: “Why are people calling Word Lens the magic arrival of the future?”)

The translations will be fairly accurate for as long as there’s money to be made in global markets. That is, for a while. Every language costs a few dollars more. Dialects to follow shortly, no doubt.