ladyappapp
Some people collect souvenir spoons or bells..as a child I collected View-Masters. What a better way to remember your trip than by constantly revisiting it in 3D. I can go to Carlsbad Caverns from my couch, the Grand Canyon from my Kitchen and the Great Barrier Reef without getting wet. And not just real places either..I’ve peeped in on Barbie, Bambie and Strawberry Shortcake. The View-Master is a fabulous toy, and no batteries required.
But in a world filled with Navi that practically tickle you with their tails, and 3DSs that are rotting kids eyeballs, what place does the lowly View-Master have? Would it even wow today’s children or would they jadedly laugh at this pint-sized version of a slide projector?
I guess we’ll find out since Hasbro is throwing money into My3D, a View-Master toy that replaces slides with your iPhone and comes with interactive 3D apps 
. Now I was pants peeingly excited about this toy, but I worry what the response will be. The effect is great, no problems there, and I love the idea of being able to take 3D photos with one of the many 3D photos apps 
(even though they don’t REEEALLY work) and show them off to friends, but the usability is still strange and I question where this toy’s place is in relation to competitors. First of all, to play games, you have to slide your thumbs into slots on the underside. It’s an awkward position and doesn’t readily facilitate play. Hasbro is actively courting developers and it’s really time, and sales figures, that will determine the My3D’s success. One intriguing point is that Hasbro left the back camera uncovered, possibly alluding to some future AR abilities. Squeee.
Now as a children’s toy, the View-Master concerns me, but for nostalgic hipster adults it fit like a Cabbage Patch slide in view slow. Case in point – Retrollect 
. This app taps the same nostalgic crowd who are all over Hipstamatic and lets them build slides of their tweets, messages and photos. There’s no real 3D aspect, and frankly I find the fact that it’s developed on Phone Gap intolerable, but it’s a product that clearly will be lapped up like so much PBR.
Both these products are up my alley, but the ultimate question on my mind is the future of 3D on iPhone. With Android phones jumping on the 3D bandwagon, I wonder if iPhone will be a holdout?
