A growing number of museums are working mobile technology into their storytelling options.

Museums have traditionally struggled with the challenge of being able to tell the story behind the objects and exhibits within a limited amount of space, but the use of augmented reality could be providing them with the chance to accomplish this goal with greater ease and effectiveness.

The struggle has been with the limited amount of space and resources in which to provide information.

For instance, little plaques may offer the ability to identify an object or provide a line or two of background, but they don’t offer any real depth of discovery. Moreover, if too much text is provided, the majority of people who visit the exhibit will not read the entire thing, negating its value. While attempts have been made to provide audio and video, or to give actual guided tours, there is some expense involved – and museums are notoriously cash strapped – and not everybody is interested in this type of fixed experience. Augmented reality is now offering an entirely new option and museums are taking notice.

Augmented reality allows a smartphone or tablet user to aim the device at a designated point and watch a scene come to life.

This AR experience provides a type of interactive, digital storytelling, which brings together the participation of the visitor with the automatic generation and narration of a story, in order to concentrate on providing the museum guest with a more personal and mobile version of the story. It is a convenient, fun, and educational form of entertainment. It is highly adaptive and provides the user with an experience that is more enjoyable, overall, than the button-activated or handheld audio tools that are much more standard.

The British Museum has managed to use this form of augmented reality storytelling for a very effective result. The technology was used, in this case, to bring children through a form of story puzzle that was displayed through the use of a dedicated tablet app that was designed in the form of a game. The “A Gift for Athena” game provided the visitor with rewards for having found certain statues based on their outlines, and, upon each discovery, gave the child more information about that exhibit before providing him or her with guidance to move on to the next stage of the game.

This free device has been designed to encourage shoppers to purchase a lot more than they otherwise would.

Amazon has just launched its latest mobile gadget in the form of the Dash, a handheld device that is meant to make it a great deal easier for consumers to be able to add items to their shopping lists.

This device is currently available only by invitation, but it is being handed out for free.

According to the website, Every member of the family can use Dash to easily add items to your AmazonFresh shopping list.” The mobile gadget simply needs to be directed at the barcode on an item in the kitchen that is running low – perhaps the bottle of ketchup, the jar of peanut butter, or a box of cereal, for example – and press the scan button. The device retrieves the information about that product from its barcode and sends it to the cloud. Then, the next time an AmazonFresh order is made, the scanned items will already be on the shopping list.

Even without the barcode, this mobile gadget can receive voice instructions.

If the item isn’t handy, if the package has already been tossed, or if you’d just like to add it and you didn’t previously have it in your kitchen, the user simply needs to press the microphone button and tell the device what is wanted. Voice recognition software will allow the device to be able to interpret what is being said so that it can be added to the shopping list.

The Dash gadget is meant to work alongside AmazonFresh, which is the grocery delivery service from Amazon. It is currently available in Southern California, San Francisco, and Seattle, only. The device works by connecting to the WiFi network within the home in order to add the various desired items directly onto the shopping list for that service. Then, later on, a computer, tablet, or smartphone can be used to review the order, edit it, and complete it so that the items can be shipped to the home.

At the moment, the only way to obtain this mobile gadget is by receiving an invitation that includes a code that must be entered in order to request it – for free – online.