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Could the View-Master be getting a major tech upgrade soon?

By Salehuddin Bin Husin - on 9 Feb 2015, 11:21am

Could the View-Master be getting a major tech upgrade soon?

 Everybody born in the last century knows what a View-Master is. If not by name, then definitely by sight.

The View-Master was the companion of many kids born last century. In a time when even cameras were rare, View-Masters allowed kids to pretend to have their very own pseudo-cameras that also functioned as toys and lets them view cartoon slides! That's as close to win win as you can get as a kid.

But did you know that it wasn't even originally meant as a toy? In fact, when it was created in 1939, it was envisioned as an interactive postcard of sorts. Cameras were still prohibitively expensive (not to mention bulky) at the time. The View-Master originally showed scenic shots of various tourist spots in America. It only because more family focused after the manufacturer gained the Disney license. The rest as they say, is history. Today, the View-Master is still being manufactured and sold to children of all ages. Still, the device is clearly showing its age. Since its inception nearly a century ago, the device has hardly evolved from its original purpose, with only mainly cosmetic changes to it over the years.

That might be changing in the next few days. Mattel and Google have teased the world with the image below, sent to certain press organizations ahead of the New York Toy Fair 2015, to be held this weekend.

Normally, something like this wouldn't be such a big issue. After all, Mattel is a toy manufacturer and it's announcing a new toy at a toy fair? Hardly surprising. But when you add in Google to the mix, then you have something intriguing, especially when that tease might have something to do with a View-Master.

Is Mattel unveiling a new View-Master model with AR capabilities? A massively watered down and mass produced version of Google Glass perhaps, meant for the kids, with the View-Master brand attached?

Or is it a new View-Master that has more in common with Google Cardboard? Google Cardboard's pretty much similar to a View-Master, at least in theory. You look through lenses in a device to see pictures. It doesn't take a huge leap to see that Mattel might be updating their View-Master products to incorporate some of the ideas from Google Cardboard, if not make the View-Master into an officially sanctioned version of the Cardboard.

Either way, we'll be finding out what's up later this week.

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