Researchers unveil their progress on augmented-reality print books

One feature that many ebook adopters like is the ability to access supplemental information from the very same page they're on — such as finding background information or a word's definition.

Researchers at a British university are close to making that a reality for print readers, too.

The Guardian reports that "augmented-reality books" (or a-books) have been in development for about six years at the University of Surrey.

What that looks like currently is ultra-thin solar panels embedded between two halves of a sheet of paper; a "magic bookmark" must be laid onto the page for a user to be able to swipe on words, which then sends additional information to another device like a smartphone or TV.

Read more about the a-books and their magic bookmark in the Guardian.

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