Evgeny Lebedev's attempts to build a multimedia empire out of the Independent continue apace. The latest innovation from the Indie's Northcliffe House base in west London involves a rather newfangled concept called "augmented reality", letting readers see picture galleries and videos by hovering an app called Blippar over an icon in the paper. A rather cheesy ad introducing the idea – dubbed Independent+ – appeared on page two of Wednesday's Indie, exclaiming: "Wouldn't it be great if … Your newspaper updated in real-time? You could give instant feedback to our journalists? Stories could be brought to life with pictures and videos? Now with the Independent+ this can all be possible!" Monkey's younger colleagues may have a firmer grasp of augmented reality, but the multimedia extravaganza does sound awfully like something known as a, er … website.
