Rolling Stone embraces augmented reality for Arno Carstens video

Readers are also able to share the story with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

This interactive cover is a first for Rolling Stone South Africa, which partnered Jarvis, a start-up augmented reality creative agency based in Cape Town, and Layarstudio - Cape Town-based AR developer and affiliate of Layar international.

"It is great to be working with an iconic brand like Rolling Stone," said Faiek Ceres, director of Jarvis. "To see one of our icons embracing technology like augmented reality gives us hope that Jarvis is on the right track. We would like to see more and more augmented reality becoming available in South Africa."

Download the "Layar" app

To activate the cover and watch Carsten's new "Two Dogs" video, download the "Layar" app - from either the iTunes Store (for iPhone and iPad) or the Google Play Store (for android devices) - to your smartphone or tablet device, point it at the cover and "tap to view".

Rolling Stone's own technology evangelist and tech editor, Bradley Shaw, said that the first time he saw the technology at a Qualcomm-hosted event in San Diego, California, back in 2010 he couldn't wait for the commercial deployment of this type of technology in South Africa. "Qualcomm have been pioneers of augmented reality and having seen how AR can be used in education, health care and other industries is certainly something we will see in the future. I also believe that this has great opportunities for Rolling Stone to offer something different to advertisers in South Africa. Imagine being able to load an entire catalogue onto a single ad? Well you can now with this AR technology."