DUALITY from Dream to Reality – A New Magic App Is Born
It was the end of February 2020. We just came back from Blackpool Magic Convention, to discover a totally different world. Covid19 caused harsh changes in our daily life, as well as on the business. Electronic components weren't as available as before, international deliveries were not as quick as before and shipping prices climbed higher and higher. And the demand for magic and mentalism products slowed down. Magicians all over the globe were sitting at home, dreaming of better times. ZOOM became the leading venue all over the globe. We started to give ZOOM shows, in Israel and overseas. We had endless amounts of free time to think about new directions in which to lead both our business, and that of our fellow magicians.
We decided to develop mobile digital products, to create something new and exciting for the magic arena. Something impossible. "I don't know how... the idea of embedding data into a video, while it is running?" says Yaniv Levy, the owner and CTO of Cobra Magic. "It means that a mentalist will be able to receive some “thought-of” in formation while the video is playing, and still show the "predicted" data as part of the pre-recorded video. I thought it was a great idea and started looking for solutions";. 6 different programmers told me that it's impossible, and weren't willing to accept my money and start working. The seventh programmer accepted the challenge. ". I'm not sure it can be done, but it’s worth a try" he said.
At that time, as we were searching for how to accomplish it, we had no inkling that Duality would become “the” talked-of magical app that would revolutionize the arena of video based mobile magic apps. We didn’t dream of a patented technology becoming a reality and couldn't even imagine the amount of interest that would stem from the magicians' side and the creativity that would be shown by users worldwide.
On 1 st January 2021, we launched DUALITY 1.0 in Israel and worldwide. We were surprised by how fast the new app was adopted. Hundreds of magicians bought the app and started surprising us with new concepts and great ideas for new features. Following our dream, the app acted as a catalyst of creative thinking and collaboration among mentalists from all parts of the globe.
In August 2021, we announced a World Championship of Duality videos. Over 40 videos were submitted, from which an eminent team of judges (Marc spelmann-Mr. X, The French Twins, Lior Suchard, Haim Goldenbers, Amit Lustig and Guy Bavli) selected the winners. All the submitted videos were available to Duality users, to empower the imagination and provide more ideas for creative uses of Duality. The success of the competition encouraged us to persevere and add more new features.
Over the next few months, we added the following features:
- Embedding any textual content - not limited to only 2 digit numbers
- A graphic engine that allows pictures and illustrations to be embedded
- D.Vir Mode, suggested by our dear friend Dvir Shabi. This feature enables a hand free presentation, in the event that the “thought of” data is known to the magician before he starts the app (pre-show or any other source). In this case, the mentalist just activates the app and leaves the mobile phone in the volunteer's hands till the end of the presentation.
- Duality Remote Control is a separate app that allows a remote assistant to do "the dirty work of input", leaving the magician totally free to focus on the performance.
- Generic Video Collection prepared by leading magicians such as Nikola Arkane from Northern Ireland and Magic Singh from London. The collection includes both photographed and animated videos, that are ready to perform, about one minute after purchase.
- Easy Mode is a new simplified user interface that makes the setup for a new video just "a piece of cake". It's a 2-3 minute process, and the video is ready to perform.
The resulting upgraded version is now called Duality PRO. Following the feedback we got from magicians worldwide, we added a new, simpler version called Duality Lite. This compact version includes the Easy Mode Menu and the collection of generic videos that is going to be enriched even further in the next few months.
And to make Duality Lite more easily attainable, we have made it available at a no-risk, very low monthly payment. Magicians and mentalists can test it for the cost of just one month, and then decide if they want to continue using it. This model of easy purchase can be stopped by the buyer at any time or changed to a one-time payment.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our exciting experience with Duality, and that you'll decide to join the great list of appreciative users. We would like to involve you in the next stage of Duality:
The Worldwide Generic Video Championship
To spur on creative processes and to enrich the available collection of generic video, we will soon announce the new competition that we plan for this coming summer. So stay tuned and put on your “thinking caps”. These videos must enable mentalists worldwide to perform them with pride. Photography, animation, graphic production, creative sound track. Only the sky is the limit. As usual, there will be generous prizes for the winners.
We are already excited and curious to see the creative crop.
