LIKE MANY BOYS, I was obsessed with magic as a 12-year-old. I was that kid who would make your quarter vanish, then pull it from the crook of your elbow. Guests who came over to my family’s house for dinner were an involuntary audience to my 20-minute magic routine during dessert. It ended, dramatically, with a daring escape from a pair of thumbcuffs.

At some point, though, self-consciousness kicked in, and embarrassment barred me from asking friends if they wanted to see a card trick. Instead of becoming the next Doug Henning or David Copperfield, I grew up to be an editor of personal-technology articles.

Luckily, the worlds of magic and gadgets have converged to provide an ideal hobby for me: illusions that require neither a cape nor a wand and instead rely on a prop I always carry with me: a smartphone. Read more…..

http://www.wsj.com/articles/magic-trick-apps-to-unleash-your-inner-david-blaine-1448476092