Another reason why you want to sprinkle some mixed reality around the neighborhood: all those futuristic technologies you've been reading about -- AR, VR, IoT -- are still trying to claw their way out of the vaporware swamp. 

So it's a legitimate question: Is all this mixed reality stuff bullshit or what?

Ironically, the worst people to ask are the folks who are already deep into these technologies. They're already committed and conflicted. For them, it's already a career choice. 

The insiders are in too deep. The skeptics are often just as committed to the status quo, or simply ill-informed, or reluctant to be the naysayers. Nobody wants to be the person who puts down the next Twitter, or Instagram, or, to go way back, the internet.

So... declare a tie? Try to play it right down the middle?

Not this time. You want to try these technologies out for yourself. Take some of them out for a spin -- to see if they've enabled something fresh, something that gives you a new view, a new angle. 

One problem with this approach: You have very little experience with hardware -- real stuff that you hammer, measure, and saw. Hardware.

You would be working from a standing start...

For example, here are your available measuring tools, found around the house:

• An old hardware store yardstick, from when they used to give them out for free.
• A Viking History Ruler and a British History Ruler.  

Below, a closeup of the yardstick. No metric in sight. 

And here's the Viking History Ruler: 

Measures inches, cm's, and the rise and fall of the Vikings. 

You have a long way to go.