This morning, I read an Associated Press piece about a service called Grafedia.

Here's how it works. Advertisers put up a teaser message on, say, a sidewalk or telephone pole. The message is either an e-mail address or the address of a Web page, both mappable to grafedia.net.

With your cell phone in your hand you walk by the advert, and then send a text message to the address listed on the message.

Then, depending on the ad, a bigger ad display will open. Or, perhaps, you'll see a history of the building or neighborhood open up within the display you've just SMS'd.

I was bopping around this morning thinking "kewel," at least up until I told this story to someone who approaches technology from a far more practical mindset than I sometimes do.

"Let me get this straight," the X-chromosomal unit says to me. "I've seen enough ads today already. So when I see this ad on the sidewalk, I am supposed to stop walking, get out my cell phone, and send a text message to the sidewalk so that I can see another ad?

Case closed.