Guitar Hero Hack Creates Life-Size Football Interface

Based on recent trends, it appears that Guitar Hero is everyone’s favorite platform to experiment on these days. Fast on the heels of the University of Washington’s muscle memory based interface, we came across this large-scale hack created as part of rock band Kasabian’s upcoming album release. Utilizing freestyle footballers from Woody & Kleiny, the promotion features wall-mounted controls placed in front of a three-story screen. Soccer balls kicked at the life-size panels provide the physical interface for the game within the game. The end result is an impressive (and somewhat chaotic) display of skill and innovative rethink of the Guitar Hero platform.
source umbro & PSFK

Mexico Protests with #internetnecesario and A 300 Person Human Tweet

In response to a 3% tax on broadband access,Mexican citizens began on and off-line protests.

Source PSFK

Our Increasing Portion Size

An interesting article over on Divine Caroline examines a side by side comparison of how food portions have changed over the past twenty years. Historic and current images show off the steadily increasing physical size and calorie count of common foods like pizza, bagels and popcorn along with drinks like coffee and soda. This curious jump in portion size makes us wonder – just how did this all happen?


Source: PSFK

Наталья Степанюк в ForbesWoman

Честным быть выгодно

Мы уже рассказывали, как выиграли тендер на имиджевую рекламную кампанию Альфа-Банка, первую с 2003 года. Нам предстояло решить, что после такого перерыва сказать крупнейшему частному банку в России, одному из старейших в стране. Финансовый кризис усложнил задачу: восприятие коммуникаций аудиторией обострилось, а банковской рекламы стало заметно больше. Заход с "приходите к нам за деньгами" сменился на "несите ваши денежки". Но концепция осталась прежней: наобещать золотые горы и выбрать шрифт поменьше, чтобы перечислить нюансы после звездочки. Проанализировав тренды и поговорив с целевой аудиторией, мы убедились, что откровенный диалог, пусть даже не самый приятный, – более эффективный способ добиться долгосрочных отношений нежели предложение сиюминутной наживы, ведущее к глубокому разочарованию в финале. В основе концепции "Честным быть выгодно" заложена 'win-win' стратегия: клиентам выгодно, когда банк честен с ними, банку выгодно, когда с ним честны клиенты. На то, во что это вылилось, можно посмотреть на улицах российских городов, по ТВ, в Интернете.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Seduce a Suicide Girl App

Seduce a Suicide Girl (iTunes link) is the latest app from the popular alt-erotic website. Following the success of their previous Flip Strip application (it has been downloaded over a million times), the new offering is based on the classic choose your own adventure stories. Players have to navigate a series of choices in order to complete the goal of getting friendly with Zoli Suicide, who you meet in a comic book shop.

Source: PSFK

TrendONE Trendjourney at GRID09

Source TrendONE

This Plastic Bag Dissolves In Water

The November issue of CR (Creative Review) magazine will come in a revolutionary dissolvable bag. The packaging is made out of a water-soluble polymer which completely biodegrades in your sink, dishwasher or shower.



Source: PSFK

University Adds Mandatory Course on Twitter

Austrailia’s Griffith University has added a mandatory course on Twitter to their journalism student’s curriculum. Though it may sound like a joke, the school feels that some young writer’s “tweets” are not as in-depth as they could be. Referring to the journalistic role of Twitter in matters like the recent Iranian protests, the University officials believe that up-and-coming journalists need training in the art of brevity while conveying news.

Source: PSFK

The GOOD 100

GOOD magazine has spent this month posting selections from their first ever GOOD 100 (or so) issue, publishing a new entry every day from their collection of the most inspirational ideas, projects, people, and movements making the world better.

Full list find here

Source: PSFK

Coca-Cola Wants to Know What Makes People Happy

Coca-Cola announced that it is launching a new social media push that will send three bloggers to more than 200 countries in a year, with the goal of uncovering what makes people happy. The social media piece will be part of Coke’s broader “Open Happiness” campaign.

Ambitiously, the around-the-world journey involves stays of just a day or two in each of 206 countries. The three people will be selected via an online vote starting today, Wednesday the 21st. They will spend the entire year traveling while Coke pays their travel expenses and a salary. The travelers will meet with locals, attend internationally-renowned events like the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and ultimately blog about it on Coke’s “Open Happiness” campaign website.

The announcement of the social media campaign will doubtlessly generate publicity and consumer interest for Coke. Additionally, it will be interesting to see what Coke learns from the endeavor – will the bloggers truly deliver on the challenge of uncovering insights of what makes people happy around the world? And will these insights be useful to Coke in engaging with consumers and appealing to their emotions? Remains to be seen…but it just may be an Account Planner’s dream.

Source: http://www.expedition206.com/ and PSFK

Talks John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer

I’ve been telling our search teams for some time, you need results for every second. They laugh at me. I don’t think they understand this. I think we

Ask a Flowchart: Should I Delete My Tweet?

Source: WIRED

Финляндия сделала доступ к Интернету законным правом

Согласно новому постановлению, начиная с июля 2010 года каждый гражданин Финляндии будет иметь право на подключение к Сети со скоростью как минимум 1 Мбит/с. К 2015 году минимальная скорость возрастет до 100 Мбит/с.

Source http://e-xecutive.ru/mstat.asp?91305x56448

Amazing storytelling

Your future interaction with computer is here...

Remember this... history of controllers

And here comes the future

To be here

Source trendone; lionshead;

Учиться, учиться и еще раз учиться: IQ marketing проводит спецкурс по newmedia на факультете журналистики МГУ.

И снова Николай-любитель-поговорить-Хлопов нашел место, где он совершенно спокойно сможет раскрыть некоторые секреты IQ marketing! На этот раз он поделится трендами в области развития новых медиа со студентами факультета журналистики МГУ. Если Вы хотите вспомнить свою студенческую пору или просто интересуетесь медийными трендами, Вам всего лишь нужно самостоятельно попасть в здание журфака… Мы ждем Вас каждый четный четверг в 10.30 в аудитории 220. Схема проезда ниже

Просмотреть увеличенную карту

Если вам интересно посмотреть где мы работаем: офис креативного агентства IQ Marketing:

На просторном чердаке над Яузой работает креативная команда агентства IQ Marketing. Оно входит в десятку лучших независимых агентств мира и уже дважды завоевывало золотого Каннского Льва. Весь материал доступен на lookatme http://www.lookatme.ru/flows/offices/posts/70854-ofis-kreativnogo-agentstva-iq-marketing

«Рекламодатели привыкли считать потребителя овощем» Генеральный директор агентства IQ Marketing Наталья Степанюк Читать материал

TEDxKids: The First TED for Kids

The TED Conference continues to expand its influence, this time with kids. As part of its TEDx Series, the organizers of last week’s TEDxSMU Conference have organized the very first TED Conference for kids. TEDxKids provides junior high-school students from public, private, and charter schools with the opportunity to engage in an experience similar to TEDxSMU.

John Duvenci, an SMU undergraduate civil engineering major and TEDxSMU organizer, explains the inspiration for the event:

“It’s important to get kids interested at an early age and one of the hopes is that TEDxKids will be a meaningful experience for both us and other kids.”

Source TED & PSFK

Конспекты с Picnic Amsterdam 09

Конспекты бывают разные, например так было законспектировано выступление Jeffrey Hayzlett's, который рассказывал про Brand Tranformation Kodak и почему так важно, чтобы бренд использовал Social media:



А эта на презентации Nicholas Negroponte, который рассказывал про проект
One Laptop Per Child:



Source: Esther Gons

Pupils, let's study maths

In the UK the government has launched an online campaign to encourage more children to study maths and science.

It's a smart educational project, with a rare and strong practical focus. The website shows a series of cool aspirational jobs (from game developer to snowboard designer to food technologist) while describing the educational path to start those careers. I like it because it wants children to think (at least for a couple of seconds :) in order to realize the variety and breadth of careers that science and maths qualifications can lead to.

Source: PSFK
web site: http://www.futuremorph.org/scienceandmaths/#/intro

France to Create Network of Electric Car Charging Stations

The French government announced last week that they would dedicate $2,2 billion dollars towards creating a large network of charging stations for electric vehicles. This new initiative will also require all parking lots to contain battery charging stations by 2015, and all new apartment buildings with parking lots to have them by 2012.

Source: PSFK

PICNIC Amsterdam 09

Random acts of kindness are almost always met with a warm reception, whether they're motivated by a game, a hotel's philosophy or the premise behind a clothing brand. Now aiming to make such acts more frequent, New York-based KIND Snacks has launched an effort to use cards to remind people to be kind.

KIND is an award-winning brand of Australian-made all-natural fruit and nut bars from PeaceWorks, a “not-only-for-profit” healthy foods company that hand-produces its bars. Kicked off by the KIND team, the KINDED movement aims to encourage people to surprise others with unexpected kind acts. Those interested can start by getting a card via instructions on the KINDED website. Next, they perform some kind act for someone else, whether it's helping them carry heavy bags, sharing an umbrella or paying for their coffee. When they do, they simply pass on their card to the recipient of their generosity; that person, in turn, can pass it along by doing something kind for someone else. Perhaps most interesting of all, however—particularly in light of what our sister site would call the OFF=ON trend—is that each card that gets passed along has a unique code that can be mapped online, enabling participants to track how far their chain of kindness travels and view kind acts happening around the world.

The KINDED website explains: "KINDED cards are meant to help overcome the social awkwardness of doing unexpected kind acts by serving a 'license' to do the act, and explaining why you are doing it. So, when that person at Starbucks hands you a KINDED card along with [a] coffee, you'll feel comfortable accepting since they're just passing on a kind act that was done for them." More than 700 "KINDINGS" have been performed so far; as extra motivation, the card code with the longest chain of such kind acts by Jan. 29 will win those involved a chance to get a real wish fulfilled.

So many brands over the years have been associated with self-indulgence, with ego gratification and—yes—with downright greed. In this era of widespread consumer disgust with the corporate world, there's never been a better time to focus on the kind!

Website: www.kinded.com

New iPhone app

Too much choice, too little time—it's a constant theme of the information age. There are 60,000 apps available for the iPhone, but the benefits of using personally relevant apps can almost be negated by the amount of time it takes to discover them. 16apps is a new web service designed to streamline the process. The service scours users' Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed or LastFM accounts for information about their hobbies, interests, lifestyle, character and location. It then uses the data to make personalised app recommendations. For instance, if it detects messages or links on a user's profile related to politics, it may recommend an app like "Political Tweets"; if it finds swear words, it has been known to recommend "Rude Ringtones".

Although the functionality of the app has had a mixed reception among the social media crowd, the value in the concept is clear. As consumers experience an explosion of choice in more and more areas of life, recommendation engines are becoming indispensable tools. What makes 16apps particularly interesting is that it doesn't require previous interaction with users in order to discover what they (are) like, since it makes use of openly available data that they've already shared, painting a full picture of their 'digital personality'. It creates an interesting challenge for brands: how to mine the data in a relevant way, without being intrusive or spammy.

Website: www.16apps.com

theblogpaper: The UK’s First User Generated Newspaper

With the long anticipated demise of one of London’s premier free newspapers (thelondonpaper) changing the landscape of how commuting Londoners are consuming printed media, (the capital’s other free newspapers, the London Lite and the Metro, do remain) there has been a perceived opening in the market for other fresher publications to fill the void of the fallen tabloid monolith. And so steps forward theblogpaper, the UK’s first user generated newspaper.

The paper was born from theblogpaper site – a conceptualised online space that allows for users to submit articles and photographs to have them discussed, commented on and potentially printed in what is now a weekly publication. Handed out by polite young chaps at train stations across the capital, theblogpaper effectively combines the mediums of print and digital to create a balance between who controls the media by shifting power from ‘the few’, and then by returning it to ‘the many’.

Free papers such as thelondonpaper have found particular affection amongst the capital’s young commuters, and are the cornerstone of many young Londoner’s print media dietary habits. Quite commonly these papers are the only that they would read day in day out. theblogpaper is an excellent example of how to engage this audience without being overly intrusive as, from Design to Politics to Technology, the paper is a vibrant, young and fresh take on journalism.

An excellent example of the influence of user generated content, theblogpaper continues to grow as questions over the move of taking the blog to the press demonstrates the influence of online journalism in the new age.

Source PSFK

Publicis Worldwide, the global communications group, has launched a new division which will focus on producing "branded entertainment solutions"

Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the private equity firm, has previously predicted that "alternative marketing services", a category which includes branded entertainment, will see revenues grow by 12.6% each year from 2008 to 2013 in the US.
Publicis estimates this sector was worth a total of $24.97 billion (€16.9bn; £15.7bn) in America alone last year, up by 12% on an annual basis, making the country a key market for its new venture,PublicisEntertainment.
As well as dealing with all aspects of the production process from commissioning to transmission, Publicis Entertainment's remit will cover digital and web TV, games, mobile, social networks and films.
Its activity will further extend to driving revenues through exploiting intellectual property, selling related advertising and sponsorship, and securing distribution and syndication deals.
The network will be headquartered in London, and is expected to be rolled out across a number of other major markets in the near future.
Richard Pinder, coo of Publicis Worldwide, said "the relationship between advertising and television production is changing fast: it is now a relationship of equals."
Pinder also argued the company has been "getting more and more interest from clients" in this area, making this "the right business at the right time."
"The three-minute program is slowly joining the 30-second spot as an industry benchmark," he added.
Publicis Entertainment will be led by Marcus Vinton, formerly executive creative director of Ogilvy London, who suggested this channel offers a unique opportunity for marketers.
"Media barter deals and sponsorship will of course continue to help brands shepherd and associate themselves 'around' great television, but by working together we now have the opportunity to communicate directly 'through' great television," he said.
According to a statement, Publicis Entertainment is already working "on a number of major branded content projects with Publicis Worldwide clients", and with production companies including RDF,All3Media, Fremantle and Endemol.

Source WARC

Fashion

Now in beta, Stockholm-based Looklet offers a selection of seven models—each with various facial expressions—38 backdrops and almost 2,000 items of clothing and accessories that can be combined to try out new looks and combinations. All the clothes items are actual, existing pieces selected by stylists from real designers; users need only drag and drop them onto the model of their choice to create their own personal look, which is viewable from multiple perspectives. Once they've created a style they like, they can save it and share it with other users of the site as well as with friends on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. Some 76,000 users have already created more than 600,000 outfits on Looklet, all browsable, searchable and available for remixing.

There's no doubt both Looklet and competitor Polyvore offer the opportunity for fashion brands to engage with their target audiences in a much more compelling way than traditional advertising ever could. While Polyvore provides e-commerce links to enable shopping, however, Looklet currently does not, instead simply providing general links to the designers' sites. Seems to us users will eventually want to convert their dream creations into reality—one to partner with on the e-shopping end to help make that possible? (Related: Fashion blog is street version of shopping mags.)

Website: www.looklet.com

Hard on the heels of our story about ArtPrize comes news of another artistic endeavour that's tapping the power of the crowds. It's not contest-judging that the crowds will have a hand in this time, however; rather, through a microfinance model much like the stock market, consumers can invest in—and profit from—public art projects they like.

Unveiled earlier this year at TED Palm Springs by New York media company Fame Theory, Trust Art is a social platform that aims to commission 10 public works of art over the next year. A select group of artists were invited to propose their dream projects and to realistically assess what it would take to bring their projects to life—including material costs, travel and other logistical expenses. The Trust Art website includes descriptions of those projects and costs, along with current updates. Each project is then assigned a certain number of shares—equal to twice its funding target—and half of those shares are automatically assigned to the participating artist. The rest are put up for sale, and consumers are invited to become shareholders in any project with as little as USD 1, giving them access to the artists and network of shareholders as well as special events. Next spring, each public project will be represented by a private piece of art that will be publicly auctioned. Proceeds from those sales will first go toward paying for the auction and paying back shareholders relative to their individual contributions; after that, the rest will be split 50/50 between the artists and the network of shareholders—again, relative to how much they originally invested.

The initiative's website explains: "Trust Art is a radical experiment in raising capital for social art. Its starting point is the assertion that social art can more easily raise social capital (i.e. networks of people interested in and talking about it), and therefore it should be able to more easily raise financial capital (because this is more easily raised as groups grow). So Trust Art exploits social networks of people (some already connected, some newly connected) to add value to social art."

Ultimately, Trust Art hopes to exist as an ongoing open platform whereby any artist can propose a dream project and get funded by the crowds. One to watch—or get involved with?

Website: www.trustart.org

We’ve all experienced the frustration of meeting someone we’d like to see again—romantic or otherwise—but not knowing how to find them later. Now, for all those occasions there's blinka.me, which aims to give users a second chance to reconnect.

Currently in beta, New Zealand-based blinka.me offers a way to find those we've met just fleetingly at a bar, airport, conference or event, even if we don't know their phone number, email or name. Working on the basis of what it calls "moments"—specific times and places in which a meeting took place—blinka.me uses patent-pending technology to match up the people who met. Users begin by entering the details of their moment, including what happened and something about them and the person they'd like to reconnect with—"you tried to buy me a drink," for example. It's up to them whether to make the moment private or share it with other users, friends and followers to help get a match. Either way, if the other person involved enters the moment as well, both parties get an email notification. The two can then have a safe, private chat through blinka.me and decide if they want to pursue it further, including sharing profiles and personal contact information.

The site's founders explain: "We can see a language and culture developing around this—for instance, you see an old colleague at the airport but are rushing to get to your gate so you say, 'hey, blinka me and we can connect and catch up.' It works because you’ve run out of cards and you don’t remember his name! At a bar you see the girl of your dreams but you're too nervous ask for her number so instead you just say, 'hey, blinka me and maybe we can catch up later'."

blinka.me's challenge, of course, will be creating enough awareness of the site to make it likely that both parties in an encounter will enter the moment. Toward that end, the site's five-person team is currently seeking others interested in working on the project. One to get involved in early...?

Website: www.blinka.me

New iPhone app

Road warriors may enjoy virtually unlimited choices when it comes to finding a place to work, but by no means are those options all equal: wifi availability, noise levels and even the quality of the coffee served can all have a big impact on a mobile worker's productivity.

That's where WorkSnug comes in. The mobile application uses augmented reality to show users what workspaces are nearby along with reviews of their offerings. The WorkSnug team checked hundreds of spots—from small cafes to formal co-working spaces—and reviewed them on such factors as wifi access, power supply, noise levels, community feel and—yes—even the coffee. Mobile workers simply launch the application on their iPhone 3GS and use the phone to scan what's around them. The application then displays the information it has about what's nearby; there's also an option for users to add reviews of their own.

Created in association with headset maker Plantronics, the free app is coming soon for London and San Francisco, with data for other cities coming later this year. Meanwhile, more information is available via Twitter. One to watch! (Related: ING app for Google phone uses compass and camera to show nearest ATM.)

Website: www.worksnug.com

Augmented Reality

Innovative startups managed to scoop up some hefty cash prizes in Amsterdam on Friday. In addition to RidgeBlade winning EUR 500,000 in the Green Challenge, augmented reality browser Layar bagged EUR 75,000 in Vodafone's Mobile Clicks contest.

Layar is a free mobile browser that displays digital information over the real world image that a user views through his or her mobile phone. By turning on Layar and pointing her phone's camera at a row of houses, for example, a user can see prices and details for houses that are on sale, can easily find nearby Thai restaurants or—in case of a cardiac emergency—locate the closest defibrillator. Besides layering practical information, the Dutch application is also being used to create games that mix real and imagined worlds.

Developed by the same team that created ING's ATM finder, Layar presents endless opportunities for entrepreneurs aiming to reach, help, entertain and delight consumers wherever they are. One to check out, if you haven't already! Layar is currently available for phones that run Android, with a version for iPhone 3GS to follow soon. (Related: iPhone app uses augmented reality to help road warriors find a place to work.)

Website: www.layar.com

Driving Academy for children

Does teaching children to drive make them better drivers as adults? Mercedes-Benz thinks so. This summer saw the launch of its Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy in the UK, which teaches anyone over 10 years and 1.5 metres tall the basics of manoeuvring a car.

With packages tailored to different age groups, the Academy aims to show young people the ins and outs of driving, rather than the minimum needed to pass a test. Children aged 10–14 are taught the basics of road safety and car handling, taking an A Class out for a half-hour spin for GBP 40. The 'Pre-Road Sessions', meanwhile, are targeted at 15–17 year-olds and delve a little deeper into the theory of driving, the traffic code and dealing with emergency situations. Prices start at GBP 75 for a one-hour track session. A 3-hour, GBP 205 'Parent-Partner Package' is designed to improve parents' confidence and patience when teaching their child how to drive, no matter how hair raising the experience may be. Last but not least, those over 17 are also catered for: there's a full driving test package available to assist with passing the theory and practical test.

Mercedes-Benz isn't alone in offering a service like this: we spotted BMW and Audi offering driving lessons a while back as part of the status skills trend. However, the Mercedes scheme adds a clever twist by engaging kids with its aspirational brand. With a bit of luck, they'll lust after MB cars throughout their teens and twenties, purchasing one when they can afford to do so. Or else cajole their parents into buying so they can happily travel in a Merc back seat.

Website: www.mbdrivingacademy.com

Green Challenge winner

RidgeBlade is a wind-power system that can be fitted to buildings with minimum visual impact and maximum energy conversion potential. This micro-generation system employs discreetly housed cylindrical turbines positioned horizontally along the apex of a sloping roof. The slope of the roof naturally channels wind into the turbine chamber, meaning RidgeBlade can "produce electricity under low or variable wind conditions." This high efficiency means that the system could pay for itself within a few years.

Designed by a former Rolls Royce turbine engineer under the wing of UK-based The Power Collective, RidgeBlade is one of six finalists in the Dutch Postcode Lottery's Green Challenge. Director Dean Gregory presented the design to judges today at Picnic '09 in Amsterdam. If they are successful, the team will receive a EUR 500,000 grand prize (or EUR 100,000 if they are one of the two runner-ups) to help them bring the design to market within the next two years. It's a rapidly accelerating industry—one to get involved in now! (Related: Urban windmills.)

Update 25 Sept 2009 | RidgeBlade won the EUR 500,000 Green Challenge Prize! "It's beyond a dream,” said English entrepreneur Dean Gregory when Skype founder Niklas Zennström, a contest juror, announced his name. "This means we can focus solely on bringing this to market." Gregory entered the Challenge on behalf of the English company The Power Collective Limited—after finding out about it two days before the deadline.

Website: www.thepowercollective.com

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