Thursday, December 31, 2009

OLED Wallpaper To Render The Light Bulb Obsolete?



Welsh company LOMOX Ltd. has been awarded £454,000 grant from the UK’s Carbon Trust organization to further develop its organic light emitting diode technology (OLED), bringing hyper-efficient lighting solutions to homes, businesses and roadways. The technology uses electrical current to stimulate chemicals on a surface to produce light and only requires between three to five volts to run, making it 2.5 more efficient than current energy saving light bulbs. Due to its flexibility, OLEDs have the potential for numerous applications from lighting virtually any display – TVs, computers and mobile phones – to entire walls and road signs, and can be powered by greener alternatives such as solar.

And while the OLED technology has been around for several years, concerns over its overall costs and durability have proven to be obstacles to its widespread adoption, challenges that LOMOX believes it has overcome. Assuming that’s the case, the company hopes to roll out the first applications – for outdoor signage and displays – by as early as 2012.

Tesla Christmas Tree



Christmas may be over, but I had to share this amazing Tesla Christmas tree. Measuring a huge nine meters (thirty foot) high, the Christmas ‘Tree’ was created using 500,000 volts of electricity and a ‘lightning machine’, or Tesla coil.

West-Australian-based consultant physician (and amateur physicist) Peter Terren is behind the festive, power-hungry electrical theatre, first making international headlines in April 2009, when he posed as Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ whilst channelling an electrical current beneath a semi-circle of sparks. Based on an earlier electrical creation in 2007, the ‘tree’ only looks like white sparks to the naked eye, photographed above using long-exposure.

Sneaker As Controller: adidas Builds An Augmented Reality 3D Virtual World



Adidas will be equipping their newest line of mens’ sneakers with the technology of augmented reality; users will have to hold up the tongues (holding the embedded code) of their sneakers to their computer’s webcam. Out pops a virtual 3-D world that they can navigate using their sneaker as the controller to alter the depth of view and angle of their experience. The global shoe brand plans to release three more augmented reality games (a skateboard game, a Star-Wars-like game and a music-based game) all built by developer xForm, adding more life force to this virtual neighborhood. The shoes will be available from February 2010.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Новый год в IQ

Как известно, лучшие вечеринки мы устраиваем для себя. В этом году мы осознали, что важно не только "КАК Новый год встретишь", а и "С КЕМ Новый год встретишь". И пригласили своих любимых клиентов и друзей в гости на нашу новогоднюю вечеринку. Близких друзей набралось вполне прилично. Кто почему-то не успел или не смог приехать – ждите следующего праздника, смотрите и завидуйте



















Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Еще раз раздеть брюнетку


Наверняка многие видели рекламу "Голое КАСКО" (ссылка) с женщиной, выбрасывающей из окна машины красное платье. Наверняка многим она показалась смутно знакомой… Наверняка многие до сих пор пытаются вспомнить, где они ее видели. Ответ: в ролике «Лифт» из нашей кампании для Альфа-Банка "Честным быть выгодно" . Там эта женщина снимала платье в лифте. И очень впечатлила "АльфаСтрахование". Так кампания нового продукта "КАСКО, в котором нет ничего лишнего" с легкой руки IQ marketing превратилась в "Голое КАСКО".

Friday, December 18, 2009

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Google & QR codes


Every day it's a little less clear where the online world begins and the offline world ends—or vice versa. Case in point: a new effort just launched by Google uses window decals to help the most searched-upon local retailers forge online connections from the bricks-and-mortar store.

How it works? As part of its Favorite Places on Google effort, the search giant has identified more than 100,000 local businesses in the U.S. that are searched upon most often by users. They include restaurants, stores and other establishments in more than 9,000 towns and cities across the nation, and each one of them will soon receive a window decal from Google featuring a scannable QR code. Patrons and other passers-by can then scan that code with any of hundreds of mobile devices—including iPhone, Android phones, BlackBerry and more—and be taken directly to that business's Place Page on their mobile phone. There, they can find reviews and coupons or "star" the business as one they want to remember for later; soon, they'll be able to leave reviews as well. Apps that can read the QR codes include the USD 1.99 QuickMark app for iPhone users.

Art Installation Made From 10,000 American Apparel Shirts


Sure American Apparel has always considered it’s Tees art- but now the artists themselves have begun to use them as a medium. For this year’s Shenzhen Biennale, Los Angeles based design group Ball-Nogues Studio have come up with a full-scale installation using 10,000 AA shirts. The result is something one part Cristo, one part pure downtown LA.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Housekeeping goes social (and mobile)


Branded iPhone applications need one characteristic to be successful and appreciated by consumers: they need to be useful and, possibly, worth talking about to friends. The insight the used and the service they want to provide is pretty good: a guide to stain removal, an application that helps consumers finding and sharing solutions for stains.

Esquire uses AR gimmick to generate buzz

This week you might have heard already of Esquire's Augmented Reality issue. The video below explains the action. Basically the print magazine gets interactive: when you point the QR code to your webcam a world of additional multimedia content is unveiled.

В IQ успешно клонировали 50 человек для проекта Scribbler.ru


Yas Hotel: The World’s Largest LED Project



Draped in over 5,000 LED fixtures, the recently completed Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi is an impressive spectacle.

The Yas is made up of two 12 story buildings which sit right on top of a Formula-1 race track. Designed to resemble a local fisherman’s net, the LED canopy can produces multi-colored light shows, and play low-res video clips.

Source: PSFK

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Getting It Right: Wales Launches Helpline For Ignored Children



Getting it Right is a new plan launched by the Wales Assembly government to support children in having their voices heard. The government funded helpline will support children when they feel ignored or are dealing with personal issues such as bullying, parental divorce and changing schools. Accessible by phone, text, e-mail or instant messaging, Getting it Right is part of a larger children’s advocacy initiative. The main goal is to protect children’s rights and promote positive images of them by tackling bullying and providing opportunities to engage in music, the arts and athletics.

Learn Something New Everyday



Learn Something Every Day is a daily project by UK based design studio Young. Anyone can submit a lesser known fact and since August an illustrated fact has appeared everyday. Many of the images appearing on the site are available as t-shirts. The best fact will be made into a special poster at the beginning of each month, with the winner getting a free poster.

Duracell’s Crowdsourced Power Generation in Times Square



Duracell has hatched an interesting campaign in New York’s Times Square which offers a chance to participate in some crowd-sourced power generation.

The battery manufacturer unveiled their Smart Power lab last week, where visitors can come to charge gadgets for free, play Xbox games, and expend some energy to help power the 2010 numerals for the New Years Eve ball drop. The “Power Rover”, a stationary bike-like device will capture and convert users pedaling into electricity.