YouTube Videos promote New Zealand

It wasn’t long ago that we covered the Best Job in the World contest from Australia’s Tourism Queensland, and now another popular destination has appeared on our radar for its own promotional innovation. Specifically, Tourism New Zealand has been using a mobile recording studio to collect international visitors’ impressions of the region and then upload them to YouTube.

More than 100,000 people have viewed video “raves” posted on Tourism New Zealand’s Have Your Say channel on YouTube.

Website: www.tourismnewzealand.com

a touch screen with texture

Senseg.com is a haptic interface company based in Helsinki which is developing a new “type” of touch screen that let’s you feel different surfaces.

Instead of using vibrating motors, the devices are completely motionless. Instead, the Senseg system stimulates your fingers or hand with an electrical field to simulate the feeling of friction or texture.

Check out the video:

found here.

Because it uses no motors you can’t hear it and it doesn’t run down the battery. A small module – about as big as two sugar cubes – controls the sensation by connecting to a thin film that can be placed on any device. The film can even go around curves.

I say it’s pretty cool and I want one

The internet running out of room?

Yesterday morning whilst eating my breakfast I heard the Sunrise team ask the question…is the internet runing out of room? well, I was obviously bemused by this interview

 

http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/index.html?autoplay_id=13190117#embedded-video-top

Windows XP Mode for Windows 7

Windows XP Mode dramatically changes the compatibility story for Windows 7 and, we believe, has serious implications for Windows development going forward. It is a host-based virtualization solution like Virtual PC.

XP Mode consists of the Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). It will be made available, for free, to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions via a download from the Microsoft web site.

XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop. Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. (With shortcuts placed in the Start Menu.) That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications (like IE 6) alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop.

I remember the days when I cursed MS for not being compatible with my beloved XP programs. This way it might just work from the start

found here.

Save energy with your network card

Microsoft Research and researchers at UC San Diego developed a new method to save on power in sleep mode while still keeping up with IMs and whatever other network activity you might be up to.

Dubbed "Somniloquy," the USB dongle acts as an external networking card, and takes over most of the communication duties, with its own embedded OS and flash memory. When the computer goes to sleep, Somniloquy maintains IM connections, ongoing downloads and torrents, and keeps your computer present on the local network and wireless LAN. If an activity arrives that needs the full computer, Somniloquy wakes up the computer and patches it through.

Somniloquy boasts up to 60 to 80 percent overall energy savings based on the person’s usage habits.

Found here and the full article here.

A Celebration of the Gaming Awesomeness of the 1990s

I’ve been into games since… oh, I don’t know. The early to mid-eighties and let me tell you kids that you don’t know what good games are about.

The 80s. Oh, the 80s. That was where it all started, but the 90s. Well, that was the era that took games out of the arcades and into gamers’ home. Back in our day, we only HAD 256 colours on the screen and we loved every one of them, let me tell you.

So many amazing games in one decade. Doom, Quake, Monkey Island, System Shock, Syndicate, Tomb Raider, MechWarrior…. ok, don’t get me started.

Gaming site Big Download have been celebrating the Gaming Awesomeness of the 90s with a set of galleries, focusing on two years at a time designed to make grumpy old gamer dudes like me get a bit misty.

Check ‘em out.

We Love The 90s (for PC Games):

1990-1991 | 1992-1993 | 1994-1995 | 1996-1997 | 1998-1999 | Wrap up

say it with me: Razorfunfish!

So, our fearless leader Iain is across the pond right now, stirring up trouble at the Razorfish Client Summit in Las Vegas. While we were sleeping, he challenged the world to another Google battle (remember Velociroflcoptersaurus?) and this time, I’ve decided I’ll actuall DO something about it. This time, it’s a battle for the word Razorfunfish. Here’s a little stop-motion we threw together this afternoon:

razorfunfish! [razorfish client summit 2009] from heather ann snodgrass on Vimeo.

It was really fun! Looking forward to doing more of these in my spare time…

3D Displays via Laser Beams

The scientists on the US TV series Bones have a computer modeling tool that shoots a 3D laser to show a crime scene or bone structure. Although much of that is CGI, that little tool has become reality thanks to the guys at Burton Inc. in Japan.

Read more about it here: New Scientist Article

Using data renegotiate your rent

It wasn’t so long ago that 30 people would turn up to an apartment opening and bid up the weekly rental asking price by up to $50 in a Dutch English auction.  We were told by the media that Sydney was experiencing a critical housing shortage with an average vacancy rate of 1.2% – well averages (and methodologies) can be very misleading indeed.

Let’s take a look at the residential vacancy rates in the CBD – as compiled by SQM Research using this great online tool.

An 8.8% vacancy rate might be suggesting that people who were up until recently less price sensitive (finance industry and those on the LAFHA) are leaving the CBD.  The forces of supply and demand are coming into play as they always eventually do.

This recent SMH article suggests it’s possible to get up to 20% off original asking prices.  Time to do your own math …

Jealous of the Mac multi touch trackpad?

Don’t be anymore – a Japanese company has released an external USB trackpad that supports multi touch gesture support.

it costs about AUD 73 but I am not sure they are actually shipping to Australia yet.

If that is still not good enough for you you might want to check out the new Sharp Mebius PC with an 854 x 480 resolution LCD as its trackpad (it doesn’t look like its multitouch enabled ):

The machine itself is pretty boring if you are just looking at the specs, but the trackpad is definitely interesting.

found on engadget here and here.

Can creativity be crowdsourced?

Razorfish Group VP of Experience Planning, Garrick Schmitt, posts on this topic to AdAge here: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=136019

Noteworthy among the services mentioned is FFFFound! which Garrick refers to in this context as “crowdsourced inspiration”.

Interesting read.

New toys from Mercedes

Mercedes has a new promotional video for the 2010 S Class that offers peeks at the model range and suite of tech coming on the latest luxury sedan.

Check out the splitview screen on the S600 and start saving because I know you want to have one

8 simple ways to improve typography for designers

More on basic fundamentals of design (Open Studio last week means guides for young designers are a hot topic here at the moment).

The big 8 are…

1. Measure
2. Leading
3. Quotes
4. Rhythm
5. Widows
6. Emphasis
7. Scale
8. Rags

http://www.preik.no/09/04/06/8-simple-ways-to-improve-typography-in%C2%A0your-designs-48097

50 lessons in graphic design theory

Typography, grids, colour, hierarchy, usability, lightweight information architecture… this Psdtuts+ collection of lessons is the most comprehensive I’ve seen. Very good starting point for anyone starting out in digital design. Or those of us who’ve been at it for a while and may need to round out our knowledge.

http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/web/50-totally-free-lessons-in-graphic-design-theory/

Now that is an SEO strategy

Via General Ben. Could this be the Sydney Morning Heralds latest tactic in UBs?

Cool collection of websites with large background images

This from WebDesignerWall back in September but worth noting – cool collection of sites with large background images flowing into the foreground. Good inspiration for designers trapped inside boxes. Thanks to Jono for the find.

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/trends/80-large-background-websites/

Google Fools Day

Is that a bear I see on Google Maps…?

Razorfish TweetDoubler – Amazing Twitter tool that allows twice the character count

We’re pretty excited here in Australia to be the first people globally to talk about a new text compression technology just released by Razorfish, one of the worlds largest digital agencies. The Razorfish guys in white coats have developed a compression algorithm that works on text, a bit like the way jpeg compresses an image – which means HUGE news for everyone using Twitter.

Try it now! www.tweetdoubler.com

Twitter normally only allows 140 characters. This Razorfish web application allows you type DOUBLE the normal amount.

You simply enter the text (up to 280 characters) – the compression takes about half a second, next your compressed tweet is sent out (under 140 chars) and then automatically decompressed as the end user views the message. It’s so simple, it’s hard to believe nobody has done this before.

We believe that in the future we can optimise the algorithm, potentially allowing 1000 characters to be compressed to inside Twitter’s limits of 140 characters. This first round of beta testing will provide us with enough data to push limits in the future.

Razorfish Credits:
Thanks to the globally coordinated team who have worked around the clock to bring this to life. Make sure you say Hi to them on Twitter:

Olaf Prilo (@olafprilo) – Independent Science and Maths Consultant.
Iain McDonald (@eunmac) – Creative Director.
Stephan Lange (@Maniac13) – Project Co-ordination.
Chris Saunders (@thesaund) – Lead Coder.
Michael Kliennman – Lead Design.
Shiv Singh – (@shivsingh) Social Media Director.
David Deal (@davidjdeal) – Marketing Director.

Please note this is a beta version open for testing for today only. Enjoy & have a wonderful day