New York Times recognises the crazy genius of Dwarf Fortress

As a fan of indie video games, I always enjoy seeing obscure titles getting mainstream attention. Earlier this week, The New York Times ran a lengthy story about Tarn and Zach Adams, developers of Dwarf Fortress – a non-graphical (if you don’t count text as graphics) dwarven civilisation simulator – not exactly the most saturated of gaming sub-genres, to be sure.

In development since 2002 and available for free since 2006, Dwarf Fortress tasks the player with managing a group of dwarves as they set up and maintain a settlement, digging out caves, building fortifications, developing farming and industry. This is just the early-game, mind you. Later you’ll be building an army, developing an economy and dealing with the demands of nobles and possible a king – if you last that long.

Australia Post Launches New National Campaign

Australia Post has just released a national campaign to promote parcel delivery services to small and medium online businesses in Australia.

The campaign uses a metaphor to represent the different products and services that small businesses may provide. The metaphor, called “ZING”, is a red furry ball that comes in any size.

The campaign will launch with television, online film, press, outdoor, digital and DM. Amnesia Razorfish has done the digital work of the campaign. The ZING website was built in HTML5.

SDCC 2011 Andrew Bell Google Android Figurines

Going through the San Diego Comic Con 2011 toy lists, came across this awesome set of Andrew Bell Google Android figurines exclusive to the show. Personal favs little moustachey and capey are just too cool to turn down (I’ve made these names up, you should be able to deduce which ones they are). Any mad bastards in the states wanna help a bro out and nab me a set for my desk?

They really should include these figurines with every Android sold!

- @cosmicboho

Best Star Wars Strategy Game ever

What do you get when you combine Star Wars and a 20 foot multitouch screen?

The most awesome and most fun real time interactive strategy game ever.

It was designed by computer science grad student Arthur Nishimoto and developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

It allows players to control cruisers, destroyers, corvettes, fighters, bombers, and even a Death Star in attempt to destroy the other side. Sound effects from the movies immerse those behind the wheel of some of the most infamous vehicles in the classic sci-fi movie trilogies.

Check out the video below:

So now it just needs to be picked up by someone and made available commercially. I will already clear my living room wall for my 20 foot multitouch screen

I want I want I want

@maniac13

Congratulations to Billy Blue’s Class of 2011

On July 1st I had the pleasure of attending the Vol No 1 exhibition where this year’s graduate class showcased their design skills prowess. To say the least, the exhibition was beautifully executed, and refreshingly current. This year’s exhibition was purely digital, a telling sign of the times as many of the graduates came from the communication design school, traditionally non-digital. Special congratulations to Lina Hallberg, Rasmus Rennerfelt, Sofie Johansson, Phil Sheather, and Nitesh Asrani.

The welcome room of the exhibition had a giant interactive wall (shown below). The wall was not only controlled through an iPad application but also through a mobile website.

Other rooms had mini-walls where the work of a group of designers was showcased further. Again the wall was controlled by an iPad application.

For more information, please see the official video below, or visit the official site http://bbex1101.billyblueinteractive.net/.

Facebook Video Chat… World Takeover Strategy

Now that facebook has not only dominated the social network space, launched a successful advertising platform, launched geo location offline business integration(facebook places), why not just jump into another market ? video chat ?

The facebook+skype integration allows users to connect with their online friends via skype

video chat

Step 1 seen above is selecting the person you want to start a video chat with.

installing facebook video chat

Next thing we need to do is download and install the software that makes the video chat possible, this is a simple 2 click process(Tell google to keep it simple). Are you excited yet ?

video chat installer

Now you run the file and within seconds you can be chatting away with people all over the globe. Without having to invite them into circles(out the box functionality, now way!) Yes way.

video chat away

A simple web call authentication that installs the program

video chat call request

What you see above is what it looks like when requesting a video chat call(if you are the person requesting it).

recieving calls on facebook

A simple call request before a call launch is seen above and the grand finale, the peice de resistance is seen below.. Drumroll please

And below is my little cousin who never wants to use any new technology(we all know someone like her)

arguing with late adopters

Presto.

Since none of my friends have video calls and the 1 person I called was unlcothed, it will be a while before you see the actual video call image

The Web won’t make you more creative, but it can certainly help!

It’s an odd fact of the marketing industry, that as you climb up through the ranks as a creative in agencies, you do less and less actual creative work. In fact your reward for progressing by demonstrating you creative prowess is,  the company makes you ultimately responsible for a whole load of activities that 1: you’ve never done before, and 2:That couldn’t be further removed from a creatives’ skill set than feasibly imaginable. Usually taking the form of a whole load admin, and often people management. That figures They can draw! (well scribble) Of course they can write a years performance plan for the rest of the creatives’ in the company.

How Google+ might shape social experience optimisation

Sometime around March 2011, Google made a new feature known as +1 available in the search results. Users who wanted to rate various websites for relevance could do so by clicking the +1 button,which would give the website or content additional visibility online. However what was not clear, was what would a flood of +1 ratings do for any particular website ? It was unclear how each person who clicked the +1 could use their influence within various social circles to ensure that “relevant” and “timely” content was shared with the people best suited for it within your social circle.

Enter Google+

Google+ allows people to build networks around locations and interests as well as numerous other factors. The question is how will this impact SEO (search engine optimisation) and will social experience optimisation influence search results ?

2011 Overall Ranking Algorithm

Source: SEOmoz Ranking Factors

We know from a survey done by one of the leading SEO communities, that social media is one of the many ranking signals for organic search. The survey also revealed that geo location is one of the other factors that influences organic search results. All evidence points towards increased relevance being localised as well as influenced by social signals.

The answer has already been provided by google who recently announced that google+1′s will be visible in your analytics profile, and since we already know that social media is one of the ranking signals for website performance, brands will now need to factor in generating content that resonates with their target audience strongly enough to get them “Social approval”.

Move over Google Earth… the new Nokia Ovi 3D City Maps are better.

For the last few years Google has always stayed ahead of its rivals with products like Google Earth, Streetview, Maps etc but Nokia just launched the Beta of Ovi maps in 3D and it is mind blowing! Every texture is rendered in 3D on every building (for the major cities they have completed) and it is a lot of fun to play with. It’s not often that people in the office gather around a monitor and say “wow”… but today it happened. Well played Nokia – this is really cool.

http://maps.ovi.com/3D/

Tower Bridge

Ovi Maps 3d beta

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Cities mapped in 3D in Ovi are : San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Helsinki, Milan, Prague, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Madrid, Oslo, Wien, Florence, Venice.

@eunmac