I will no doubt be pointing out something that everyone has known about… for… like… ever (Which indecently is about 12 hours in internet years).

Having a little look at some photos my mate Cadkins posted to the old Flickr feed, this image caught my attention. Flowing the rabbit URL down the hole internets, I found myself enjoying the Infinite Flirckr Slide Show. And what a bandwidth worthy experience it is.

Deep down I always find myself drawn to these types of projects. The idea of us all being somehow connected, even if in trivial and largely meaningless ways, is a nice little universal to play upon. Hell, you could argue many a web 2.0+ business model is built on it.

i was doing some research today about Multitouch on Windows 7 and I came across this article here on how to Emulate a multi-touch device for Windows 7.

All you need is a webcam, a cardboard box, some tracing paper and a photo frame.

I thought, surely we have all that in the office somewhere. After a short stroll around the office I was able to gather all of the above and within 1 hour we had it all up and running.

and it works

So I wanted to thank Szymon Kobalczyk for his blogpost and for making my Friday a little bit more exciting.

Now I am even more excited about all the stuff we will be able to do with Windows 7.

In 2008, the Australian Labor Party introduced a policy of mandatory Internet filtering for all Australians. While the policy has not yet come into force, it has generated substantial opposition, with only a few groups in support. The Labor Party does not have enough votes in the Senate to enact any legislation to support the filter, so that the filter has "effectively been scuttled" unless the government is able to implement the filter by other means.

Get Up – Action for Australia, an independent organisation giving everyday Australians opportunities to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues, have come up with their own ad that they want to put on TV to address the issue.

here it is:

I personally am against Internet censorship and according to multiple surveys I am not the only one. To protect our children, we as parents should take the responsibility and not our ISPs or the government.

The man who puts the Klein in Kleinmania (one of our senior designers here) was interviewed by The Publics.

“Kerning is an interesting process because it can be very time consuming and it’s usually invisible, as in you only notice it when it’s bad … To my knowledge nobody has ever died from poor kerning.”

Read the interview: http://pblks.com/2009/07/the-worlds-smallest-mania/

Kleinmania on Tumblr: http://kleinmania.tumblr.com/ 

@iclazie

He’s ba-ack. Well, he’s back if you know who I’m talking about and if you don’t then I guess he’s just here.

I’m talking about MC Double Def DP, star of 1992’s ‘Don’t Copy That Floppy’ anti-piracy campaign. (DP is for ‘Digital Protector’. Yeah.)

Context, for those unfamiliar with DP:

An effective campaign. I have copied NO floppies since seeing that video.

Now witness his triumphant return.

Millions of people have been drawn to this footage which shows a shadowy figure walk across the hallway in Neverland during the filming of Larry King live. Full screen and speakers up to get the best out of this version which reveals a new audible piece of evidence:

Rest in peace MJ.

Have you ever stood in the exact spot that millions have stood before taking the exact photo of the exact view that millions have taken before I wondered “why am I doing this?”

I have taken this shot* of the Sydney Harbour Bridge…

…and this shot* of the Taj Mahal…

…but last year I specifically did not take this shot* of Hong Kong from the Peak because I realised I could just Google it later.

Does this make me lazy or just practical?

*These layered images were grabbed from Flickr and put together in Photoshop. Each is a composite of about 5 images taken from the same location by different people.

@iclazie

Mos Def’s new album, The Ecstatic, is released in the US today but it’s taking a refreshing approach to distribution. Rather than offering up a CD (who buys them apart from me) people buy a T- Shirt with the album artwork on it, along with a code embedded into its tag so you can download it.

I love this kind of blurry stuff that is digital, traditional, social and a product innovation all rapped up in one (excuse the gag). It’s such a simple idea I can’t believe it has been used more often. Imagine how much The Ramones could have made with all those millions of walking adverts – it might also have ensured the cool kids actually listened to the music as well.

Not only that, it has raised the price to $39, probably reduced the production costs and generated cheap, peer 2 peer advertising. Genius.

@carlmoggy

Many think that you can only see other people’s calendars in Outlook if you’ve asked them and they shared it with you.

There is a better way. You can share your Outlook Calendar with everyone (read only), so they don’t have to ask.

But don’t worry, you can still hide your yoga classes and boozy lunches from the prying eyes of your co-workers.

To share your calendar:

Right click on “Calendar” and choose “Change Sharing Permissions”. Then give “Default” Reviewer rights. You can also choose “Add…” and add the “Everyone” account in your company, then give them the Reviewer permission level.

To hide your extracurricular activities:

Select “Private” in the appointment options

.

this is not the latest news, but it is still worth a mention.

Ads in bus stops in Hamburg, Germany were erected that change their content when someone is looking at them.

How?

a built-in camera with eye-tracking technology can tell exactly when someone is checking it out and changes the content.

The Ad is an anti-domestic abuse message. When no one is looking, it shows a man hitting his wife. But when you look right at it, it changes to a picture of the couple looking happy and normal.

Pretty cool and effective.

a new research project called the H.VR Editor allows you to "touch" and interact with CGI objects. Objects respond according to a pre-programmed graph of hardness values, and the system is capable of simulating texture and events like button presses.

No more building mockups – just put the right values in the program and off you go.

Imagine trying out the feel of a keyboard on your new phone without the phone ever being build or the feel of your new carpet at home without the carpet being manufactured first.

sounds pretty interesting to me – wouldn’t mind having a go at it.

@PepsiCanada joins in the spirit by recommending @cocacola with a #followfriday retweet from @LauraRmz who recommended ALL the cola brands in her tweet. Meanwhile @Linux and @Microsoft get in on the action (below).

Whilst certain onlookers remain cynical there is no doubt that this ‘Twitterhugging’ between rival brands is demonstrating new types of interactions that would certainly never have occurred without social media. All up, it’s got to be a good thing, don’t you think?

Posted by @eunmac

 
http://twitter.com/PepsiCanada/statuses/2463077100

http://twitter.com/Linux/status/2434030368
http://twitter.com/Microsoft/status/2456590676

From a genuinely random and spontaneous twitter experiment (here) that led to Coke and Pepsi becoming ‘friends’ on Twitter there’s been a fair bit of press coverage. Nice to see Biz Stone, founder of Twitter tweet it out too (here).
Maybe Twitter Hugs are something we’ll see more of in the future.
Adding links below as they come in:

Posted by ~@eunmac

Above: The original tweet from Coke to Pepsi:
Below: Pepsi says Hellooo back to Coke.

Global Press Coverage:

http://adage.com/digitalnext/post.php?article_id=137709

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/917650/Coca-Cola-Pepsi-bury-hatchet-Twitter/

http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/DigitalPM/News/917650/Coca-Cola-Pepsi-bury-hatchet-Twitter/?DCMP=EMC-Media-PM-Bulletin

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2009/07/coke-and-pepsi-hold-hands-on-twitter-whos-next/

Founder of Twitter Biz Stone – tweets out the news:
http://twitter.com/biz/status/2438852220

Many blogs picked up on the story too:

http://blog.umennet.com/2009/07/pepsi-cola-friendship/

The BBC has reported this story about a 13 year old who gave up his iPod for an original Sony Walkman for a week, just for a little sociological experiment. One of the funniest parts has to be the fact it took him 3 days just to find out that the tape had another side! Oh kids today, they don’t know they were born.

However it wasn’t all bad. The original Walkman did have two sockets so you could share your listening experience with a friend. You have to buy an adapter with today’s iPods. Who said brands have only just started being social.

Here’s my first. Very big and very yellow huh

We are growing again and have a bunch of roles to fill in a few of our departments.

If you know people or feel you would love to be apart of a great team that lives for innovation then please email jobs.syd@amnesia.com.au or tweet @yanets

Group Account Director

Media Account Co-ordinator

Media Account Manager

Media Account Director

Media Director

Media Search executive

Senior Account Manager – Client Services

Operations Director

UPDATE: An historic moment in branding?
As a result of the twitter experiment below Coke said HELLO to Pepsi via Twitter (and started following them too). [Update] Pepsi responds in kind. All within 18 hours.
  http://twitter.com/CocaCola/statuses/2413906945

Pepsi replies:
http://twitter.com/pepsi/statuses/2423584043

Pepsi Canada joins in:
http://twitter.com/PepsiCanada/statuses/2423730800

And just like that, the world feels like a slightly better place.
Ahh maybe Twitter really is more than just “what I ate for breakfast.”

Thank you Coke and Pepsi for being good sports

What happened:
- We started the experiment at about 9.42am July 1 in Twitter (Original Tweet here)

- There were a significant number of RTs
- Coca-Cola responded less than 3 hours later with the tweet above.

Currently Pepsi have not replied or followed back… but we’re watching

The Original Experiment/Post:
Oh we all know Coke and Pepsi are age old bitter rivals but this is a new age of SOCIAL and we want to see something change between these arch enemies – even if it is just courtesy. Currently they are both on Twitter but at time of writing neither follows the other (http://www.doesfollow.com/cocacola/pepsi) or (http://www.doesfollow.com/pepsi/cocacola).

Join the fun: Let Coke and Pepsi know what you want: ReTweet this now!

Coke and Pespi Twitter accounts… why not end the cola wars and follow each other?
It would be like a public hug. (…Then you can go back to being rivals). So who’s first?

www.twitter.com/pepsi

www.twitter.com/cocacola

Well we want to see it happen… we’ll be watching…!
C’mon show us you have a sense of humour and do the follow!

Oh… The Re-tweets will keep coming at you until you do

UPDATED Following situation:

Post by:
-@eunmac

Liking this odd take on a banner concept from Bridge Worldwide. Happy to see something like this win a big award.

Check it out…

(Interesting to note you never actually click away from the banner!)

Up to now this is only a concept, but if they ever get this to work I am so going to dig out my old records and get me one of these.

This is how it should work:

The record player uses a carrier and dock outfitted with a magnetic and auto-calibrating control system which carries the LP into thin air as it is playing music. A self-running record player shaped in the form of a red sphere, contains a needle, amplifier and speaker, spins around the record, bringing the music to life.

It was inspired by the Vinyl Killer which you can see here in action:

If they ever get this on the market, I will so get one.

found here.

Saw this new Coke Machine – thought it was amazing – check it out!

I wonder how far you could push this from a personalised perspective? or from a visual perspective when not in use?!

Apparently, Chris Anderson thinks everything should be free. Footnotes citing large portions of quotes were culled from the Wired editor’s new book, Free, and even though attribution for other sources were included throughout the book, those from Wikipedia were not.

Obviously, Anderson is maintaining his plagiarism was completely unintentional and has issued an apology alongside his publisher, and has promised to amend this situation (albeit online). It’s a little bit unfortunate, given the topic he’s ultimately discussing in this book.

Dr. Rankin, professor of History at UT Dallas, wanted to know how to reach more students and involve more people in class discussions both in and out of the classroom. She had heard of Twitter…

This interactive video clip for Children Collide’s “Chosen Armies” is seriously cool.

It allows you to control the angle you view using your mouse, giving you individual control of content.

The clip, possibly “the worlds first  360 degree interactive panoramic music video”,  was directed by Toby Angwin of Soup Kitchen Films (@soupkitchen), and was filmed with a vertically mounted Red One Camera with special panoramic lens.

Check it out and immerse yourself in a unique music experience.

Did I also mention I really like the song?

Welcome to aspiration Tuesday.
Here’s some over the top-ness to make you green with envy. I was going to write some witty stuff to go with this post but really, you just want to look at the pictures and the numbers – I know that.

The USA’s most expensive homes.

Inside the worlds first BILLION dollar home. Seriously.

The world’s most luxurious airlines

The top 10 most pricey cars ever

It’s nice to dream, right?

What ever happened to VR games? I liked the idea of being in the game and do what I had to do to get the job done.

Anyway – this guy below called his invention the PC VR Game Gun. Its a toy gun with an LCD screen attached to it, a Gyration Air Mouse mounted on top, which allows for some full, seemingly responsive motion-tracking in any PC game. He also ripped apart a gamepad and wired it up to the trigger in the gun.

There is also a wireless option of the gun as you can see in the 2nd video.

Check out the videos

You’ve seen Banksy take over the streets, now it’s a museum:

V Energy Drink is a brand that has got the social media thing right. Well, almost.

VRaw is a branded site that has found a relevant way to communicate with consumers, namely, through offering value.
Essentially, it’s a branded blog that gives people the chance to find where they fit in the most creative companies in Australia, offering internships with the very best in Fashion, Graphic Design, Music, TV, Advertising and Gaming, as well as access to unique content like music videos and artist remixes.

The thing that I like is that there is no ’sell’, with barely any information about the drink itself. Instead, people engage with the brand through following their exclusive offers and original content uploads. As such, VRaw provide value to consumers (including me) in a creative way, and in turn, become socially relevant – my friend, not a company.

Or so I thought.

Having been a fan of this site from early on, I was quite disappointed to discover their latest video post of interviews with the “VRaw head honchos” explaining the campaign. From the company babble about the ‘essence of the brand’ and ‘being a catalyst for energy’, to the the fake ‘behind the scenes’-type footage, the whole thing reeks of corporate PR.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel they’ve lost their friendly credibility. I can only hope new content uploads will dilute this post and I can continue being ‘mates with the brand’.

What do you think of corporate messages in social media? Do they pop the bubble of friendliness?

Posted by Gavin Chimes

[See comments for VRaw's response]

<a href="http://www.tizag.com/" target="_blank" >Tizag Home</a>

I don’t mean social as in social and media. I mean Robin Burkinshaw, a game design student from the UK is using Sims 3 to play a homeless family. Alice and Kev – The Story of being Homeless in Sims 3, documents the life and times of a Father and Daughter who live in an abandoned park. Aside from the fact that Robin is using this game to see how close to real life it actually is and even raise money for charities that help the homeless people, it’s fascinating to see how people are adding to the story and giving some insight into real life.

For example here’s a thread where people are commenting on the fact that Alice has a mobile phone

Gentleman Jim: Where did she get that phone from?

Joel: Hah, it comes with every sim in the game. Let just say for the stories sake she found it on the ground? hah

Elaine: Having a cellphone is also actually pretty true-to-life. I work at a shelter, which means our families are functionally homeless, if not actually right off the street.
Unlike six or seven years ago, these days, almost all our clients have cells; that means it’s 100% easier for them to stay safe, keep in contact with family, make appointments, get job calls, and generally rebuild their lives.

MED: I also work at a shelter and I can attest to cell-phones being true to life for functionally homeless people. With companies selling a monthly non contractual service for $30.00 bucks and better yet, pay as you go phones for $15.00 with ten minutes of service built in, it’s easy for anyone with a candy selling or windshield wiping business to keep a phone.

There are some people who think that this is part of a campaign although I don’t see it myself. Genius if it is, but very dumb if someone is pretending it isn’t. It’s getting some good traction and well worth following to see whether it really takes off.

Start from the beginning here and follow the life and times of Alice and Kev.

@carlmoggy

An email chain going around Razorfish employees this morning revealed a huge number of companies using Twitter to promote special deals. Whether it is creating a new sales channel (eg Dell), giving a little back to your fans (eg Zappos) or building brand awareness (eg Squarespace), it seems that Twitter is being used more and more for tactical promotions not just long term brand strategies.

Here are a few we’re aware of. I’m sure there are plenty more, so feel free to add yours to the comments and we’ll update the list.

Australia

http://twitter.com/hp_touchsmart (1,315 followers) – competition to win PC notebooks finished last week

http://twitter.com/iSpyLevis (724 followers) – find the @iSpyLevis Twitterer in a public place to win a pair of jean. Clues released in the form of location Twitpics

http://twitter.com/jetstarairways (1,516 followers) – an eDM sale for 5 cent fares for members only went wrong when Jetstar members tried to access the website in the 2 hour window and couldn’t. They expressed their unhappiness via Twitter and blog posts. The result was a more active Twitter account (they started following people back) and a special Twitter only sale – 1,000 flights for 1c.

International (mainly US)

http://twitter.com/DellOutlet (642,742 followers) – has hit 2 million dollars of revenue through Twitter alone. UPDATE: make that $3 million

http://twitter.com/Squarespace (29,291 followers): a web publishing firm giving away vouchers towards an iPhone randomly to people who tweet #squarespace.

http://twitter.com/Zappos (747,937 followers): Tony Hsieh of Zappos gives a free pair of shoes to a random follower every so often.

http://www.twitter.com/JetBlue: gave 10% off all flights between 7 and 31 March to Twitter followers and reached their goal of 100,000 followers

And a whole lot of other examples thanks to our Razorfish colleagues

Amazon:
http://twitter.com/amazondeals

Banana Republic:
http://twitter.com/brofficial

Sonic:
http://twitter.com/sonicdrive_in

Funjet Vacations:
http://twitter.com/funjetvacations

Tablet Hotels:
http://twitter.com/TabletHotels

Walmart:
http://walmartstores.com/twitter/
http://twitter.com/WalmartSpecials

Moosejaw:
http://twitter.com/moosejawmadness

Netflix:
http://twitter.com/netflix

Orbitz:
http://twitter.com/Orbitz

Luxor Hotel:
http://twitter.com/LuxorLV

Marriott:
http://twitter.com/marriottintl

Cheapflights.com:
http://twitter.com/CheapflightsCom

DunkinDonuts:
http://twitter.com/dunkindonuts

Ticketmaster:
http://twitter.com/Ticketmaster
http://twitter.com/Ticketmaster101
http://twtapps.com/blog/2009/04/06/ticketmaster-uses-twtqpon-to-manage-their-twitter-discounts/

United Airlines- twares:
http://twitter.com/unitedairlines
http://mashable.com/2009/05/21/twares/

Whole Foods:
http://twitter.com/wholefoods
http://twitter.com/wholefoodsnyc

Travelocity:
http://twitter.com/travelocity

Six Flags:
http://twitter.com/sixflags

Backcountry.com:
http://twitter.com/SteepandCheap

CouponTweet:
http://twitter.com/CouponTweet

@AngGraham

Last week Dragon Search released the first social media ROI calculator – well, the first we’ve seen anyway. What you do is plug in all the values of your social campaign and the calculator does the rest.

A snapshot of the calculator in question

The problem with this of course is that it misses some pretty crucial elements like sentiment shift and the number of fans or followers accrued (lead generation/CRM), which will be hard to capture in a format like this.

I also have to say that some of the criteria had me stumped eg ‘value of posts’, because a) how do you put a dollar value on a comment posted about your brand online? and b) should you?

While it is good to see someone adding a little formula to the madness that is social media, it makes me wonder: is this a step in the right direction or is it missing the point of social media altogether?

@AngGraham