Future os Screens - Experience video

Some more interesting stuff from the guys at TAT. Some of this stuff is really not far off...




Capacitive screens has now become a commodity for touch screen devices. Screen technology is now taking the next leap and the coming years imagination is the only thing stopping us. We will soon have dual screens, malleable screens, screens built into wifi connected mirrors, desks or backside of gadgets clothed with e-ink screens, tactile feedback, color screens with great contrast in sunlight, holographics/stereoscopic screens, color e-ink touch screens, or screens actually knowing where they are in relation to other screens thanks to ultrasonic emitters and microphones.

We want to show some of these things in an "experience video", that shows a normal day in a couple of years when all these technologies are affordable enough to be used everywhere. This video is the result of our experiment with open innovation, read more about our experiment here. Big thanks to all the people from TAT and around the world who helped out and sometimes shared their ideas and sometimes gave us homework on our own ideas.

Mobile interfaces

Well never done this before, but just loved this post from the Amnesia Blog that i had to copy the whole thing here. Awesome mobile interface stuff and yet another reason why i'm backing Android to be the dominant, universal OS of the future. Thanks @eunmac and @razorfish

The future of the mobile UI is behind a velvet curtain

I have seen concepts from this company before (more about this below) and they always seem to be taking different approaches to the rest of the world.

The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) has yet again showcased a UI they call Velvet – pull out a widget or Google Maps query, and a sheet of your desired result waves with the virtual wind, before stretching out flat for you to more comfortably interact with.

This is what TAT has to say about the Tablet UIs out there and why they are different:

On one hand we have companies that scale phone UIs to tablets. On the other hand we have companies offering the full blown desktop experience scaled down to tablet size. We believe that both of these approaches will result in crippled user experiences. For example, the tablet form factor is perfect for media consumption and this could be manifested in the UI. TAT recognizes tablets as a radically different type of device – personal and mobile yet powerful and creative. We are now on a quest to design fantastic UIs that are optimized for this device space.

Here is the Velvet UI in action

As I said before these guys have some pretty awesome, yet radical ideas – check this augmented reality ID out – TAT augmented ID

I have an Android phone and I have been looking for a decent home screen and I really hope this little beauty will hit the market at some time soon – TAT Home

These guys are definitely someone to look out for in the future – if you want to learn more about them, check out their blog

Sony's 360 degree display

WOW... imagine this on a really really large scale

First mobile OS (android) based TV?

Not sure if this is a first, but either way it's a clear pointer towards the future of device convergance

Thanks Tech Crunch

Swedish Company, People Of Lava, Creates An Android-Based TV

by John Biggs on Apr 5, 2010

Remember Android? Don’t worry. You’ll remember next week once this whole iPad thing blows over. Anyway, a Swedish company called, inexplicably, People of Lava has announced what they’re calling and Android-based TV. The TV, called the Scandinavia, comes in a 42-inch configuration that costs about $2,500.

The Scandinavia Android TV – which will first be released in a 42” version, followed by 47” and 55” – is built without compromises. It features top-of-the-line components and is carefully put together by hand to ensure the kind of quality that customers expect from a People of Lava Full- HD LED TV set. Its Android platform and internet capabilities provide a wide range of functionalities, including:
- Out of the box Android TV applications such as: – YouTube, Google Maps ,Weather, Time, Calendar, Internet Browser
- Downloadable Apps, both free and from coming App-store: – Facebook, Twitter, Email and more…
- Internet connection
- USB connection

Read the rest of this entry »

Pictures that move, not moving pictures

Ok... i'm not about to buy an iPad anytime soon, but thinking like this does make the format seem way cool

VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread - iPad Demo from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.

AR visions

OK... lots of this stuff out there, but i do like these two... if a little trippy (Thanks Digital Buzz Blog)

Augmented (Hyper) Reality Demo

Ahhh so is this where augmented reality will take us in the next decade? Hopefully not, but I can see what Keiichi Matsuda was thinking when creating this amazing video, with the blend between architecture, augmented reality and consumerism combining to create a pretty hectic (or is that enhanced?) kind of life. Hmmm.

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

This would be in direct comparison to Nokia’s Augmented Hyper Reality Demo released late last year where the combination of Augmented reality will supposedly simplify and energize life.

My take; this is still a decade off before it will have the supported hardware / apps to be remotely feasible. You just never know what’s around the corner, but it probably won’t be this!?

Augmented Reality Platform Covers Building Exterior

Thanks PSFK for this. I know there is some much hype about the AR space these days, a lot of it unfounded, but the sheer scale of this just makes it incredible. Wonder if i can get a client to turn a whole building into a comms channel?

January 7, 2010

Located in the shopping district surrounding Tokyo’s Tachikawa Station, the exterior of the mall-like N Building has been covered with QR code data so that store information can be captured from street level. The design teams at Qosmo and Teradadesign Architects have also put together an iPhone app that gathers real-time information and conversations within the building through an AR-like interface.

Watch a video of the project below:

N Building from Alexander Reeder on Vimeo.

Touch screen interaction goes 3D

Older... but love the possibilities of this tech.

Hit the bitch

Powerful, anti-violence campaign from Denmark, Thanks Adverblog

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Sorry for the strong language, but this is the title of a new social campaign from Denmark. The campaign is literally in your face as you have to punch the featured girl to get the message. Most disturbing is that you want to go all the way through, which make you feel like a 100% idiot once finished. But the message, even though it's in Danish, is very clear.

Making Concrete Interactive

Even the walls are talking... thanks PSFK

November 9, 2009

Tokihiko Fukao of the University of Tokyo has developed a new kind of light-sensitive concrete. The material is sensitive to ambient light levels, able to take note of the luminosity distribution across it’s surface. The incoming light level data is then routed to a computer. This turns the concrete into a kind of control surface where varying degrees of illumination can be used to direct different audio and visual outputs.

Transmaterial explains more:

Light-Sensitive Concrete consists of concrete, embedded optical fibers, photodiodes, and electrical circuitry. Optical fibers are distributed within a regular grid, and sensors are attached beneath them in the same arrangement. The interactive properties of the material are intentionally hidden within what appears to be conventional concrete—suggesting possibilities for other light-sensitive building materials and surfaces as part of a total ambient interactive system.

Transmaterial: “Light-Sensitive Concrete”

Your Cyborg Eye Will Talk to You

Great stuff from ReadWriteWeb... bionic eyes. I want them

Written by Dana Oshiro / August 31, 2009 9:30 PM

Just as many of us are getting used to augmented reality applications for cellphones and digital cameras, Babak Amir Parviz and his University of Washington students are taking it one step further. The group is working on a human machine interface where LEDs are embedded into contact lenses in order to display information to the wearer. You heard right, in a few years your cyborg eye will talk to you. In an article with the IEEE Spectrum, Parviz relays the challenges of custom-building semi-transparent circuitry into a polymer lens roughly 1.2 millimeters in diameter.

Says Parviz, "We're starting with a simple product, a contact lens with a single light source, and we aim to work up to more sophisticated lenses that can superimpose computer-generated high-resolution color graphics on a user's real field of vision."

For now, Parviz mentions that single pixel visual cues for gamers and the hearing impaired are already quite possible with the lens prototypes. The group has also experimented with non-invasive biomonitoring including checking glucose levels for diabetics.

Some of the obvious challenges of building an augmented reality contact lens include:
1. The Need for Custom Parts: Regular circuitry and LEDs are incompatible with regular contact lenses. Every piece of this project must be fabricated from scratch.

2. Physical Constraints: The group must attempt to fit transistors, radio chips, antennas, diffusion resistors, LEDs and photodetectors onto a miniscule polymer disc. Additionally, the team is required to control lens position and light intensity relative to the pupil. And finally, because the lens is so close to the corneal surface, the group must project images away from the cornea using either micro-lenses or lasers.
3. User Safety: In addition to protecting the eye against chemicals, heat and toxins, the lens components must be semi-transparent in order for the wearer to view their surroundings.

"We already see a future in which the humble contact lens becomes a real platform, like the iPhone is today, with lots of developers contributing their ideas and inventions. As far as we're concerned, the possibilities extend as far as the eye can see." And you thought the iPhone SDK was a tough nut to crack.

For Parviz's complete seven page article, check out the IEEE Spectrum's Biomedical page.

10 Impressive New Implementations of Facebook Connect

Thanks Sora for posting this great article from Mashable on some excellent uses of Facebook Connect.

Facebook Connect is an exceptionally useful technology for web developers. Not only can they offer Facebook () users one-click registration and sign-in, but by accessing profile and social graph information, Facebook Connect gives developers a way to create a richer experience for their visitors and gives publishers a brand new promotional channel.

In January, we brought you a list of 10 great Facebook Connect implementations, and developers across the web have been busy since then coming up with new and innovative ways to integrate with Facebook. So below is a list of 10 more great implementations of Facebook Connect that stand out for their creativity, their usefulness, or their seamless integration.

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1. Watchmen on Blu-Ray

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Back in May, Warner Bros. announced that the special Director’s Cut Blu-ray edition of the movie Watchmen would utilize Facebook Connect. The disc arrived in stores today, and it does indeed feature Facebook Connect features for those with BD-Live enabled Blu ()-ray players. That means that people with both Facebook accounts and BD-Live players can invite friends for live viewing parties, exchange comments, and update their Facebook status.

Yes, that’s a lot of prerequisites, but still, the possibilities here are pretty neat. As we noted in May, the new Watchmen integration is “a huge step forward in bringing our social graph to entities beyond the Web.”

Also arriving today is a special edition Blu-ray version of the film 300 that also includes integrated Facebook features (300 and Watchmen were both directed by Zach Snyder).

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2. Frenzied Waters

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One thing we’re starting to see more and more is the use of Facebook Connect for clever, and in the case of the Disovery Channel’s Frenzied Waters, exceptionally unsettling marketing campaigns. A couple of weeks ago, the Discovery Channel sent out packets to a handful of bloggers containing some gnawed swim trunks, a key with a floating keychain, a warning sign advising against swimming at the beach, and a copy of an obituary customized with personal details about the blogger the package was sent to.

One final item in the package was a shark tooth attached to a piece of brass with the web address “FrenziedWaters.com” stamped on it. It was clearly an invitation to visit the web site, where of course, the ghoulishness continued. Frenzied Waters is an interactive flash movie designed to make watchers feel like they’re in the water being attacked by a shark. If you click on the floating jar all the way to the right (on the splash screen), the application will ask you to connect with Facebook, where it will pull photos and information from your account to create a montage about your death by shark attack.

Our best guess is that Frenzied Waters is a promotional campaign for the Discovery Channel’s upcoming Shark Week (which runs on the network annually in August). If that’s the case, it is definitely brilliant — very, very creepy, but brilliant nonetheless.

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3. The Prototype Experience

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Like Frenzied Waters, the Prototype Experience uses Facebook Connect as a way to personalize a media campaign and insert you into a starring role. The site is a promotion for the “Prototype” video game from Activision and scores huge points for taking the normally static concept of a trailer and making it interactive.

Once you connect with Facebook, the Prototype Experience pulls in photos and other information from your profile in order to customize the trailer and insert you into the video game’s world. The site adds a viral element by asking you to “infect” your friends in order to enter for a chance to win an Xbox 360.

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4. Beware of the Doghouse

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Beware of the Doghouse is a brilliant marketing campaign for retailer JCPenney from ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi that utilizes Facebook Connect. The site allows anyone to punish their significant other for a wrongdoing by putting them in the doghouse using Facebook.

Once notified that someone has placed you in the doghouse, users can view a hilarious video about what life in the doghouse is like (above) or they can find out how to get out of the doghouse… by buying diamond jewelry from JCPenney, of course!

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5. Eventbee

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Facebook has an amazing platform for virally publicizing events, but right now, it doesn’t have any way to support ticket sales. Eventbee solves that problem using Facebook Connect in a very clever way. Not only can events be promoted on Facebook via your friends’ news feeds, but Eventbee offers a way to turn your Facebook friends into ticket sellers.

After your friends have connected to Eventbee via Facebook, they can become “Partners,” and begin promoting your event to their own networks on Facebook. You can allow your partners to offer their friends a special discount rate on tickets and can even give Partners a sales commission on the event tickets they sell.

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6. GirlsGuideTo

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GirlsGuideTo is a social network just for girls that uses Facebook Connect as its only login option. By using Facebook Connect, the site is able to make sure the network actually stays girls only.

Because the vast majority of people don’t lie on their Facebook profiles, GirlsGuideTo is able to fairly accurately determine the gender of people trying to access the site and keep the guys out. The creators of the site plan to open a sister (brother?) site for guys in the future, and invites any male user attempting to get into GirlsGuideTo to sign up for beta notifications.

Sorry guys, we are still in our beta but the Guys Corner will be open soon. The “GC”, as we call it, is where you can post content, give advice, lend your perspective and provide real time advice. Please fill out this form and we will send you a notice as soon as the Guys Corner is open. Thanks

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7. Tweetpo.st

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For those of you who find yourselves spending more time on Twitter () these days, but still don’t want to give up on Facebook, there’s Tweetpo.st. Tweetpo.st is an application that uses Facebook Connect as a way to automatically update your Facebook status based on your tweeting activity. The site will post any tweet (except @replies and those containing !fb) to Facebook as a status update, but has some nifty features to make your tweets read better on Facebook.

For example, tweets that include a URL can be posted on your Wall as a shared link instead of as status updates, and tweets containing an @username can automatically swap out the username for that person’s Twitter “real name.” Further, tweets containing links can automatically be encoded with Awe.sm, for users of that service.

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8. Drop.io

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Drop.io’s Facebook Connect integration essentially allows you to share files and other media through your Facebook news feed and status updates. Once you’ve connected your drop to Facebook, any time you add new media to the drop, your friends will be notified via a status update included in their news feeds. They can then click-through to the drop and interact with the media or download the file you’ve shared.

For users that don’t want to publicly share their files, Drop.io offers a “Friendlock” feature, which allows users to specify which friends get invited to a certain drop and get notifications of new media added to the drop.

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9. Brightkite

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Location-based social network Brightkite () is one of those obvious candidates for Facebook Connect integration, and they’ve done a wonderful job with it. Once you create an account and sign in (which can be done via Facebook Connect), visit your settings page to grant Brightkite deeper access to your Facebook account.

You can specify settings for your checkins, notes, and posted photos, and whether you want those automatically added to your Facebook status, news feed, or photo albums. (Brightkite can also sync each of those types of updates with Twitter.)

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10. The Washington Post

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In June, the Washington Post pushed out Facebook Connect integration. On the surface, this just adds a way for Facebook users to get by the annoying registration wall the paper puts on its content, and a way to easily share stories from the Post site with your Facebook friends.

But on a deeper level, Facebook Connect could theoretically be very valuable for the newspaper. They could get better ad targeting information from user profiles, for example, or they could increase traffic by syndicating user actions (like commenting) back to Facebook, or they could personalize news based on your age, location, interests, or work — the possibilities are really endless, and show how Facebook Connect could be important for the future of the newspaper business.

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BONUS: Xbox Live

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Starting this fall, Xbox Live will get an update that will allow you to connect to Facebook directly from your console. That unlocks all sorts of possibilities — sharing scores with Facebook friends, challenging buddies to online games, making photo albums of in-game screenshots, etc.

The actual details are a bit hazy now, so we’ll have to wait until the update is rolled out this autumn to know for sure how cool (or lame) Facebook Connect on the Xbox really is.

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More Facebook resources from Mashable

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- 5 Great Examples of Facebook Connect on the iPhone
- FACEBOOK FAIL: How to Use Facebook Privacy Settings and Avoid Disaster
- HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook
- 9 Fantastic Facebook Pages for Fashion

Coca-Cola's 100-Flavor Interactive Freestyle Soda Fountain in Action [video]

Thanks Fast Company for this post on where drink vending machines may be going.

Looking at this device and it’s RFID/web connection alongside the 'interactive vending machine' Coke unveiled at Cannes (video at bottom of post), i can’t help but wonder how long before they combine both systems into a 'vending event' unit. A system that entertains people while giving them the opportunity to personalise their product, but then adds layers of engagement by petting people do things like share their own blend with the next person using the machine, or the world online; vote / ranking other people blends, display most popular from places around the world etc… Either way it’s a great first step towards adding something more to the FMCG experience


BY Zachary WilsonTue Jul 21, 2009 at 10:19 AM

Ever had one of those moments where all you wanted was a Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, but all the fountain could offer you was regular old diet? Coca-Cola is doing away with that problem by introducing a new beverage dispenser. Heralded as the "fountain of the future" by Coke PR flaks, the "Freestyle"--which was first unveiled under the code name "Jet" back in April--offers more than 100 flavor options. There are traditional sodas, flavored waters, carbonated or noncarbonated beverages, energy drinks and so on. Even flavors not currently available in the United States.

This video is the first look at the Freestyle's touch screen interface, which is designed by Bsquare Corporation. Select a Coca-Cola product, such as Fanta, and the screen offers several flavor options. Choose the one you want (Grape, please!) and the machine mixes the drink right then--it can even mix flavors in ways that are not traditionally offered.

The machine is more technologically complex than you'd imagine. The "PurePour" technology was originally developed to measure extremely precise amounts of dialysis and cancer drugs. Beyond that, RFID scanners are used to match cartridges to dispensers, and the onboard computer confirms everything is in place. Existing soda fountains use five-gallon concentrate bags and lots of backroom labor. Now all that is required is a highly concentrated 46-ounce cartridge inside a self-contained machine.

Another perk is the business data the dispenser sends back to Coke's headquarters in Atlanta. The machines upload data about beverage consumption, peak times, and popular locations. Coke can also talk back to the machine, letting it know if a particular flavor needs to be discontinued or recalled and causing it to stop serving the drink immediately.

Freestyle machines are currently being tested in Georgia, California, and Utah. Coca-Cola has said it plans to place 60 test dispensers around the country by the end of the summer.

Coke's 'other' future vending machine:

Microsoft's Kodu Turns Programming Into a Kid-Friendly Creative Medium

Thanks Next Great Thing for this on microsofts' KODU. This kind of thinking would do well applied to adults!

Do you think HTML is short for Hotmail? Is Java something you drink in the morning? A computer-savvy kid would instantly recognize these as programming languages. So while we have long joked that kids and adults speak different languages, thanks to computers this is becoming quite literally true. Now, a new programming language from Microsoft will make these even more of a reality, deepening the “digital divide” and preparing our kids for the Information Age.

The new language, called Kodu, is made specifically for creating games and is designed for kids. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Kids program using the Xbox and use the game controller for input. The Kodu language is designed specifically for game development, and programs are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. While not as general-purpose as classical programming languages, Kodu can express advanced game design concepts in a simple, direct, and intuitive manner.

So the idea is simple; kids can create their own game, play it, and even distribute it to the Xbox live community. In this way, Microsoft is looking to further “programming as a creative medium.” So just as the “creative class” could create their own blog or avatar, now they can program a game and share it with the community.

You can compare this Microsoft move to what Apple did with the desktop and then the iPhone. They basically turned widgets into giant icons, simplifying the idea that the web could fuel lots of individualized utilities. Thanks to computers and phones—and the quickening pace of our lives—we are becoming an increasingly visual culture. The graphically-driven interface of Kodu just reinforces this.

The implications of this and similar efforts will be quite remarkable. Kids today are growing up in a world where they have complete control over their media and experiences with it. As previous generations witnessed the release of the CD, the boom of the Internet, or the emergence of mobile phones, this generation is actually taking part in it; they are protagonists, the programmers of progress. They are learning the tools they will need to further shape the future, to craft and direct our increasingly digitized world.

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The microsoft research post on Kodu: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/

Kodu

Kodu is a new visual programming language made specifically for creating games. It is designed to be accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone. The programming environment runs on the Xbox, allowing rapid design iteration using only a game controller for input.

Programming as a Creative Medium

The core of the Kodu project is the programming user interface. The language is simple and entirely icon-based. Programs are composed of pages, which are broken down into rules, which are further divided into conditions and actions. Conditions are evaluated simultaneously.

The Kodu language is designed specifically for game development and provides specialized primitives derived from gaming scenarios. Programs are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. While not as general-purpose as classical programming languages, Kodu can express advanced game design concepts in a simple, direct, and intuitive manner.

Screen Shots

(Click to open a larger image a new window.)

Game load / community screen.

"Physical" sensors are used as rule input.

Yes, we have a turtle.

Stick can't walk but he packs a wallop.

Key Features

Kodu provides an end-to-end creative environment for designing, building, and playing your own new games.

• High-level language incorporates real-world primitives: collision, color, vision
• Uses Xbox 360 Game Controller for input — no keyboard required
• Runs on XBox 360 and PC
• Interactive terrain editor
• Bridge and path builder
• Terrain editor - create worlds of arbitrary shape and size
• 20 different characters with different abilities

Cross Reality: When Sensors Meet Virtual Reality

Food for thought on where the world is heading. Thanks Mashable

Written by Richard MacManus / July 14, 2009 12:00 AM / 3 Comments

« Prior Post Next Post »

During my recent visit to MIT in Boston I met with Joseph Paradiso, Associate Professor and Director of the Responsive Environments Group at MIT Media Laboratory. He showed me some demos of what his lab is up to, focusing mostly on what is termed "Cross Reality". This is when sensor/actuator networks meet online virtual worlds.

Paradiso co-authored a paper that has just been released in the July-September edition of the IEEE Pervasive Computing Magazine. The paper outlines and analyzes Cross Reality experiments done within Second Life, the most popular virtual world with 15 million current subscribers. In this post we'll give you a layman's overview of the paper, because we think this trend is important to the Web's future.

What is Cross Reality?

Cross Reality is about connecting "location-specific 3D animated constructs" in virtual worlds to in-building sensor installations.

The paper notes that "the convergence of shared 3D virtual worlds with popular web-based data sources to form a "Second Earth" has been broadly predicted." It's also been the topic of many a science fiction novel. So it's interesting to see the latest practical experiments in this "hyper reality."

It should be noted that there are already commercial applications. The paper points to IBM's visualization of datacenter operation and VRcontext's ProcessLife technology. The latter "uses high-fidelity 3D virtual replicas of real plants or factories to remotely browse and influence industrial processes in realtime."

Billowing Power Strips

In one of its projects, MIT created a cross reality environment called "ShadowLab," which is a Second Life map of the Media Lab's third floor animated by data collected from a network of 35 "smart, sensor-laden power strips" (a.k.a. PLUGs). MIT chose to use power strips "because they are already ubiquitous in offices and homes," plus they have power and can be connected to a network.

Virtual DataPond in the Virtual Atrium (left) and a real DataPond in the real Media Lab Atrium (right)

MIT added other features to the power strips via expansion boards - such as motion sensors, temperature sensors, and memory cards for local data logging.

Ubiquitous Sensor Portals

MIT has also created a whole portal network that maps sensors to virtual worlds, called the Ubiquitous Sensor Portal. There are 45 portals currently in the Media Lab, each one featuring a myriad of environmental sensors - such as motion, light and sound level, vibration, temperature, and humidity. They have a small touch-screen display and audio speaker, for user interaction.

The Portals also act as base stations for an 802.15.4 network inside the lab, "enabling wireless communication with a variety of wearable sensors." Each portal has an extension into Second Life, allowing people to visit the Media Lab virtually. This isn't just a one-way process either; as well as affecting virtual worlds, portal interactions can push virtual phenomena into the user's physical space.

Two views of the virtual extension of a Portal into Second Life; the first shows sensor data over time, the second streaming real-time audio/video into Second Life.

Mobile

MIT expects that handhelds and mobile devices will play an important role in future Cross Reality applications, "both as a source of data to animate their users' environments and avatars and as augmented reality terminals through which local sensor networks can be explored and programmed." The lab has already begun to experiment in this area, with a Star Trek-inspired device it calls a Tricorder (image to right) and a newer device called the "Ubicorder." Both devices provide a real time interface to sensor data.

MIT expects the mobile area of cross reality to expand rapidly "once smart phone Augmented Reality becomes better
established." ReadWriteWeb has been following this trend closely; read our recent Augmented Reality analysis here and here.

Conclusion

The projects of the Responsive Environments Group at MIT are enabling real world data, increasingly being provided by sensor/actuator networks, to be plugged into virtual and physical interfaces.

The group is still exploring both the technical and practical sides of this, so it's uncertain what it will lead to in the commercial world. But we're certain it will fuel future startup innovation in the coming year or two. Watch this space!

Eight Ways to Improve the ROI of Online Games

Thanks Nat Factor for sharing this post on game ROI

Jun 30, 2009 6:02 AM, Patricia Odell for PROMO Xtra

The Subway Scrabble game, which incorporates hundreds of millions of game pieces on Subway cups and sub wraps, has just begun its annual run. Each year the response has improved significantly. So, how do they do it? Take a look at these eight best practices from Catapult Action-Biased Marketing.

1. Attainability Boost the odds of winning by offering more lower-level prizing. Last year, an online instant-win chance was added to every game piece, which doubled the number of game codes entered online and sent more people back to the stores to buy product.

2. Communicate Emphasize the number of prizes and odds of winning at all touch points: P-O-P, mass media, FSIs, tip-ins, paid search, search engines, banners etc.

3. Give away a free code This gets consumers to register for the first time, try the promotion and then drives them back to the store to collect more game pieces. It’s also a significant opportunity to boost op-in and build the in-house database.

4. Split registration Optimize the registration process by collecting only the necessary data up front—name, e-mail address, age—then on the back end collect redemption information—address, phone number. The benefit? A consumer who has privacy concerns is more likely to complete the registration, minimizing drop-off rates. “The last thing you want is for someone to come to your microsite and then drop off because its not a good experience,” says Jason Katz, executive vice president of emerging media for Catapult Action-Biased Marketing.

5. Offer multiple ways to enter Expand entry points for an online promo with a text-to-win option. Some 10% to 50% of sweeps entries now come in through SMS, according to John Ross, account supervisor at Catapult.

6. Virtual prize partners Build excitement by seeking a partner to use for prizes that can be instantly won online, like music downloads or ring tones. This allows for an immediate reward to the players and increase response and viral sharing.

7. Build relevant landing pages These pages should be grounded in insights about your target audience; how, when and where would they like to be intersected and what’s the most compelling message. For example, a female, 35 plus should see a very different landing page than an 18-year-old male.

8. Paid Search This also allows marketers to optimize response by moving marketing dollars around based on response to key search words.

Ready For a Multi-Touch Web?

OK, and the following re-posts might be a little old, but i liked em when i read them

This one, from Read Write Web on a keyboard free net! Cool

Imagine a world without keyboards. Futurist Ray Kurzweil did 10 years ago when he predicted that by 2009 most portable computers would not have them any longer. Chances are you're still using a mouse and keyboard to point and click your way through this post (and the thousands of other Web pages you view every week). Yet a change is fast approaching, and it's based on touch.

Gesture-based interaction has been around since the dawn of computing, really, and Kurzweil's vision has come true, at least in part, thanks to the widespread adoption of trackpads for laptops (not to mention their predecessors: the trackball, stylus, and light pen). Meanwhile, touch-enabled screens are all around us: in ATMs, GPS navigation systems, grocery checkout lines, bars and restaurants, and TV (think CNN's election maps, and remember Star Trek: The Next Generation from the 1980s?). Yet single-user desktop systems are still mostly dependent on mice and keyboards.

With the advent of Apple's wildly popular iPhone (soon to be joined by the Palm Pre), we've gotten a taste of the potential of multi-touch technology, at least for mobile devices. Now they're being joined by a new wave of interactive walls and tables: Microsoft's Surface, Hitachi's StarBoard, and Sony's new multi-touch LCD screen.

The New Metaphors of Touch

Multi-touch and other touch surfaces offer a more intuitive and natural interaction with PCs, transforming the way we use computers, much the way GUI systems did when they were introduced 25 years ago. While some tasks may still be easier to perform using traditional input devices like the keyboard and mouse, multi-touch is ideal for manipulating objects; creating, editing, and scanning pictures; navigating maps; and even surfing the Web. Gesture-based human/computer interaction represents an evolutionary step, not just in the design of hand-held devices and PCs but also in the look, feel, and functionality of websites.

"Pinch," "de-pinch," "flick," "stretch." This is the growing vernacular of multi-finger and gesture motions. Our current devices (mouse, trackpad, etc.) are designed to focus on a single point and manipulate that point around the screen. With multi-touch, no longer are you limited to double-clicking, dragging, button-pushing, and working pull-down menus. You can sketch, paint, re-size, and crop with a single finger, multiple fingers, multiple hands, and even multiple users. Objects become things you swipe, zoom, push, pull, spin, rotate, and flip.

A More Interactive, Collaborative Experience

Following the introduction of the iPhone, Surface, TouchSmart TX2 multi-touch tablet, and N-trig's DuoSense digitizers, we wonder, too, what's coming next? More intriguing for us as a Web hosting company is how this will transform the online experience: the look and feel of websites, their functionality, and your interaction with them?

There are a few hints of the multi-touch future to come. Bill Buxton is a pioneer in the field of multi-touch. His "Multi-Touch Systems That I Have Known and Loved" outlines degrees of freedom, a concept central to expanding the boundaries of how we interact with computers:

"The richness of interaction is highly related to the richness/number of degrees of freedom (DOF) and, in particular, continuous degrees of freedom, supported by the technology. The conventional GUI is largely based on moving around a single 2-D cursor, using a mouse, for example. This results in 2DOF. If I am sensing the location of two fingers, I have 4DOF, and so on."

DOF then opens up nearly endless possibilities for one-surface computing based on your actions: discrete or continuous, horizontal or vertical orientation, pressure sensitivity, angle of approach, friction, and so one, all influenced by the single or multiple points and gestures you use.

Multi-Touch Made Real

Buxton, Kurzweil, and visionary Jefferson Han provide only a glimpse of what tomorrow's multi-touch websites might look like. No one really knows for certain. Yet they will likely contain at least a few of the following elements:

• Virtual buttons and signatures;
• A faster, more efficient GUI in which the user can customize their own site menu size and shape: for example, by representing layers as individual cards of a card deck;
• Items with 3-D characteristics, with fronts and backs that can be flipped over and rotated.

Joel Eden, a user experience consultant, provides some excellent suggestions for "Designing for Multi-Touch, Multi-User, and Gesture-Based Systems," listing several characteristics that apply as much to website design as to software development. These include:

• Affordances: focus on features, actions, and interactions that can be represented visually;
• Engagement: focus users on simple, quick, natural interactions;
• Feedback must be immediate and easily noticeable by all concurrent users;
• Don't make us think: minimize hidden functionality, except for contextual features that only make sense when revealed during specific interactions.

It may not be time yet to ditch your keyboard and retire your mouse. But sometime between the iPhone and Surface table-top computing, laptop and desktop multi-touch applications will emerge. Interested in a sneak peek at what a multi-touch website might look like? Take a look at these prototypes, and share your examples and ideas!

• Digital Volvelles 1.0
• Kyle Phillips: What Matters Most
• Multitouch-Barcelona Natural Interaction Project

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More cool Project Natal stuff

You are the controller

way cool

Augmented Reality: Can the 'Stars Wars' Effect Sustain Engagement?

Thanks Adage for this level headed look at the latest wagon on the hype train

Despite Intriguing Trials, the Technology Remains Is Still Niche

Posted by Garrick Schmitt on 05.01.09 @ 07:44 AM

We are obsessed with the next new thing. As an industry we eagerly anticipate new software releases, tirelessly champion new services (MySpace to Facebook to Twitter) and new eras (Web 3.0 anyone?). We also have no fear of eating our young -- how many times have you heard the phrase "Google-killer"?

For digital marketers the eagerness to find the next new thing is both a blessing and a curse. Steve Rubel, Edelman's digital czar, summed up the paradox best recently when he said, "Second Life was digital marketing's Vietnam." There is a price to be paid for being too quick to embrace a new, untested technology after all. You can both overshoot the market and look foolish at the same time.

Augmented reality, also known as AR, sits at that precarious nexus today. It could transform the digital landscape, merging online and offline in wild new creative ways, as Hashem Bajwa points out in an earlier DigitalNext post. Or it could forever be the stuff of freaks and geeks. Will the hype around augmented reality crush the technology before it can really take off?

First, a bit of background: today augmented reality enables consumers to physically manipulate 3-D objects as displayed on a monitor. The technology is based on using markers that are basically printed patterns on paper that when viewed through a video stream and recognized by software create a type of hologram-effect.

Think Star Wars' Princess Leia's hologram communication with Obi-wan and you are pretty close.

Brand marketers have spared no time in utilizing augmented reality to inspire consumers' imaginations -- here's a look at some of the best early work:

Lego and K'Nnex:
The toy company, with its "digital box," has one of the more arresting uses of augmented reality today. Simply hold up the Lego box to an in-store kiosk with a web cam and watch a rendering of the toy assemble itself. Metaio, one of the leaders in AR, designed the experience for Lego. Total Immersion, another leader in AR, created a similar experience for K'nex toys which also allows you to control and even pilot the AR rendering of the toy.

Topps:
Topps is leading the way with augmented reality today and trying to ignite new consumer interest in sports trading cards for the digital era. The company enlisted Total Immersion to create a full AR experience that brings Major League Baseball favorites like Ryan Howard to life. At Toppstown fans get the full 3-D experience, can make the tiny players bat and pitch, plus explore stats and game info.

"Coraline":
The marketing for "Coraline," the first stop-motion animation feature shot in stereoscopic 3-D, was top notch. One of the highlights was the creation of a digital out-of-home campaign that literally placed consumers in the story by allowing them to see themselves as a part of the film through augmented reality. These "Storescapes" used AR to superimpose images onto pedestrians, so onlookers could see their reflections in a screen with animations including button eyes covering their real eyes.

Toyota IQ and Mini:
Car companies such as Toyota and BMW have been quick to use augmented reality technology to create a 3-D interactive experience for new cars. Toyota employed the technology to show off its new small car, Toyota IQ, which allows consumers to interact with the car and discover its agility and interior space. MINI employed the same strategy for the release of its Cabrio convertible.

Fanta Virtual Tennis:
Fanta uses augmented reality to bring a bit of whimsy and play to its Play On Virtual Tennis offering. The game enables consumers to play in either single or double mode, facing off with a friend any conceivable location. It's promises the closest thing to an out of home Wii experience that we've seen yet.

As novel and fun as these examples are (and there are many, many more -- even GE is in on it), we are still years away from realizing the true potential of augmented reality. The next wave, which is just starting to emerge from the labs, promises a full melding of virtual and physical without markers. Imagine walking down the street and seeing digital overlays on physical locations (bars, restaurants, movies) with adverts, video clips and even avatars.

The primary way to experience this today (albeit with bugs) is with a mobile device, such as T-Mobile's G1, which runs Google's Android software. For example, Wikitude from Mobilizy is a mobile travel guide that provides overlays of locale information for more than 350,000 world-wide points of interest. Similarly, Enkin wants to "reinvent navigation, by combining GPS, orientation sensors, 3-D graphics, live video, and several web services into something wholly new. More practically, SPRXmobile and ING deliver a mobile ATM finder for the Netherlands that allows you to locate ING ATMs simply by holding the phone in front of you.

At this moment, augmented reality for marketers is a novel, nifty new technology -- but one that will probably grow gimmicky quickly. I've personally played with seven or eight demos at this point (many mentioned above) and after the "gee whiz" factor is exhausted, there's not really much there to sustain any real engagement. Besides, there's a vague whiff of "Dungeons & Dragons" around this stuff that's will be hard for most to get over.

Today, the biggest potential is for both geeks and gamers. It's not hard to imagine how a video-game company could use the technology to literally place consumers into the game. Or how companies like Topps and Legos will further use augmented reality to enable a more enhanced game play experience. Check out WiiSpray for a taste.

Augmented reality has huge promise, but in the short term it's a niche technology for a niche audience. But, of course, gaining a foothold in the multibillion-dollar gaming industry is not a bad place from which to start. Let's just hope our desire to hype it AR as the next big thing won't harm it.

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Garrick Schmitt is Group Vice President of Experience Planning at Razorfish and the agency's global lead for User Experience. He publishes FEED, Razorfish's annual consumer experience report, and writes and edits the Razorfish Digital Design Blog. In his spare time he flails about on Twitter @gschmitt.