Human Mirror

Another stunt by Improveverywhere that is well worth a look, thanks to TheCoolHunter.
Check out their video at this link http://improveverywhere.com/2008/07/06/human-mirror/ for the article and more pics.

Brands punk'd by social media sites

This is a neat list of brands that have been brand-jacked by social media... in other words, when online turns bad. Let's learn from them and hope we never join them:

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/05/02/a-chonology-of-brands-that-got-punkd-by-social-media/

Skype 4.0

A Redesign at Skype
By BRAD STONE, NY Times

Skype, eBay’s Internet phone division, has always been something of a problem child for the e-commerce giant.

The service is growing like a weed, with 309 million registered users. It earned $126 million in the first quarter, exceeding what eBay and PayPal earned at similar age.

Yet considering eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype in 2005 and last year took a massive write-down on the acquisition, investors and industry observers still view Skype through the thick, dreary lens of disappointment.

Now eBay hopes to give them a new pair of glasses. Tuesday night the company will make available a test of a new version of the program, called Skype 4.0, which it says is the most dramatic redesign of the calling service in its short five-year history.

Josh Silverman, Skype’s president, says it was time to evolve Skype’s user interface. The service started out by offering free audio calls but has gradually added other kinds of communication, like video calls, file-sharing, and text chats. The main purpose of the upgrade, he said, is to bring all those modes together and make it easier to switch between them in a single conversation.

“If I were to sum it all up, that is what 4.0 is about: the next leap forward in integrated communications,” he said.

The full article can be found at: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/a-redesign-at-skype/index.html?th&emc=th

Turn anything into a video game controller!

Cheers psfk... we love you!

Camspace is a sophisticated piece of software that uses a webcam to track any colorful object and use it as a video game controller. Your hands, a ball, an old sock - whatever. In seconds, Camspace registers and calibrates the object which then can accurately interact with action on the screen. Amazing to watch - video below.

Some nice new agency sites

Stole this exert from Adage and their belated coverage of the new Hal Riney site. I personally love Modernista's appraoch. The Hal Riney stuff is smart and new, but kinds of sucks as a working interface

San Francisco ad agency Publicis & Hal Riney has redesigned its website to enable a mouse-free experience. The effort is one of a wave of newfangled agency websites launched in recent months, which include Modernista's Web 2.0 format and Barbarian Group's bloglike revamp. "We wanted to make the website as interesting as the work that was presented on it," said Rikesh Lal, Publicis & Hal Riney's interactive creative director and an AKQA veteran.

Another great use of webcam in campaign site

http://www.mentoskisscam.com/ ... he he he

Cooooooooooooooooool webcam driven interface

Found on Contagious - Mouse No More - 22/04/2008

The bizarre technologies of Minority Report are becoming increasingly likely every time we look up. Microsoft’s Surface technology was followed quickly by its miniature parallel the iPhone and now even musical loon Björk is touring with a reacTable. This kind of advanced interactivity is now coming to websites, thanks to UK design agency Clusta who have developed what they claim is the first ever commercial website to be navigated and controlled by movement, picked up via webcam.

The technology has been developed for Publicis and Hal Riney (www.hrp.com) with a demo hosted at http://hrp.clusta.com. The site is controlled by waving your hands to virtually touch or swipe the screen, connecting with ‘hotspots’ to navigate through different areas of the site.

Matthew Clugston, creative director at Clusta told Contagious: ‘Clusta is trying to create a more immersive and engaging experience for users - this is obviously something very valuable to both brands and businesses. Hal Riney were brave enough to utilise a technology ordinarily only seen in the games community - but the publicity and the immersiveness we managed to create for the user has paid off for them.’

Clusta hopes that the site could put an end to Repetitive Strain Injury or even lead the way for a computer interface based entirely around gestures and movements. The next step for the technology is to recognise speed of movement and then develop the grabbing and dropping of objects around the screen.

Clugston continues: ‘From there, we’re moving into the realms of virtual shopping where consumers will conceivably be able to virtually walk around a fully functioning digitally created music store to pick up their latest 3D movies. Such technology is closer than many people think and we’re working hard to make that day a not-too-distant reality.’

Philip K. Dick would approve.