Interactive Angle

3D Projections on Buildings

NuFormer Digital Media has developed a fascinating way to make custom 3D projections on buildings!

Thanks Emil!

Thanks To The DVR People Are Still Watching Commercials

Recently came across multiple articles stating that more people seem content to sit through the commercials than networks once thought. In fact nearly half of all people watching delayed shows on a DVR are still slouching on their couches watching messages about movies, cars and beer.

Here is an overview of the NPR story:

• 46 percent of 18-to-49 who watch the major networks on a DVR actually do watch the commercials.
• Commercials are slightly better than they used to be, and they're trying to make them more entertaining.
• Today we have four different kinds of TV ratings

1. Live program rating - That’s what you always had
2. Live-plus-same-day rating - So that means if you DVR’d the show, the 8 o'clock show, and you watched it at 10 o'clock, that’s the live-plus-same-day
3. Live-plus-seven-days rating - Wached before the next episode of the show comes on the following week, how many people watched.
4. Commercial-plus-three rating - Does not measure the program at all. It only measures the commercials in the program. Over a three-day period, from the time it was first on to three days later, how many people watched the commercials? And that’s the key part of the business, because that’s what all the advertising rates are now based on.

• Most shows have seen a bump in the commercial-plus-three rating. Their rating has gone up about 10 percent, even though only 46 percent are watching the commercial.

Sources:

NPR (On The Media) - TV's Unlikely Ally
New York Times - DVR, Once TV’s Mortal Foe, Helps Ratings

Wearable Device That Interacts With Your Surrounding Environment

How cools is our future. The possibilities here are endless. Even better the cost to commercialize this technology is not as expensive as you think. I love the part in the video when you can view an individual to see their social profile / tag cloud. How funny!

Enjoy!

Source: TED - Talks Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense

Google SideWiki Adds Social Media Component to Every Web Page On The Internet

Google Sidewiki is a way for a visitor to comment on any content within a Web site.  When you use side-wiki, you have the ability to leave your comments and associate them with a Web site whether or not the Web site owner has enabled commenting.  Since the comments are maintained by Google, there is no direct relationship with the website.

Why am I bringing this up?

The impacts of Google SideWiki are far reaching, now every web page on the internet is social and can have a consumer opinion –both positive and negative.  At the same time this tool has the potential to shift the control over any Web site to the consumer.

Below are some other resources to help you better understand the potential impact of this new tool:

• Google Blog - Help and learn from others as you browse the web: Google Sidewiki

• Jeremiah Owyang - Google’s SideWiki Shifts Power To Consumers –Away From Corporate Websites

• Tech Crunch - Google Steps Where Many Have Stumbled: Sidewiki

• Read Write Web - Annotate the Web: Google Launches Sidewiki

Google Social Search Overview

Novatel MiFi - A Portable Wireless Router

Imagine if you could get online anywhere you liked without using a cellular modems from Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T. Even better what if you had a private hot spot, that followed you everywhere you go and allowed all of your gadgets to be online at once? Well starting mid-May Verizon will be offering the Novatel MiFi 2200.

The Novatel MiFi 2200 or MiFi is a portable wireless router that will deliver wireless 3G data network access to multiple users in a small area (about 30 feet radius). Much the same size as a credit card, the MiFi will have the ability to let users select access to different types of high speed data networks.

The MiFi offers Internet connectivity that can be shared not only between users but between devices such as laptops, cameras, gaming devices (i.e. Nintendo DS or Sony PSP), iTouch, iPOD and multimedia players. In addition the MiFi will be able support up to five users simultaneously. Finally, the MiFi's battery is supposed to run for only four hours a charge (it’s rated at 40 hours of standby). However, after 30 minutes of inactivity the Mifi will go into sleep mode to prolong its battery life.

Source: New York Times - Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed

Inspiring 3D Flash Navigation

A colleague of mine recently sent me a link to a very cool Web site called Whitevoid.com. What makes the site cool is its 3D navigation.  The site does a really nice job of maintaining a visitor's orientation from a 3D perspective.

After doing some research I found that this site was created by a German Interactive Art Firm located in Berlin. The site was developed using Papervision3D which is an open source 3D engine for Flash.

Thanks Matt for the link!

Source: WhiteVoid.com

21 guilty pleasures for geeks

This article recently caught my eye because I have always loved  #10 - Cranking up your home cinema system for the THX OMMMMMmmmmmm. There are others but that is for another time. What makes you a geek?

Source: TechRadar.com