This is gonna be huge

Augmented Reality (AR) applications launch on the iPhone.

While I have spent years getting excited by the possibilities of mobile apps like semapedia, (unlike most of my clients, who dispite my best efforts, passed on the opportunities). Now with the launch of a raft of genuine AR apps Like this from DiscoverAnywhere there appears to be a real case for commercial use. While it is true the actual audience of iPhone & Android users is really small compared with total universe of mobile (cell) phones, in time this should be the standard for 'whats that?' questions in the street. The answer being you aim your phone at the object and heh presto the phone overlays a label telling price, location, availability or simply its name.

Very interesting that Amazons tech division A9 have brought Snaptell, which basically puts Amazons prices and availability information over the top of any item you see in a shop, (currently only works in the US)

Like most people I often emerge from a station and ponder where is? (the nearest bar) having an interactive live map to overlay reality is a fantastic bit of black magic to delight. This last bit, is in my opinion, the key to any new techs ability to succeed, is it a joy to use and do you want to tell you mates about it?

Just look at the footage below of the yelp.com trial AR feature, yes you really do have to shake the phone three times for it to show the hidden button, how charming is that? -there is also a neat London Bus AR demo HERE from Presselite. The Next Web has a bit about a live tweeter layer which could see even more tourists actually being hit by buses (while tweeting), the guys at Presslite had us tracking.

 

This is really rather nice, distracting in a Friday kind of way.

Song lyric visualiser


www.identitee.com
Links words across songs with a lovely flowing action. Like the typography. Does need a bigger data base, the current selections are very reflective of its ultra conservative sponsor 'Hard Rock Cafe' (its one Clash track is however - 'I'm so bored with the USA'!)

The buy a shirt section does vex me as they want $55 for a rather ordinary example. When personalised shirt printing is so good right now, (Threadless  or Design by Humans etc.) this seems extremely poor value (and design)

Use Your Local.com

"..we're going down the pub.." -or rather your post is.


Not that I need anymore reasons to spend time in bars, but this is a really neat idea.
Use Your Local.com
Rather than spend Saturday morning's queuing up at the Post Office to collect parcels that have been delivered while you are at work. Get them sent to your local pub, pick up on way home, stop for a quick drink to thank the landlord, genius! Nobel prize's have been given for less.

The scheme is backed by Scottish & Newcastle (now part of the Heineken group) appears to have been thought as a way of giving country pubs another offer, to me the big pull is for urban pubs/bars, As I have ranted about before the parcel delivery service is just out of wack with modern work patterns. The Saturday queue at the Clapham Post Office is daunting if you don't arrive by 8 a.m. having the option of going to the pub instead, now that is an advancement for mankind.

(already posted on allthe7thfloors.blogspot.com)

t7F London are recruiting : Account Director

Entrepreneurial self-starter with a good understanding of how small agencies operate. £45K. Central London. Temp > Perm. Access to beer.

We are looking for a creatively minded, inquisitive thinker to join a small multi-discipline team. You should have a strong interest in the changing nature of today’s communications.

You will have already had responsibility for day-to-day management on a portfolio of client accounts. Now seeking a greater autonomy and a bigger contribution to the running of an agency.

MORE

A missed opportunity?

The current phone tapping scandal** is a fantastic creative opportunity for the phone companies to run tactical ads informing consumers how to change the default passwords on there voicemail. Scanned the papers this morning and nothing!

** = it would appear that most celebs (and royals) are like the rest of us and leave there voicemail in factory settings. Which means all you have to do is call the number when its off, enter the pin (1234 on 90% of handsets) and heh presto you get to hear all the inane chatter you like

Freeium, the future business model for content providers? -that also includes agencies like us

I have been writing a piece about premium brands turning to 'Freeium' provision. This being the idea of parcelling up content into free to air sections that sit alongside full fat, longer, wider, versions. Works for just about any product area as long as the brand in question has retained enough unique equities. This made me think that actually companies like ours could start offering this. -and yes I know we've been doing it for years when we pitch. What I was thinking about was what if we 'give' our new campaign to the client to enjoy and contemplate. But then require a fee if they want to see the full picture; like where the logo goes, what the call to action is or even an explanation to 'what the hell is that?'

Ace new 3D mapping system

The guys at Saab Defence (nothing to do with the cars they tell us) have obviously got bored of missile guidance systems and have developed an amazing Google Map killer. Now if there were to talk to the car division and get this working in-dash that would be a top product, not least an amazing version of Amplified Journeys seen on blip.tv via W3haus

Tweet of the day

I have been looking at Twitter measurment tools for a client today. Found this eyecatching tweet via the People Browser platform, blending the weeks biggest storys into one

"..If you are a celebrity who has not died yet, please say something in support of the people of Iran.."

It goes without saying the scale of the pain, the people of Iran are going through, would never have been possible to convey without a platform like Twitter.

Hugley useful resource on Twitter use by the way on Jeremiah Owyangs blog web-strategist.com. Also soon to be published book Twitterville by Shel Israel.

Emirates Globe stays the course

Emirates at the Arabian Travel Market May 2009

What feels like a gazillion years ago (2006) I designed an exhibition stand for the airline Emirates. I was very chuffed to see they are still using the epic structure to this day, having sweated blood on the thing (and a stack full of also-ran ideas) its great when your work survives beyond launch day. I will post, later via slideshare, all the roughs and back up ideas that went into this design.

Big thanks have to go to the poor souls in the Pulse production office who were faced with the slightly daunting task of not only making it work but then transporting it all over the world.

Story about its current form in The Dubai Chronicle

Duck islands Vs Peter & Jordan

Britain has a unique media landscape - I think partially because we never really got WWE WrestleMania.

Let me explain. The Peter Andre & Katie Jordan Price car crash relationship still rolls through the British media because its an endless pantomime of hero's and villain's, with a script so transparent we all get it. But lap it all up because there are no surprise's, just another wedding/separation/recomfirmation/birth, round the corner. It is our very own version of a WWE 'history-in-the-making World title defence/rematch/comeback/handbag Slamdown.

This despite taxpayers money being lavished on Conservative grandees Duck islands, Manor House's and Moat clearances. David Cameron just about convinced everyone that the Tory's had changed, were new and full of young people with new ideas. But now like some pantomime baddy come back from the dead, we are told 'Oh No' The Tories/Conservatives really do all own wacking great piles in the country. oh bugger me how did i not see that coming.

Mind you a complete overhaul of Parliment with even a real possibility of an elected upper house, now that might just be the M Night Shyamalan rewrite of Puss in Boots we all need.

D'you feel lucky?

Due to an early start meeting I had an overnight in the Midlands yesterday. This would normally mean a soulless room in a local travellodge. However once in a while you do come up trumps. Witness the borderline tasteful bridal suite I found myself in. Not sure if it was the four poster or sunken whirl pool bath that really did for me. -the stock policy of the hotel bar deserves a mention in itself -great malt selection but wines (and beers)  from the 1990's.

 

Close but no cigar

Philip Slade NOT winning an award.This is me moments before learning we did not win at the Revolution Awards. Never mind, he says with a big shrug, It was a great evening. Which ended in something of a blur, but no broken limbs this time, which must rate a success.

We lost out to a very pretty bit of work from Honda. The Ideas Playground. Amplified Journeys.hk will live to fight another day, still very much in Beta 1.0, we have some cracking improvements for version 1.5. plus a whole host of bolt on options coming.