Quite frankly, I'm offended that I wasn't one of the 100,000 people to get the invite. If anyone else gets one could you please let me know!!

Google Wave

iPhone capabilities pushed to the maximum!!

I have been looking around at what the upper limits of iPhone's technical capabilities are and I have subsequently discovered that some software installed on a PC can be remotely controlled via your iPhone which I was unaware of before seeing some examples online.

An example of two such types of software include Ableton and VDMX.

Ableton is a very powerful piece of audio production software and VDMX is equally powerful VJing software for mixing visuals into one another in time with music.

Check out the first 2 videos on this page to see a demo of iPhone controlling Ableton, VDMX and MSAFluid on a PC
http://www.memo.tv/tags/iphone

This second example is the clearest example I could find of Ableton being controlled via the iPhone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTryBdrfGD4&feature=related

Oversharing: why hitting the submit button too soon can be dangerous in the web 2.0 world.

The beauty of our connectedness through web 2.0 is our ability to converse with each other in real time, whenever the urge hits us. This is obviously a good thing, as it allows us to read and respond to our friends all over the world as soon as they tweet, ping, or comment on our various social media accounts. There is a danger to all of this though, it’s called oversharing.

Subscribers to the @Proximity blog will note my pitiful failure to at blogging this evening, when I hit the publish button too early, not once but twice. This is an example of oversharing. Before web 2.0 (and social media) no one would have known about my blogging faux pas, but thanks to web 2.0 the whole agency got an email about my mistake!

Which brings me to what I wanted to blog about in the first place, it is a website dedicated to oversharing, www.oversharers.com, devoted to the people who tell you “really, really more than you want to know”.



What’s the lesson in all of this for brands and our clients? Be very, very careful when having online conversations as it is easy to slip up. And when you do slip you’ll likely do it in front of your entire customer base.

I for one will be very careful about hitting the submit button in future.

Do you have any Social Media principles?

The IPA's Social Media group have come up with 10 Social Media principles. In recognition that none of us are experts they've taken an 'open source' approach and are looking for people to join the conversation, share, and add their own thoughts about what makes for good social media. The event is to be held on the evening of October 6th at the IPA (more info).

The IPA's 10 Social Media principles are:

1. People not consumers
2. Social agenda not business agenda
3. Continuous conversation not campaigning
4. Long term impacts not quick fixes
5. Marketing with people not to people
6. Being authentic not persuasive
7. Perpetual beta
8. Technology changes, people don't
9. Change will never be this slow again
10. Measurement

What are your views? Do you have any principles to add to the list?

P.S. visit the IPA Social page for more details of the event, or search for the Twitter tag #IPAsocial to see what people are saying. And, for the back story on the event, and why you should consider attending, read Ameila Torode's post "The IPA Step Up".

Did you know there's been more video content uploaded to YouTube in the last year than if ABC,NBC and CBS had been broadcasting non-stop since 1948?

Did You Know 4.0 is the latest in a series of videos charting the changing media landscape, it's jam packed full of interesting and useful stats. Hat tip to phd's feeding the puppy blog which is where I found this clip.

BBC Wildlife Finder

The BBC are now offering their new Wildlife Finder with footage dating back 30 years until now. Some are referring to it as the largest online zoo.

I love watching wildlife programmes and now i have it on tap is brilliant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wildlifefinder/

I thought I would make the screen grab angled to the right just to keep in sync with other blog entries :)

Ajax Rain

I've been playing around with JavaScript again recently (I know... I know... my life is just one big rock n roll party) and I've come across this site which has tons of example scripts with cool features:

http://www.ajaxrain.com/

They aggregate extensions for all the different JavaScript frameworks.

Xtranormal Robot on Proximity the world's most ....

Followng on from Alice's link to Xtranormal, an online tool that let's you create 3d movies... It's a bit clunky and experimental but the possibilities are interesting. Check out our first ever 3d robot advocate, immediately available to tell you about Proximity....

QR Code Customisation Fun

QR codes. What?

Nostalgic mobile media that is huge in Japan (because mobile phone ship with the software pre-installed) and rare in Europe, except, it seems on Coke cans.

They can contain a fair amount of info which means once you have created one you can start sticking graphics on top in the parts 'not used' to customise them.

Create your own here (http://qrcode.kaywa.com/), then customise it in Photoshop, experimenting with a reader to make sure you don't break it.

Get yourself a mobile app that recognises them. Plenty of free iPhone apps (QR Code is a goody).

Then have a play.

Finally, if you have created a gorgeous customised QR code for yourself or a loved one, why not get it turned into something you can wear, for that personal, digital self promotion...

http://www.fluid-forms.com/design-your-own/QR-White-Belt-Buckle

Make 3D movies

Xtra-Normal

Incredibly easy to use site where you can use pre-made characters to make short 3D movies online, with sound and animation. Once created and rendered you can share them on the ususal suspect sites.

Very nice interface and though it can take a little while to render its rather fun.

www.xtranormal.com/

Proximity Site Refresh

Quick site refresh to bring this in line with brand.

Also, added a subtle link to the blog and twitter feed.

Look out for a totally brand new all singing all dancing Proximity Website to go live before Xmas.

www.proximitylondon.com

Windows 7 campaign - genius or WTF?

Unlike most Mac users I actually don't mind Windows too much. Yes, Vista was a pile of crap and there are much better and stable free products on the market. But I grew up with Windows and therefore have always brushed product flaws, dropped wireless networks & blue screens of death neatly under the carpet.

That was until I heard about the latest promotional campaign for Windows 7 - and your chance to host a totally informal and cool 'windows 7 party' I kid you not, apparently - www.houseparty.com/windows7

Yes on October 22nd for all those tech heads for whom an operating system is more enjoyable than a bottle of Chateau Petrus '82 and a bag of biltong, Microsoft will send you a party pack and ideas to go you mofo'ing party happening, dude.

And in case you weren't sure an operating system could make a party, well, you are like so wrong - just check out these vibes bro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cX4t5-YpHQ

Have they lost it? Has this been handed down by the wolf Ballmer himself? Whatever you think, I have already signed us up. 22nd in your diary - its going to be a Windows 7 riot.

New RNLI Shop Live

http://www.rnlishop.org.uk/

Nice one.

Safari Books Online

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/

This site is an incredible resource for books that relate to all digital media.

If like me you need to keep on top of the game when it comes to your career of choice but your tired and broke from having to constantly update your library of books when a new programming language comes out or a new design trend takes hold then this site is a no-brainer.

It is a subscription based site that you can sign up to and has a set of publishers that release all of their books on the site in digital form so you can get all the latest books released as part of your subscription including all previous publications from a particular publisher as well as a feature called "Rough Cuts", which allows you to see a preview of a book that isn't publish quite yet so you can see if it will be worth a read when it comes out.

If you remain signed up for long enough you get credits that allow you to print full books or chapters of a book in case your tired of staring at your monitor all day.

Would be nice to get a company subscription because I think there is a real benefit for anyone involved in digital media.

Augmented Reality Navigation - wobbly start

Augmented reality is still in its infancy especially when used for pedestrian navigation like on iPhone for instance - but it wont be long before it becomes far more advanced and accurate.

The New Scientist link is the article but the second (You tube) link shows what has already been tested on the iPhone in San Francisco developed by software house Occipital - its very cool!

New scientist - Augmented Reality Navigation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXt21v8Hjhw

iPhone Game development with Unity 3D

iPhone has changed the mobile market forever, and since the app store opened developers have been scrambling to have their creation up in lights on the app store.

With trust installed that apps and the app store will be around for a long time large media agencies, Gaming and software houses are moving in to have a slice of the cake - either creating apps for their clients, for use in house or creating iPhone versions of software or games already released in desktop, console or web form.

If your not familiar with what Unity 3D is then a very brief description would be that it is a desktop application that allows you to create 3D games for a range of different platforms including PC, Wii, The Internet and finally the iPhone.

Unity is a very powerful tool that helps to reduce the amount of work that would normally require a full house of developers and designers all working together to create a 3D game for one particular platform, realistically speaking you still need a large team of developers and designers to realise a 3D game no matter what platform, Unity just helps to make common aspects game development faster and simpler to develop - it won't create an amazing idea, story board or look and feel for your game...that has to be done the old fashioned way.

If you haven't got the plug-in to be able to view some of the demo games online that Unity has to offer on their site then you can search for examples on You Tube to watch instead.

If you haven't already responded to Sepas challenge to come up with a cool idea for an iPhone app then get your ideas in now!

Although this leaves almost infinite scope for ideas you could come up with (given iPhones flexibility) the rule of thumb on the iPhone is "Simple is best". So try to come up with something you feel would be good scaled down to iPhone (widgets, puzzle games, utilities ect).

Unity 3D iPhone publishing

London's new underground map

Thought was an interesting case in point that the London Underground Map was redesigned to reduce clutter due to the expansion of the network and to convey as much information to passengers as possible within a limited space. However, it soon became clear that the famous schematic offers more than directional information, with the removal of visual cues like the stylised River Thames and journey pricing by 'zones'. The river has now been reinstated by order of London's Mayor Boris Johnson, although I wonder if this was based more on city pride than on the efficiency to navigate the map quickly and easily? I never really noticed the river being on the map but if I was a tourist would it help or hinder me?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8260943.stm

Tom Fishburne's blog is brilliant

I love Tom Fishburne's blog, it's brilliant at capturing ugly truths about management, marketing and advertising.

bandit the agency dog

Kanye disrespects our site...

I know the HTML version of our site isn't all that, but there is no need for this:



Check out http://kanyelicio.us/

Your Cyber Profile

The Profiler uses your facebook data to generate a version of your facebook profile image using a myriad of image and video fragments from flickr and you tube which are meant to characterize you.

Interesting idea but not convinced by the execution.

http://www.theprofiler.be/

commentopia

Take a look at what the world is saying. Commentopia is a service bringing you the best readers' comments from top news sources on the web. World, National, Business, Sci/Tech, Health/Education, Environment, Entertainment, People.

http://www.commentopia.com/

The difference between Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Here's the difference between Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Facebook = connecting me to people I used to know.

Twitter = talking with people about things going on now.

LinkedIn = connecting me with people for things I may need in future.

That's my view anyway, what's yours?

What type of idea do you need?

Hat tip to Mr Adrian Hoole, who very nicely articulated a difference in communication ideas yesterday.

"Hoole's Law" states that when working on strategic briefs you often need both: an idea to advertise, and an advertising idea.

An idea to advertise = a useful or entertaining way of engaging your audience (eg widget, innovation, content etc)

An advertising idea = the thought to raise awareness of your 'idea to advertise'

I think that when combined, they make for powerful, deeper, and more involving experiences.

As Direct Marketers we are often closer to the business of our clients than other agencies, giving us more opportunity to create 'ideas to advertise'.

What do you think?

Pepperami

Interested by Unilever's idea of opening up creative work for Pepperami to anyone - and dispensing with the Services of a regular Agency. Scary from the point of view of the creative Agency business model - but at the same time sounds a lot of fun. I might have a crack at the brief. Check it out at www.ideabounty.com

Proximity Xmas Music Video 2006

Nostalgic Friday :)

Gist - Is it a new Tool for Managing Information Overload ?

Keeping up with all the people you know, on all the platforms they're broadcasting from--Email obviously, but also Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn--has become very time consuming. A new service (soon to launch will hopefully reduce that). It promises to 'connect your inbox to the web, so you get business-critical information about key people and companies'

Gist is an online service that lists all your contacts, and combs through email, social networking accounts, and RSS feeds to create just one line item for each person: What's new with them. It also offers the prospect of being able to do all your homework on someone before a crucial email, meet-up, or IM.

p.s is currently in Private Beta but as i member i got a sneaky peek.

What is Digital?

An email this morning highlighted to me that not everyone has same view as to what "Digital" is.

Dictionary definitions define digital as the following:

1. A derivation of 'digit' and refers to systems which process numbers.
2. Electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data in terms of two states: positive and non-positive.

For me digital in a marketing context refers to marketing that is enabled by technology touchpoints so in the interest of creating a common understanding I am now wondering what everyone else thinks?

WeCommune - Facebook reinvented?

WeCommune (as in "we are communing...") is a technology platform that provides aggregated micro-communities the tools they need to share resources and build deeper, smarter forms of community. The company was founded on the principles E.F. Schumacher laid out in his seminal book ‘Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered‘ (1973).

WeCommune gives users a fast, flexible and fun way to come together with people they're close to, share resources, and build the kind of tight-knit community that can not just survive, but thrive. This is social networking v2.0, where sharing actually means sharing, and the collective power of groups is harnessed to get things done in the real world. It's social networking with soul. And we think it's got the potential to become a huge "coming together" grass-roots movement, the kind we haven't seen since the '60s.

WeCommune Inc. is a socially-responsible for-profit company founded by 42-year-old Harvard-trained entrepreneur/architect Stephanie Smith in March 2009. It began as an Ecoshack social design project called Wanna Start a Commune? and was featured on All Things Considered (NPR) in early 2009.

http://www.wecommune.com/

Largest Monopoly Game

from tomorrow you can join in on the largest monopoly game yet. built on the google maps API you can purchase any street in the world.

it may take a while.

site here:

http://www.monopolycitystreets.com/

blog and instructions here:

http://blog.monopolycitystreets.com/

What kind of truth is right for you?

In time honoured fashion I did a 'what an insight is' presentation this morning, pointing out some of the great insights behind the work we've been doing at Proximity lately.

I also laid out a definition that I think is useful as a validation test. is it "A truth we can apply to a brand to create value".

This insight is validated by a Proposition which is "An applied expression of the Insight" to whatever the business problem is.

There is a fair school of thought that whatever an insight needs to be it needs to be a 'human truth' rather than merely a 'truth'. For me the latter encompasses the former, whereas the former excludes the latter, so I've plumped for the broader definition.

What do you think?

YouTube the second largest search engine in the world

Many people think of YouTube as a video platform. The truth is it is the second largest search engine on the planet second to Google. The tweaks to the sites design last month helps emphasise this with the large clean search box in the masthead.

Combine this with the interactivity people are introducing to video and you have a great communications platform, that can be a much, much more engaging alternative than Google search connected to text and images.

Here are my two favourite interactive YouTube video examples. First up - I think one of the first examples, interactive streetfighter weighing in with 6.2m views.



The second, a website for a full service US agency Boone Oakley, weighing in with 500k views.



Lovely.

What do your Top iphone Apps say about you?

It's interesting - my Top 10 reveal so much about the person I am. Firstly, an enthusiastic (if also slightly obsessive) cook - evidenced by foodie apps such as:
Epicurious - mobile version and link to the wonderful world of epicurious - my first love on the www.
CookBlogs - Bundled newsreader of all my favourite food blogs
MacGourmet. - A site for collecting my own as well as favourite recipes from all over the web
Secondly a busy and forgetful parent:
Groceries - my pick of the many available to help create useful shopping lists
Mimeals - a meal planner for the children's meals
Babysitter. - a useful little gadget that helps you calculate a babysitter's pay at the end of a drunken night.
And a pushy and sentimental mother:
iTot Cards - flash cards for the modern baby (sad but true)

Bunny Rattle - my solution to keeping a baby still on a changing mat
Chuck - a simple non-violent ball game
Snap - an oldie - but a goldie for my older children.

This data for a marketer is gold dust - even my choice of games for the children indicate a preference for old world charm. This information is far more valuable than my street address or the content in my emails, or the sites I search, or even the books I buy on Amazon. Because, if I put an application on my phone - on the whole it means I have a deeper and longer term need for the service provided. (ifart for Christmas Lunch entertainment aside) Most apps will give a real insight into someone's world and how they behave. And that, dear people, is what we direct marketers consider the holy grail...

Holy COW! Watch this and you'll never use your mobile while driving again.

Gwent Police joined forces with film maker, Peter Watkins, and local drama students to create a 'don't text and drive' campaign. The film is called COW and is about Cassie COWan a girl from Gwent Valley whose careless texting results in the death of 4 people.

On a 'this scares the hell out of me' scale, from 1 to 10, it ranks as an 18+. I definitely won't be using my mobile while driving any time soon.

What do you think, would it make you think twice before using your mobile while driving?

P.S. Don't watch the film if you are faint hearted!

Top Ten iPhone Apps

Paul's post prompted me to think about my phone. Its true mobile is finally coming of age. I love the fact that this is partly fueled by the galaxy of cottage industry applicationss that is creating something for everyone.

My top ten iphone apps right now are:

1. Location aware Google Maps
2. Sky News for something to read where there's network access(much better than the BBC version due to usability issues)
3. iPod for watching Family Guy on the tube
4. Free RSS Reader for giving me something to read on the tube where there's no network access
5. Zuti London City for tube travel planning
6. Starmap for location aware star gazing
7. Wunderradio for bringing my favourite radio stations to everywhere I am
8. Rightmove for location aware house hunting to reassure me house prices are finally on the up
9. Geodefence for the thinking person's time wasted gaming
10. Doom Resurrection for that nostalgic first person shooter experience

In short, everything Useful or Entertaining.

Losing my phone would be worse than losing my wallet.

What's your top ten? The beauty is everyone is different!

Gartner: mobile will grow 74% this year. And explode by 2011.

everything will be going mobile - its just a matter of time they say (for the last 9 years). It's a fast moving arena. As better phones, faster connections and more content is available, more people will purchase.

according to this report the advertising is going to explode but i am looking forward to richer content as more brands and companies invest in mobile as everyone has a smartphone.

http://econsultancy.com/blog/4531-gartner-mobile-will-grow-74-this-year-and-explode-in-2011?utm_medium=email&utm_source=topic

Does everyone want to be connected all the time or access the internet from bed first thing and last thing of the day? hooked to a hand held device?

Royal Mail claims a first with 3D-video integrated campaign

You can see it here, but you'll need to find your own pair of 3-d glasses....

And read about it here in Direct Marketing Magazine.

Microsoft Vs Cloud

Cloud, Google Apps, Firefox on the rise... Microsoft, IE on the decline. Will this ever happen in the corporate world? Probably... but I don't think any time soon! Sadly.

TechCrunch article