Ecco, cool site.

I came across this site for Ecco shoes and aside from the long-ish load time, it's pretty sweet little site.

The way motion brought to life through the rotating ground is a nice, it's a different approach. Not to mention all the little things happening in the background. Also, I really like the deeper dive into shoes which shows how the shoe looks while walking. Nice Job.

http://eccoworld.ecco.com.pl/

MySpace: karaoke

If you're into Karaoke, this might be the new place for you. MySpace is launching karaoke. Now, i'm not a big Karaoke fan. (for some reason my voice is much better when singing in the car)

Check out the full article here at Yahoo.

Starbucks, you're breaking our hearts

It's nothing new that Starbucks has been experiencing declines in in-store traffic as of late. So, they've cut back on their projections for '08, shortly after promising to deliver a better web experience.

This coffee joint was never really known for providing the utmost in online user experience, despite priding itself on being one of the first means of social networking. As one source confirms, they've wasted potential and opportunity: "Starbucks had mastered social networking long before MySpace, Facebook and YouTube had any prominence. And yet, Starbucks focused almost exclusively on stores, dismissing the Web as a place to sell coffee beans, grinders and maybe some jazz CDs."

Ah, yes. It's also a Wi-Fi zone. Big deal. So are ten thousand other places that reek of coffee. Come on, Starbucks- make us web-savvy caffeine lovers proud. (I'll give them this: they have mentioned implementing a strong CRM platform, but where are the results?)

It seems the best they can do is, more or less, a weak hybrid between a "network" and online suggestion box:

"The Starbucks Experience grows, in part, from the unique combination of a shared passion for coffee and the exchange of great ideas. For years, Starbucks stores have served as the center of vibrant communities, welcoming customers and encouraging creativity and dialogue. Starbucks today announced the extension of that community beyond the doors of its stores with the launch of MyStarbucksIdea.com."

They're doing this to become even richer, essentially. Although profit makes the world go 'round, they're missing the point. Social networking is about appealing to people of the world...Just trust us on this one, Starbucks.

Making Print Interactive

We've been reading about QR Codes, SMS codes, and other ways to make interactive calls-to-action a working part of print media. The latest example comes from today's NY Times, which describes a program being tested by Rolling Stone and Jan Wenner to increase the value of print advertising in their magazine. 

In this case, you take a picture of various ads with your cell phone and email it in, and a photo recognition service (SnapTell, check them out here) translates what you've sent and forwards you more information.

This is a great idea that I wold have assumed would need QR codes to make it work. This service does not use QR codes. If the photo recognition software the Snaptell is using is powerful enough, it could do away with the need for QR codes or SMS short codes to add customized CTAs to print, OOH and packaging, and really accelerate the use of user-captured imagery to drive dialog between consumers and brands.

Logo Gone Bad.

"It cost £14,000 to create, but clearly no-one at the smart London design outfit that came up with the new logo for HM Treasury thought to turn it on its side...."

This is too funny.
A logo gone terribly wrong indeed, see the full article.

Limitless Paper in a Paperless World

A clip from The Office. The Dunder Mifflin Paper Company commercial premiere. All paper commercials should be this creative.

Take it From the Googleys

An example of the power of simple, straightforward approaches to really good design. The ten design principles that make Google googley:

1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams.

2. Every millisecond counts.

3. Simplicity is powerful.

4. Engage beginners and attract experts.

5. Dare to innovate.

6. Design for the world.

7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.

8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.

9. Be worthy of people's trust.

10. Add a human touch.

And, in case there was any doubt, take a philosophy lesson from the team.

More of the Circuit

Ok, it's official, i'm a fan, be sure to stick around for the "Dell Dude" interview, it's great.
Definitely also checkout their HD player at http://thecircuit.mojohd.com

Internet Speak in Essays? IDK! Common Sense?

Perhaps we shouldn't ROFLMAO about this one, because it's kind of sad. (Or can we!?) As of late, teachers are finding emoticons and acronyms, popular in instant messaging and emails, seeping their way into classroom assignments. The line between formal and informal writing is beginning to appear a bit hazy to a quarter of the teens surveyed in the study.

This issue allows for more forceful lesson-planning going forward. One research specialist declares, "It's a teachable moment...If you find that in a child's or student's writing, that's an opportunity to address the differences between formal and informal writing. They learn to make the distinction ... just as they learn not to use slang terms in formal writing."

What I see here is a lack of common sense. According to the laws of grammar, every sentence begins with a capital letter. Every sentence ends with a period. :-) is not a word, and esoteric (well, to some) acronyms are out of place in formal classroom assignments. Why can't this concept be grasped and applied accordingly? Some get it, some don't. And it seems the rest...just feign ignorance or give into laziness.

Thoughts?

Noise to the Ears: When Enough is Enough

Several posts ago, we were on the topic of ...noise. While London's use of LED decibel meters for up-to-the-minute noise monitoring may be brilliant, the Mosquito by Santel is a stretch. And now, it's causing uproar. (As a side note, it was sold under the North American company name "Kids Be Gone".)

Essentially, it's a device to ward off teens and those in their early 20's from places they shouldn't be loitering. How? By giving off high-pitched (that's an understatement), ear-damaging (another understatement) frequency waves similar to, "fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing in your ear." Come on, now. No one can argue that ear drums should not be tampered with to this extent. Not only that, but it's just a poor way of dealing with annoying teens.

While some areas admit that the Mosquito does its job in irritating teens to the point of shoo-ing them away, other cities have banned it or are in the process. As predicted, it's becoming a huge invasion of private property, echoing its way into sidewalks and apartment complexes.

And I couldn't agree more....

"There is a significant problem with giving people a tool like this and empowering the public to take over the tasks of law enforcement...It can certainly be used in a way that's inappropriate, and without a doubt, it will be."

simple is good

No high budget, 3d-rendered, overly scripted, supermodel-laden campaigning necessary.

Just a sharpie and some imagination.

After seeing just how bad pharma advertising can be, this Zyrtec street campaign is quite refreshing.

Keep the banana hammock away from the banana stand

Very summer. Very European. Very funny.

South Korea's iPhone "Contender"...or is It?

Presenting my technological finding from last week's trip to Seoul, SK!

The 3-inch touchscreen LG LH2300 launched late March, and became readily available in the Korean market early this month. If it makes its way stateside, will it outperform the capabilities of our beloved iPhone?

As the article states, some of its primary features are:

-800×480 pixel widescreen resolution

-direct access to main internet portals

-3MP camera (auto-focus, face recognition, anti-shake)

-digital T.V.

-bluetooth 2.0 connectivity

It's still a bit early on to determine whether this breakthrough will triumph over Apple's brainchild, but let's be on the lookout for user reviews in the months to come and keep it on the brain.

Obama sells out?

It's everywhere in the blogosphere today, but it's nowhere in the press that i've seen. It's the bubbling sponsor-gate the world witnessed as Barack Obama gave his mini-concession speech after yesterday's loss to Hillary in the PA primary. Is it paid endorsement? is it Guerilla marketing? is it whack coincidence? The blogosphere is divided. What do you think? 

I will point out that none of the t-shirts in question had a URL on them. i'm imagining a "secret" url tied to some underground group either in support of or against obama. that would have been interesting to behold. And to ponder.

Google gone green

Subtlety be damned, Google made quite the splash with their melting iceberg logo during last year's Earth Day.

Well, grab yourself a tall cup of sustainable shade-grown coffee and slip into a pair of organic hemp slippers. This year - while it's yet to be seen what they can stir up with this year's logo - Google has launched a mash-up of Google Maps and YouTube where users can share their planet-friendly achievements with the rest of the Google Earth.

The end goal, to “honor Earth Day and combat global climate change".

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Please, no more lame YouTube video contests. If you aren't already convinced they are more often than not a waste of time, behold the pinnacle of user generated video voting idiocy:



Ready to enter and win big?

Not so fast! First, make sure you're not in one of the states where the contest is void in.

Ready? Hold your horses there! You must have a house listed with Century 21. Oh yeah, and your agent must be in the video too.

What better way to promote your brand than to patronize your current customers and bore the snot out of anyone who happens to come across your bandwidth-wasting content?

The Sound of (Not) Sucking

Using live LED decibel meters, AEG-Electrolux's brilliant new outdoor campaign lets consumers know just how noisy things are in a world where you can buy quiet washing machines.

The website gives real-time decibel ratings for the billboards. At the moment, London resembles their appliances the least.

Now, I wonder if the same could be implied by their vacuum machines.

Measuring a social media "addict"

Max Freiert has dug up some statistics showing what sites MySpace, Facebook and Twitter "addicts" are more likely to view.

I assume "addict" translates to "heavy user" in this case.

His findings are telling - if not shallow:

- MySpace addicts are somewhat vain – focusing heavily on establishing and fine tuning their online personas by customization of their personal profiles
- Facebook addicts focus more on engagement – interacting with applications, music and people both on and off the platform
- Twitter addicts are most interested in fostering communication and exploration – sites that allow a user to understand what their contacts are doing, provide a platform for content discovery and encourage users to actively participate are the most likely places to find hardcore twitterers.

Twitter and visualizing your social networks

Ok, most of us have fun with twitter, but this makes it that much cooler. Twittervision 3d let's you experience a globe with random twitters from people around the world. It's really interesting in that it really shows you the vastness of both twitter and also the web in general. If you like that, then there is also a Facebook app that seems pretty sweet too, it's basically a mash-up between twitter and google maps. It's all about visualizing your social network

Then there is the site called ... Twitter Browser. If you want to visualize your network in more of a site map view, this the place to go (actually even if you don't you should still check this out.)

"No Store", a real world woot?

Like a real world woot.com. It’s an interesting concept for a train station, see below from Trendhunter.

"The NoStore store is a “recyclable” retail space located in Shanghai’s Metro that offers artists retail space for just one week. As a result, the contents and theme of the store change every week. The concept is dynamic and also provides artisans with an accessible outlet for their unique products. The store typically features items like hand-painted T-shirts and socks-turned into dolls.

From the introduction to the concept, NoStore clearly tries to attract Metro commuting office ladies who only have 5 minutes to spend in the shop.

It promises surprise treasures to be discovered within the four square meters shop space, and at an afforable price. Art made accessible. This is yet a very new happening. There are plans to roll out the concept in more Metro stations."


Read this article here at Trendhunter