THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING – HAS THE MOVING FINGER WRIT?

LONDON: The moving finger has writ, according to the UK'sInstitute of Practitioners in Advertising  – the body representing British advertising, marketing communications and media agencies. And having writ moves on … etc.   

And this is what the finger writ: 'Web 2.0 is God and Social Networking His High Priest.' 

Unless that prophesy is heeded, warns the IPA, advertisers and agencies cannot "Lure it back to cancel half a Line, / Nor all their tears wash out a word of it". See more  here
Source IPA (UK); additional content by WARC staff, 16 January 2009

Talks Success Through Failure

Honda is premiering three new short documentaries online as part of their relaunched “Power of Dreams” website. Director Derek Cianfrance filmed unscripted conversations with Honda associates talking about their approach to solving problems and finding solutions. The debut includes three films with more to follow every few months. The series can be viewed at the “Power of Dreams” website or on the company’s YouTube channel.

Worth a view is “Failure: The Secret to Success” which depicts Honda’s belief in the importance of never being afraid to try something new. The film feature Honda designers, engineers, and members of the race team talking about failures and risks taken that helped lead to new innovations.

More on "Dreaming impossible" from The Cat Empire band:

Discover The Cat Empire!

Source PSFK

Ikea Lobbying for Oval Office Decor

The tight economy has inspired Ikea to offer a fiscally responsible furniture option to incoming president Barak Obama for his oval office. The furniture retailer recently created a mock-up of the office in the main hall of the Union subway station. Along with the mock-up, a website called Embrace Change 09 has been established. For now it is counting down to move in day, but visitors can leave an email address for updates on the project.

Source PSFK

An Animated History of the Internet

We came across this eight minute animated documentary titled “The History of the Internet” by Mehil Bilgil that touches on the innovations that have made our interconnected online lives possible.  The video uses voiceover accompanied by PICOL icons, a pictorial communication language created by Bilgil for his university thesis.  The project is in the early stages of developing a simplistic and universal sign system to enable easier electronic communication that is free from the constraints of written language.  While the current library of icons available for download is small, the open source system invites more designers to get involved.  We’ll be interested to see if it will grow into the more sophisticated sibling of the emoticon or remain a niche form of discourse for a select few.

History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

Source PICOL

Future: Life Skills Through Video Games

Artist, film maker and game designer Michael Highland discusses the significant impact video games have in programming the brain in his film As Real as Your Life:

The beauty and reality of video games today lies not in the lifelike graphics, the vibrating joysticks or the virtual surround sound, it lies in that these games are beginning to make me emotional.  What is sadder is that my inability to understand and decipher the real world I live in makes these simple, virtual emotions even sweeter.  The people that make these games are smart, They know what makes me tick.  What makes me scared, excited, panicked, proud and sad.  They use these emotions to train me to survive in the worlds they create.

As Real as Your Life (Original Cut) from Michael Highland on Vimeo.

Michael Highland discusses the way virtual violence is increasingly mimicking that of the real world, with real violence often reflecting methods used within video games.  Highland believes the increasing amount of time spent in the virtual world allows gamers to form emotional bonds with virtual characters.  The use of repetition and real-life situations in gaming creates survival instincts within the brain.  Once purely virtual, these survival instincts begin to arise in real-life situations, making video games a most effective tool for propaganda and ‘brain reprogramming’.  Highland believes that video games’ significant influence over people’s brain functions can be used to educate people for the better, but warns: “Be careful what you play, and what your game might be wiring into you.”

Source TrendONE, PSFK, As Real as Your Life (Original Cut) from Michael Highland on Vimeo.

Michael Highland - As Real As Your Life / games and experience

Sony запускает виртуальную вселенную Home

Спустя почти полтора года после анонса, Sony Computer Entertainment наконец-то завершила подготовку своего самого масштабного проекта. На завтра назначен релиз виртуальной игровой вселенной Home. Данная разработка, по задумке Sony, станет ключевым местом встреч, общения и игр владельцев игровых консолей Playstation 3. Концептуально, "Дом" производства Sony будет представлять собой классическое смешение стилей - здесь будут присутствовать элементы из Second Life с одной стороны, из Microsoft Xbox Live с другой, и социальных сетей, таких как Facebook, с третьей. Читать дальше

Source CyberSecurity

Puma City: World’s First Large Scale Mobile Building

Create an 11,000 square foot building that contains a retail store, lounge, event space, and offices. And by the way, the building needs to be assembled and disassembled a number of times at different harbor sites around the world over the span of a year. That’s the challenge that NYC based architects LOT-EK faced when they began work on the Puma City project. The building is traveling around the world with the 70-foot long Puma sailing boat - il Mostro - which is competing in the 2008 Volvo Ocean Race.

Their solution started with using a material they are fond of and have lots of experience working with, shipping containers. The team fitted out 24 containers. But the issue of the building being assembled in a variety of countries presented the biggest challenges. It had to adhere to the international building code. The plug-in electrical and heating and air-conditioning needed to be adaptable to the region. And the assembly needed to be easy enough that crews around the world speaking different languages could assist. Puma City’s next stop is at Boston harbor in early May 2009.

Source PSFK