Here’s something to give us pause. Twitter has only been around since 2006 and yet can we imagine the world as it is today without it?
![A Visual History of Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/125,thumb_infographic_graphics-twitter.jpg)
The Social Media Infographics Series is supported by Vocus’ Social Media Strategy Tool, a free, six-step online tool that lets you build a custom social media framework tailored to your organization’s goals. Since its launch in the summer of 2006, Twitter has become the leader in microbloggi…
I was a Palm Pre user and just loved certain features/aspects of my Pre and Palm products I had before I finally gave up and got an Android phone. It wasn’t because of the UI, however. It was because I wanted more apps.
This link is an impassioned argument for how HP could have done that rather than simply folding like a cheap lawn chair before the Touch was even given a chance to gain momentum (I’m still seeing ads on the TV for it as late as yesterday post-announcement). RIP WebOS but I feel no one every really knew you…
This takes an interesting POV of the acquisition — that it’s more about patents, Android and GoogleTV distribution than about mobile/smart phones. If that’s the case, then it’s probably a great short-term investment that can be spun off in the future as a non-essential unit.
This video uses HTML5 to customize the video with a personal message that is spelled out by the Pilobolus dancers. Leave it to OK Go to yet again create a groundbreaking video.
Very cool video ad for a fake multinational that will likely be in the plotline of the film Elysium- Taking Mankind Into The Future (Armadyne) (by ufailednow).
Armadyne.net promises applications available soon so it would be cool to check in later and see what else is up on the site in the next 6 months.
MTV released a new study that focuses on the various habits of Millennials in digispace, particularly their use of certain platforms for specific modes of communication. This AdAge piece asks questions that may give some brand marketers pointers in how to interact and engage this generation of digital natives.
Comparing the shifting morality of Breaking Bad with the gray areas of Mad Men, The Sopranos and The Wire, Klosterman decides that Breaking Bad is the best of these Great Shows. I’d like to suggest perhaps Game of Thrones adds another type of morally gray universe into the mix.
Current has been keeping overall viewer ratings under the radar but a Trendrr Chart from Simon Dumenco compares Olbermann’s Twitter numbers to Rachel Maddow and Piers Morgan for a little light on the subject.
When the Kinect was released in late 2010, it almost immediately began making headlines in the tech world not only as the “fastest selling consumer electronics device,” but as developers and tech geeks began hacking their Microsoft Kinect devices to create either new uses or solve some real-world problems. I recently started reading up on this phenomenon and found myself in a rabbit hole of watching an amazing array of videos demonstrating the many uses that have been invented with Kinect plugged into various other equipment, whether it’s audio or 3D visualizations. It’s a fascinating trend that takes what is a revolutionary idea (the fact that you don’t need controllers to play a video game, just your own body movements and gestures) and extends it into something like the meeting place between augmented and virtual reality. After scouring the web, I thought it would be interesting to put together a few of the best video examples here. I tried to find Kinect hacks that cover a wide variety of uses so that you can get a good idea of where things may be going as people continue to tinker with the device.
A Laser Dance Show right in your own Living Room:
[namethemachine]_Kinect_2011,05,24 from [namethemachine] on Vimeo.
A Wearable Navigational Aid for the Visually Impaired: Invisible Man: Interactive Shop Window: Gesture Surgery: Motive: Digital Music Controlled by Physical Gestures:
MOTIV User Test - Jessica from Russ Maschmeyer on Vimeo.
wi-GO Project for People with Disabilities:
wi-GO Project from Luis de Matos on Vimeo.
Interactive Puppet Prototype:
Interactive Puppet Prototype with Xbox Kinect from Theo Watson on Vimeo.
Kinect Massage Therapy:
KINECT + Massage with Flow Field: pt 2 [Towards an Intelligent Healing Space] from Jai.Tronik on Vimeo.
Augmented Reality with a Doom 3 Character:
Last week, I stopped in at Digital Hollywood to see a few of the panels. Despite the various fancy names given to each panel, there were about 3 of 4 topics that seemed to be important to all the attendees and the panelists. I thought I’d go through some of those topics here and make a few predictions about where these trends may be headed. Now the fun exercise will be to come back in a half a year or so to see what do I get right in the next 6 months and what are just silly memes of the moment.
- The rapid adoption and proliferation of the tablet device: The speed of the product life cycle for the tablet is beyond anything that has ever been seen before. As of early 2011, there had been 24 million tablets shipped around the world (90% of those are iPads). The pace at which consumers are adopting this device and making it a central part of their behavior is astonishing. Putting aside the funny anecdotes about people touching any old TV screen and expecting the surface to respond or Angry Bird addictions, there is the interesting idea that the consumer demo for high tech is widening to include the really young (Have you ever seen a 3 year old rock an iPad? It’s scary stuff!) and the older demo of retirees/grandparents, etc. (which marketers haven’t talked about in possibly 30 years). This presents an interesting new challenge and opportunity — when your market for products/apps has suddenly shifted to include a much wider group of people, the possibilities for bringing consumers and brands together within entertaining experiences become endless. Will we find reading apps for pre-schoolers and crossword puzzle or WebMD apps outrunning downloads for GetGlue and Flixster?
- Ownership of digital content in the cloud: As more and more companies begin to offer cheap storage within the cloud and as we gravitate towards living our lives through an ecosystem of multiple connected devices, digital content stored in the cloud will become the standard for how we store and consume our media. Already, digital music within the cloud has become more common, with Sound Cloud, Spotify, mSpot and now even Amazon in the mix. But given how much we use Netflix streaming services and how much video content we like to share within our family, it doesn’t seem like a leap that eventually, we’d have digital files of our favorite TV shows and movies that could be accessed multiple times from a variety of devices. I know Sony and the DECE (Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem) consortium of studios have Ultraviolet coming out later this year, which would allow consumers to buy the perpetual right to a piece of content (whether they buy a Blu-ray DVD or a digital download) and a digital locker that stores that content in the cloud. The plan for the moment is finding a standardized DRM that works across at least 12 devices and downloadable to at least 6 members of a household. While that still seems to smack of limitations to me, I’m more excited about what this means with regards to the amount of ancillary content and experiences that can come with owning a movie. There’s something thrilling about the idea that there could be push content sent with the file when it’s on an iPad versus when you’re just streaming it on your flat-screen TV. Of course, there will continue to be the crowd who say, “Screw that, I’m going to just get that on BitTorrent” but for those of us who want to pay for quality content and perhaps get a bit extra for the extended experience on the right device, Ultraviolet and KeyChest (Disney’s version) might just hold some promise.
- The consumer’s expectation about having a bigger and better transmedia/multiple screen experience: It’s amazing to think that there was a time when all viewing was done in a lean back mode and when we were told to tune in at a specific time to watch a show. With Twitter, Facebook, and the rapid multiplication of screens in our lives, the viewing experience has quickly morphed into a multi-tasking feat of juggling as many elements and conversations as we can during a show or movie that we watch whenever we feel like it. The best part of this new transmedia world is that we can spend 24/7 (if we have that kind of time) being immersed in the content that we love. Your favorite show doesn’t end when the credits roll because the characters are still tweeting at you, there are endless rabbit holes of video, text and photos to explore from that episode or movie and even online communities where commentary and discussion lasts long after the final flicker on the screen. What a wonderful time to be a nerd!
- The power of social media, (marketing and tracking trends) to influence live events and actual change in the world: We witnessed the reach and power of social media with the rebellions and tumult of the Arab Spring this year, but we are only beginning to see the tip of the iceberg. Social media and the way conversations and trends can be tracked are beginning to dictate the way events play out in real life. Independent movies can come to your local town if there’s enough demand for it, your favorite bands can play the most popular songs for that venue when they stop in during their national tour, and live events and programming can be changed on the fly, depending on the comments and suggestions of viewers. This is unprecedented in terms of handing the reins to the consumer and media companies are opening up to it as a way to better serve their audiences. The future for audience control is bright indeed.
