Star Wars GPS by Tom Tom

For any Star Wars lovers out there, who wouldn’t want voices of Stars Wars giving you driving instructions! For $12 Darth Vader can tell you where to go!

You can listen here

Laser Tape Measure

The Leica Distoâ„¢ A5 doesn’t take much explaining. Just point and measure. I am sure it had great uses for industrial and engineering industries, but also for me to play with. How far away is my car? How long is this room I am sitting in? How far is it to walk to the bathroom? Easy and cool. I like it.

Toilet Paper Dispensing iPod Dock

Icarta iPod Dock with dispenser is a multi-tasker gadget for the time deprived. Now who wouldn’t want to listen to some great tunes or create some playlists while you have some ‘alone time’. May as well make the whole experience relaxing and enjoyable while relieving ones self! The hardest decision would be finding a song to match the mood of your bowel motion… what would your song be?

I can’t resist a really useless gadget such as the Hay Fever Hat

Don’t worry anymore about embarrassing hayfever sniffles or colds. You will never be without a tissue. No more snotty sleeves!
Gadget Blogger – Liz

Back in June I posted a blog about Apple’s new iAd network which allows developers to embed highly interactive advertising within their Apps.

Now up and running the platform is receiving mixed reviews. An article in the LA Times says both Unilever and Nissan have been impressed with results with customers spending up to 10 times longer interacting with the iAd than with comparable online advertising.

On the other hand Apple’s control over the process of creating the ads seems to be causing a few issues as the industry is not used to this – and projects are taking longer to roll out than expected, according to The Wall Street Journal .

Matt

While semantic search engines have been around for a while, Hungarian based newcomer iGlue is set to launch an interesting product this September.

Semantic search engines attempt to understand the context of what you are looking for to deliver results which are more relevant. iGlue seems to have taken this a step further by offering a search within the page you are reading. A bookmark hangs inside your browser and with a click gives you a semantic search of that page, matching people, places, etc. to it’s database and displaying the results (images, maps, videos and text) in a separate window. This adds a rich media layer to whatever you happen to be reading and means you don’t need to search again for background information.

Check out this interactive example .

Matt

On July 1 Apple plans to launch it’s new mobile advertising network for iPhone and iPod touch devices called iAds. According to Apple “iAd offers advertisers the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web, and offers users a new way to explore ads”, with the advertising experience taking place within apps rather than redirecting users to a browser window.

When you select an ad it will take up the screen using HTML5 and from there the user can interact with and explore the ad.

This comes after Apple bought the advertising network Quattro Wireless earlier this year. Google are also looking set to enter the mobile advertising arena (on their Android platform) with an agreement to buy mobile advertising firm AdMob.

IT research company Gartner put the global mobile advertising business at $13.5 Billion by 2013 due to the increase in smart phones and other mobile devices.

Matt

Apparently Facebook has ousted Google as the most popular site in the US according figures from web analysts Hitwise . For the week ending March 13 Facebook achieved higher visitor numbers than the search giant, accounting for 7.07% of US web traffic while Google reached 7.03%. There was no mention of the figures on Google’s Facebook page.

Augmented Reality (AR) is the newest form of digital communication…and it is astonishing.
AR is the overlay of graphics onto a video stream or other real-time display.  It moves the digital experience from the online environment into the real world. AR will change the world of marketing in the same way that social media has and will open up a world of possibilities in terms of how brands can market to savvy, younger consumers.

TIMEZONEONE AND AUGMENTED REALITY
TimeZoneOne worked with the U.S. Army to create an interactive experience that engaged viewers and promoted recruitment. We initiated an event based and online augmented reality campaign to support U.S. Army NASCAR sponsored events. We created a unique interactive event and online brand experience supporting the sponsorship in which a NASCAR is steered across a desert racing Army vehicles.

Powered by the augmented reality technology D’Fusion, users can now race the Army sponsored NASCAR and also educate themselves on Army vehicles online. The augmented reality application is complemented by content on FaceBook and YouTube allowing for a prolonged PR effect and strong viral potential.

AR is in its infancy but we believe that AR will become a very important way for brands to engage with customers and fans.

goarmy.com/raceforstrength

I have a facebook page, I get my RSS on with a few blogs, but I’m not really an active social networker, I have never tweeted, I’m a little bit old school, I leave that for the birds.

I don’t believe that Tweeting and following twitters has any substance, it’s hardly revolutionary in my view, it’s called conversation, we’ve been doing it for a long time now. Of course, everyone’s interested in the marketing potential, Twitter is apparently worth a billion dollars despite not having turned over a single cent. I’ve always thought that my generation are a bit self obsessed and see Twitter as a way to talk about themselves even when there’s nobody else around, so it doesn’t surprise me that the most Tweeted topic is Twitter itself, iPhone is high on the list too. I imagine there are a lot of tweets along the lines of “just using twitter on my iPhone lol”.

Below is a list of brands mentioned over a 24 hour period on Twitter, it’s kind of a boring list, mostly computer/internet related stuff – mostly, it seems, people are getting on there computers and mobile devices to talk about their computers and mobile devices. I don’t really know what to make of it, there’s no mention of whether or not the Tweeters (Twits?) are saying nice things about these brands or not.

If you’re a tweet follower, someone sent me this a while back, it worth following, if you follow such things.

And now I’m going to get my old school on, with some old school goodness that you can’t find on your MyFace and SpaceBook pages…

This is still the most on-target advertising I have ever seen:

This is excellent old school exaggeration in advertising from Atari:

Cover Art…

Actual game play…

And here’s an ad for a 15MB Hard Drive for only $2495:

Moonwalk, electric boogie, head spin and top rock to that.

David

Cool light projections by French company Easyweb who base their creations on the historic buildings of Dijon.

Matt

As a keen aircraft geek, I am counting down to the first test flight of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Boeing’s vast manufacturing facility in Puget Sound, near Seattle.

Boeing plan for the first test flight to be before the 1st of July. Just like the way TimeZoneOne does business, this will be a game-changer. It affords airlines an aircraft that is lighter than anything comparable, that flys further, and that is faster with up to a 20% fuel saving per passenger. With the Dreamliner it may be possible to fly direct from Christchurch to Chicago non-stop.  This would be perfect for Zoners! The Dreamliner is the most significant technology change for mass transport in 40 years. She will fly proudly alongside another game changer – her 40 year old sister – the Boeing 747 Jumbo.

Nigel – Sitting At The Runway’s End In A Pac A Mac.  

If funky web technology is your bag (or if you just like computery stuff that looks brilliant) then you should certainly check out this nifty set-up used by General Electric (GE) on their ecomagination website, which allows you to view an environment in 3D using your webcam to input your position/view. You need a printer and a webcam to complete the experience, but if you don’t have these just take a quick look at the following video. Enjoy.

Matt