Musical roads

November 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Developers from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute in Japan have built three “melody roads” in central and northern Japan, which act as tuning forks to play music as they travel along the road. “The concept works by using grooves, which are cut at very specific intervals in the road surface. Just as travelling over small speed bumps or road markings can emit a rumbling tone throughout a vehicle, the melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes.” Read more

Posted by Jamie Coomber | Filed Under Bizarre, Blog, Community, Creativity, Innovation, Music, Video, newsRight 

Google launches My Location

November 29, 2007 | 1 Comment

Google have today released the details of a new product on their mobile blog called My Location. My Location uses beta technology (as with a lot of Google’s products) that uses cell tower identification to provide you with approximate location information, so it will work on phones without GPS. Start Google Maps for mobile, press [0], and the map will indicate your approximate location by centering on a blue circle. This is a great piece of technology when visiting other cities when the lure of sushi is just too much to take.

Posted by Jamie Coomber | Filed Under Blog, Mobile, Technology, Video, newsLeft 

Amazon Kindle

November 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Amazon have launched Kindle, a wireless device that enables you to download books, newspapers or blogs directly to the device directly from Amazon Whispernet so there is no need for a WiFi connection. Weighing 10.2 ounces, users can choose from over 80,000 sources that are updated throughout the day. The device comes with Wikipedia readily installed and the content is displayed at it is in paper form. Read more

Posted by Jamie Coomber | Filed Under Blog, Books, Gadgets, Innovation, Invention, Technology, newsMiddle 

Critics hit back at Unilever

November 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Unilever are under scrutiny as activists, journalists and bloggers have criticised the company for being hypercritical through the latest Dove “Onslaught” campaign where Dove show the ugly side of beauty, whilst building a brand in the form of Axe through the use of beautiful bikini-clad women.

The video was made by Rye Clifton, a Senior Strategic Planner who claims he didn’t realise that both brands fell under the Unilever umbrella and when he found out his immediate thought was “that would make a perfect video on YouTube.”

Unilever have issued a statement saying “The Axe campaign is a spoof of ‘mating game’ and men’s desire to get noticed by women and not meant to be taken literally”. With the ever growing popularity of Social Networks becoming an educational tool, I would really like to see Unilever use this medium to communicate with their critics and look at how they can address this issue.

Posted by Jamie Coomber | Filed Under Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Video, newsLeft 

A Social Media café for London

November 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

social-media-cafe.jpg

So last Wednesday I was asked to attend the first prototype meeting for a wonderful concept that will be known as the London Social Media Cafe. The idea was developed by Lloyd Davies who has recognised that as more and more people are getting into social networking, there is a need for an actual space for people to meet face to face.

During the meeting we discussed the nuts and bolts of the venture for example where should it be? Should it be in one location or could it be portable? Should it be not-for-profit or “for benefit” (thanks Joey Baxter). How can members retain ownership so no one party has a majority share? How can we raise funding? Read more

Posted by Jamie Coomber | Filed Under Advertising, Blog, Video, newsRight 

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