After much extensive research (exhaustive, really) I’ve decided that run-and-jump games are my favorite. They are easy, they are addicting, and they tend to have a wicked sense of humor. It’s Friday, enjoy:
Canabalt has you running and leaping off of rooftops to avoid imminent apocalyptic demise. Run away! Watch out for those boxes!
An old one that I am surprised is still around, is Drop Kick the Faint. Take your punk aggressions out on those Saddle Creek weenies!
But perhaps my most favorite of them all is Robot Unicorn Attack, featuring robotic unicorns, stars, sparkledolphins, making dreams come true and perhaps the most perfect soundtrack of them all, the tune “Always” by Erasure.
So, for all you loyal HQ blog readers out there, if you think back to 4/27/10, you’ll probably remember a post on how The History Channel was teaming up with everyone’s favorite location-based social networking platform, Foursquare, to help promote their new show “America: The Story of Us.”
On a local level, I continue to see more and more businesses taking advantage of what Foursquare is all about and unlocking the potential new ways to market to consumers as they check-in at their locations. I’ll admit, I’m still not completely sold on Foursquare yet, but I do know if I check in while at the cupcake shop near my house, I can get 2 free cupcakes and that’s a good thing. (They’re like $3.00 each!)
But, all kidding aside, I’m intrigued by the way that brands are using the Foursquare platform to connect with consumers. Bottom line, it keeps getting better and more relevant.
Recently Simon Owens over at Bloggasm.com shot me a note (thanks Simon!) about how C-SPAN has now teamed up with Foursquare to launch a political education campaign of sorts.
Concept is once again very simple. C-SPAN has a custom page on Foursquare and is pushing information on politics, public policy and government to people as they check in at various locations around the Washington D.C. area. There is even a YouTube channel set up, dedicated to sharing video feeds when you check in at specific locations. As things progress, apparently check-ins outside of the D.C. area will begin to be included.
Straightforward, simple and to-the-point as far as what it provides users. Not to mention, pretty informative from all appearances. I’ve seen the show Street Smarts and unfortunately clips of Jay-Walking on Jay Leno before and it’s clear that the majority of our society doesn’t know anything about politics, so with that in mind, this seems like a pretty good thing. Curious to see how it goes from here.
I like cars. Always have, always will. Planes on the other hand, not really the same love affair there, but put a plane and a car combined, that actually performs both roles flawlessly, that’s a different story.
That’s why I am geeking out over the Terrafugia Transition. It is exactly that: a plane and a car all in one.
A plane that can fly 460 miles at 115mph?
A car that has foldable wings and still gets 30mpg?
Plane. Car. Whatever. It doesn’t matter because it rules and I want one.
The best part about it is that under ‘Safety Features’ it reads: “Drive in case of inclement weather.” Given the way some people drive on the road around Cincinnati in the rain, I’d actually consider going from plane to car less of a safety feature, but that’s just me.
I need to find $195,000 to get one of these, so feel free to email me if you have any ideas or want to do a time-share.
Always a supporter of diy technology development, I thought it was interesting to see that someone decided eating cupcakes with one’s hands was obviously outdated.
Enter the ‘Cupcake Cannon’ created by the folks over at Kamp Grizzly in Portland.
Apparently they made this for the recent Johnny Cupcakes ‘Suitcase Tour’ stop that rolled through and according to the story on their site the cannon they developed was “a steam-punk style pneumatic cupcake cannon and set the stage for eating frosty delights at 120psi.” The video was captured in HD and is now making its way around the web.
Who know watching people get blasted with cupcakes, in slow motion, with good tunes playing in the background would be so much fun. Nice work guys!
At first it sounds terrifying, but in fact the purpose of Togetherville is teach children early-on how to become good digital citizens. It is in full compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and was actually developed by those trained in child development, learning, and online safety.
Courtesy of CNN.com
Aimed to bridge the gap between the parent and child, the child actually signs up through the parent’s Facebook account, which will increase Facebook’s reach, and can only gain contacts with the parent’s permission, placing the responsibility of monitoring on the parent. It is both ad-free and strictly monitored hoping to ensure safe interaction.
Courtesy of Switched.com
The mission of this site is two-fold: 1) to foster safe-social web use starting at a young age and 2) to teach children digital expression as a compliment to their school education. The hope of this site to help children transition into the digital and social network dominated world in which we live as smoothly as possible.
At this point, it pretty much seems like there is an App for everything.
But, if like me, you’ve at one time or another found yourself out and about and suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that you MUST get a tattoo. Only problem in those cases always seems to be, you’re not near your favorite shop and artist and have no clue where to go. The last thing you want to end up with is something like this (or do you….?):
Uh, again, not quite sure what to say here...
Well, the good folks over at The Tattoo List apparently suffered from this problem too and decided to help all the Ink fans out there get their tattoo on, whenever/wherever they are.
Helping you get your tattoo on!
They went ahead and hand picked 300 artists around the county and dropped them into the App. You can see artists via list, near you, etc. You can even search by style which is a pretty cool feature. All in all, a pretty cool App for fans of tattoos and even those looking to get their first.
CAUTION: Loyalty cards are going mobile. Companies such as Foursquare, Loopt Star, and Gowalla have officially turned cell phones into a one-on-one marketing device, simply rewarding you for checking in at places and doing things you already do. These apps allow companies to make current customers more loyal by encouraging frequent visits, while enticing new consumers with deals and savings available on their cell phones.
Mobile loyalty cards should be much more effective than physical loyalty cards or other digital campaigns in creating an individual connection with the consumer. Because the consumer does not receive any coupons he or she does not request, a company can create customized couponing based on where and what each person checks in doing.
Although it may take some time for people to get comfortable publicizing their location, coupons and deals at Starbuck’s, Macy’s, American Eagle, Gap, local bars and restaurants, and many more may give them just the shove they need to become believers.
Man, it seems like once a month I’m posting to our little blog about all the cool stuff that’s going on in the world of watches and their design/technological evolution.
Sure, I’m a geek when it comes to adorning my wrist with something sharp and classy looking, that at the same time is functional and keeps me on time, but there is no disputing that what I just found is cool.
To recap though, you may remember that I recently shared that companies are bringing back retro designs or putting things like E-Ink in their watches. Or, you may recall a recent post about the unveiling of something that will help you stay on time for Happy Hour.
Well, the game has changed again, enter the touch screen watch, courtesy of Kenneth Cole. Yeah, touch screen! Awesomeness.
Like an iPod Touch for your wrist, minus mp3 playing.
So you may say, “So what?! It’s just a watch.” Well, that may be true, but it represents more than that in the sense that, as time continues to go by (pun intended), more and more people have just started using their phones as their watches, or just are just giving up on watches all together. In a world of things that do lots of stuff, watches do what they do and they do it well. Make no mistake about it, you used to buy a watch to tell time, but now you get so much more. Companies making watches are figuring out ways to use nice design and great technology to innovate and improve on something that’s basic. I think it’s a smart move and pretty great to see.
Imagine all the hype, excitement, and anticipation associated with the Superbowl, World Series, and NBA National Championship combined and make it into a month-long soccer tournament every 4 years. That is pedestal that the World Cup rests on in Europe, which nearly reaches national holiday status in most European countries. Now add a 3D broadcast, and you have a phenomenon.
Sony just announced its “fake 3D” ad campaign for the 2010 World Cup to truly show the audience what they are missing without upgrading to Sony’s new 3D TV, conveniently on sale in the U.K. the day before the first match.
The campaign will show the ads as they appear using 3D broadcasting without the needed technology, creating a grainy, blurry image that can only be corrected if the viewer purchases the TV.
This is, in my opinion, a stroke of marketing genius. Sony has made a name for itself with its 3D movies, such as Alice in Wonderland; however, because 3D DVDs are still a bit of a nuance, Sony could not solely rely on these to create a need for their new 3D TVs.
Instead, Sony has created a market for its product, not unlike Edison did for his radical invention of the light bulb. Ideally, Sony hopes this campaign/product duo will solidify them as the forerunner in 3D technology and TV sets.
Although this campaign will not run in the United States, the mainstream use of 3D technology in advertising no longer seems to be looming in the distant future.
CAUTION: Loyalty cards are going mobile. Companies such as Foursquare, Loopt Star, and Gowalla have officially turned cell phones into a one-on-one marketing device, simply rewarding you for checking in at places and doing things you already do. These apps allow companies to make current customers more loyal by encouraging frequent visits, while enticing new consumers with deals and savings available on their cell phones.
