Digital? Marketing? Blog!

TNW: How Apple's Top Secret Product Development Process Works

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:53:00 +0000

There's a fantastic excerpt article over at The Next Web, covering a number of the steps involved in new product developments over at the mighty Apple. I'm not Apple-zealot (I'm not much of an anything-zealot, in fairness, unless Guinness, bourbon, heavy metal and video gaming count?) but it's a fascinating insight into how such a high-profile company manages to keep culture-changing products under wraps so well, for so long.

I interviewed at Apple last year, and got a few little insights into their web process too - including the launch of product pages in line with the devices themselves. I probably can't repeat them here (I can feel the icy breath of an Apple lawyer over my right shoulder as I type this) but suffice to say the sort of lengths mentioned in the article seem to be apparent in all corners of their business.

Nuts? Maybe. Successful? Are you kidding me?

PS - Kudos to LG for sending me the original link...

AKQA creates Dancify Yourself app to promote MS Kinect game

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:57:00 +0000

As reported by Digital Buzz Blog, there have been a few mobile apps created in recent times, with the primary purpose of promoting or supporting a video game title (GTA Quad Maps (unofficial), Read Dead Redemption guide (unofficial)).

AKQA has come at this more directly, developing a cross-platform mobile app that lets you get a flavour of the full game (Dance Central 2, on Xbox 360) by letting people use their mobile to record themselves, or a friend, dancing to one of a handful of tracks. The video then gets processed into a stylised version for you to share, and - nicely - face off against a friend of yours and ask your Facebook friends to vote on.

Nice, and a trend we will definitely see more of as devices & platforms cross over more and more in people's lives.

(not so) still life uses Unity 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:34:00 +0000

The Next Web has just posted about a developer called Scott Garner, who has created an interactive still life, that I think's awesome. I'd love to do something similar in all the rooms in my house - paintings you can play with :)

Check it out below:

Still Life from Scott Garner on Vimeo.

The rise of cloud- and app-connected cars + views on market disruptions

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:38:00 +0000

It's fascinating to see where cars are heading at the moment. Major manufacturers such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Ford are all racing to lead the integration of mobile technology, apps, APIs and more into their vehicle offerings, with "Chrysler's Uconnect or Audi Connect unveiled at CES this week [accounting] for nearly $7 billion (£4.55 billion) in sales this year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association." (see article linked below)

Now, there's a phrase I hadn't seen myself writing before I'd read the article below: "Car APIs". But it makes complete sense in many ways.

Major industries have been hugely disrupted by technology, especially over the past decade. Publishing, the news media, the music industry, the films industry, the games industry and more have all had their - previously seemingly secure - worlds flipped on their heads and many have lost out in a big way.

The music industry chose to fight "piracy" (which, a smarter person may have seen was a view of just how consumers wanted to consume music), suing anyone who had even heard of the name Napster, let alone downloaded an mp3. The movie industry followed a very similar path, choosing to take the world and his popcorn-munching dog to the cleaners. What happened? Apple decided "hell, if you guys aren't going to realise a trend in consumption habits, we will!" and promptly snaffled billions of dollars a year in revenue by launching iTunes.

Publishing is suffering the same fate, with Amazon and its Kindle offering leading the charge to disruptively innovate their market while they sleep (some efforts of course made by Barnes & Noble and Waterstones, but they are bricks and mortar retailers - Amazon cut them out of the loop long ago).

The news media industry? We all know the story there, with media conglomerates flip-flopping between paywalls, digital editions and anything else they can think of. Again, Apple is the wolf at the door with their apps platform and the media companies are looking increasingly nervous.

The games industry - one very close to my heart - is still to work out the effects of Steam, Valve's now well-established direct-to-consumer digital sales platform. And OnLive - a true surprise entrant (I didn't think it would be real, and certainly not good, but - bugger - it actually is) is not only revolutionising gaming, but also the general software market and "the cloud" to boot. Oh! And also giving the indie market even greater hope. Bang on...

So, then, I doff my cap (I actually don't own a cap, nor have I ever doffed. Least not with ladies present) to the automotive industry who are embracing technologies, creating in-house teams for planning and linking up with industry leaders such as Facebook (not that I personally think that's a great thing on its own).

It's an exciting space in many ways. Many people spend huge amounts of time in their vehicles (in the US especially, where driving for many hours between destinations is very commonplace) and already have connected, app-powered devices with them (laptops, tablets, smart phones). Why not make the leap of combining the vehicle (or mobile home/office for many) with that computational power, convenience and access and selling this as a new wave of purchase options.

What sort of things are being explored?

Pads with handwriting recognition (for writing emails & other comms)
Google Earth
A cutdown version of Facebook, alerting you of nearby friends and businesses, and status updates
Wikipedia (note that these are custom apps for the car, not just browser windows to the sites)
Local weather
Local petrol prices
Travel info
News
The ability for your car to act as a WiFi hotspot for your the devices you have with you (and to shut up/entertain the little darlings)

Check out the video of Audi's Connect system, showing off some of these features:

To sum it up, a line from the below report that I agree with whole-heartedly: "Manufacturers must deliver, or risk irrelevance."

Read the full article, over at Wired, featuring a load more information and insights. Exciting times indeed...

Tablets play key role in consumers’ lives

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:19:00 +0000

Some really interesting insights have come out of this survey commissioned by the IAB. The survey of 600 consumers reveals some interesting insights into the devices used, and showing that no 1 device (mobile, desk/laptop or tablet) rules overall – in face they work in conjunction:

"even with extensive developments in tablet devices a role still remains for smartphones, desktops & laptops"
"usage patterns [verified] how the three devices can work in harmony within consumers' day to day lives. Mobile takes the hot spot on the morning commute; dipping mid-afternoon allowing the desktop/laptop to take over, with tablet usage surging in the evening – more than 50% of tablet interactions taking place in the late evening (between 7 - 12pm) resulting in tablets being the most used device amongst owners in the evening."
"Tablet usage really accelerated during the weekends with 25% of respondents choosing to use their device during their 'downtime' and 49% agreeing the tablet is the device that best allows them to be entertained."
"the majority of people with tablets are dual screening, with 51% of all tablet usage occasions occurring in front of the TV. In fact tablet owners are fifty per cent more likely to use their tablet to dual screen than their mobile (35%) or their PC (33%)"

Much more information is available in the original IAB article.

Johann Sebastian Joust! - disruptive gaming experience

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Might be one of the maddest concepts I've seen. But it's disruptive in the world of digital/physical gaming crossover, and I like it. As the seed of something bigger, it's really interesting. With the popularity of movements/games/what-the-hell-do-you-call-them like Streetwars (edit: Oh, hang on, they call themselves an "assassination tournament", which is achingly cooler than I came up with) there would seem to be a market for this sort of experience, even if it's niche at the moment.

Hmm... mind wanders, thinking of that thing which will make me millions

Johann Sebastian Joust!

Johann Sebastian Joust is a no-graphics, digitally-enabled folk game for 2 to 7 players, designed for motion controllers(such as the PlayStation Move). The goal is to be the last player remaining. When the music — selections from J.S. Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" — plays in slow-motion, the controllers are extremely sensitive to movement. When the music speeds up, this threshold becomes less strict, giving the players a small window to dash at their opponents. If your controller is ever moved beyond the allowable threshold, you're out! Channel the power of J.S. Bach, and try to jostle your opponents' controllers while protecting your own.

Grooveshark launches HTML5 player - gets around Apple & Android restrictions

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:52:00 +0000

My favourite web-based music service has just launched a free HTML5 site that means you can listen to their entire library from any HTML5-supporting phone, with no charges. Take THAT Spotify Premium :)

html5.grooveshark.com

CES - Samsung's awesome smart window

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:04:00 +0000

At CES, Samsung are demonstrating their unidirectional smart window, which really does look awesome. What is it? Watch below to find out:

Now, if this can be turned on and off at will, windows around the world can become a functional device. Your bedroom window could be set to 'unblind' progressively as your wake up time approaches for a gentle rouse. It could then display the weather, your agenda for the day, missed important emails etc. Really exciting stuff and definitely a step towards the visions of the likes of Microsoft:

WANT :)

Jesse Rosten's Fotoshop by Adobé

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:14:00 +0000

I love this parody - really well done. Watch it before Adobe's lawyers get a hold of it :)

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

And check out the behind-the-scenes footage:

BTS Fotoshop from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Thanks Adweek

Kickstarter secured $100m in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:28:00 +0000

I'm hugely impressed with the idea, implementation and results of Kickstarter, and their 2011 results are really astonishing.

According to the article on The Kickstarter Blog:

Dollars Pledged: $99,344,382 (ooo, so close)
Launched Projects: 27,086
Successful Projects: 11,836

2010 was a very different story:

Dollars Pledged: $27,638,318
Launched Projects: 11,130
Successful Projects: 3,910

Crowd-[insert thing here e.g. -funding, -sourcing, -product dev] is only going to gain more and more ground as power and structures are further democratised and made available to all.

There's a great column in this month's Wired too, covering the next big global shift: the Third Industrial Revolution - the democratisation of energy. Generate your own energy (e.g. solar) and sell direct peer-to-peer.

Time for a relevant Dylan song...

Facebook set to appear in Mercedes Benz cars

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:12:00 +0000

Oh God, really? I'm not a fan of the omnipotent platform at the best of times but a cutdown version that tells you what "friends and businesses are nearby" sounds just awful.

I wonder if The Zuckster himself will be the voice (now that would be funny).

Plus, this means I won't be able to hide from friends any more, right? So if I'm in a pub with friend A (who friend B dislikes) and friend B has this system, he's just going to rock up? That'd be awkward.

Mind you, none of my friends have a Merc so I guess I don't need to worry really. Cheap-arses :)

Google Apps to be adopted by Spain's biggest bank

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:07:00 +0000

This is a significant event - Spain's largest bank is moving ALL their internal comms and systems to the cloud - Google's specifically. I believe this is the most significant mover into the cloud to date and could signify the tipping point of a serious business trend.

Read about it at the BBC website

Do you want animated GIFs on your Google Plus profile?

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:57:00 +0000

After seeing the lovely use of animated GIFs that Burberry has done, I noticed in the comments on the photos that someone pointed out how to do it.

Check out my use of it on my profile (using a random GIF from T'InterWebs).

If you want to do this yourself, it's simple and all hinges on the actual size of the image you use:

Go to your profile
Click "Edit profile"
Add 1 or more 'photos' that are animated GIFs and are exactly 150px x 150px in size
Enjoy!

Google launches Google+ Brand Pages - a round up

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:26:00 +0000

Here's my attempt at something of a round up of what's flying around all over sites at the moment, following Google's official launch of Google+ brand pages.

View Introducing Pages for Google Plus from Google, which details how to share, promote and measure using the new brand pages.

Example brand sites already launched

Note, that the 1st 2 on this list are celebrities, which was a major turning point for the success of Twitter. It will be interesting to see if their presence on Google+ has the same impact.

How to create your own Google+ brand page
Google has a dedicated page that allows you to create your Google+ brand page under a number of headings: "Local business or place"; "Product or brand"; "Company, institution or organisation"; "Arts, entertainment or sports"; "Other".

Google's launch video case study of a Google+ brand page

Google+ Direct Connect
How do you easily find brand pages from within the Google network? Direct Connect, which is Google's term for their integration of brand page results into the more familiar Google web search:

To try it yourself:

Head to google.com
Begin typing +pepsi into the search box
You'll see a new entry with a thumbnail at the top of the results, which is the link to the Google+ brand page (see the example below)

Read Google's official help item regarding Direct Connect.

How to get listed on Google+ Direct Connect

Google is "still experimenting" with Direct Connect and is picking up G+ brand sites to feature in the search listings algorithmically. However, to give your site the best chance, read their guide at Google Webmaster Tools, which advises adding a new code snippet to your meta tags that their search robots can look for.

Canon EOS Photo5 direct mail campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:46:00 +0000

I cut my teeth in the land of direct mail agencies and have a lot of time for the creative ideas that come out of something sent through the mail, direct to consumers.

Canon wanted to further promote their EOS range of cameras by inspiring amateur photographers to use their EOS cameras. As an amateur photographer myself I think this is a great idea, as inspiration is the biggest barrier to taking more photos (as attested to by the fact that the photos on my site are about 1 year old :) ).

After inviting users to register for the packs, they mailed out around 7,000, each containing 5 objects to help inspire: a pair of plastic glasses, a packet of hundreds and thousands, matches, powdered paint and a star-shaped lens aperture (to create bokeh).

The campaign saw an impressive 88% redemption rate (88% of recipients uploaded a photo) and ran a competition for people to enter, with site visitors spending over an hour (on average) browsing the submitted pictures.

Pantech introduces new gesture-controlled smartphone á la Kinect

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:59:00 +0000

A story over at PSFK reveals Pantech's new smartphone that implements a motion-detection function to control the phone, along with the now-ubiquitous swipes and taps.

The video below shows off its USP, and demonstrates a great example of when this could be useful: when your hands are caked in bread dough.

But, um, I can't think of any other time I'd find this useful...

The Heist at Pause by Ljud + Bild

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Really lovely experiential execution, with a decent storyline behind it. On November 10th, you will be able to go to this electronics store in Sweden and 'rob it', with the aid of a partner on a computer cracking the puzzles (e.g. to reveal the alarm code). Crack them all and walk out with electronics goods as prizes.

Lovely.

The Heist at Pause by Ljud + Bild

US bank offers audio tour of the local area from QR code

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:44:00 +0000

Another sign that a few companies are starting to get the idea that QR and AR shouldn't just do something that can already be done more simply, this is a nice touch. Scan the QR code and instead of just launching the bank's webpage, it's plays an audio tour of the area the new bank is in.

Nice idea Flushing Bank...

Seen on PSFK

Microsoft Kinect TV ad recognises and praises Kinect hackers - is spot on

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:12:00 +0000

Now I've picked myself up off of the floor, I can praise whoever the walking God is at Microsoft that a) stopped them suing everyone when the hacking of Kinect kicked off, and actually realised it would achieve more for them than they could imagine, and b) got them to keep this sense in their new TV spot for Kinect which openly admits and praises that collective creativity.

As a result, I actually love this TV spot, and - perhaps for the first time - feel that Microsoft might be starting to get it.

Love it.

Nokia to embed augmented reality in its handsets

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:46:00 +0000

Finally! A handset maker stepping up to embrace this technology. For a long time now I've complained of 2 things holding back the awesomeness of AR (and it's skinnier cousin, QR) and those are:

Adoption and default installation by handset makers;
Standarisation of the technology.

In a past post (and many more), I've complained about the use of AR not being as good as it should be (I'm looking at you Tesco recipe thing, and you Spurs logo thing). But, slightly in their defence, the bigger issue has been that there are different people creating different platforms, because of this lack of standardisation, and that consumers needed to download an app to use it (meaning it's effective at one-off events and experiential uses, but for (e.g.) magazines, you end up having to download and open different apps all the time, which I argue people won't).

This is a really good step towards something I really want to get the recognition it deserves. Hopefully other handset makers will now follow in Nokia's footsteps.

UPDATE:
I have to post an update to this, after doing some digging. Nokia are also working with Vuzix to create AR glasses, which bodes well for the mobile market since it means they're some way into working with this already. Below is a demo from Vuzix:

And a lovely mash up of other tech with this:

Take a car brand, run a press ad with exploded views, interiors, car configurators and you have a genuinely engaging, and useful piece of content. Run it through mobile and glasses - that's just plain cool :)

Chromian Wars brings AR to games

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:32:00 +0000

I think I've seen something similar before (with zombies in a city? I'll dig it out), but I'm liking the crossover use of digital and reality that this AR game brings. It's unique and different and doing more than most uses of AR so far, which seem to just show you a game character on screen in 3D (which I could do in a browser without AR).

I can see this sort of thing being very popular with gamers and kids - collectible cards that actually add to the experience. I'm fairly sure that the game engine is able to adapt based on what is being viewed in the screen, so adding cards to the play arena could alter your army strength in real time etc.

Chromian Wars is out now for iPhone and iPad.

UPDATE: Found the zombie shooter:

75% of the UK use other technology while watching TV

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:28:00 +0000

image credit - The Next Web

Well colour me gob-smacked. That's a figure waaaay higher than I'd ever anticipate.

A study into TV viewing habits in the UK has found a massive growth in what’s known as 'media stacking', with more than three quarters (76%) of viewers surfing the Web on their laptops, or using their mobile phones and tablets whilst simultaneously consuming their favourite TV shows.
The 2011 Social TV Trends Report was commissioned by PR and social media agency Diffusion, and carried out by research company YouGov, focusing on 2,025 online consumers in the UK.

2,025 is not a huge number, but even so the results are surprising. The results across age bracket are just as remarkable:

Whilst 18-34 year olds are the most prolific commentators (68%), the study found that 18-24 year-olds are the most prone to media-stacking in general, with 96% confessing to 'media multi-tasking', but 63% of those aged over 55 admitted to doing so as well.

Read the original article on The Next Web.

Nest learning thermostat from iPod designer is actually lovely [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:16:00 +0000

The Nest thermostat has been doing the rounds all day today with various still images of it. Having now seen the video below, it really is rather lovely, programmable (awesome), learns from your daily routine (w00t!) and is can be adjusted via smartphones and online (suhweet!).

Still-o-vision if you're into that sort of thing:

New Look music video using Microsoft Kinect

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:50:00 +0000

Haven't heard of New Look before but this music video, shot using Microsoft's Kinect, is a really lovely implementation, and layers CGI into it really well.

PS I really like the track itself too :)

New tech recognises different inputs on touchscreen devices

noreply@blogger.com (Leon McComish) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:23:00 +0000

Now, this is an interesting concept as it takes the clearly successful (in terms of consumer take up and demand) interaction model of touchscreen input, but allows the device to detect when different parts of the input tool are used.

TapSense is borne out of research by Chris Harrison and the primary example shown in the video below shows a touch screen device capable of recognising when the user is interacting by using their finger tip, pad, nail or knuckle. Later examples show other tools such as pens or wooden tools being used and recognised differently. The system recognises the different audio signal caused by each part of the tool (e.g. a person's nail makes a different sound on the touch screen than their fingertip).

As shown, where this could be very beneficial is in providing context-sensitive options and menus for input. For example, when tapping on an email with a fingertip, it could open, but tapping the same email with a nail could bring up a context menu featuring options such as "reply" and "mark as unread". This brings in another interaction method (uncommon to users at the moment of course, which is a challenge) and frees up precious screen real estate. There would be obvious issues in noisy places that might kill the concept altogether, although perhaps a toggle for home use where it is quieter and standard input in other places (although this creates a complex split scenario for a user where commands would work in one place and not another) or one based on vibrations (again, the hand holding it would be another issue) could be possible solutions.

Seen on PSFK