I have a bit of an obsession with RFID tags at the moment, I love the idea of tying together real-world objects and technology in order to open up a whole world of ideas and stories.
Here's a great example of how it can be used by Oxfam:
People donating items at an Oxfam store in Manchester were asked to tell a story about one or more of their specific objects into a microphone, including when and where they acquired it and any personal stories associated with it.
These clips were then linked to an RFID tag and QR code and the items were tagged with the story and added to the shop's stock.
Shoppers then used their smart phone or a bespoke RFID reader to listen to the stories through speakers in the shop, and were invited to purchase the story-tagged objects.
via @springwise
Remember Me: RFID Tags attach stories to charity store items
Dean Christie: First impressions of Naked
Dean Christie is a fellow comms strategist who has recently joined the ranks at Naked Sydney.
He's written a great post on the Naked blog about his first impressions of us and how he's fitting in!
Read it here: http://sydnaked.typepad.com/naked_blogging/2010/07/my-first-impressions-of-naked.html
One of the coolest things I've seen for a while...
I saw the headline 'Man decorates basement with $10 worth of sharpie' and had to take a closer look...
This article was originally published in September 2008 but I've only just noticed it so bear with me if I'm behind the times!
Excerpt: When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over.
There are fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill lounging with George Bernard Shaw — and the TV squirrel Rocky and his less adroit moose pal Bullwinkle.
Blendtec: Vuvuzela
Another fantastic contextually-relevant blending video from the geniuses at Blendtech, this stuff never gets old for me...
Prezi: The new way to present your ideas
I hate powerpoint.
Hate it, hate it, hate it.
I hate it even more when it forces me to bend my strategic thinking to it's slide-based formatting will.
There is not one element of thought that can be effectively communicated using powerpoint.
It does more damage than good in client presentations with the constant need to skip forwards and back and for your audience to hold in their memory slide 7 when you're talking on slide 11...disaster.
So thank god we now have Prezi
By using Prezi you are no longer confined to how much content you can fit on a slide, you now have an unlimited canvas on which to tell your story with the ability to look at the top line and to zoom into the detail as and when you require it. Genius.
You can input any form of media from text, images and videos etc...
Best of all, it’s pretty simple to use, is free (online) for the basic version but even the ‘pro’ version is still only $159 per year AND you can even print out an A1 ‘strategy on a page’ if necessary (clients love that stuff)
Check out a demo video here = awesome:
The inspirational 14yr-old blogger: Tavi Gevinson
Idea City recently had their 2010 conference combining 'big ideas from the smartest people'.
Once of those people was the amazing Tavi Gevinson, the 14 year-old creator of the hit fashion blog Style Rookie, and contributor to Pop magazine's blog: tavi.thepop.com.
Tavi has already become a key figure in the fashion world and has written for numerous high profile fashion & arts magazines as well as presenting for FashionTV and being an honoured guest of many designers....and all before her 15th birthday.
In her talk, Tavi presents her vision for Sassy Magazine and what it could have been had it stuck to its roots of intelligent, thought-provoking feminist writings rather than going down the 'glossy commercial' route it ended up as following its buy-out in the 90's.
She makes a crucial point that there is a real gap in the female publication marketplace for this kind of writing to return and to help women & girls adopt a more positive 'self-focus' as opposed to hoovering up the rubbish that is put in front of them at the moment about how to please everyone but themselves (i.e how they should look/eat/love/live)
She truly is a star...
First ever 3d interactive music video: Robyn / Killing Me
Music sensation Robyn (one of my personal favourites) has just released the first ever 3D interactive music video for her new single 'Killing Me'
It's really simple, very basic graphics but the addition of the 3D piece makes it extra special, not to mention the Twitter feed!
The first portion of the video features visualization of Robyn's lyrics. The remainder of the video is created by users themselves who tweet in what is killing them using the Twitter hash tag, #killingme. These tweets are visualized and credited to the user.
The video has the potential to become the infinite video as users can continue to add on to the endless stream of #killingme comments.
If you've got a spare pair of 3D glasses sitting around, watch it now: http://www.robyn.com/killingme/