IBM and Ogilvy London teamed up again this year to create another brilliant Wimbledon Tennis Augmented Reality app for Android and iPhone smart phones. The main improvement over last years enables Wimbledon fans to ‘see through walls’ with the point & see mobile app. This works by taking live location-based video streams of some showcourt matches and ‘busy areas’ such as the Aorangi Terrace (aka Henman Hill), and the taxi queues.
So good to see Ogilvy really getting stuck into this type of thing, and what a brilliant event to showcase it at. I’m sure it will expose the technology in a great light to a diverse audience that would really appreciate it..
Best of all its free to download from the iTunes App Store or search for “IBM Seer” on Android Market !
I just found out more details on the new touch screen Sony Ericsson X8 Xperia handset coming out soon (approx late 3rd quarter 2010). As most readers will know I’m an avid Sony Ericsson fan and am currently lovingly taking care of the SE X10 touch phone.
The X8 is a going to be SE’s entry model into the Xperia Android market, and size wise it fits in between the X10 and X10 mini. At present Sony Ericsson are not sure if it will launch with Android 2.1 or 1.6 but either way it will be 2.1 eventually even if not at launch. The screen is a 3 inch capacitive touchscreen and will work in a similar manner to the X10 mini, in that the screen has four corner editable icons for easy one hand use and one touch access to applications.
Main Specs:
3.0 inch Capacitive touchscreen with 16,777,216 colour TFT
3.2 MP camera
WiFi and Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
A-GPS with built in Navigation software and Google maps
Sony Ericsson Timescape™ (aggregates and combines your contacts list with their relevant updated facebook and twitters accounts etc)
Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
3.5 mm audio jack
Micro USB connector
2 GB microSD™ card
Processor: 600MHz
Battery: 5 Hours Talk Time, 476 hours standby time
Colours: White, Dark Blue, Aqua Blue, Pink, and Silver
Price approx £180 sim free (Very good for an Android device)
Check out the short clip below to see the test phone in action. If you have an Android phone you should also check out this great new site Sony Ericsson made called mash-app.com. On the site you can save, share and search for your favourite android apps ! click here to check it out.
Fun work and good timing from Grey for Heineken beer. This one tells the slightly make believe story of how the Makarapa was born. It was shot by Cape Town legends; Velocity Films.
The Makarapa is a type of modified hard hat that is worn as an essential South African football accessory along with the traditional blowing of the Vuvuzela. The myth is that they were fist invented when a chap called Baloyi saw friends being hurt by flying objects in local football stadiums and so customised a hard hat for protection and fan style. If your wondering who Baloyi is, its him in the advert !
Yesterday Microsoft announced some seriously game changing news for the console industry. The launch announced that Kinect (formerly known as “Project Natal”) will be available worldwide on November 4th. Kinect (pictured right) is a gaming motion sensor device that is compatible with all Xbox 360’s, and allows you to use your body as the games controller ! see the video above for some examples. At release there will be at least 8 Kinect games available but expect that number to rise quickly as developers get to grips with the new technology.
The new revamped Xbox 360 console (see pics) was also announced at the E3 expo at the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles. It’s now slimmer, virtually silent, and comes with built in WiFi for easy access to online functionality such as Xbox live, and has a 250GB hard drive as standard. The new Xbox 360 will be available this week at $299.99 RRP.
Last but not least Microsoft also announced and previewed epic upcoming games launches of “Halo: Reach,” “Call of Duty: Black ops”(exclusive Xbox levels and maps) and “Gears of War 3”, and “Fable III”. Also if Xbox Live (now 25 million users strong) is your kind of thing, and you currently live outside of the official supported zones, good news, it will be coming to South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Russia by Christmas 2010.
Cant Wait to give Kinect a go and get my hands of some of those epic games later this year.
More brilliant World Cup advertising from Black River FC for Nando’s. This time the plucky restaurant chain are offering Uruguayan players and their fans a free Coke if they lose against South Africa tomorrow !
On a side note check out the these new Nando’s crisps I found in Tesco’s, great packaging copy.
Whilst driving out of London the other day I spotted this great billboard for my favourite airline Virgin Atlantic, and managed to track it down on Adsoftheworld.com. The print was done by RKCR/Y&R London and I just love it.
On a side note I really liked this sign outside the local Barclays bank in the town nearby one of our country homes. The sign says: “Through these doors walk the loveliest people in Oakham. (And you’re one of them)”. So simple and made me smile.
Although I’m not the biggest fan of Budweiser beer, I do really like what they are doing with their cash for the World Cup. Budweiser is the official beer of the games, and together with DDB they have created an online reality show called “Bud House”. For the duration of the Football tournament they will film the highs and lows of 32 football fans each bought in to the Bud House (in Cape Town) and representing one of the different countries that qualified for the tournament.. As the world cup proceeds and teams get kicked out, so will the relevant people representing the teams in the Bud House. The winner of the competition will be a player from the matching World Cup winning country, and he / she will get to present the Budweiser man of the match prize at the final in soccer city, Johannesburg.
Each day the dedicated YouTube channel will be updated with new clips of the goings on in the Bud House, and each football fan will be updating their dedicated Fan Pages. So far, Budweiser have had close to 1 million visitors on the site and after watching a bit of it I would imagine this is going to work nicely.
Samsung have created the first YouTube page takeover to help promote their new range of 3D TV’s.
The clip above shows what happens, but to try it out for yourself on YouTube go to http://www.youtube.com/Samsung3devent. The video shows a 3D projection on to the historic Beurs van Berlage building in Amsterdam. During the page takeover you get to play a game where you have to try and click on as many butterflies that are coming out of the building as possible. If you enter your details and score after the clip has ended you stand a chance to win a new Samsung 3D LED TV.
More Great work from Black River FC for Nando’s. This time the chaps are promising to feed Mexicans for free if they lose the World Cup Football match tomorrow against South Africa in Johannesburg. The small text reads:
“ Dear Mexican Player, most foreigners think S.A is rife with bribery and corruption. To live up to your misconceptions, we’re offering you and your spectators a free lunch if you lose on Friday. Just bring your valid Mexican passport into any Nando’s restaurant between 14h00 and 17h00 and we’ll give you a delicious flame-grilled quarter chicken and chips each. Free.
p.s. If you don’t have a passport, we’re sure someone can arrange one for you.”
