lifefilter: March 2006

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Stuck in the Office?

Want to go home? or looking to waste time? I found this cool metal slug flash game posted on kotaku...Great when you are sitting around the office at 9pm on a thursday night looking for a way out..
Slug it Out
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006

What is a Media Channel?

Channelguide 360 is a site which sends WMV movies/podcasts to your xbox 360. Which begs the question what qualifies as a media channel? Will media be so open sourced one day that anyone can tap in and eloquate? Someday large media companies may fall from their throne as everyone creates, trades and takes their own media. This may ultimately be nothing more than a podcast, but i think its just reinforcing the fact that media is fragmenting and becoming more customized. The internet has become not only the great enabler but the great fragmenter. By connecting people it also is breaking up the current media channels we know/use/love/hate and creating new ones. That and the 360 is getting some love out there..
Hi Mom
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Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Art or Crime?

continued from yesterday....
nice little discussion going on in flickr
Art or Crime?
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Monday, March 27, 2006

Lil Hoodlums

FOR THE CLUELESS: Found this on flickr. So if you have a hood and a set of fat markers, you might be a tagger...Not to be stereotyping or anything. Sort of like if you find your child with a BONG shirt and smelling like incense..... The chart was from a Pasadena newspaper. Not sure how this helps the problem. Just ask Sony how powerful a medium graffiti can be. I for one, am a lover of street art. Banksy recently had a great article, after it was announced that Melbourne would be erasing its rich art-heritage for the Commonwealth Games, speaking out for the medium.
Bansky Goes Off
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Friday, March 24, 2006

Your Wutang Style Can Not Defeat Me!

This is wrestling Haxor style brought to attention by WWMNA:
The artists will duel – using images, sounds, flash, HTML and javascript – for two hours assembling and disassembling the work and coding of their opponent. During each turn, the respective player will also play sound or music which will be heard live through at the venue and on the net in real-time. This music can be then remixed by their opponent.

The match will be held physically in a wrestling ring surrounded by three projections that will display the hacked page and the desktops of the two competitors. A referee will comment live as the battle develops. On the web you will be able to see the state of the page being hacked, listen to the music or sounds produced by both artists, listen and see the referee and the combatants, and vote for the competitors.

If you register which net champion you wish to support before April 1st, you will receive on the night a support item from your champion.

The winner will be decided through a combination of public voting and a committee of jurors. Much as video games have now designated viewing areas, coding is becoming a more popular means of entertainment. As media becomes more self-run by the interest itself, we will see more things like this. Anyone can be their own media channel (youtube)...As the younger generations take over content will be the vehicle.
On Guard
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Im gonna make him an offer he can't refuse

Walking to the Never/Rarely train this morning i saw about 100 oranges stuck on top of the spiked fence at the Cooper Union at NYU. Finding a sticker i was taken to EA's website for their new Godfather game. Another great use of media. It is very limited though in its reach, since i have the feeling that the majority of oranges will be gone by about 1030. Inventive, yet fleeting. Marketers need to be mindful that their media is not only increasing awareness, but impactful & motivating. Im not sure if there are any more of these around the city. If they are still there tomorrow i will get a pic.
sleeps with the fishes
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Monday, March 20, 2006

Border Crossings

The Border Film Project is an intriguing double looking-glass venture into the migrants vs. miltiamen world of the U.S. border. The BFP distributed over 400 disposable cameras to undocumented migrants crossing the desert into the U.S. and the Minutemen militia guys trying to catch them. The cameras were all sent back to the project headquarters in prepaid, self-adressed envelopes. They gave empty Walmart gift cards to the photographers and put money onto them when their cameras came back an incentive-- which seemed to be working, there are over 1500 photographs so far. The pictures are amazing and truly show what life is like on the border. My favorite part is the eerie comparison between shots. We are one people and there should be a solution to this...(personal feelings aside) Would love to have your thoughts on this..
Run for the border
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Great Media Scott!

Life like print ads are sweeping the world's most prominent cities. In Paris, Stringfellows strip club have put the pole into pole dancing by cleverly designing their print campaign to work with existing lamp posts throughout the city. The ads are sharp, sexy and almost interactive in their appearance, providing the ultimate X factor that most advertising agencies only ever dream about.
A piercing shop in Rotterdam has pushed that envelope even further with their 3D advertisement for their studio. This ad is both rich in aesthetics and practical in everyday use, in this case on a basketball court. Knowing what other types of piercings are available out there, it makes you wonder where the next ad is going to appear

Both of these are incredibly imaginative uses of media. In such a cluttered world its nice to see people who arent afraid to take a leap.
Euro Hunting
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Friday, March 17, 2006

Grains of sand blowing in the wind

Wooster Collective spotted the work of artist Jorge Rodriguez who draws huge illustrations onto the side of Madrid buildings. The amazing part is that the wind and rain removes them. I have never been able to understand how artists can translate this from head to reality. Its so massive on a scale; how can they know what each brick should have. This guy is on a crane and it blows away?!@# Tragically beautiful.
Wow
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Nifty

The folks at i.Tech recognize this and have produced the Clip M, a little something to help combine business and pleasure. While it can be used as a simple Bluetooth headset for cell phones, the Clip M’s biggest coup lies in its ability to attach to an MP3 player while simultaneously functioning as a headset. For example, you’re listening to your MP3 player of choice and all of a sudden you receive a call. The Clip M interrupts the music with a little beep and lets you answer the call with the same pair of headphones (and attached microphone, of course) that were just pumping out the soothing “Karma Chameleon.” The 10-hour talk time Clip M is available now and will run you about $52. Why my this merit a post you ask? I simply want one..:)
tech digest
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Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Find-A-Celeb

America your obsession with celebrities scares me. And intrigues me. Gawker has the latest version of its GawkerStalker up and running. Its the latest mash-up with Google Maps. This takes stalking to a ridiculously new level. When is enough, enough?
Im Watching
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The Future

Ive been posting less of late, but am more determined than ever to bring original thoughts and content to you. Well at least original thought, i don't have the time to go digging personally. More electronic paper news. Plastic Logic is developing licensable manufacturing solutions for printing thin and flexible active-matrix displays, Transtudio reports. Their electronic-paper imaging film enables highly portable, readable and power efficient displays, they claim. The initial application focus is e-readers (e.g. e-books, e-dictionaries, e-maps, e-newspapers). These displays will often be wirelessly connected to WAN devices such mobile phones and PDAs, allowing users to access content 'on-the-move' more comfortably and efficiently than is possible using a small integrated display.

There has been much talk recently (and previously) about the death of newspapers. It appears though that now there has been rapid advancement of technologie to support a paperless paper. This is needed in my mind to save the newspaper industry. The proliferation of techology has many getting their news from their own source. If newspapers had an element of technology which allowed them to be embedded in our lives, they could keep their place as a content driver. Course picking it up at the end of the driveway doesnt hurt either. As media becomes solely consumer driven (covergence will eliminate the overriding dependence on technology), certain channels will win. Newspapers might actually have a better shot, since often they do have excellent writers. Is this a media equilizer??
extra extra
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Tuesday, March 14, 2006

My Slide Show

Lifefilter is dedicated to bringing you the hot hott hottest in digital mediums. Introducing Slide via PSFK.Slide is a new visual web browser that brings your favorite things from the web right to your desktop or website. It took me a couple of goes to get my head round it but the scrolling slideshows are already popping up on myspace.com profiles and eBay pages. In an attempt to grow and manage my visual identity to Coltrane Stardom, the lifefilter will be photo sharing and releasing content on slide. Im not sure how far this application will reach or its impact, but i will be experimenting to ensure its lifefilter-friendly. As always your feedback is appreciated.

slide on over
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Monday, March 13, 2006

Google is on Mars

Got this one from Josh. Google just quietly launched Google Mars- This online application allows you to browse the martian landscape the same way Google Maps allows you to scan and research our planet earth. Browse the mountains, canyons, dunes, plains, ridges, and craters of mars. You can view in three different modes: elevation, visible, and infared. While its not a whole planet, its the closest any of us will ever come to visiting. Kudos to Google for taking us there. What don't these guys think of? Could this be the other Ross's doing? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
Total Recall: Red Planet
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Friday, March 10, 2006

Hot Lava Floor

b.Lab Italia brings you Living Floor, interactive floor tiles that react to your steps, letting you leave disappearing footprints all over the room. Available in a variety of colors and metallic finishes, these PVC tiles are made up of a non-slip clear covering with an underlying interactive fluid layer. It’s like beach sand, moving and changing its appearance as you walk on it. Very Cool. IT looks like you are walking on water..sort of. Surely must be expensive
Liquid Floors
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Thursday, March 09, 2006

Bye bye Netflix

Ahhh another day, another brillant Apple move. As i sit here struggling to align rows and columns on my Dell, missing my MAC, i see reports of Apple moseying into another media playing field. You can now buy programs from comedy central (always pushing the envelope) for a month. You can own the programs(unlike napster). Now Apple is head-butting tivo's and DVR. All that is next for Apple is really to start producing the flatscreens. The Mini is a nice DVR-capable drive which you can link to your computer via AE. Apple is truly pushing personal computing by levaraging media synchonicity. Will this kill tivo, will this kill netflix?
Ivideo
Apple, video subscription service, netflix

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

farmadelphia

This was of big interest to me because my sister is at UPENN studying to be an urban planner. I love this Bruce Mau type stuff. I cant give away the details of her project, but this seemed like a familiar fantastic solution to me. Living in NYC, greenspaces arent even a consideration. I watch historic buildings torn down to create parking decks. So i applaud this student team and their eco-thinking. A team has submitted an entry to a land-reclamation competition in Philadelphia that proposes the reintroduction of cows to vacant land, Inhabitat reports. Front Studio team's entry to the Urban Voids suggests:

Vacant lots around Philadelphia would be converted into agricultural plots, and the abandoned buildings that occupy many of those sites would stay put, only they'd become useful again in the context of the farm. As a community renewal effort, Farmadelphia would bring people together around both the labor and the rewards of having productive crops growing in the neighborhood. The farms would establish employment opportunities and encourage entrepreneurship among citizens who might want to sell their harvest to groceries or restaurants.

Go get em laine!

Mooo

Saturday, March 04, 2006

weekend project

Looking for a weekend project? This aerial kite camera setup is (supposedly) achievable for under $20 bucks. The shots are unbelievable. Im gonna give this one a go. After Carolina vs. Dook
Bird's Eye

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Does Your Brand Chat?

Listening to Alex Bogusky speak a week or two ago (can't get my days straight), brought about quite a few thoughts to my head. I encourage everyone to get out of the office whenever possible, it can do wonders. Anywahoo he showed off all the ads that Burger King fanatics did. 100% of them included mock-ups of the King doing other things. BK began to place things in culture with the king to make him culturally relevant and to get people talking. (Brooke Burke and the king on a beach, the king courtside at an NBA game) Bogusky was very proud of his free advertising. Heck, I would be too. This got me to thinking about the culting of brands. Great book by Douglas Atkin on this btw. Apple is another example of a brand that has its fanatics constantly creating their own spots (see MS spot below) and concepting products. While they may not acknowledge it, Steve Jobs is listening, trust me. It seems great brands who have cultural significance really work hard to not only get a dialogue going with consumers, but also speak back. Think of it as free consumer research into the future. Consumers are telling you how they want to speak to them, when and where. Brand with conversation problems include GM (see today's influx post on this). So if you are building a brand out there, get em talking!!

brand conversations