Uniqlo Color Tweet!

http://www.uniqlo.com/colortweet/

Vámonos!

Nickelodeon UK unveiled Dora's Great Big World, a new app for preschoolers on nickjr.co.uk and part of the digital offering for Dora the Explorer's 10th Anniversary. The immersive online world, which allows kids to choose a location they wish to visit, add stickers to locales they've been to and uncover hidden surprises, will sit on the relaunched Dora microsite.

Wired iPad App Sells 24,000 Copies in First 24 Hours

Wired have a surprisingly frank article up on the first-day sales of their new iPad App. While I'd definitely call their sales a success and I'd love to try out the product, I agree with the writer that a certain amount of it has to be due to novelty. I don't see this pricing structure as the most viable business model for magazine's transition to digital formats. The writer even responds in the comments with "Mag apps have to get cheaper and you have to be able to subscribe to them."

Wired iPad App Sells 24,000 Copies in First 24 Hours

SOAPnet To Be Replaced By Channel For Preschoolers

by The Associated Press

text size A A A

NEW YORK May 26, 2010, 08:06 pm ET

The SOAPnet channel is all washed up and will be replaced by Disney Junior, a new 24-hour channel aimed at preschoolers.

The Disney-ABC Television Group announced Wednesday that the channel is set to debut in 2012. It will adopt learning themes geared to kids ages 2 to 7.

Disney Junior will replace the SOAPnet channel, which is available in 75 million U.S. homes and features reruns of daytime dramas.

Before Disney Junior is launched as a 24-hour channel, the name will be introduced on the popular Disney Channel's daily programming block for preschoolers that's now branded Playhouse Disney.

The new network will compete with Viacom's Nick Jr. channel, among other rival preschool-oriented programming.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127199627

Playing "Pong" with the blink of an eye

via Imperial College London, March 2010:

"University students develop computer game that is operated by eye movements, which could allow people with severe physical disabilities to become 'gamers'"

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_26-3-2010-9-44-34

Sports Illustrated Magazine - HTML5

Meant to post this last week. In the Google I/O Keynote presentation they showed a HTML5 version of Sports Illustrated. I love it. It feels just like a web-enhanced version of the magazine, but just doing that right is still something the print industry is figuring out. This just works. I may have to switch my print subscription to this.

The Gloves That Could Change The World

Item Type: Note
Date: Tuesday, 25 May 2010

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/the-gloves-that-could-change-the-world/?news=123

Three-Minute Masterpieces are ready to roll at Seattle International Film Festival

via Seattle Times http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/flatpages/entertainment/3mm2010.html

 

"For nearly a decade, Seattle Times readers have responded to the Three-Minute Masterpiece digital-film contest with short films of romance, intrigue and suspense. But this year, we made things a little harder on would-be auteurs: We required that filmmakers use mobile phones instead of camcorders."

 

Guinness IS good for you!

"The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers."

via BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3266819.stm

Yes I Do Want.

For those that love Dr. Who (aka just me) A levitating Tardis.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/21/want-part-ix-levitating-tardis-edition/

How The iPad is Changing Art and Music

http://scobleizer.com/2010/05/22/how-the-ipad-is-changing-art-and-music/

Here's Lang Lang playing 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on the iPad:

Google: "Apple is closed, we are open"

The Gloves Are Officially Off: Google Vs. Apple

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/20/the-gloves-are-officially-off-google-vs-apple/#ixzz0oahGUiLX

 

 

Google's PacMan works on iPhone - subtle jab at Jobs?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/196895/googles_pacman_works_on_iphone_ipad_subtle_jab_at_jobs.html

 

"CNet's Dan Terdiman reports that Google built the Pac-Man clone with JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Those are the same three tools that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs cited as suitable open standards to replace Flash.

 

So, you can look at Google Pac-Man for iPhone two ways: The more benign explanation is that Google on some level agrees with Apple, and wanted to create a version of Pac-Man that was as widely accessible as possible and not as resource-intensive as Flash. I prefer to think that Google's beating Apple at its own game by creating a version of Pac-Man that runs nicely on the iPhone without App Store approval."

 

 

Pacman on Google

Google is awesome today. Go to google.com, and click on the 'insert coin' button below the search bar.

Google TV Unveiled, With Much Potential For the Web-Enhanced Future of Television

Via Popsci: "At their developer conference today, Google announced their long-awaited Google TV service, which promises to merge the web with TV more smoothly and seamlessly than ever before. With some interesting Android integration thrown in for good measure."

View Keynote Here: (First to find the Sesame Street call-out wins a chocolate bar. I have been told it's in here but am too lazy to find it).



Another little promo here:

Stuffed and Unstrung

Check out the article on "Stuffed and Unstrung"

Sesame 3.0? 4.0? Anyone?

Wired's Webmonkey blog has an update on VP8, the open-source video codec for HTML5.

Major Browser Vendors Launch WebM Free Open Video Project

Free Karate Tournament Tonight! (5/19)

If anyone is interested after work, Lori will be competing in a karate tournament at
Honbu dojo 61 west 23rd st. 6pm. Admission is FREE! Come see some sweet kata! :)

Jim Henson's 20th Anniversary

Wired have a nice post at: 20 Years Later, Remembering Jim Henson.

Stupid, Lying Babies

A Canadian study reported by the BBC has revealed that toddlers who lie are more likely to do well later in life.

These lying babies are also able to do well while still young, as another study has revealed that most babies are stupid.

Peabody Award ceremony

Today was the luncheon/ceremony for the Peabody Awards. Was truly gratifying to be part of a respectable body of winners, and inspiring to continue the good work.

I wish you all could have been there, as you are the heart and soul of the site and all the hard work that went into it. A gajillion thank yous to all your contributions, more than can be jammed into a :30 speech. Gary, Terry and Elmo were onstage to receive the award... and of course Kevin played some mischief to Gary's straight guy. Cute. And now to the important stuff:

Location: Waldorf Astoria ballroom. No alcohol was served, just coffee, water and a cooler of Coke products. Salmon, salad, cheese breadstick thing, and chocolate mousse. Diane Sawyer hosted -- she stood for most of the 2 hours, has nice compusure and seemed genuinely interested. The rest of the recipients are listed here:
http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/event.php?id=66

I'm sure the statue will go behind a glass case on the 4th floor, but in the meantime, you can take a bite out of the Peabody chocolate hanging on my door.

Mondo congrats and thank you to everybodeeee!!!

Facebook stats

[Source: Online PhD Programs for MashableMashable.com]

History of Privacy in America

A timeline of the history of privacy in America from Scientific American.

Infographic: Erosion of privacy on Facbook over time

http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

Jesse Shell at DICE 2010 on Designing Games

This talk made it around the circuit a little while ago... but having just met with Jesse, who's a professor at CMU and one of our contacts for the Intergen projects, I watched it again -- and I think you should too!

http://g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Box-Presentation/

Wii Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

Animals!

If you would like to hear Lori, Peter, Jessie, and J sound like ANIMALS! Take a listen here on the K drive!

K:\Projects\WBIE\Production\3 VO\EDITED VO\ANIMALS

Play Tron's Fake Arcade Game

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/05/space-paranoids/

Via Mashable: "The fictional company Encom launched a browser-based version of Space Paranoids Thursday that is free to play (no quarters required).

Space Paranoids is the fictional videogame created by master programmer Kevin Flynn in the 1982 movie Tron. The slick new browser game, a promotional piece for the forthcoming movie Tron Legacy, was announced at a fake press conference at WonderCon in San Francisco last month.

Read More http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/05/space-paranoids/#ixzz0nRKJ5TF9"

comScore Reports March 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/5/comScore_Reports_March_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

Google Chrome Speed Tests

Follow up video the the May 5th post: Making of Google Chrome Speed Tests

Gigantic Beaver Dam

For the nerdy...

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Giant+Canadian+beaver+visible+from+outerspace/2994235/story.html

Great use of Puppets + Viral Video

While there is something special about a serenading unicorn doing "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" or "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," there is potential to do something kitchy and fun with our characters:

http://www.serenadingunicorn.com/?u=cz1jdWx0dXJlY2x1YiZuPUthdGUmcj1Bc2hsZXk_

Facebook Security hole lets you view your friends' live chats

http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/05/05/video-major-facebook-security-hole-lets-you-view-your-friends-live-chats/

(although I also read Facebook fixed the big within 5 hours, but pretty dodgy!)

Lost Muppets

Conference Notes: Tabula Rasa: iPad Throwdown

Tabula Rasa: iPad Throwdown

We Media

4/29/2010

Wemedia.com/tablet

USER EXPERIENCE

· iPad demographics mirror early iPhone demographics: SF, LA, NYC. Skews male, techy, wealthy -- “boys with toys.”

· Huffington post took 400+ pics of kids in Mac store on the day the iPad was released. The kids in the pictures exhibit “pure joy”. But adults seem more skeptical. What unique feature does it offer that I can’t get elsewhere? How will I carry this along with everything else I carry around with me? What covering/ case do I need to buy to protect it, what cables to charge it…?

· Form factor: more intimate/ close than laptop, more escapist/ playful (not a workstation).

· Recessive?

o User experience is ‘consume’, not ‘create’. iPad is not a device that gathers content, but gives you content – ‘shovelware’ a la 1990s.

o Poorest and most wealthy of the world are and will increasingly be mobile users. Mobile thus disrupts feudal power on many levels – the wealthy few are no longer the controlling power – they are neither the prime audience, nor the prime content/ utility makers.

o As Apple disrupted the feudal power/ walled gardens lorded over by the carriers, we can expect something to disrupt the closed systems Apple creates. Android, something else… ?

o Lack of camera is a disappointment. Tech users expect cameras in free phones, simple photo editing on cameras.

o (Current) lack of multitask is a disappointment. Not built for productivity, but users multitask in all aspects of their lives and expect multitasking from their devices. Implies a less flexible device.

o “I don’t see the need. I bought it and returned it and my 18 yr old said ‘I told you so.’”

o iPad as starting line, not finish line for tablets.

· A ‘companion’ experience -- a supplement to iPhone, TV, laptop (does not replace any of these).

· A further expansion of ubiquitous connectivity -- and a look into the possibilities/ challenges that ensue. What does ‘local’ mean now?

· Different kinds of social permission. You can bring the iPad more places than you would bring your laptop, battery life is longer.

· eBooks average use time: iPhone = 10 min, iPad = 30 min -- but iPad is used in less locations.

· User feedback: firms are wise to encourage and gather user feed back on iTunes as well as seed YouTube with ‘press releases’ (new content promos/ introductions to redesigns) and gather feedback from comments.

INTERACTION DESIGN

· It’s interesting to see how Apple describes the iPad. For early Apps, developers dissected every frame of both of these videos to inform design on a device they had never used:

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBhYxj2SvRI

o http://www.youtube.com/user/Apple?feature=pyv&ad=4586558836&kw=apple%20ipad#p/u/0/1-YAQ1wfNqc

· Mobile, social, multi-touch as the game changer -- not the device as game changer. Multidimensional, 3D experience.

· Universal Apps – if you have the iPhone App and plug in your iPad, you automatically get an iPad version. Apps built for iPhone on iPad are not satisfying/ don’t repurpose iPhone designs.

· “Content by itself is not an App.” Do better than Time Magazine’s lame offering -- don’t give me a DVD with pdfs thrown in.

· Important to feel native -- not feel too webby, or too radio (ex: NPR), or too magazine-y, iPhone-y.

· Flatter navigation than iPhone Apps.

· Some crossovers on layout/ controls for iPhone to make users comfortable.

· Popovers to navigate.

· Tap-in to select.

· Use big easy to use target sizes even for adults

· Retrain writers to avoid browser control copy (click here for…).

· Page based architecture becomes stream based -- but how to search, link, communicate?

· Internal Crossovers:

o Link anything that can conceptually link. Kill off/ watch the blue underline die.

o Design for re-subscription, purchasing related apps from within the app.

· External Crossovers:

o Unlike web, app has a ‘beginning’ and ‘end’, not 600 links outward.

· Android is more open, bigger audience than iPad, though diverse device/ screen sizes/ inputs.

· Touch and drag to create your own playlists

· ‘verticals’ like Newsweek or SI now seem wide, compared to niche content

· Use HTML5 + CSS + Javascript to make iPad friendly sites rather than iPad Apps. Circumvents Apple walled garden; gets you on android, smartphones, across devices, screen sizes, different inputs; same workflow as the rest of your website.

· More on the Flash issue: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/.

BUSINESS RULES

· Business rules for iPad are far more structured than for web. Steve Jobs owns the controlling share of decisions, limitations, possibilities, etc.

· Crux of the business opportunity: 125M Apple users w/ their credit card out who are one tap away from purchase/s.

· For launch, most developers ‘took aim at the wall to see what might stick’ -- what rules, models, pricing work?

o Web advertising is on tenterhooks, mobile ads are in infancy -- how can the iPad support itself?

o The web taught users “the only good price for content is free” and to shop for physical product online (Amazon, groceries). Media companies (journalists in particular) are trying to capitalize on un-established pricing expectations as well as paid content in iTunes precedent to identify viable business models, recapture financial stability.

o iAd: 40% rev share with Apple.

o ‘Freemium’: a “free until…” metered approach where frequent users pay (Pandora, NYT). Many suggested would be the next ‘big’ business model.

o Private label content (sponsorship): NPR recouped iPad costs in sale in 7wks via premium underwriting (sponsorship via Oracle and Bose).

o Subscription model is coming back, but tech/ pricing still not gelled.

o One-time purchase to remove all ads.

SHOWCASE

· Popular Science: ‘Mag+’ is interactive magazine iPad authorware created for Popular Science by their media firm, Berg. For sale for magazine publishers. Goal: like a magazine, interactive magazines should feel interface-less. Features: 2 finger swipe to jump sections, dog ear to bookmark, agnostic to orientation (horizontal/ vertical safe space), 1 story per page rather than scan the page of stories (in magazine or on web page), 2 layer parallax visuals.

· ESPN: niche utility. Took core use case of website (score checking) to make iPhone App with 1 tap access. 600 feedback msgs day collected from fans. iPad App offers more personalization, more content, more context (images, news). Interface paradigms:

· NPR: App features: gridded modules, sliding carousels, persistent video player controls in a bottom nav. Design process: 2 wks. Kick off to launch: 5 wks.

· Zagats: Search, sort, filter on real time Google Map (not unlike Panwapa Map prototype). Purchase for one year, re-buy next year’s edition within the App.

· Beatpad: Beatbox for iPad (walkman for iPhone). Thumping speakers, perfect for putting on your shoulder and walking down the street, perfect to put in a stand, hook up to speakers and rock out to at parties. 8track to come.

Making of Google Chrome Speed Tests

Firefox Mobile available on Android

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/its_here_fennec_for_android.php

"Fennec (aka Firefox Mobile) is now available for phones running Google's Android OS. This highly-anticipated web browser is a mobile-ready port of its desktop cousin, Mozilla Firefox. Like its predecessor, Fennec offers tabbed browsing and add-ons. It also offers an optional add-on called "Weave" which allows you to sync your Fennec history, passwords, bookmarks and tabs between the mobile and desktop versions of the browser."

Say Hello to BlackBerry 6.0: Overhauled Browser and System-Wide Multitouch

http://www.fastcompany.com/1622543/say-hello-to-blackberry-60-overhauled-browser-and-system-wide-multitouch

"With a 43% market share, RIM's BlackBerry OS is the most popular smartphone OS in America. They don't get as much attention as Apple or Google, largely because the OS has been a bit stagnant in recent years, but its popularity is not waning. Boy Genius Report got their hands on a preview of the next version of the OS, 6.0, and some of the changes are important and welcome--but don't expect BlackBerry to change its focus from enterprise."

Henson Puppets Lie in New Late Night Game Show

Henson Puppets Lie in New Late Night Game Show

A group of puppets from the Jim Henson Company will be unleashed as part of a new late-night game show for the game show network, GSN. "Late Night Liars," debuting next month on GSN, features a panel of saucy and uncensored "celebrity puppets" alongside actor-comedian Larry Miller as the show's host. The puppets come from the company's Henson Alternative brand, a label of the Jim Henson Company that focuses on projects aimed at adults.

"Late Night Liars" is billed as a raunchy comedy game show, each episode will feature two human contestants facing off against a panel of four "celebrity puppets" who are drunk and telling half-truths.

"I look forward to working with GSN and Henson Alternative to carry on the wonderful tradition of game shows such as ‘Hollywood Squares’ and ‘Match Game’ that gave me so much pleasure as a kid," said Miller. "Jim Henson made a great discovery many years ago when he realized that pretending puppets are people is far easier than dealing with people who are puppets."

Among the cocktail-swilling puppet characters to be included: Cashmere Ramada, described as a famous "celebutante and tabloid target," and Shelley Oceans, a brash comedian. Contestants vie for cash prizes by deciding whether the puppets are telling true or false stories.

"Late Night Liars" begins 11:00PM EDT on Thursday, June 10, 2010 on the GSN channel.

Google Invests in App that Predicts the Future

Scary stuff...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627546.400-pointillist-style-could-bring-lifelike-graphics-to-pcs.html

"AS THE artist Georges Seurat knew, a beautiful image can be created from a series of dots. Now an Australian firm hopes to use this trick to revolutionise computer graphics and make it possible to create stunning virtual worlds on relatively modest machines."

We won a webby AND made Fail Blog on the same day!

Webby: http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php?season=14#webby_entry_family

FailBlog: http://failblog.org/2010/05/04/epic-fail-photos-elmo-fail/

State of Web Development in 2010

http://www.webdirections.org/sotw10/

$100,000 3rd Independent Developer Competition

http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2010/05/indiepubs_100000_indie_develop.html

"It’s time for the third contest, but this time we’ve upped the ante to a whopping $100,000! So show us your skills! Submit your game to indiePub now and be in the running for the $100,000 grand prize, or one of the other 6 cash prize categories!

Game developers everywhere are invited to create and submit their original titles from May 1st through July 31st, 2010."