Seasonal awesomeness

Temperatures have soared here in Amsterdam (21 Celsius today), so Thomas has... bought a snowboard.

...it's not as stupid as it sounds: the bindings have an integrated bottle opener - see the exciting action shot!

Cheers!

 

Microsoft entering the Arena

Microsoft has their long awaited (not sure if with positive or negative feelings) Expression Applications testable either as trial or beta.

Expression is an Application Suite aimed at Webdesigners & Developers, challenging products like Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash.

Of course its too early to expect mature applications, but I personally am quite excited about it since I think this will – at least – bring movement and competition to a market that is at the moment only dominated by Adobe, and Microsoft is probably one of the few companies that can tackle that challenge.

There is also an application called Silverlight which is positioned as a “Flash Killer”, it builds on a vector engine and can do a lot what Flash also can do. Of course all the demo files look terrible because, well, its Microsoft , but it’s a true Multimedia Development Environment and I guess in a couple of years it could be an alternative to Flash. A major difference is the fact that Silverlight Applets don’t get compiled, but rest as XAML and Javascript files on the server where the Silverlight Plugin turns it to a Silverlight App at Runtimem which also means contents are searchable by search engines.

Furthermore it supports DRM Video which will be a big argument for clients to want to use it, but then I can imagine that this will already be integrated in the next Flash Version 10.

 

Smashing suggestions

A nice experiment in the spirit of atomization/ reaggregation/ groupthink/ "none of us is as smart as all of us". Interesting for everyone involved in making web stuff - developers, designers, IA, etc:

Smashing Magazine asked 35 designers 5 questions. And they got 5 precise answers. And the result is "175 professional suggestions, tips and ideas from some of the best web-developers all around the world".

Go and get some tips!

 

New Spider-Man 3 site for Sony Ericsson

We've done a new campaign site for Sony Ericsson! This time it's for the forthcoming supersmash, Spider-Man 3.

The site is a 3D cityscape, which you swing around in - just like Spider-Man himself - stopping at several locations to find out about the film, download goodies for your mobile phone, view trailers and (in some countries) discover whether Sony Ericsson is holding any promotional events or giveaways near you.

The team responsible for making the site (hello!) all got rather excitable during the creative process. There were numerous fights with silly string and an absolute deluge of dreadful jokes about *web*sites (geddit?), spider-this, spider-that, spider-everything... fun!

We're all looking forward to seeing the film now. Some of us are planning on getting a bit dressed up for it too

In case you haven't clicked yet: go now! Check out the Sony Ericsson Spider-Man 3 campaign site. Hope you like it - let us know what you think in the comments, wouldya?

Keywords: Spider-Man,Sony,Ericsson,3D,Media,Catalyst

 

The honour is all ours...

Hey, look at that, Media Catalyst are an Official Honoree in the 2007 Webby Awards - the “Oscars of the Internet”. We were recognized in the "Best Navigation/ Structure" category for our work on Sony Ericsson's product finder.

The 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states. Out more than 8,000 entries submitted, fewer than 15% received this honor and were deemed Official Honorees. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet inventor Vinton Cerf, and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.

Here's a little more about how we built the product finder.

What else is there to say apart from "Woo!" and also, "Yay!"

 

Avril Lavigne speaks in many tongues, and appears in many guises

Reading Blogamundo last night and came across their link to this post about localizing pop music.

Seems Avril's marketing department is encouraging her to diversify her vocal talents in various linguistic directions on her latest single, Girlfriend.

"Aside from English, the chorus to Girlfriend has been recorded in Mandarin and Japanese for her massive Asian fanbase, as well as Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese."

We've seen/ heard this before of course:

• Shakira released Spanish and English versions of her recent Oral Fixation album


• That Kiss Kiss song that Holly Valance did in English; her version being a cover of the original song Şımarık by Turkish superstar Tarkan.


• Kylie's Je ne sais pas pourquoi although this was probably more to do with making the lyrics scan, than trying to appeal to the French market


• And I think even Madonna did some horrendous-sounding Russian or French thing on a recent single

But this is the first example that I've seen of it being done in this way. Statistics indicate that Girlfriend is selling downloads by the bucketload, with video views on YouTube also demonstrating considerable success.

And as well as being a marketing technique to sell more Avril records, it also points to a trend I'm noticing more and more (and am preparing a Reboot talk about) - Newspeak.

It's a Blade Runner/ Clockwork Orangish phenomenon which is seeing languages collide online, simultaneously erasing borders, narrowing vocabularies, and potentially creating confusion.

Interesting that brands are tailoring their communications to suit consumers needs, tastes, cultures... and languages.

And (blows trumpet) It's a bit like what we've been doing for Sony Ericsson for the past 6 years...

 

Presence and Trust

Another thought-provoking Doors of Perception newsletter this morning.

Particularly interesting this time is a link to Caroline Nevejan's PhD dissertation on the design of presence in technologically mediated environments, in which she discusses how changes in technology also affect society:

"The nature of being with another person in a certain place, at a certain time, involved in a certain action is undergoing change because of the fact that technology mediates, contributes, accelerates, controls and/or facilitates communication. The broad spectrum of information and communication technologies that mediate presence facilitates acting, connecting, witnessing and being witnessed in other places at other times."

Nice diagrams too!

What is communicated in which way via which medium, and how these influence each other, is often unclear.

Caroline has also put up www.being-here.net where you can comment on and discuss her ideas.

 

Happy little accidents

Fun last Friday as a bunch of us went off for some real artistic education.

The air was thick with Photoshop in-jokes as we got to grips with oils, brushes and knives, Bob Ross-style.

The results were... impressive

Thomas is proud:

Sara organised everything and got a free Bob shirt. Nice!

We finished off the day at Nomads. Nice food. Nice belly dancer (not shown)

(Read more...)

 

The source code of songs

In April 2005, Nine Inch Nail’s single The Hand That Feeds saw it’s online release, soon followed by Only. Not as an mp3 or wmv file, but as a multi-track file for Garageband, Apple’s music creation tool. (Simply put, when you record a song, usually all instruments and vocals are recorded separately on a track of their own. Then when you’re working on the final song, it’s very easy to add and remove tracks, put effects on them, and mix them together into your final composition.)

Having enjoyed an amazing gig by Nine Inch Nails the other week here in Amsterdam, I was happy to read they (‘he’ might be more appropriate, since all-round musical talent Trent Reznor seems to be the only consistent member of the band) released the multi-track version of their new single Survivalism as well, and not only that:

“No strings attached. (…) You now have the ability to completely reconstruct/deconstruct Survivalism any way you choose. We will soon present details on where you can upload your own mixes so get to work and have fun with this! (We plan to release every track on the album this way over the next few months…)”

Nine Inch Nails playing Paradiso, Amsterdam (21-03-2007)
Photo shot and kindly provided by furbyx4.

(Read more...)