3D Screen Interaction – Live a bit of the future now
Inspired by one man and his fish
I came across this video on the BBC the other day and I was taken aback by the charm of the guy. His business is to sell as much fish as possible to his punters. He comes across as being honest, approachable, and passionate. Since watching the video I’ve found myself humming along to his catchy lyrics, singing one fish one pound, and quite frankly wanting to go down to his shop and buy something.
A few minutes after watching the clip, I started thinking about how this might relate back to how other (much larger) businesses and how they communicate to their customers. Is there anything in this little story that we could learn from? I think so:
Be Brave – this guys tried something new to his competitors. Now, that is not to say that fishmongers in London don’t already project their quality produce at high volumes, but they certainly don’t sing.
Be Unique – The rest of the marketplace followed the same conventional marketing strategy, this guy did something totally new and people now know about his stall all over the world. I want to buy his fish
Be Clear – £1 = 1 Fish, very very good. Price, Product, Quality.
Be Personable – He undoubtedly has a connection with people, which is why he has become an internet success.
Food for thought, quite literally.
Like this:
Coming soon: Chrome for iPhone & iPad
Google’s(s goog) Chrome browser is assumed to be coming for Apple’s(s aapl) iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices by at least one analyst group. On Tuesday, Macquarie (USA) Equities Research released a lengthy note explaining what this would mean for both companies, suggesting it could reduce the amount of money Google pays to Apple for the use of Google searches in the native iOS Safari browser.
Music is a powerful thing
I’ve already posted one ‘feel good’ video this week, and it’s time for another. Music is a powerful thing, it’s a medium that has touched each and every one of us at some point in our lives. I personally think that one of the most powerful connections with music, is its ability to re-awaken experiences and memories. A good example of this would be with film / movies. Films take you on emotional journeys, some deep, some scratch the surface, but a journey none the less. Some films use music more than others, but music is always used to accentuate a ‘moment’, take you away from dialogue and into an almost dreamy state. Next time you watch a film with a really strong soundtrack/score, have a listen to couple of the tracks again and see where it takes you. More often than not, the next time that you listen to that same track it will stimulate your memory, taking you back to that experience/emotional you felt at that point in the film. A recent personal experience of this taking place came via the film ‘Drive‘. Great film, big soundtrack. There are moments in the film that are heavily constructed to lean on music, below an example :
The next time I listened to this track, it took be back to where my head was at in that ‘moment’. You get the jist.
This afternoon I was sent a YouTube clip that takes the spirit of the above, but takes it to a far more personal level. Nursing homes around the world can often be the most depressing places none to man, so no wonder the guests often decay into obscurity. This is great little excerpt of how music re-awakened an old man’s memories, and transported him from a place of emptiness, to a place of living. I’ll let the video do the talking :
The way that music connects with our brains, our emotions, is a truly remarkable thing. This guy must be 80+, and within minutes he has been transported back to a place, to a moment, decades previous. Who said time travel wasn’t possible.
Want to read more on music neurology ? Good little article here on Wired. http://goo.gl/doJbA
Caine’s Arcade : The best cardboard arcade in the world
There are times when I really worry about what the Internet is doing to human behaviour and whether it’s for the good of personal development, particularly amongst kids. Every now & again a story come along that confounds that theory, and i found one this morning. Caine’s Arcade is a short 10min story about a 9 year-old boy who spent his days creating cardboard experiences in his old-man’s car shop. No punters, huge creativity, big heart.
An awesome little story of how a one, one-on-one encounter can manifest itself into an experience enjoyed by millions through the power of the Internet (….& Facebook )
Let the short film do the talking
Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.
Beach wi fi
It’s been almost 10years since I first backpacked around Thailand, and how thing have changed. I’m sat in my guest house with 4 wi-fi bars on my iPhone! When I first came over here you would be lucky to get electricity til 10pm, and any mobile phone you had was purely for emergency. Still finding the whole experience a little surreal, & can’t get my head around how there is free wi fi on this isolated little island but we still can’t get free wi fi in some of the largest capital cities in Europe. Anyway, if I’m going to upload my first mobile blog post from anywhere it may as well be here
Like this:
YouTube: A dash of Analogue in a Digital world
YouTube is the best music source on the web – FACT. Search for the most obscure track from your musical mind, and i can guarantee it will come up with the goods. That said, YouTube is a video platform so the sound quality is sacrificed most of the time. A lot of users who publish tracks to YouTube use album artwork, a bodged up moving image, or use some funky font to describing the artist/song title as the ‘video, ‘ which is fine, as you’re more interested in the audio, right ?
Correct.
However, today I received a link to YouTube video that has done something very simple but far more appeasing. It’s a moving video of an analogue cassette, with the track name / album / artist scrawled on the face.
Yes, this is not revolutionary but it captures some mix-tape romance from the old days, and provides something nice to look at. The juxtaposition of the tape on my computer screen felt weird at first, and maybe that’s why I felt obliged to share. The example above is only in 240p, so imagine how weird/good it might be if someone were to upload a 1080p version, you could almost touch that magnetic tape. Most of the music I get sent these days on YouTube is for tracks produced by artists who would never think of producing a music video, hence why I like this solution.
I’m not sharing this because its going to change the world, I’m sharing it because it turned what is usually a visual disturbing experience into something more stimulating. It’s simple, but most good ideas are.
