at&t and verizon control 64% of the US cellular market.
(via nicole at the simple dollar / @trenttsd / view/download high-res version)
google+ more than i expected
August 12th, 2011
today google+ made further headlines introducing “games” to their latest inception of their next attempt to conquer the social web.
at first i thought “whatever, i have never played a single game on facebook, so why should i care about introducing games to google+?”
but there is a bigger picture here, google has tried numerous times with orkut, buzz, buying and killing jaiku and many others to establish a serious footprint in the social networking space. but finally in hiring some of the brightest minds in this space, people like joseph smarr and chris messina, they have something going here.
with friends working at google i got in early (thanks christoph), i was able to check out google+, shared some posts, added friends to circles and see what is happening. and now that i installed the recent desktop app i have google+ running on my secondary screen more prominently than facebook or twitter, i am able to see the potential.
the team behind google+ did a lot of things right this time around. first and foremost a good branding: no new name/logo but a solid stand: “this is google”, the way every resident of the interwebs knows it. and an easy to adapt way/widget to “1+” something without trying to introduce new verbiage like “like” or “tweet”.
the functionality is all there, sharing what you care about with certain groups or “circles” much easier, the essence of what it means to be a “social network” nailed.
coming back to the point that introducing “games” is less significant to me than knowing that they have a lot more up their sleeves that will make this the most serious contender in winning the social networking game in the next century.
many sites are implementing google+ quickly as it grows and i am certain there is a lot more to come in regards to integration, sharing, apps, games and functionality to make you have to join (if you haven’t already) and to use on an everyday basis.
so better late than never: welcome google+ as the next best thing in social networking!
if you’d like a google+ invite, just let me know.
alex trochut – change for the letter
May 10th, 2011
illustrator and typographer alex trochut synthesizes illustration and lettering like no other. the expressive, richly ornamented typography he creates ooze fluidity in which movement is practically palpable. one of the most sought after talents, he has created knockout work for the likes of wired and the new york times as well as clients including adidas and coca-cola. gestalten.tv met the 29-year-old, barcelona-based whiz kid at his studio to talk about visuals, identities, and the legitimacy of legibility.
(via leonard souza / source gestalten.tv)
attracting interest via word-of-mouth
November 11th, 2010
merle schmalenbach from the financial times germany just published an article about the basics of viral marketing and ways how to attract consumers via word-of-mouth. it’s a short wrap up but doesn’t go to deep even though she got in touch with some of the leading voices in this field in germany like thomas zorbach from vm-people, martin oetting from trnd as well as sascha langner. most of the examples mentioned are pretty dated but what it comes down to is that we trust the recommendation of a friend or co-worker much more than any company and that creative and original ideas are the key to viral spread and driving word-of-mouth.
friend and former colleague thomas zorbach also talks about one of their most recent projects, an ‘alternate reality game‘ (arg) surrounding the launch of zoë beck’s new thriller “das alte kind“. read the whole article here (in german).
antennagate: if you can’t fix it, feature it!
July 18th, 2010
twidroid and news aggregator popurls acquired
July 6th, 2010
congratulations to thomas marban and his business partner ralph zimmerman who’s widely popular android twitter client twidroyd (formerly twidroid) and news aggregator popurls have just been acquired by tweetup.
read the whole story at techcrunch, gigaom or the official press release.
apple iphone 4 hysteria / vs htc evo
July 2nd, 2010
this video pretty much hits the nail on the head about the current iphone 4 hysteria.
link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg
update: best buy trying to fire employee over evo versus iphone video
(via techcrunch)
hackfwd – lars hinrichs launches new investment company
June 8th, 2010
last night i received an email from lars hinrichs announcing his new venture hackfwd – a pre-seed investment company designed to enable great people to launch great ideas.
hackfwd is led by the european technology entrepreneur lars hinrichs. the board includes other proven technology and investment entrepreneurs. hackfwd employs and involves top grade professionals in talent management, finance and marketing to serve as guides and support excellence for the individual business ideas.
find out more about their tools and how it works at hackfwd.com
wishing you and your team all the best for your new endeavor!
iphone 4 – this changes everything. again
June 7th, 2010
steve jobs just announced the brand new iphone 4, available on june 24, 2010.
find all the details at gizmodo, or the official apple page. pre-order starts june 15, 2010.
new honda ‘impossible dream’ advert by wieden + kennedy
April 26th, 2010
(via agencyspy and triad auto specialty)
the living poster for fisch franke
July 23rd, 2009
what would you do to attract new business to your restaurant? kudos to another clever idea by publicis (for fisch franke restaurant). to create visibility and awareness of their use of fresh fish, the creative team decided to bring the fresh fish tank (usually inside the restaurant) out on the street. this bus shelter poster ad caused quite a stir on the streets of frankfurt, germany, exactly what they had hoped for. the talk of the town – at least for a few days.
wavevertising – ambient media
July 21st, 2009
i have always been a fan of smart ambient media advertising, creative more unconventional ways of advertising or marketing rolled out in our direct living environment. in this regard i blogged about dogvertising, sandvertising and other ambient media initiatives before.
now i came across a new way of sharing your message with the world based on a new technology developed by japanese scientists – wavevertising.
“scientists at japan’s akishima laboratories have developed a technology that allows programmers to literally ‘write’ messages on the surface of water. its an experimental device, which appeared stateside at the museum of modern art last year, is called amoeba (advanced multiple organized experimental basin) [...] not only is amoeba capable of producing the entire roman alphabet on the water’s surface, it can conjure a number of symbols, too. akishima’s directors hope to sell the device for use in amusement parks and hotels to enhance existing decorative fountain technology.”
when are we going to project messages on the moon’s surface?
(via werbeblogger and brandfreak)
david wilson – moray mclaren – we got time
April 22nd, 2009
amazing creative talent, low tech animations with praxinoscope and record player, great hand drawn illustrations. the idea, concept and everything has been put together by david wilson for moray mclaren’s music video “we got time”.
here is the making of and more on david wilson’s blog.
