We Like. Credit Card Payment via Webcam.

Juli 27th, 2011 • 2 comments Tech, Tools
Tags: Cool, Creativity, ecommerce, Experimental, Future, Ideas, Jumio, Tech, Tools, We like

Every morning I am trying to fight my way through the world’s startup concepts on betali.st and other sites. And to be honest, most digital enterpreneurs do not have very good ideas.

Jumio Netswipe is different. Sounds like just another startup that…connects you with your friends/let’s you check in to dog poo. But it’s actually extremely purposeful. It’s the first Creditcard payment provider that scans your card via webcam. And yes, I think this really is pretty cool and can potentially be used in the future.

Jumio introduces Netswipe from Jumio Inc. on Vimeo.

via Netzwertig

OMFG. Facebook Eats the Web.

Juni 27th, 2011 • Social, Trends
Tags: Diagram, Facebook, Future, Media, Prediction, Social Influence Marketing, Social Networks, Tech, Trends, Truth, World

About two weeks after the world almost ended Inside Facebook reported about a couple of people enjoying summertime instead of staring at their computer monitors 24/7 traffic drop on Facebook the opposite seems to be true. Facebook in fact eats the Internet.

Ben Ellowitz, Founder and SEO of Wetpaint writes:

When you exclude just Facebook from the rest of the Web, consumption in terms of minutes of use shrank by nearly nine percent between March 2010 and March 2011, according to data from comScore. And, even when you include Facebook usage, total non-mobile Internet consumption still dropped three percent over the same period.

Technically he separates between two different webs: The dominating Facebook-driven web and the web of documents. And the web of documents is under sever pressure. “The illusion of the growth of the internet is just that – a mirage caused by Facebook posting 69% growth over the last year.” (We are Social). Ellowitz’ conclusion: future companies will need to spend less time on SEO, and more time on optimizing for Facebook – the web inside the web.

Read the full article here. I don’t think Facebook can replace the document web. But to be honest, I don’t want to find out. It seems we are currently handing over the greatest invention of mankind to Goldman Sachs and Mister Zuckerberg. Doesn’t feel right.

Storage vs Bandwidth. Amazing, isn’t it?

Juni 23rd, 2011 • Tech
Tags: Bandwidth, Cloud, Storage, Tech

If there is one thing interesting about technological progress then it is not just how fast hard discs and download rates have become. It is also how much prices have dropped over the past two decades. I can still remember 80486 PCs for a price beyond $10,000? Is that 5% as fast as a modern iPhone or is it even less. In the freaking 21st century everyone keeps talking about the cloud. But what actually enabled the Cloud isn’t just bandwidth – it is also price per unit Bandwidth.

The guys from Backblaze have created this amazing infographic that illustrates how far we got.

Genius. Diesel launches Excelbook.

Juni 18th, 2011 • 1 comment Brands, Ideas, We like
Tags: Apps, Brands, Campaign, Cool, Creativity, Diesel, Experimental, Facebook, Fashion, Funny, Ideas, Lifestyle, Media, Tech, Tools, We like

I just stumbled upon this wonderful concept gem: the Diesel Excelbook. Even though its branding value as an application is close to zero it is just one more amendment to the great platform that Diesel created with its Be Stupid philosophy. Simple, fun, stupid…well done Diesel. Check out the video…it is pretty selfexplanatory.

via Digial Buzz Blog

Gaming. EA’s Call of Duty Elite explained by TheLegendofKarl.

Juni 3rd, 2011 • Games
Tags: Black Ops, Brands, Cool, Creativity, EA, Funny, Gaming, People, Social Gaming, Social Networks, Strategy, Tech, Tools, We like

For me as a digital market guy the gaming industry is in many ways a blueprint for what is happening later on social networks, mobile phones and on websites. Gamification? I think the concept of social networks itself was invented by the game industry years before anybody ever heard of Facebook. For years many games had more social network elements embedded than many social campaigns today. Do for example check out the new Call of Duty Elite trailer which is all about EAs new multiplayer service. It’s not a campaign, it’s not a mobile app – it’s a pretty comprehensive social product which will now become organic part for some of the most popular entertainment products ever.

Thanks to creativity online for the link.

Back to the Future. The Apple Knowledge Navigator.

Mai 24th, 2011 • Experimental, Ideas, Media, Mobile, Tech, Tools
Tags: 1980s, Apple, Brands, Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Future, Ideas, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, products, Tech, Tools, Touch

The following video was filmed in 1987 and stages a conceptual Apple design called the ‘Knowledge Navigator’. It is a concept described by former Apple Computer CEO John Sculley in his 1987 book, Odyssey. It describes a device that can access a large networked database of hypertext information, and use software agents to assist searching for information. Gesture control is included as well.

Apple produced several concept videos showcasing the idea. All of them featured a tablet style computer with numerous advanced capabilities. And I guess it reminds you of something. If you watch closely you will realize this video plays in the year 2010 or 2011…

A new Hotspot. Amsterdam wants to become Appsterdam.

April 23rd, 2011 • 4 comments Mobile, Underway, Work
Tags: Amsterdam, Apps, Creativity, Development, Experimental, Jobs, Lifestyle, Mobile, People, Strategy, Tech, Trends, World

“If you want to make movies, go to Hollywood. If you want to make musicals, go to Broadway. If you want to make apps, go to Appsterdam.” – Mike Lee, mur.mu.rs

About a month ago I praised the qualities of Amsterdam in an article I wrote for the German ad magazine Page. One thing that struck me in this city is the level of innovation here as well as the city’s clear objective to support new industries and get them to Amsterdam. I have never met anyone from Amsterdam’s city council but in contradiction to many other cities there seems to be a clear vision here on how to shape Holland’s capitol from both, a cultural AND economical perspective. That’s why Amsterdam is also hometown to some of the most creative agencies in the world – the city father simply subsidize taxation here to relocate the right blend of industries on the rivers of the Amstel.

I wasn’t really suprised when I read Mike Lee’s open letter on mur.mu.rs. It’s a call for conquest. And appeal for app developers to settle over to Amsterdam and to rebrand it as Appsterdam. Funny to read because it really reads like a letter from the colonies but at the same time strong and intelligent.

I have traveled the world looking for the most livable city on earth, a place with the ideal balance of quality and price, history and vibrance, culture and innovation. That place is Amsterdam. (…)

The success of Apple’s platforms has been in no small part due to its unique developer community. Our community is unique not just in technology, but in business. (…) We cooperate, because we are friends. If one of us does something to piss the other off, we don’t call out the lawyers, we call up our friend, and talk it over like people. We don’t just attend conferences, we get together at conferences, go out together, and have a good enough time together to generate blackmail material sufficient to nip litigation in the bud.

Mike’s point – a new industry needs a friendly hospitable place that invites them to work together and to exchange ideas. And his call to app developers all over the world to relocate to Amsterdam isn’t just an abstract one…

Read more »

Adorable. The Joy of Tech.

April 7th, 2011 • Tools
Tags: Funny, Tech, Tools, World

Thanks to Laughing Squid for this…

Fake of the Day. The GranataPet Snack Check Billboard.

März 30th, 2011 • 5 comments Ads, Experimental, Fake
Tags: Ads, Advertising, Fake, Foursquare, Germany, Ideas, Out of Home, Social Influence Marketing, Tech, World

Time for a new category on davaidavai – the fake of the day.

More and more I get sick of unapplicable fake campaigns that get retweeted over and over again to generate PR for the phantasies of an agency. The beauty of (tech) creativity is to work under certain limitations. And is absolutely legitimate to play and experiment with prototypes. But to mark an unapplicable prototype with a reach of 3 persons in your bathroom and a Youtube video to promote it as a campaign is strictly unethical.

The fake of the day came via geekosystem, Creativity Online, and mashable and is currently getting retweeted all over the web. The idea goes like this: ‘GranataPet brand dog food figured out a clever way to beat the problem with food ads: In most forms of media, consumers generally can’t taste or smell the food being advertised. When one checks in at the billboard via Foursquare, some of the dog food slides out of a dispenser and into a bowl, ready for dogs sample.’

Yeah, right. On one billboard?

Questions:

• I am German. Has any German ever heard of this dog food brand?
• Has any German ever seen one of these billboards?
• How should this billboard work if (in 2010) only ~20,000 Germans were actual Foursquare users

Read more »

Edding Live. Check out the Wall of Fame.

Februar 24th, 2011 • 1 comment Brands, Friends, We like
Tags: Agencies, Cool, Creativity, demodern, edding, Friends, Funny, Ideas, Live, live data, Media, Tech, visual

Just a quick link to a great project from my friends at cologne-based design studio demodern in collaboration with kempertrautmann, Hamburg. Thomas and Kristian have just launched a playful and fun little web special for Edding, the well known cult pen brand. On Edding’s ‘Wall of Fame’ special you end up on an interactive drawing board where you can either draw with an Edding pen or compete against other users over the ownership of a pen.

The whole experience is real time. Users actually draw live and interact live in an online experience which is pretty close to reality. As you can imagine (and as demodern commented) it has been quite a challenge from a technical as well as from a design standpoint. Good news is – they made it and Edding’s ‘Wall of Fame’ made quite a buzz lately. Good to see that demodern is doing more than alright. Well done!

Check out Edding’s Wall of Fame here