Cannes Cycling Club

Is Razorfish becoming synonymous with cycling or is France simply a perfect place to see from two wheels?

As creative thinkers from around the globe flock to France’s sunny southern shores for the 2013 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Razorfish, alongside Adobe and The Weather Channel, will be two-wheeling through the city in homage to the land of the Tour.

This comes less than six months after Razorfish’s #UseMeLeaveMe tweeting bicycles made their début at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

At that time, people navigated their way around Austin’s crowded streets using Razorfish’s GPS enabled bicycles which tweeted out their real-time locations using the #usemeleaveme hashtag. Each bike had its own name and cheeky personality, something which shone through with every tweet.

This time around, riders will be left to their own tweeting devices and no bicycle will attempt courtship on their behalf, however with multiple routes and pace options available (not to mention the accompanying mechanics and tour guides), this tour of Cannes should prove likewise unique.

Everyone is invited and if you are lucky enough to join the party, say hello to our very own Head of Strategy Ben Hourahine, who will be donning his Lycra to represent the Sydney office.

See below for specific riding dates and times and keep up to date by on Facebook (facebook.com/CannesCyclingClub) or follow the hashtag on twitter (#CannesCyclingClub).

 

Did Eastwooding bruise the Internet a little?

A few weekends ago, there was a video that went around of Clint Eastwood opening for the 2012 Republican National Convention. Mitt Romney was being  nominated as the presidential candidate of  the Republican Party for the 2012 election. Clint would go on for over 10 minutes, incoherently, around how great America is and that it was time for a new president etc etc.

Don’t feel obliged to watch it; the video is only there as a reference.

What drew a lot of attention from this was the fact that during the speech Clinty started talking to an empty chair as though Barack Obama was sitting on it. A “meme” was born out of Clint’s odd behaviour called “eastwooding”, where photos of people talking to an empty chair started to pop up on the interwebz. I think it deserved a little chuckle, but that was about it. There’s so many pictures of chairs you could endure before the joke gets old really quick, i.e. 1.

Then the media suddenly got involved.

“Eastwooding makes the rounds on the web”

“Eastwooding goes viral as celebrities lampoon Hollywood icon”

“Is Eastwooding the next Planking internet meme”

“Clint Eastwood speech inspires empty chair “Eastwooding” internet meme”

I felt a bit violated.

Memes are the most democratic form of communication on the internet. It is decided solely by the citizens of the internet with their participation by sharing or creating their own. The legacy of the meme is then decided by how long it sticks around for, how many times it’s shared/ used and how many forms it takes. How much involvement can the mainstream media have until it feels kinda ‘weird’?  (Unless it’s for reporting things like this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzNhaLUT520).

People decided that cats are funny and cute, therefore kajillion pieces of cat photos and videos is churned all over the internet. People decided that High Expectations Asian Father was needed to describe the unrealistic expectations of their parents . The people decided that Scumbag Steve was needed to describe the dicky things their friends did. And who doesn’t love Condescending Wonka – now there’s an outlet for that thing we always wanted to say to our friends!

Memes are decided by the internet, and if there are any outside influences trying to force it, whether it be mainstream media or commercial interests, it kinda goes against what memes ultimately stand for and the purity of its process.

Although this has left a a little sour taste in my mouth, I’m quite confident that the internet will ultimately and correctly decide whether eastwooding stands the test of time.

Google Hangout – Face Arcade

Respect to Kiwi agency Resn for creating some pretty funny hack experiments using the Google Hangout technology. Check out their mind-boggling trailer for the ‘Face Arcade’.

You can enter the Face Arcade here to join the fun.

And remember: you only need a face to play! If you enjoyed it, please show the guys some vote love on FWA.

Type by Hand

Sometimes you need to just let go of the mouse and grab a good old pencil or pen. And bang out out some lovely “Type by Hand“. Three of us signed up for this endeavor last weekend and had a blast. Run by Wayne Thompson (of the Australian Type Foundry) and Gemma Eaves (of For the love of type fame), it consisted of almost non-stop 4 hours of fast-paced drawing. What a nice change to all the computer work we are doing day in day out.

Myspace’s making a comeback…

... and it’s looking very promising.

A lot of feedback has been around the Pinterest-esque look and how sexy the video is making it out to be, but time will tell when we finally log-in and play with it (currently invite-only). Fingers crossed there will be some interesting integrations with Spotify and Soundcloud.

Never ever have greasy hands again

starting off the Tuesday with the best invention since sliced bread. OK, maybe not, but it is still pretty cool

Introducing the Popinator, a popcorn distribution machine that is voice activated. Simply say Pop and it will shoot a single popped corn in your direction and you can “easily” catch it with your mouth.

The Popinator

A binaural microphone array on the machine’s front listens for a clear “pop” voice command, determines where the command came from and shoots.

See it in action in the video below

There is no word on if this machine will ever see the day of light for all of us to acquire, but this is what the creating company (Popcorn, Indiana) had to say:

“All we have to say is: it is a work in progress right now. We certainly hope that one day it will become a commercial project, but as of now there is no shipping date and no price tag. It is purely a fun internal project we are toying with here at Popcorn Indiana. Based on the very positive responses we are getting online, we think this is well worth looking into as a commercial product.”

I really hope it does and I will install one in the office next to my desk.

@maniac13

First Digital Agency to Win an Australian EFFIE

We just won a silver EFFIE award for our media attribution work for Aussie Home Loans! Easily one of the most prestigious awards in Australia and the first time one has ever been awarded to a digital agency!

Our idea was to track consumers across all paid and organic channels, which enabled Aussie to monitor the full path to conversion (aka applying for a homeloan). This new model revolutionized Aussie’s digital strategy and media spend, from first contact through to the point of purchase.

A big thanks to our amazing clients Alex Crompton and Stuart Tucker, without whom this would have not been possible.

Also big congratulations to the whole team who worked across this project and the case study: Vanessa Wolff, Camilo Forero, Carly Adamis, Jen Berry, Doug Chapman and Ben Hourahine.

Given we just came off the back of winning an Australian Mobile Award for our AusPost Postcards app, it’s been a great week of recognition for our work.

Go FISH!

Are memes becoming lamestream? Where to next?

A lot of meme Facebook pages are popping up around key suburbs around Sydney. Hurstville memes. Straithfield memes. Penrith Memes. They ragged on the nuances of each of those suburbs. I’m from Hurstville and thought this particular one was good.

You really can’t quite leave Hurstville without a pork roll from King’s Bread (if you’re from Hurstville, or been there, you’d know what I mean. Nom nom nom).

Then I noticed my cousin created his high school meme page, and some of my old high school mates started liking one that was set up for us. Holy crap, Mr Ward does look like George Clooney!

Then there was the London Olympic games, where I’m sure some of us learnt more from the countless Olympics memes which littered the internet then the actual coverage itself. I didn’t catch much of it, but I can conclude that the Queen was involved in some manner, there were some odd-looking divers, some people just don’t have all the luck when it comes to their names, you sure look like an idiot in synchronised swimming and a lot of ladies from the track and field and male swimmers got a lot of attention.

This is becoming quite omnipresent. To the point where in some instances we’re expecting a meme to pop up in the next 10 minutes if anything happened. How will we evolve as a race over the next 50 years if this keeps up? People are lolspeaking in boardroom meetings and communicating with gifs now.

Or is there going to be a meme bubble? Will we get so sick and tired of it all that this whole interweb phenomenon will backfire and explode, marking ourselves down in history as the temporarily illiterate generation, but we get our shit together and go back to being a little bit civilised in the way we communicate?

Whoknowslolkbye.

Australia Post app scores mobile award

Amnesia Razorfish and Australia Post are grinners this morning after last night winning at the 2012 Australian Mobile Awards. The jury recognised our personalised ‘Postcards’ app in the Utilities category over worthy opponents such as Telstra and Deloitte.

The ‘Postcards’ app allows users to create postcards, complete with a personal message, from pictures they’ve taken on their mobile. Once uploaded a physical postcard is sent to the chosen destination, anywhere in the world. Check out this previous post for more details.

Dan Krause, Carly Adamis, Toby Caves and Leslie Nassar receiving the award.

We’re all super excited for Australia Post and the team who worked with them in making this idea a successful reality. Or as our MD Doug Chapman more eloquently put it “We are honoured to accept this award alongside one of Australia’s most iconic brands. With ‘Postcards’, we set out to create a personal experience while acknowledging the physical and memorable aspects of a postcard.”

It’s fantastic to receive recognition from the industry as the mobile category continues to rise. We look forward to creating more award winning work with Australia Post in the future.

Until then, go send some Postcards!

Download of the Australia Post ‘Postcards’ app is available here.

 

Dean
@deanvowles

How would you like to pay for that, ma’am?

Conventional wisdom has it that when someone wants to buy goods, they go to a retailer, purchase a product at a predetermined price, and then become owner of that product. We don’t often think of different ways for this transaction to take place.

But what if there was another way?

Muscles make music for Old Spice

A while ago we brought you ‘Smell is Power’ from Old Spice and talked about how P&G had cleverly ambushed their own marketing (with help from W+K). This time round the campaign has gone truly interactive and lets you use Terry Cruise’s muscles to make music. Enjoy.

(HT @tbuesing & Adverblog)

Amnesia gets appy at Australian Mobile Awards

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have good news: Amnesia Razorfish is a finalist in the Australian Mobile Awards!

This is for the fantastic work by the team in creating the Australia Post Postcards App. The app itself allows you to send personalized post cards from anywhere in the world, on your iPhone, back to your friends and family in Australia.

To go the next step (you know, and WIN) we need your vote. VOTE NOW by clicking HERE, HERE or HERE.

Some background on the project

The Brief:

• Bring a traditional offline service, online
• Position Australia Post as a digital leader providing “Future Ready” services

The App:

• Create a personalized postcard on your iPhone from anywhere in the world.
• Your friends and family are delivered a hard copy in the mail within 6 days.
• UX is designed to let the sender ‘feel’ the postcard as they navigate the front and back of their creation.

The Results:

• 3600 downloads in 3 weeks (no media spend)
• Rated 4.5 on the app store
• People are talking, including Sydney Morning Herald, Lifehacker and Desktop Mag

Dean
@deanvowles

Electronic tinkering in The Rocks

Amnesia Sydney’s home ground, The Rocks, is a very pretty and tourist-friendly destination. And as we keep discovering through the council’s pop-up initiative, it is also fertile ground for creative experimentation. The case in hand is ‘&Company’ who have temporarily taken over a store next to the MCA.

Apart from showcasing emerging design talents they are offering quality hands-on creative workshops. Courses range from ‘Powertools for Girls‘ to ‘Interactive Electronic Objects‘.

I took the latter which was an introductory course into Arduino, the open-source microcontroller / software suite for programming. And I had a blast tinkering away my Sunday, plugging cables into speakers, triggering LED lights and getting my hands dirty with (processing-based) code. There is an intermediate course still available – get amongst it!

Wigglegrams. DIY 3D without the 3D Glasses.

Here’s a quick guide to making your very own ‘3D’ Wigglegrams or Lenticular photographs. We used three GoPro Hero’s, some elastic bands, a couple of rulers and some chopped up erasers. It will take about an hour to create your first Wigglegram.

Firstly, what is a Wigglegram? Basically it’s an animated gif which moves quickly between a number of frames taken from slightly different angels to create a 3D effect. In reality it’s a bit like a poor mans bullettime. You can learn more about the science here:

OK, here’s some Wigglegrams we made around the office today:

That’s Brady. He makes creative technology stuff happen.

Johnny, our ever so awesome Barista. He might be hip. We’re not sure.

Ben trying hard to stand still. Apparently that is hard  thing for strategists to do.

How to make your own Wigglegram:

We were lucky enough to have 3 GoPro’s in the Office but you could use any matching cameras. You will need a minimum of two, but the more the merrier. In general you want the lenses closer together. The effect may have been slightly better if we had put the GoPros vertically (but then we couldn’t have pressed the buttons!). Note: We pushed the GoPro’s tight as possible against each other to keep everything sturdy.

Step 1 – Construction:
1. We mounted the GoPros on two stiff rulers using elastic bands.
2. We taped 3 small pieces of eraser chopped up just big enough to press the camera buttons simultaneously.
3. We stuck the chopped up eraser onto a stiff flat object (we used a random bit of scrap metal we found lying around). lining up the erasers exactly with the GoPro buttons. This was loosly attched to the rig using elastic bands again (not so tight that it pressed the buttons)
4. We attached the rig onto a Tripod.

Step 2 – Taking shots:
1. Make sure you have a “centre subject” (see the flowers below in our reception area as an example). Having nothing in the middle of your shot makes it hard to align things, and also lessens the 3D effect. Tip: Don’t have too many objects close up or in front of your ‘centre object’.

2. Keep your rig nice and steady.
3. Avoid anything moving (unless you have a better way of getting each of the cameras to trigger at exactly the same time).
4. Click away… making sure all three buttons are clicked at the same time (although a little bit out is ok if your subjects are still.

Step 3- Making the Wigglegram  Gif
-We put out photos into three folders named LEFT, MIDDLE, RIGHT

Next we imported Left, Middle, Right frames into a layer in Photoshop (Fig 1) – one shot at a time.

– Next step is alignment. The easiest way to do this is to make the bottom layer (eg: left) 100% opacity, then make the next layer (eg middle) 50% opacity. When you do this the two images will look blurred and the trick is to get the ‘centre subject’ of the images in focus.
– Now move the 50% layer so your centre subject matches up with the bottom layer. Repeat this for each layer then turn them all back to 100% opacity.
– Crop your image to dispose of missing or overlapping areas.
– Test your Wigglegram by flicking the layers on and off.
– If you’ve done everything right you can now animate. Turn the Animate menu on under ‘Window’. Make sure you have frame animation on. It’s easier than using the timeline).

– You’ll need four frames (if you took three shots). Start with left, then middle, then right, then middle. Set the interval between 0 and 0.2 seconds and you are ready to export.
-Set the loop to ‘forever’
– Go to File/ Save for web and devices and export as a gif using a selective pallete.

-Done! Enjoy
Posted by @eunmac

NFC is not just mobile payment

NFC or Near Field Communication is the big buzz word at the moment and everybody is talking about it. The truth is that the technology is nothing new and it has been around for a long time. Nokia had an NFC enabled phone in 2007, it was called the Nokia 6131.

Google has made the term mainstream with their announcement of Google Wallet and most people think of NFC as a way to pay with their mobile device. But that is not all.

At Razorfish globally we have been exploring NFC for a long time. Just look at the examples that we released in the past: The NFC gumball machine, BrandTable or Razorfish Digital Wallet.

We actually have a wall of NFC to showcase all kinds of uses for the technology right in our office.

So what else can you do with NFC apart from using it for payments?

There are already plenty of examples out there.

Below you can find 6 examples on how NFC can be used right now.

1. Use your NFC enabled phone as the key to your hotel room

For the recent Olympics in London a Holiday Inn Hotel gave their VIP customers a Samsung Galaxy S3 as part of their 40 VIP rooms. The guests were able to check in and out of the hotel, as well as change the AC, control the TV, and unlock their rooms with the phone.

Using NFC in your phone as a key to open doors has been used in the Enterprise world as well. The phones were used to enable physical access systems in buildings and track employee time-clock check-ins and attendance, access staff parking areas or cafeterias and pay for services.

NFC tags could be placed inside meeting or conference rooms, and attendees could tap their compatible devices to silence them or to turn on Wi-Fi, for example.

2. Use it as your travel pass

How to make Mickey Mouse interactive

Easy – you use infrared controlled Mickey Mouse ears.

The ears communicate with IR controllers and can react to certain parts of Disneyland. According to the video(s) below they have only scratched the surface and the ears will be able to interact with each other as well (they kind of do already as you can sync their lights with each other if you get them close enough).

The main attraction is the World of Colour experience where the ears are grouped into zones so the technicians can use all the “participants” to incorporate the ears into the show, think sweeping changes of colour running through the crowd.

Check out the 2 videos below

 

Now I just have to find the time and money to go to Disneyland myself

@maniac13

3D printing in your home

A 3D printer melds thin layers together from plastic thread, which are spooled from a reel to form sold plastic objects into any shape you specify.

What is exciting is the drop in price of these printers, making it more accessible to the home user.  An example of this is the new UP mini 3D available for pre-order from  3D Printing Systems  for  $995+GST.

Notable specifications:

• Has an enclosed chamber to reduce warping
• Double linear bearings on each axis – ensures consistent build quality
• You can use any supplier of ABS roll of 1.75mm plastics
• Includes the Smart UP! Software, tools and full roll of plastic to get you started

Watch the video from 3D printing Systems

Interested in what people are printing have a look here at Thingiverse.

Examples

LED icosikaipentagon disco ball   Automaton hand   PIXAR lamp

The future of tablet touch is gesturing

Have you ever been in the situation where you were cooking up a storm in the kitchen following your grandmothers 100 year recipe, your hands were covered in ingredients and you didn’t want to touch the recipe because you didn’t want to get it dirty.

Qualcomm comes to the rescue by showing off the power of their new Snapdragon processor and there practical integration of gesture and head tracking technology that hopefully soon will make it into your tablet.

The technology is not new, but as the videos below show, using the device’s front-facing camera, we will be able to control onscreen avatars, page forward and back through recipes, setup profiles and even wake their slates all with simple hand or head movements.

Check out the videos below

I for one wouldn’t mind having this little add-on on my tablet.

@maniac13

Never have a messy room ever again

Trash cans haven’t really changed much in the past, but this Japanese genius just made all the wait worth it.

He has created the Smart Trashbox, a moving can which uses a Kinect to track airborne garbage and make sure you’ll never miss ever again.

Check out the video of it in action.

A lot of work went into this project and the creator (Modder FRP) states that there is still a lot of work to be done, but right now it is pretty impressive.

@maniac13

Best use of NFC so far

NFC is the big buzz word everywhere now and most people don’t even know what it is, what it does or that they already have it in their phone.

Will the new iPhone have it? Nobody knows until it is revealed, but that shouldn’t stop us from exploring it.

And that is exactly what Razorfish in Germany did with this 2 day project, coming up with the best idea on NFC usage I have seen so far.

The idea is simple, just like you used to get your candy from a machine you can now get all kinds of digital goodies: Apps, movies, songs, ebooks, as well as other exclusive and location-based content that can be pushed to a phone. Simply enter a coin and turn the lever – then follow the animation and tap your smartphone next to the release chute.

In terms of hardware, we used a Samsung Galaxy Tab, an NFC shield, a simple reed switch and two Arduino microcontrollers – all nicely fitted into an original Gum Machine metal base.

Super awesome indeed. Nicely done Razorfish. You can read more about it here.

@maniac13