Never Ending Web Page
Here’s something we just did for Orange. Goodthingsshouldneverend.co.uk
It’s one of my favourite things that we’ve done in a while. It’s a never ending webpage. Crammed full of fun stuff and lots of surprises. Some are online, some are mobile things. But all of them demonstrate the notion of ‘unlimited’.
Not sure I’m supposed to make this public, but people will find out soon enough anyway, there’s hundreds of wind-up phone chargers hidden in the site. I’m not saying what you have to do to find them, that bit is a secret…
I don’t want to say much more because it’s one of those sites which is really about exploration and experience. (We’re hoping that because it’s a never ending page we’ll manage to hit some record-breaking dwell times on the site).
Blogging From An iPod Touch
It’s silly but I had to do it…
O2 doesn’t support Macs, but does have the iPhone. Odd.
I wonder how that might change O2s policy on not supporting Apple Macs.
I had a very odd conversation with someone in O2 customer support the other day where they told me that they didn’t support Macs. Apparently, according to the lady I was speaking with, they only support Hewlett Packards. Which I thought was strangely cute.
So I actually wrote a letter (like on real paper!) to O2 pointing out that this might not be a clever thing if they’re going to be stocking the iPhone. But sure enough I got a reply back saying that they don’t ‘fully’ support Macs
The letter was nice…
But in my experience the actual support people simply said, “no we don’t support macs” and that was the end of it.
It would seem a little odd to be making lots of noise about working with Apple and the iPhone, yet at the same time not supporting their products in the same way they support PCs…
If you want to see the full contents of their letter…
Page 1.
Page 2.
Why I Like This QR Code Poster
I like this QR code poster. Here’s the reason why:
- It’s very big, so you can take a photo of it from across the road. Good usability.
- It’s mulit-layered. If you don’t know what a QR code is, it doesn’t matter, it just looks like a big fucked up cyber-apocalyptic thing with a 28 Weeks Later logo in the middle - and you see the URL.
I’m guessing that given the location (Shoreditch High Street), 15% of the people who see the poster will know what a QR code is. 22% of that 15% will have a phone that can read QR codes. Of the remaining audience 19% will bother to photograph and read the QR code (because they’re hardcore nerds and they want to know what it does).
I’ve no idea what it does because my phone doesn’t have the right software. I still quite like it though…
Update: I now know what the poster says coz Antony told me in the comments and Greg from work also sorted it - when you decode the QR thingy it says “It’s back on DVD September 10th” in plain text, which is a little disappointing - they could have at least made a flesh eating zombie virus melt my phone or something 
Work Naked
Whilst I’m all for working naked (or at the very least in underpants and socks). This ad struck me as rather odd.
I’m cool with people working nude at home but I really don’t think we should be encouraging it out in public (using mobile broadband for laptops). In fact if there’s one argument for keeping broadband tethered, this is probably it.
Some More Thoughts On Twitter
From Ian Curry at frog design: Twitter: The Missing Messenger
He makes the connection between Twitter and Tumblelogs too. But there’s two bits in his post that I especially like.
It’s
basically blogging reduced to what the Russian linguist Mikhail Bakhtin
called “the phatic function.†Like saying “what’s up?†as you pass
someone in the hall when you have no intention of finding out what is
actually up, the phatic function is communication simply to indicate
that communication can occur.
And:
Or is it, as one of my co-workers pithily put forth, merely “Dodgeball for people who don’t go out”.
Or is it both
Arcade Reality
This is very cool. I want to see more things that use phone camera’s like this. I don’t know why, I just do.
QR Codes - There’s More
Following earlier posts about QR codes (or Semacodes) - the barcodes that your phone can translate into cool stuff - thought I ought to post this from the MIT Advertising Lab on uses for QR codes.
I can’t help but think that the ones above look like some kind of freakomatic 60s Haight Ashbury throwback though.
Via IF from PSFK
Semacode Update
Blogs are great. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I asked a question about semacodes on websites. Went to bed. Then I woke up and someone’s left me a great answer. It’s like a big huge collective brain that goes on thinking throughout the night
Anyway, thanks Roger for some great thoughts. In fact if this is a topic that interests you, you should head over to his blog ‘All About Mobile Life‘ - which incidentally is QR code enabled
He makes a great point about QR Codes being used like RSS feeds. You can just snap a picture of the code on a site and boom, you’ve got a subscription to the site on your phone. Or a ‘takaway’ version of the site. Or simply a bookmark. So yes, I can see the point of codes on websites now.
I guess I’m just a bit behind in my cross-device behaviour at the moment.
And James from Collaborate Marketing has chimed in with:
The codes are also used for promotional offers - like coupons. So maybe Nike are saying - take this along to a store or some other Nike event. Also, in Japan the phones have special readers to take the information from screens, posters or instore, which we don’t have yet. I understand Nokia are testing them on the N-series.
Also a very valid use for these codes.
I guess in both examples it’s about transportability. In the ‘olden days’ people would have printed stuff out, now your mobile is easier to carry about than piles of paper (for some of us).
Interactive Cinema Ads
Brazillian interactive cinema ad for Fiat using text messages. More details on the MIT Advertising Lab blog
Interesting idea, and something we’ve had discussions about before. But I always felt it was really irresponsible to do something in cinemas using mobile phones. And a bit odd too. When I go into a cinema the first thing I do is turn my phone off. Even before I get into the screen. So to turn it back on again to text an advert, only to have to turn it off again straightaway feels like a chore. Be really interesting to know what the response rates are like.
technorati tags:fiat, interactive, cinema
