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3D goes mainstream

Yes, the  next wave of domestic technological gadgetry is on its way, we will soon be able to experience 3D television in our own homes. Sky’s 3D channel is expected to be fully available to the general public in autumn after it was launched for last weekend’s Manchester United V Chelsea football match screened in 3D in pubs across the country. In case you missed it click here to check out future 3D football screenings.
The Premier League’s main sponsor Ford were in on the trick too screening the first 3D advert shown on Sky Sports during the break in last Saturday’s match.

We hear Panasonic is set to sell the world’s first full 3D home theatre system by the end of April – a 50 inch HD Plasma screen, complete with internet capabilities including Skype and YouTube and two pairs of 3D ‘active’ shutter glasses. Here comes the techy part, pay attention…
For consumers, the difference between the passive 3D technology used in pubs and cinemas, and the active technology used for the home theatre systems, is in the 3D glasses – which unfortunately need to be worn to get the full 3D experience. Glasses to support the technology for passive 3D TV cost a mere £1 a pop whereas you’ll have to shell out £100 for the battery powered pair you’ll need for active viewing. Now, pass the popcorn….

AOL to sell or shut down Bebo

A mere two years after acquiring the Bebo for the princely sum of $850million, AOL have announced they will shut down social network if they can’t find a buyer. So where did it all go wrong for the Bebo, formerly one of the UK’s largest social networks? Facebook and other social networking new kids on the block are largely the cause, taking scale from Bebo, and other networking sites including MySpace and Friends Reunited. Bebo has seen a 45% drop in its uniques over the past year from 23 million to just less than 13 million, according to ComScore. This comes in contrast to Facebook who’ve seen visits to the site increase 68% from 686 million to 847 million. In a space where scale more often than not determines success, particularly in the eyes of the advertisers, a spokesperson for Bebo comments “Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space. AOL is not in a position at this time to further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking.”

This shows the “tippiness” of Social Networks and how succeptible to they are to fashion. Once they lose mindshare they fall in popularity very rapidly. The successful ones will be those that build ecosystems around them, become platforms for other companies/developers as both Facebook and Twitter are doing.

Digital in real world experiences

This YouTube footage shows Cheryl Cole putting on a cutting edge performance at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich recently, where a virtual Will.I.Am appeared on stage with her in a livestream semi virtual concert. The pop princess sang solo but you’d be forgiven for thinking Will.I.Am was actually on stage with her. If virtual is the future of live performance, can we bring back Elvis please?

EasyJet to add ecommerce functionality to Facebook fanpage

In a first for the travel industry, easyJet plan to allow users to book flights directly through Facebook. Katie Stitson, UK marketing manager for easyJet, said, “The group holiday planner lets you co-ordinate dates and availability and invite your friends via Facebook and email. We’re looking to develop this further by adding booking functionality.”
As NMA reports “Facebook users spend over three times the amount of time on the social network as they do on Google and companies are realising the opportunity to reach their audience through social media sites.”
A perfect example, we reckon, of how to monetise on an already engaged audience.

Who are you fooling?

The web is, perhaps, the perfect playground for an April fools joke. Our pick of the bunch this year has to be the ‘launch’ of YouTube’s TEXT P. YouTube announced “It’s great news that there are 24 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, we support 1080p and HD uploads are rising quickly, but that’s also meant increasing bandwidth costs cutting into our bottom line. And so, in our drive to keep expenses under control, we’ve decided that April 1 is the perfect day to take the important step of offering a new way to experience YouTube: text-only mode, or TEXTp.”
Seemingly, the admission of an April 1st launch date slipped the attention of many a commenter. YouTube we salute you.