Posts Tagged 'geo-tagging'

Stuff on the web we think you might like…

Street Museum iPhone app: This clever app uses augmented reality, geo tagging and Google Maps to overlay a historical view of London over your real-world street scene. We couldn’t resist having a play, the above pic is round the corner from Pancentric Towers by the Thames.

Pixelise the world: Stunningly imaginative video illustrating the world as it would be if infiltrated by pixels.

So That’s How They Filmed the Star Wars Opening Crawl: For a film that was light year’s ahead the filming techniques for the opening crawls were ‘wonderfully quaint.’

How to suck at Facebook: The Oatmeal brings you the best of Facebook faux-pas. Laugh-your-socks-off stuff.

Accepting meetings honestly: Imagine if you could express or see how people felt about coming or going to meetings.

Google world domination, starting with your TV

Combining the best aspects of television and the web, Google have announced the launch of their TV box set. The platform opens up your TV to millions of channels of entertainment, type in what you’re looking for and Google will help you find it on the web or on TV channels. Alternatively, if you just want to browse, you can use your standard program guide, your DVR or the Google TV home screen. Check the latest pop video’s on Youtube, show friends your photo’s or play online games, all on your big shiny 50 inch plasma screen.

Sky are rumoured to be interested in having Sky TV on the Google TV set, and Sony and Logitech are due to be the first to integrate Google TV into their devices. Sony announced production of TV’s and Blu-Ray DVD player’s with Google TV built in, while Logitech have plans to introduce an HDTV camera and video chat, along with apps to turn a smart phone into an advanced remote control. We need never leave the sofa again.

New Facebook privacy settings

In the wake of mounting public concern and a media backlash, Facebook have announced their new and improved privacy settings, releasing a detailed list of the proposed changes. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has already admitted in his Washington Post column that they ‘missed the mark’ with changes in privacy settings last December,  but comments that users will now be offered simpler privacy settings to give them more control over their personal information. They have acknowledged that their 50 privacy settings and 170 privacy options can be confusing for users.

The unpopular changes made in December 2009, dubbed The Great Facebook Betrayal by Gawker, removed the ability to hide your profile pictures, fan pages and network membership from all strangers. They also allowed advertisers within Facebook to trace back to individual users every time they followed a link to their ad, and due to the changes in privacy settings an increasing amount of user’s personal information was shared on the site by default. Check out this video of Mashable’s Pete Casmore discussing Facebook’s response to the user backlash.

A milestone moment

Apple has taken over Microsoft as the biggest tech company, pushing past its biggest Rival Microsoft. While Microsoft remains the highest profit making of the two companies, Apple is leading the way in terms of share price value thanks to the introduction of iPods, iPhones and iPads. Now, depending on your interpretation of the stats, you could see this as Apple taking nearly 20 years to get back to the position it held in 1989…

Grazia Magazine’s Augmented Reality issue

3D seems to be the latest crazy sweeping the fashion industry. Burberry Prorsum set the benchmark streaming their autumn/winter 2010/2011 collection in live 3D from London Fashion Week. Next, Grazia magazine have set another fashion first with its augmented reality issue. For me, the icing on the cake is Brit award winner Florence Welch, singing and dancing to the beautiful “You’ve got the Love” in a 3D space – activated by scanning the AR patch on the front cover. Content throughout the mag is also given an augmented reality twist with the option to see the latest spring trends in their 360 degree splendor.

Facebook onboard the Geo-location bandwagon

Facebook is following in the footsteps of Foursquare and Gowalla by allowing users to tag their updates with places. Speaking of the update, Michael Richter, deputy general counsel for Facebook, said in a blog post “We’ve removed the old language and, instead added the concept of a “place” that could refer to a Page, such as one for a local restaurant.”

In other Facebook news, the Social Network has rolled out the Gross National Happiness Index. Measuring the sentiment used in status updates. The somewhat charming index provides a barometer of the Nation’s happiness and collective feeling on a day-today basis. No prizes for guessing, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day are among the happiest of days.

This could happen

This near-future science fiction story by Tom Scott shows the amazing reach and consequences of how seemly innocent technological advances in Mobile, Geo-location and social networking and how they’re coming together to change our world.

Google Maps make-over

Hardly a week goes by without some announcement from Google Towers of their latest developments. This time round they’ve added in a new feature to Google Maps with the goal of creating a richer experience by “making it easier to find some of those shops and other businesses you visit most often“ (or rather increasing ad revenues, if you want to take the cynical view). For a fee, companies can make themselves more identifiable on the map by replacing the generic Google icons with their own branded, customized logo.

We like the idea. From a customer perspective, these easily recognisable logos more closely depict online what the offline world looks like, so next time you’re trying to find your way on the map you can navigate more easily using these icons as landmarks. Plus, it’s another route for brands to increase visibility and “promote their physical location on the map via an easily recognisable logo, and therefore connect with a larger audience.”

Lessons in Social Media: one good one bad

Nestlé has become the latest brand to make headlines for what can only be described as   ‘anti-social’ behaviour, proving once again the damage caused from having a poorly managed Social Media account. As the Nestlé saga gathered momentum and customers became ever-more disgruntled, the brand finally announced “Social media: as you can see we’re learning as we go.” They’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last, but let’s hope that this influx of social media blunders don’t overshadow the more positive and interesting work happening in the Social sphere.

Sony Vaio is a shining example of how to get it right. For the launch of a special edition of its Cyber-shot camera range, the brand harnessed the power of social media, in particular Twitter, and in doing so netted over £12.5 in revenue.
Its case in point that things can go very wrong very quickly in the wrong hands, but with the right strategy in place, the results can be phenomenal, just ask Sony.

Has geo-tagging revolutionised social media and marketing?

It’s no longer enough to tell the world what you’ve had for breakfast, how pleased you are with the parking ticket you’ve just got or what colour your bra is. Thanks to the likes of foursquare and gowalla now you can ‘Check-In’ using your smartphones geo location software at, well, any place you happen to be.

Just nipped down to the pub, ‘Check-In’ at the dog and duck. On the train home? You can even check in at platform 11 at London Waterloo.

But what does this mean for Marketers and their brands?

The possibilities are endless. Domino’s are already offering Mayors (see foursquare for details) a free Pizza once a week. Debenhams, yes that’s right, Debenhams, are offering free coffee to their Mayors, and it won’t be long before other stores follow suit.

As a brand, to know where my customers are, when they are in my store, and what they’re thinking is just too good an opportunity to miss. Pushing vouchers, content and offers that reach the customer just as they ‘check-in’ to your outlet takes targeted, timely communication to the next level.

All aboard the vouchercloud…..