Author Archives: Tim

Samsung Space Balloon: tweet at 100,000 feet

Samsung Mobile Japan decided to honour their Galaxy S II with a proper space project, sending the phone into our stratosphere today. The Galaxy is held by an astronaut doll tied to a space balloon. In contrast to Toshiba’s Space Chair project from 2009, this endeavour is more than a film. Produced by the mighty Bascule, it literally tests the outer limits of social media and shows that Android phones can indeed go further than iPhones. With Space Balloon you can watch a live Ustream (on your own Galaxy if you wish) and see your own tweets at 100,000 feet.

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Fleet Commander: Attack the Death Star

Fleet Commander is the result of a 3 year long project at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory by computer science grad student Arthur Nishimoto. It turns an already impressive 20-foot multitouch screen into a gigantic strategy game.

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Gaming on YouTube: NZ Airforce, Intel and Wonka

From Kiwi agencies Resn and Saatchi Wellington comes a row of games for New Zealand’s air force (how cute is their logo?). The games under the title “Step Up” can all be played on the NZ’s airforce YouTube channel - give them a go. The special twist is that you are controlling a live camera across a model landscape. After you have finished playing the game, you can get a personalized YouTube video of your flight to share with friends.

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Morris Lessmore: iPad2 story telling

Many remember the Alice in Wonderland and Touching Stories apps as benchmarks for interactive storytelling on the iPad. The iPad2 brings a natural progression with The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, by the film makers at Moonbot Studios.

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Animated Tattoo for Ballantines

From WorkClub in London comes a series of live artistic events for Ballantines, called ‘Human API‘. Different artists create work (and leave an impression as per the brand’s positionng). The process is streamed live through facebook and influenced by the audience through facebook chat and Twitter. The example below shows a 100% permanent impression, done by tattoo artist K.A.R.L. As the video explains, the live interaction was rounded off with an animation video, triggered by a mobile marker within the tattoo.

I like the first person camera view and the expression “Powered by Human API” (which is after all the most complex yet ready-to-use interface available). Related live art projects in the past include Beck’s Live Studio by Dare which played user-remixed music to the artists and the 24hr Session with Maroon5 for Coke by W+K London. I find notable that the project’s doco is a vital part of the strategy. The videos are indeed the message and can achieve a bigger reach than the interaction itself.

Other ‘Human API’ events feature ice sculptor J.A.M.I.E. (below) and graffiti artist 45 R.P.M. (what’s with all the dots?) spraying interactively. I like how the user photos are incorporated into 45′s physical piece inside of those screens.

The doco of J.A.M.I.E. shows him cheerily hacking away at an ice robot. If you are of an impatient disposition, jump to 2:07 and see the melting ice robot dance. That’s something I hadn’t seen before.

Be Vidazzled by Sir John Hegarty

BBH wanted to give their co-founder Sir John Hegarty‘s talk at Cannes some extra love. So instead of uploading his speech to YouTube and posting it onto their blog, they developed a website called Vidazzl.  Read more…

The Twitter Job Hustle

Dutch creative team Bas van de Poel and Daan van Dam (portfolio) set up 5 separate Twitter accounts and started following Creative Directors on Twitter. The simple message: HIRE US.

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