ESB Electric Ireland Electric Picnic Tweet Hunt

Last Wednesday I wrote about The ESB Electric Ireland Park at Electric Picnic. Beyond being the Official Energy Partner to Electric Picnic, ESB Electric Ireland are also running an energy generating adult playground full of over-sized playground favourites. The twist is that each of the playground items contributes to generating power to help charge participants' phones while they have fun. The playground will also be supported by a host of Ireland's top comedians who will be charged with generating as big a crowd of participants as possible.

This weekend I found out about ESB Electric Ireland's upcoming competition to promote its Electric Picnic partnership.

From Monday, ESB Electric Ireland will be giving away 25 tickets in Europe's first real time treasure hunt using Google Maps and Social Media. The #ShareTheEnergy Tweet Hunt, which is being run through Electric Ireland Facebook Page, gives would be festival-goers the chance to win tickets to Electric Picnic using a Facebook App with a Live Google Map that combines a live Twitter feed to reveal five secret locations around Ireland where tickets are hidden. The Tweet Hunt begins on Monday 22nd August at 9am and ends on Friday 26th August, with one lucky person having the chance to win five tickets to Electric Picnic each day.

To find the secret locations, participants need to tweet #Sharetheenergy. The more the hashtag is tweeted, the closer the map zooms in to where the tickets are hidden. Then, a special code word is revealed along with the exact details of the secret location where the Electric Ireland Sparkheads are waiting with the tickets. After that the first person to find the Sparkhead, and tell them the daily code word will receive five tickets to Electric Picnic.

Ken McKervey, Commercial Manager, ESB Electric Ireland commented, “The ESB Electric Ireland Tweet Hunt is a new addition to our Electric Picnic sponsorship this year. Tickets are like gold dust and we hope would be festival-goers will enjoy this innovative competition using social media channels in a fun and unique way to try to win tickets to this fantastic festival.”

For more info on the campaign or any other details of ESB Electric Ireland's Electric Picnic activities, pop over to the ESB Electric Ireland Facebook Page.

Additional information about the ESB Electric Ireland Tweet Hunt:

• The innovative Facebook App and social media mash-up was developed by Tequila Ireland and Agency.com.
• The App features a live Twitter feed so users can check the tweets to the hashtag and see the 13 zoom levels as each is revealed.
• The Facebook page will show pictures of the winner each day and announce the race for that day is over with the next day’s Twitter Hunt commencing at 9am.
• The Twitter Hunt is open to residents of the Republic of Ireland aged over 18.

Google Says Happy Birthday

I would imagine that pretty much everyone is familiar with the Google Doodle. The Google Doodle is when Google swap out their regular logo on their homepage and show a special, stylised version to commemorate a historic event, a famous birth, a national holiday etc. The doodle can be different in different countries or they can be global doodles.

Some of the most recent ones are above: Father's Day, the Lunar Eclipse, Les Paul's 96th Birthday and Martha Graham's 117th Birthday.

My favourite, however, is the one that I can see today. I say 'I' as unless you happen to share the same birthday as me, you won't be seeing this. This is the Google Doodle that Google display to you on your birthday:


In my humble opinion, this is very cool.

The Google Job Experiment

Pretty much want to try this right now, just to see if it would work...

The World of Socialnomics

Just watch, Social Media is definitely not a fad!

Google Goggles: Translation

I'm sure you've heard of Google Goggles at this stage. What you may not have heard of is Goggles new translation feature. Plain and simple, anyone who is traveling to another country will find this invaluable. Imagine sitting in a café in France but not having a single word of French. With the new Goggle service all you need to do is aim your phone at a word or phrase on the menu, use the 'Region of Interest' button to draw a box around specific words, take a picture, and if Goggles recognises the text it will give you the option to translate it. Then just press the 'Translate' button. Brilliant!

The first prototype of the service was unveiled at the beginning of the year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona but it only worked with German. The service has now been upgraded to read English, French, Italian, German and Spanish and can translate these into many more languages. All in all the service is still limited to Latin-based languages but Google's goal is to eventually provide a service that will read non-Latin languages (such as Chinese, Hindi and Arabic) too.

Google Goggles is currently available on devices running Android 1.6 and higher.

Google Buzz

TechCrunch said, "If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present". And that means what exactly? Well I'll assume you've heard of Google Wave. You may not know exactly what Google Wave is or what it can do, but I'll presume you remember everyone going crazy about Wave towards the end of 2009. Well, Google Buzz is the new 'next big thing' from Google.

Before I throw too many words at you, check out Google's video explaining what Buzz is...

I have to agree with TechCrunch on this one. Consider Google. A huge global mega-corp with interests in virtually every part of the modern web, from video hosting (YouTube) to email (Gmail) to image hosting (Picasa) to software/OS (Chrome) to hardware (Nexus One). The big glaring gap in that list, however, is Social Networking. In the grand scheme of things, Google do not have a presence within the hierarchy of favourite Social Media Networking sites. So why not fix that?

And you know what, Google are going to try just that.

Google's latest venture, Google Buzz, is designed to bring together elements of Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, and Facebook together in one convenient location, accessible by either desktop or mobile. Google Buzz is described as the ultimate feed, a kind of FriendFeed on steroids. Through the "convenience" of your Gmail account, you will now be able to stream your status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. In a similar fashion to Facebook you can then “like” them and comment on them. The service will also suck in feeds from Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader and Twitter. Beyond this, Google Buzz will then also offer the added functionality of making recommendations of feed items that you might like based on friends’ activity.

So if this is all about a "super feed", what's the big deal?

Well, Google want Buzz to be different in one fundamental way: Buzz is about Social Curation. As most of us are probably (painfully) aware, there is just too much content being created to be able to filter through to the stuff that is of real genuine interest. Buzz will do this. When importing content from something like Twitter (import only to begin but Google say the service will eventually allow you to fully manage services like Twitter directly from Buzz), Buzz will filter out content so that you only see the best bits. Admittedly this sounds very controlling and perhaps not of immense value to begin with but Google do promise that the service will be as open as possible.

So what are the downsides to all this?

Well as has been seen with Google Wave, just because something is from Google does it automatically mean it's got universal appeal. Google Wave is a phenomenally powerful tool but it's simply not of use to everyone, and there are plenty of people who will go their whole life without a need for it. Google Buzz is really facing the same problem. Can it be of use to everyone? Because that's really what it's about these days. Niche is just that, niche. And for a company like Google to spend the time and money in development and promotion, they need to have something that we all use/need.

When it comes down to it, for me, it's too early to draw any conclusions. Give me a month of using the service and I'll come back with an educated review.

Google Search - Parisian Love

Love this video shared by Dermot yesterday on Twitter...

The Rise Of Google

A great little video showing the story of Google...

"A (very) quick look back at the Google story over the last 11 years. From Stanford to Mountain View and around the world, featuring many different products, starting with BackRub (Search) up to Google Wave, StreetView and Chrome." - Google

Google Toilet

They know what you search for, they know what you email, they know who you call. What's the next step for everyone's favourite global mega brand?

Google Toilet!

via Geeks Are Sexy - cheers guys :)

The Web In 5 Years, According To Google

Revolution Magazine carried a great article last Friday about an interview that Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, gave at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Orlando 2009.

While the interview is initially about Google, where it's come from and where it's going, Eric Schmidt also gives an overview of how Google sees the web changing in the next five years time. Schmidt outlines a 'radically different' internet that will be dominated by the Chinese language and Social Media content, and delivered to us by super-fast broadband.

By far one of the most interesting points that Schmidt raises is that brands should be listening to youth consumers when planning their marketing strategies. He simply points out, "Talk to a teenager about how they consume media and remember in five years they'll be your employee".

This is an overview of Schmidt's vision compiled by ReadWriteWeb:

1. Five years from now the internet will be dominated by Chinese-language content.
2. Five years is a factor of ten in Moore's Law, meaning that computers will be capable of far more by that time than they are today.
3. Within five years there will be broadband well above 100MB in performance - and distribution distinctions between TV, radio and the web will go away.
4. "We're starting to make significant money off of Youtube", content will move towards more video.
5. "Real time information is just as valuable as all the other information, we want it included in our search results."
6. "We can index real-time info now - but how do we rank it?"
7. It's because of this fundamental shift towards user-generated information that people will listen more to other people than to traditional sources. Learning how to rank that "is the great challenge of the age." Schmidt believes Google can solve that problem.

This is the interview:

Lonely Planet Google Wave App

Google Wave has exploded in the last month with round after round of invitations growing its user base rapidly. However, one thing has alluded the service and driven a charge of companies to be the first to overcome it: the introduction of a Wave App.

Following a number of beta trials, it looks like Lonely Planet may be the first to get there. The guidebook maker has created a trip planning tool that works through Google Wave, to allow users to create trip itineraries in real time with advice and collaboration from other users.

The application, Trippy, loads a map that contains Lonely Planet recommendations and reviews. Then using a drag and drop interface, points of interest can be selected and assigned dates and times for your trips.

Chris Boden, Lonely Planet's director of mobile and innovation, said, "The Trippy gadget turns trip planning into a collaborative activity, enabling a group of users to create itineraries together in real time."

Lonely Planet has also recently launched a series of augmented reality apps for Google Android handsets. The apps provide Compass Guides that highlight points of interest in various cities, through a visual real time interface. Combined with Android's GPS, the app detects your exact location with the internal compass determining where you are looking. These apps are, unfortunately, only available in the US via the Android Market.

87 Cool Things

I found the following presentation over on If Only We'd Thought of That and I had to share it. It's a collection of cool things, put together by Google Creative Lab, that are just extremely inspiring and creative. Basically it's fairly comprehensive list of the most recent mashups, location-based games, video annotation, augmented reality, digital light displays, photomosaics and collaborative projects.

If the below SlideShare is too small to view, check out the full presentation on Google Docs.

Twitter in Talks with Google and Microsoft

According to an article on All Things Digital, Twitter is reportedly in talks with Google and Microsoft about integrating its real-time search results into their respective search engines.

While it is currently possible to see Tweets in Google and Bing, the deal in question would see the search companies gain access to a full feed from Twitter. This would allow them to fully index all tweets. Apparently Twitter is talking to Google and Microsoft separately about data-mining deals, which could see one of the search engines gaining a massive advantage over the competition should there be any exclusivity. However, talks are said to be at a very early stage, with Twitter exploring all opportunities.

This news follows the recent report that Twitter raised another $100 million in new funding, to add to the previous $55 million. The fund raising has given Twitter a $1bn market valuation.

Changes In The Media Landscape

I have a huge list of things that I want to write about but the simple truth is that there are not enough hours in the day to do all of them. So in going through this extremely long list I realised that at least three of the items fitted together into a nice three-in-one post. So here is a little snap shot of three of the most important changes that I feel have gone on in the media landscape in the last couple of weeks.

Google's Display Ad Exchange

After much speculation and talk following Google's purchase of DoubleClick (two years ago!), it has finally happened - the Google Display Ad Exchange has launched. Coupled with the usual over-exagerated boasts, Google tell us that the system "will change the way advertisers buy ad space". The move represents one of the most open challenges that Google have made against Yahoo! and Microsoft's display ad marketshares. Up until now Google had relied on its Display network to counter both YAhoo! and Microsoft's display offering, both of which were real 'display' networks.

Having said that, the new DoubleClick Ad Exchange is modelled directly on the AdSense and AdWords systems. Neal Mohan, vice president of product management at Google, said "the exchange is a real-time marketplace that will help publishers, ad networks and agencies buy and sell display space. We want to democratise access to display advertising and make it accessible and open, like search advertising. By bringing publishers and advertisers together in an open marketplace in which prices are set in a real-time auction, the Ad Exchange enables display ads and ad space to be allocated much more efficiently. This improves returns for advertisers and enables publishers to get the most value out of their online content."




Facebook's Beacon Is Gone

Folling the $9.5m settlement of a class-action lawsuit launched against Beacon, Facebook has finally confirmed it will completely shut down the advertising service. Although Facebook has been gradually phasing out the system, it has continued to be used by a number of websites up until very recently. The service, which was originally launched in late 2007, suffered from immediate controversy by utilising the browsing habits of its members while they were on other websites.

In December 2007, very shortly after launch, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, issued a personal apology for what he called "lots of mistakes in the way the system was handled". In reality, the whole system was a complete PR disaster. The web virtually exploded with concerns over Facebook invading the privacy of its users without their prior consent or knowledge. The result was that Facebook introduced more controls and ultimately made the system opt-in for members.

The settlement itself, which is still pending approval, will also pay $9.5m to create a foundation to fund products that promote online privacy, safety and security. Facebook has said that "we look forward to the creation of the foundation and its work to educate Internet users on how best to control their privacy [and] engage in safe social networking practices."


Web Metrics Reinvented

When it comes to digital audience measurement there are only two options: comScore or Omniture. So the news that these two rivals are planning to launch a single, combined digital audience measurement system is absolutely huge. The companies have revealed that they hope to design a platform that will bring more clarity and confidence to the online advertising market. Essentailly, the system will give both websites and advertisers a unified source for measuring how many visitors hit their sites, how often they visit and exactly who the visitors are.

Specific details of system are as of yet unavailable, however industry experts predict that it will most likely combine Omniture analysis tools and comScore's internet user panels. The question remains however of how exactly they will gather their raw data set. In the past, the two companies have almost always shown different sets of data due to the fact that they have always set out to achieve relatively different goals. This is the main area that it is hoped will be addressed, and that the current disparity between the companies will be resolved.

Interestingly, last week also saw Omniture in the news as it was taken over by Adobe for $1.8 billion (£1bn). Adobe has said that the deal will ultimately help digital marketers increase their ROI through a more accurate measurement system. As any Digital Marketer will tell you, flash is fantastic for (pardon the pun) flashy "nova-style" microsites (short lived, hyped up and ultimately forgettable), but an absolute nightmare for longterm projects due to the inability of search engines to truely index the flash contents. A recent takeover may spell the end for this, however.

Augmented Google Earth

Two of my favourite Google services are Google Earth and Google Maps. Of course I've always thought how cool it would be if you could actually walk out of your house and give a wave to someone watching your house somewhere else in the world (I'm being romantic here and disregarding the potentially horrible invasion of privacy issues). Well something similar to that may not be all that far away!

Some clever boffins at the Georgia Institute of Technology have put down the building blocks for taking real-time streaming video augmenting Google Earth to dynamically create real-time movement within the 3D mapping system. Their new 'as live' version of Google Earth shows cars driving on motorways, people walking in the park, others doing their shopping, and even a football game in progress.

The technology is still in a very early stage of development (it's the subject of a thesis) but it shows the potential for what could be done with the hundreds of live feeds available around the world.

Google Street View - Japan

This is a fantastic animated video from the Google Street View Japan people. Explains the whole Street View process perfectly and is looks stunning too. Absolutely loving this video!

The Recession is Over - Google Says So!

Google have made, what may seem like a rather bold claim; the economic downturn is almost over.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, revealed that "the worst of the recession is behind us" and that Google was moving into a period of "seriously looking at acquisitions" again. Schmidt revealed all in a recent interview with Nikkei, saying that Google is eager to move back into the search for venture-stage firms that show strong potential for growth, which it could acquire. Following on, Schmidt indicated that the main thrust of this search would be to make a number of strategic acquisitions expanding its cloud computing operation.

Schmidy commented on Google's belief that the "personal computer era" will give way to the "age of cloud computing" within the coming ten to 15 years. This is sure to see Google continue to expand both it's on-system software options and its web apps such as its Google Docs and Gmail.

Cuil Real-Time Search

Over a year ago, on the 28th July 2008, Cuil went live. Surrounded by a lot of 'Google-killer' hype at the time, for many, Cuil's launch passed by virtually unnoticed. The 'Google-killer' tag that many attached to it was in fact incorrect, and Cuil was never going to be a 'Google-killer'. The major advantage that Cuil brought to the table was that it was managed and developed by former Google employees, Anna Patterson and Russell Power, and their CEO and co-founder, Tom Costello, had worked for IBM among others. This couple with the fact that Cuil boasted a larger index than any other search engine with over 120 billion web pages.

So over 12 months on, what is Cuil doing to gain ground on its rivals?

In what may be the smartest move the company has made to date, Cuil has announced the released of a real-time search feature, finally pushing it as a threatening alternative to Google, Facebook and Twitter. The advantage of real-time search is that you can instantly access what people are saying/thinking about live events as they unfold.

Cuil's new feature will generate a toolbar, indicating real-time results found. Through the toolbar, users can then explore a sample of results from news and blogs,with an indicator on each result showing the ‘hotness' of the topic. The toolbar can also be opened as a pop up box to act as a monitor on an ongoing basis.

Real-time search has been thrown around as the next big thing for a number of months, as both Facebook and Twitter continue to grow in leaps and bounds. The massive user bases that both services now attract may be enough to give them the edge in the race to create a truly real-time search engine that allows moment-by-moment trend analysis, but for now everything is still up to play for.

Google in 5 Years

Scott Kurnit, a New York-based tech investor and founder of About.com, talks about the future of Google and his view on how Google stock can triple in the next 5 years. Scott discusses the three major services that he believes will drive this growth:

• Google Voice (GrandCentral)


• Google Wave


• Google Android

Google Ad Planner

Anyone using their Google Ad Planner account will have noticed a distinct change. From today Google has launched their redesigned account interface, offering four key improvements:

• Find sites and manage your media plans more efficiently
• Review full data for a site simply by specifying the site's URL
• Merge and copy media plans
• Navigate between pages without losing the audience you're working with

In addition Google have removed the Google Analytics filter restriction that previously affected publishers.