Xbox Live to enable voters to register for U.S. election

If there was any doubt that the gaming industry was an integral part of modern society, those ideas have been dispelled. It has been announced that Xbox 360 owners in the U.S. are being given the option to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election via the Xbox Live online service. A non-government organisation, which has been established to encourage youth participation in politics has created a partnership with Microsoft to develop a portal that allows users to register to vote, take part in polls and voice their opinions to candidates via online forums. The organisation, Rock the Vote, launched the service on Monday (August 25).

‘Xbox is a natural partner to help us reach out to youth voters,’ said Heather Smith, executive director, Rock the Vote. ‘To realize our goal of registering 2 million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are, and there’s no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE.’

The success of the service remains to be seen but if it does succeed, the potential implications for politics and future presidential campaigns are huge.

I love digital but sometimes good copy goes so far!

To make an inexpensive ad you need to start removing unnecessary costs:

• actors
• animation
• special effects
• sets

You'd imagine what you're left with isn't too good. Yet this is one of my favourite ads of the year...

Is Tiger Woods Jesus?

A fan of the EA Sports Tiger Woods game recently posted a YouTube video concerning an apparent glitch in the game where Tiger Woods stands on water to take a shot.

EA responded. What is unique about there response is that they got Tiger Woods to do it. Brilliant stuff.

Interactive Display Advertising

I StumbedUpon this video this morning. I've seen something similar used here in Dublin at a Shopping Center opening, but to be honest it was a lot better - more detail, better response and more interactivity. Hopefully this isn't the best America has to offer?

Photosynth Unveiled

Microsoft has finally released its much talked about Photosynth system. Described as "an entirely new visual medium", Photosynth allows you to input a collection of photos of a place, event or object, and after analysing each photo for similarities to the others, it will build a model of where the photos were taken, re-creating the environment and uses that as a canvas to display the photos.

It would seem that Microsoft see this as something more then just a fancy pseudo-3D creator. If all the company and development blogs are to be believed, this is going to be a whole new way to view all your photos. I'm not so sure, and doubt that this can be anything more then a fun piece of software, with limited continuous use. Having said that, it's a pretty cool way to slide show your holiday snaps.