Contagious Magazine

For those unfamiliar with Contagious Magazine, it's just about one of the best publications (online and offline) that you can lay your hands on. Contagious describes its purpose as being "to explore the shifting relationship between brands and consumers, to predict the impact of new technologies and to make sense of the fragmenting media landscape". Contagious says it "exists to simplify and to advise. It is the global marketing industry’s early warning system; an intelligence resource for those attempting to stay ahead of all this change". Contagious comes out quarterly with a free DVD showcasing over 100 pieces of creative work per issue. The DVD highlights each of these campaigns in a ‘challenge/solution/results’ format.

The following video is the Q3 promo featured on the most recent issue's DVD. Shown are Ken Block's DC csampaign, Evian's Skating Babies and the Nike Paul Rodriguez 'Today Was a Good Day' ad. Also shown are previews of some augmented reality features and a Technophilia showcase.



If you enjoyed this, check out Contagious's YouTube channel.

It's All About The Beatles

Tomorrow may as well be called International Beatles Day! The 9th September will see not one, not two, but three HUGE Beatles related events ripple across the world, at what will surely be lightening speed.

The first event is the launch of 'The Beatles: Rock Band'. I posted about this back in June, and I am still just as excited. The latest of the Rock Band episodes gives you the opportunity to experience the greatest rock band of all time. You get to be part of the Beatles’ rise to fame and become the band that made music history. Play as John, Paul, George or Ringo; get your mates around, practise your harmonies, and enjoy newly designed custom-built instruments.

As part of the pre-launch advertising campaign, the latest ad has been released, and as with the others, it's pretty awesome. The ad takes the iconic photograph of The Beatles crossing Abbey Road and brings it to life.



I expect to be playing the game tomorrow night at the Irish launch event in Whelans, so I'll do an update tomorrow on just how good it is.

One of the most interesting things about 'The Beatles: Rock Band' is that it will feature over 45 original Beatles songs. What makes this interesting is that even though The Beatles are one of the biggest selling bands of all time, their music is virtually unavailable legally in digital formats. You simply cannot legitimately download a Beatles song. So that brings us to Beatles event number two: (as reported by a number of sources) iTunes looks set to finally have The Beatles back catalogue available through its iStore.

This in itself may actually be directly linked to the third and final Beatles event. As reported by Rolling Stone Magazine, 9th September will see the release of the complete re-mastered Beatles collection. What does that mean? Well, nearly 22-years later, all of The Beatles back catalogue will be available as digitally remastered versions of the original studio albums. The best part isn't just that they are remastered, each album will feature the track listings and artwork as it was originally released, but with the addition of an expanded booklets including original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a short time, all of the 12 studio albums will come with an “embedded” documentary about its making.

So whether you were there for the rise of The Fab Four, or you grew up listening to your parent's vinyls, tomorrow is an exciting day.

Guinness 250 Years Celebrations: Update 2

I just wanted to give you a quick update on what's happening in the world of Guinness. Back in July I posted about the Guinness 250 Years Celebrations that will be taking place on September 24th, marking the first official 'Arthur’s Day'. Following on from the update posted in August I am excited to announce some more information that I got through yesterday.

On top of the previously mentioned superstars who will be performing on the 24th (Sir Tom Jones, Kasabian and Estelle) at The Guinness Hopstore; there have now been a number of additional announcements...

Joining the above artists are Roots Manuva, Paolo Nutini, The Magic Numbers, OK Go and White Belt Yellow Tag; as well as some top Irish favourites such as The High Kings, Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club, General Fiasco, Spring Break, David Kitt, and Oppenheimer.

Guinness have also announced a number of additional International events that will take place to mark this new holiday - Sean Paul will headline in Lagos, Nigeria and The Black Eyed Peas will perform in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These two events will be just a small addition to what is now over 60 artists performing more than 60 hours of live music in just one day all over the world.

Ireland's contribution to the global showcase will see Cat Deeley and Ronan Keating hosting the stage in St. James's Gate, with a bit of help provided by Colin Murray, Michelle De Swarte and Michelle Doherty with updates from the 4 studio venues. All of this will be broadcast on TV3, SKY and ITV2.

For the full details of all the acts and celebrities who are taking part in the 33 Irish events (the St James’s Gate concert, the 4 studio venues and 28 gigs in pubs around Dublin) just visit www.guinness.com.

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.

Azerbaijani Bloggers Jailed

Two Azerbaijani bloggers (Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 29) have been arrested and face up to five years in jail for uploading a video of one of the bloggers in an oversized grey suit giving a press conference. The video shows the donkey at the head of a table surrounded by journalists. The video is a parody of one of Azerbaijan's notorious "news-conferences" that act as propaganda pulpits for the government. This is the latest example of the Internet crackdown that has been seen across the ex-Soviet state.

The two youths have been officially charged under hooliganism laws, and the police say that the pair were also involved in a "scuffle at a restaurant". Independent reports have indicated, however, that the "scuffle" is simply an excuse to hold the pair under a two-month pre-trial detention order. There is no question that it is a political arrest. Their trial is scheduled to begin in Baku on September 4.

Speaking to the BBC, Elsa Vidal - Europe desk officer with Reporters Without Borders - said that press freedoms in Azerbaijan were almost non-existent, making it "one of the black spots of the former USSR. The situation is still severe and local public servants enjoy virtual immunity from an investigation from the press when they try and expose corruption. There are no grounds for the bloggers to be prosecuted. They should be released and all accusations should be dropped. The authorities have more to lose in jailing the bloggers than in freeing them, but who knows what will actually be said at the trial?" she added.

The UN Human Rights Committee has also raised similar concerns, saying there are "extensive limitations to the right to freedom of expression in Azerbaijan". A statement from the lawyer for Hajizade and Milli says that it was them who were attacked by two men and when they went to a local police station to file a complaint they were arrested on hooliganism charges. "This incident is definitely politically motivated. My clients did not beat anybody, quite the opposite," said the lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov.

Hajizade, the co-founder of the OL (To Be) youth movement and Milli, a co-founder of online television channel AN Network, are both Western-educated and central to a growing movement of young people who are using the Internet to criticise the Azerbaijan government. The main focus for these movements is Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Much of the criticism toward the government lately, has surrounded a new law in Kazakhstan that allows the closing of a website for three months if it is deemed to have intentionally published illegal information.

The arrests have gained a large amount of online and offline coverage and many of Hajizade and Milli's supporters have taken to creating even more online content through both blogs and Social Networking sites; including a Facebook Page with over 900 supporters and an online video petition.

In response to the growing support, a senior advisor to President Ilham Aliyev, Ali Hasanov, has said "People are not arrested in Azerbaijan because of political activity.... There was a scuffle between some young people and some of them were injured". He added, "Law-enforcement agencies are investigating the case and will give an impartial assessment".