Alice on Acid

Check out this fantastic piece of electronica made by a 19-year-old Australian, Nick Bertke. It takes sound and video from Disney's Alice in Wonderland and creates an eerie and somewhat hypnotic work, which seems to lull you into a state of semi-consciousness filled with Cheshire cats and dancing flowers.

Amoebas Game

Simple, addictive and completely compulsive - I'm pretty sure if you start playing it will suck you in for a good 10-15min!

Thunder Cats - The Movie

Sorry folks, I'm sure you'd like to think it was real, but it turns out that someone out there really does have the time, skills and willingness to create a fake Thunder Cats movie trailer. Could this be the inspiration that Hollywood needs to take the constant rumours to the next level?

Zombies, they eat you

Damien posted this in fluffy links - funny stuff!

When contextual advertising placements go horribly wrong

There are many ways to target ad placements and one of the most popular is to use contextual based placing, so as to target your ads to relevant news stories, blog posts or web content.

It's usually a good system. Someone goes to a tech website and clicks on a link to an article about the latest mobile phone. When they go to the article the ads that are displayed are for a telecomms provider. Makes sense.

Unfortunately, sometimes things don't get lined up quite right. Sometimes ads are displayed with content that isn't really what the advertisers would have liked.

The Ultimate Showdown

Funny stuff...

Merry Christmas

What can I say, it's a classic. Enjoy Christmas folks, I hope Santa was good to all of you.

Intrernational 'Merry Christmas'

Check out this great post from Lady Banana of how people around the world wish eachother Merry Christmas.

The Best TV Christmas Ads

I wrote this on the Cybercom Blog, a round up of the best TV Christmas Ads...

1. The first ad on the list could only be one ad. Coca-Cola were the people who made Santa a fat man with a white beard and red suit, and now we all accept it. Possibly the best marketing ever? These are the two we like best - ad & ad


2. Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without an ad for everyone's favourite stout!


3. This John Lewis ad is brilliant - clever idea and a perfect execution.


4. There's a good chance if you're not Scottish you won't like Iron Bru, but their ad is hilarious.


5. This isn’t just an ad, it’s an M&S Christmas ad. Recently reused, this is more of a technically brilliant ad.


6. This creative concept has possibly been dragged out too long, having said that, this ad definitely touches the right emotions of anyone who has family coming home for Christmas.


7. Ah but with your tv ad you are spoiling us. A nice Christmas ad from Ferrero Rocher seems to exist at Christmas.


8. We only remembered this BA ad when we saw it (probably not a good sign) but it's worth remembering that there was a time when they had some of the largest budgets in the world.


9. There are some ads that you remember as if they've been around forever, and this ad is certainly one of them - great stuff from Budweiser.


10. Finally, when it comes to mushy feelings, this may be the best Christmas ad - Kellogs managed a cuteness factor of 120%

Mapping the Future

If you haven't come across this site, you must check it out. Basically it's a timeline charting the progress and development of various aspects of society through to the end of 2012. Each node is clickable and gives a wealth of industry informations.

How To Do Digital

Check out this fantastic post over on Scamp, by guest writer James Cooper, creative director of Dare. It's funny but ultimately completely true.

1. Keep it simple
2. Be original.
3. Doing digital is harder than TV.
4. Great digital work usually comes from teamwork.
5. The digital equivalent to ‘Balls’ is Nike +.
6. It’s actually easy to win an award if that’s all you want to do.
7. If you are going to use celebs, do it in an interesting way rather than just plonking them on a site.
8. People talk a lot about community and social networking.
9. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
10. What’s with this conformity?

YouTube removes Satriani/Coldplay videos

It’s been a rough year for Coldplay. Sure they’ve managed a hit number one album but they’ve also encountered two separate accusations of plagiarism. First up was Andrew Hoepfner, lead singer and songwriter of the Creaky Boards, who accused Chris Martin of stealing elements of their song 'The Songs I Didn't Write'. The case was shaky and was quickly put to rest. Unfortunately it didn’t stop there. Next came Joe Satriani. He accused Coldplay of plagiarism for lifting elements of his song "If I Could Fly" for its hit song "Viva La Vida". The Satriani case is still pending resolution.

What’s interesting is that it has emerged that the many videos, which show the similarities between the songs have started disappearing from YouTube. All this is apparently the work of Coldplay's label, EMI, who claim the videos infringe on its copyright. That would all sound very plausible except that you can still hear Coldplay songs elsewhere on YouTube, including in user-generated videos. So is it one rule for one and another for the other?

It therefore looks most likely that EMI is removing these videos due to their embarrassing nature to Coldplay. It’s not hard to think that a court would think if it saw one of these videos.

Luckily, here’s one that is still live (for the time being):


The even more shocking is that all three bands, Coldplay included, may owe something to this guy, Günther:


All this aside, what is most interesting here is that EMI are using copyright as a way to remove certain videos that it doesn’t want to be seen, while allowing other versions to remain online.

Toshiba announce a 512-GB solid-state drive for notebooks

On Thursday InfoWeek reported that Toshiba have announced the first 2.5-inch, 512-GB solid-state drive for notebooks. The devices will start to roll out as samples in the first quarter of next year, with mass production scheduled for the second quarter. Toshiba have not mentioned pricing to date

These second-generation SSDs utilise a multilevel cell controller that can give read/write speeds of 240 MBps and 200 MBps, respectively.

A Night At The Movies

A huge thank you to The Chancer, Rick O'Shea and Una Rocks for putting on an invitational screening of Role Models at Cineworld last night. Not only was the event well staged and completely trouble free (we all know how lesser Irish mortals have a tendency to screw up event organisation), but it was a hilarious movie - really, really funny.

I didn't know what to expect but according to IMDB it's a 7.9 movie, and that's an extremely high rating from the movie snobbery of IMDB, so I figured there would at least be a chuckle or two. Or one hundred! I generally don't recommend movies to people (different tastes and all that) but I think the world should see this film. Absolutely brilliant!

An odd one from Deloitte

I found this odd viral that Deloitte did for a recruitment campaign they ran. Pretty strange.

Top 10 Viral Ads of 2008

Many thanks to The Guardian for this, here is the top 10 viral ads of 2008:

1. Wassup anno 2008
Disclaimer: Budweiser's parent company, Anheuser Busch, which originally licensed the concept for five years from Stone, was not involved in the production of the ad

2. SFW XXX Party Invitation
Diesel's naughty montage of 1980s porn films using cartoon animation to cover up explicit scenes, just, for its 30th anniversary

3. Kobe Bryant jumps over an Aston Martin
Nike's clever "did he or didn't he" actually clear a car. Probably not, but it got people talking, and watching

4. Extreme Street Football
Electronic Arts trickery masterpiece featuring kids with football skills – and parkour and capoeira – using a football like you ain't never seen

5. Take it to the next level
Guy Ritchie directs this shot-in-first-person tale of a teen footballer's hardcore ups and downs from being discovered to losing teeth to playing for a national team

6. Tiger Woods 09 – Walk on Water
When a fan of EA's golf game pointed out a flaw that Tiger Woods could play a "Jesus Shot" from on water, the game manufacturer's response was this viral featuring the man himself

7. Bean Counter
One of those Mac vs PC ads where Apple prods Microsoft over spending loads on advertising

8. Samsung Omnia i900 Unboxing
Samsung spoof of the tech-fan trend of filming opening the box of a new gadget for the first time

9. Fate – Leave Nothing
Emotive Nike fare of lifelong rivalry of two NFL players featuring version of sound track from the Good the Bad and the Ugly Vista when it should be fixing it

10. Adam and Eve
Insurance company ad featuring a gay Adam and frustrated Eve that found life online after being banned from TV

Digital Marketing in Financial Services

Via Reed Financial Services, I found this report on Digital Marketing in Financial Services. With two financial clients this was of particular interest to me. Albeit all US-centric information, there are still a lot of nice insights that can be pulled out of the report. There's a bit of geristration to do to access it but once you have there's a wealth of other info here - Sherpa reports, internal analysis etc. etc.

This video is by Scott Gillum, Senior Vice President MarketBridge, and gives a good overview of what's in the report.

Wallpaper Graduate Directory

It's the Wallpaper Who's Who of 2009 - the people that will change the face of their industry.

Employing Bloggers

Here are 5 reasons why employing people who blog is more important than ever:

• They start fires. Blogging forces you to come up with new stuff. To be interesting.
• They understand the value of connection. And are connected. To other interesting people.
• They get digital. They appreciate the nuances and potential of social media. And how it works. Because they're doing it, not looking at it
• They're bothered. They have an opinion. They're not afraid to express it.
• They're passionate about their subject. And real passion is rare indeed.

Great stuff from Neil - cheers.

You just sold your soul to advertising Charlie Brown

A world where Linus is a joint-smoking prima donna, and Charlie Brown seems to have slept with half the world, may be a little too strange for anyone to take in. Still, a huge 'well done' to the uncredited agency who did this piece. Great work.

Cybercom Win “Best Online Campaign”

Beating off tough competition from Dare (UK), Cybercom last night won the “Best Online Campaign” at the Vodafone Global Creative Awards. The awards run across the entire Vodafone group (and their respective agencies) in all the countries that operate in, to highlight and promote advertising creative excellence.

This is great recognition by Vodafone of Cybercom's leading edge work in Digital Marketing. The campaign itself which sealed the victory was the launch campaign for Vodafone's Postpay Perfect Choice tariffs. The concept was based around Joe Hughes, a struggling Dublin actor, who found himself trapped in the very digital marketing campaign that was to launch his acting career. Joe made the wrong choice! Through Social Media (Bebo, Facebook, a blog and microsite) Joe sought the support of the public to get him out.

Whopper Virgins

Check out this fantastic new campaign from Burger King. The whole concept is centered around the idea of people having their first Whopper and the fact that it is an American institution. Really good stuff - especially as it's done through full video.

Human Rights Day

On December 10th, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicise the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."

The Declaration was adopted at Palais de Chaillot, Paris, having arisen from the experience of the Second World War. It was the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. It currently consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws. The Declaration is however not set in stone and groups such as Amnesty International and War Resisters International have advocated for "The Right to Refuse to Kill" to be added to the Declaration. The Guinness Book of Records describes the Declaration as the "Most Translated Document" in the world.

The Declaration, along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, forms the International Bill of Human Rights. In 1976, following ratification by a sufficient number of individual nations, the Bill took on the force of international law.

Today also marks the awarding of the five-yearly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and the Nobel Peace Prize. This year the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights will be presented to Ms. Louise Arbour (former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), Mr. Ramsey Clark (former United States Attorney General and lawyer), Dr. Carolyn Gomes (Jamaican Human Rights Defender) and Dr. Denis Mukwege (founder, director and chief surgeon of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo). Human Rights Watch. Mrs. Benazir Bhutto (Pakistani politician) and Sr. Dorothy Stang (US/Brazilian Human Rights Defender) will be awarded the prize posthumously.

The following videos are thoroughly worth the time to watch:
UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon
The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay

A Ben & Jerry Christmas

I'm not sure I really understand what sort of message or impression they are trying to make here, but it's worth a look.

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks and Saving the World

Joshua Davis of Wired gives a full run down of the whole series of events that led to Dan Kaminsky saving the world. Well possibly saving the world. Ok, well hacking for free wi-fi in Starbucks and discovering one of the largest possible security vulnerabilities in web history.

Imagine a security flaw coded into the very building blocks of the domain naming system, the structure on which the net is built. Nerds everywhere gasp, "... a moment hackers around the world dream of ... a tool that could give them unimaginable power."

It is now openly refered to as the Kaminsky attack and by exposing it, Dan may have prevented the greastest hack of all time. This was the security whole so gigantic, no one ever saw it.

Source: threeminds

Digital Thriller

Francois Macre does an incredible a'cappella version of Thriller using 64 unique digital frames.

Assistant to the Brand Manager

Thanks to Damien for this one - I am loving this blog!

Assistant to the Barand Manager

Iran: A Nation of Bloggers

A Beautiful insight into a country most people in the Western world know nothing about.

Walking Lips

I saw the ad and immediately loved it. That may have mostly been because of the amazing song they decided to use, but a walking pair of lips....genius. It's an ad for the Xbox game Lips, which is the newest xBox karaoke game for all the Guitar Hero's out there.

7th Syndikate

Brilliant stuff from 7th Syndikate - if you missed all the fun, get to their site and start reading!

Everything you always wanted to know about Google...

Pass the Pressie

I'm happy to announce that Vodafone's latest campaign, and first adventure into the world of Social Networking, went live today. Based on the concept of a game of pass the parcel, users are able to upload their photos to the site, choose a whacky costume and participate in what will be the largest game of pass the parcel ever!

Exciting Stuff for sure and something which everyone at Cybercom is very excited about. This should not be missed and is another great example of the potential of Bebo for Ireland's high profile brands.

RickRoll'd when you least suspect it

We all had it happen at least once, you think you're about to watch a perfectly innocent and sensible video about a monkey falling off a tree, then suddenly..... whammy - you'just been RickRoll'd. Thing is, no one, not anyone, saw this coming!

Animusic

A friend send me this link this morning to check out, and I have to say, I was fairly impressed. Loving the idea of something like this being possible in real life, but for now, I'm happy to see the CGI version. There's a couple of downloads available at their website - check it out.

Life is a Beach

I StumbledUpon this great animated French short movie. It's very much worth a quick stop to check out - the animation is fantastic and it's accompanied by a really nice soundtrack. There are still more sections waiting to come online, such as the making of, and I can't wait. Really, really nice work.

Fantastic 3D Animation

Be careful, you may never feel like a fry again!

http://www.best4web.ch/fun/bacon_n_eggs.html

ZunaVision

A colleague of mine send me the following video, and I have to say - I'm very impressed. Through the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, the technology has been developed to add image or video into existing video as if it was always part of it. They call it ZunaVision. Essentially allowing people to place ads in their home movies, replace pictures, or perhaps even change what you were watching on tv. As I said, very impressed.

Take a look:

Hologram Goalkeeper

This is cool:

Guitar Hero Ad and Viral

77 PR blogged about the new Guitar Hero: World Tour ad and viral that are doing the rounds. They use the campaign(s) as an exampale of how an apparent advertising campaign, is in fact a PR approach to viral and online.

It's a post I would suggest as being well worth a read.

Guitar Hero Viral Video


Guitar Hero: World Tour, Heidi Klum Ad

Great Advertising

This is a new ad for the Nokia N96, called 'Ping Pong Nunchucks'. A must watch!

Lunch Bag Art

I StumbledUpon these, and although they're not digiatl (in any way) I had to share them. They're done by a dad for his kids. Awesome stuff.

Killing Clowns

Funny funny stuff!

Friday Distraction

Here's a great bit of Friday distraction from the good people at VW.

In Plain Site

Not sure what the tv show will be like but the microsite for In Plain Site is pretty nifty. Based around a game where you are the special agent and essential your skills of observation are tested. Definitely worth a look.

Sébastien Chabal penalty kick

I found this great campaign from Orange France. Essentailly Sébastien Chabal is going to take a penalty and he needs a bit of help. Put in your name (from a selection), email and mobile number, and he'll give you a call to ask you where to shoot.

Then when he asks you, use your phone keypad to indicate where he should shoot and hey presto.

It's a nice touch that it's personalised so he actually calls you by name.

Now that's fashion

Jean Charles de Castelbajac has made the bold (and perhaps totally outragious) move of unveiling his Spring/Summer 2009 collection with a slightly out of the ordinary catwalk show. Not women dressed as rubbish or covered in mud, as some of his contemporaries have done. JC is going a step further and using an animated LEGO video.

This is absolutely fantastic!

3D Computer Interface

In the movie Minority Report, Tom Cruise uses a 3D type computer interfaces that he manipulates with his hands. Pretty impressive stuff. Well, guess what? Someone went and did it - created a real version!

The beginning reminds me of a cross between the The Lawnmowerman and Hackers.

Buildings in Dublin that waste energy

Living in Ringsend I often walk into town along the Quays and it annoys me greatly to see all the office blocks with their lights on all night and no one in them. It's even worse when you see empty office blocks with the lights on. This said I was extremely happy to discover that John Callaghan (Cal-TV) is currently working on a short film project that will highlight the issue. John is putting together a list of buildings in Dublin city centre that waste energy by leaving their lights on overnight, which will be feature in the film.

I'm happy to say I was able to lend a (small) helping hand by taking some photos of buildings along the Quays. So, perhaps a little shamelessly, I think it would be worth everyone's time to stop by the project site and have a look around. With so much attention being paid to water wastage and recycling, unnecessary lighting is a huge environmental drain that seems to be overlooked by most.

Also, if you have noticed any such buildings, I'm sure John would love to hear from you (especially if you send a photo!). You can email him at turnitoffproject@gmail.com

Jailed for Blogging

The BBC has reported on a Burmese blogger who has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for his post of a cartoon of their military leader Than Shwe. Nay Phone Latt, a 28 year old Burmese national, was arrested in January but only received his sentencing on Monday. The judgement included 15 years for offences under the Electronics Act, two years for "creating public alarm" and three and a half years for offences under the Video Act.

His blogs during the September 2007 uprising provided the international community with one of its only information points about events within the locked-down country.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association have demanded his release. According to their figures this brings the number of journalists arrested so far this year to 10.

George believe's in....

Lennon may have been the Walrus, but George was the president. Now it's time to say goodbye.





Fantastic stuff from Cal-TV. Make sure you check out his other work.