Google Earth for the iPhone

Google Earth has found a new home!

The fantastic world map program can now be found travelling the globe in the pockets of iPhone and iPod touch users. The program, which has had over 400 million unique downloads, is now available as a free download from the iTunes App Store. Nifty!

Who are the global bloggers?

Technorati have conducted the most in-depth study of the state of blogging. Their State of the Blogosphere report provides an interesting overview of who is blogging and what they are blogging about. A must read for everyone.

* Two-thirds are male
* 50% are 18-34
* More affluent and educated than the general population
* 70% have college degrees
* Four in ten have an annual household income of $75K+
* One in four have an annual household income of $100K+
* 44% are parents

Goodbye Bush

The Elevator, Ireland's newest satirical digital portal, brings us a great video to start your weekend. Enjoy folks!

7-Eleven uses the Election to Engage Customers

7-Eleven are engaging their customers this election season. by letting you show your support with....... a coffee cup. Seariously, a coffee cup.

Whenever you buy a cup of coffee at any 7-Eleven, you choose either a blue Obama cup or a red McCain cup. With every cup counted as a vote, you just pop along to the microsite and check out who's winning. Bare in mind that that 7-Eleven sells one million cups of coffee a day.

This isn't a new campaign idea however. 7-Eleven have used the system to fairly accurately guage the election results.

Web Surfing Stimulates Your Brain

A survey by the University of California has revealed that the effects of Googling, on brain activity, are extremely positive. Aimed at dismissing the idea that Internet use leads to shorter attention spans, the survey tested twenty-four volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76, giving them various Web searching tasks and book reading tasks. The users were also broken down according to their level of web experience. The subjects were given MRI scans while participating in the activities, to determin the level of, and extent, of brain activity.

The results clearly indicated that both groups showed similar levels of brain activity during activities such as book reading tasks, but it was the experienced Googlers who showed significantly higher levels of brain activity while performing Internet searches. Interestingly, their brain activity was also much higher when searching the web, then when reading a book.

So what can we garner from these results? Well, there is certainly an implication that use of the web, and in particular serch, triggers brain centers that control decision making and complex reasoning, which can actually help older people fight senility. "Just a simple, everyday computer task seems to be activating neural circuits," said study author Dr. Gary W. Small, director of the University of California, Los Angeles, Center on Aging. "It's possible that this is something that strengthens our brains as we do it."

All-in-all, extremely interesting stuff. Hopefully in years to come, the 6 to 8 hours a day I spent on a computer will pay off!

Cybercom win Best Digital Promotion in the World!

Fantastic news yesterday morning - Cybercom's Powerade 'Never Give Up' campaign has won the Best Digital Promotion in the World at the 2008 MAA Globes in Toronto. Against tough competition from Vietnam and Australia, this may be the crowning achievement in an already merit studded piece of marketing. The MAA award makes a total of seven awards to date for the campaign, icluding a Coca-Cola Worldwide Marketing Award, Grand Prix at the APMC and Best Digital Campaign at the DMAs.

Congratulation to all the folks in the office who worked on the campaign. A very, very well done!

Everyone has a bad day sometimes...