http://www.calebkramer.com CK Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:05:50 +0000 http://www.calebkramer.com en http://www.calebkramer.com/Hybrid-Media-How-Social-is-Enabling-Event-TV http://www.calebkramer.com/following/calebkramer.com/Hybrid-Media-How-Social-is-Enabling-Event-TV Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:05:50 +0000 CK 1225213 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/1225213/blog-post.png" border="0" width="525" height="345" width_o="525" height_o="345" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/1225213/blog-post_o.png" align="left" /> Television, as we know it, is dying. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average age of prime-time viewers hit 50 this year. Kids would rather play Xbox or watch Hulu. Fortunately, television still has something going for it, and we’re not talking about iPad apps or mobile streaming. Rather, we’d like to discuss the emergence of a new hybrid medium. Traditional TV is where hundreds of thousands or millions of people gather for a shared experience. Enter Facebook and Twitter. These social networks collide with TV to result in something even bigger. Viewers are now participants; participants are now connected, which has implications for the actual content. When we frame the situation as a battle between the Internet and TV, or a zero-sum game, we are calling it from a blind spot. Instead, what we should see is that both live TV and real-time information are converging to reinforce each other and in the process are creating something new. In the following document, we’ve outlined emerging themes bubbling up around event TV. This is not the future, this is happening now. For those willing to break yesterday’s rules, some long overdue, fresh new opportunities await. As WIRED magazine recently stated, TV is moving from a “vast wasteland” to a “vast garden". Today, “TV is a crazy, weed-filled, wonderful, out-of-control garden.” It is time to rethink TV. It is time to imagine what it could be and redefine it for the participatory culture of tomorrow. http://www.calebkramer.com/Interaction-Within-An-Ecosystem-of-Screens http://www.calebkramer.com/following/calebkramer.com/Interaction-Within-An-Ecosystem-of-Screens Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:41:14 +0000 CK 949320 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/949320/screen.jpg" border="0" width="525" height="310" width_o="525" height_o="310" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/949320/screen_o.jpg" align="left" /> The trend is clear: Digital is breaking free. The tethered desktop is old thinking; interactivity is everywhere now. At SXSW Interactive 2010 we saw this trend continue; we observed a growing ecosystem of screens. In the future, devices will be ubiquitous. The "phone" as we know it will take on a myriad of functions. Computers as we know them will be as hard to find as a VHS player is today. This trend is already starting. As David Seigel points out, the market for netbooks is growing at 40% per quarter while notebooks have dipped to 20%. Screens will be in your pocket, on your wrist, on your car dashboard, on your lap, on your wall... They will connect to the web, where everything will take place. The iPad is the latest screen to enter the market, so it was a hot topic of discussion at SXSW. Location based services could become a lot more immersive, as was discussed during Maps 2010: How iPad Impacts the LBS Market. Gowalla will be one of the first location services to support the device. The general consensus is that the iPad will become great for multimedia consumption, and possibly breath life into the future of magazines. The tablet will bring new opportunity to the ecosystem of screens. To address this coming reality and save us all from Carpal Tunnel, gesture controlled interfaces are being developed. These new interaction paradigms will minimize friction between user and screen. We see this trend in Apple's products (both iPad and Magic Mouse). Microsoft's Natal and Surface are other examples. These platforms invite more natural interaction and build off of pre-existing muscle memory. While the mainstream market isn't yet ready to relinquish their keyboards, the touchscreen is a step in the right direction. We are getting used to swiping and tapping, not hunting and pecking. Frog Design's Fabio Sergio says that like the iPhone before it, the iPad is helping build a touchfrastructure, meaning that the touchscreen will soon become relied upon not as a product, but as an underlying infrastructure. In 'How The Tablet Will Change The World', Gary Wolf channeled Marshall McLuhan, imagining what the media theorist would have to say about the new medium. "The thin, single pane of glass that comprises the interface is just a window onto the world, an edgeless frame. Essentially, there is no interface, any more than a person's fingertips are an interface. The long story of humanism comes to an end when we return, futuristically, to doing everything by hand." These "edgeless frames" will soon be everywhere. Mark Hamblin, developer of the original iPhone touchscreen, is so bullish on his creation that he started a company called Touch Revolution. With it, he hopes to slap Android enabled touchscreens onto anything with a power cord. This will make it easier to control anything from a smart microwave to the washing machine with our fingertips. Not only will we interact with single screens, but we will manipulate screens to interact with each other. Mobile to digital outdoor is becoming everyday for marketers, but it goes beyond this. Phones are being designed as remote controls. During the panel 'Beyond the Desktop: Embracing New Interaction Paradigms,' David Merrill discussed Siftables, cookie-sized computers with motion sensing, neighbor detection, graphical display, and wireless communication. They act in concert to form a single interface: users physically manipulate them—piling, grouping, sorting—to interact with digital information and media. Siftables provide a new platform for 'chop stick style' interaction, where content can be grabbed and transferred between screens. Poker Surface and iPad-iPhone group gaming concepts provide additional illustrations. For those in media, the opportunity for transmedia storytelling is endless. These screens will be part of our lives, therefore brands will need to utilize them in creative ways. There were several panels at SXSW on transmedia and the possibilities that the iPad could open up. One panel discussed the ever evolving space in our homes, The Future of the Living Room. Just thinking about how devices like the iPad could be used for social viewing is something that brands like MTV have already considered. How we use these tools and screens to connect and to share is something we need to think about. http://www.calebkramer.com/QR-Codes-Come-to-TV http://www.calebkramer.com/following/calebkramer.com/QR-Codes-Come-to-TV Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:42:53 +0000 CK 949042 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/949042/bluefly-articleLarge.jpg" border="0" width="525" height="276" width_o="525" height_o="276" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/949042/bluefly-articleLarge_o.jpg" align="left" /> Mobile doesn't just connect us with other people, it connects us with the world around us. Through 2D barcodes, SMS, and location-based services, we can interact with objects and places through our mobile phones. For marketers, these "mobile paths" are a way to blend digital and print campaigns—paths can lead to more product information, multimedia content, surveys, sweepstakes, social media sites, personalized coupons, etc. Consumer exposure to these types of interaction have predominately been through print and outdoor media, but increasingly we see that they are making their way to TV. According to the New York Times From the comfort of their sofas, mobile-phone users can scan a bar code embedded in commercials on certain evening shows on Bravo and instantly obtain additional information about a product and a discount to buy it. When the cellphone is pointed at the on-screen bar code, the user is linked to a complete closet-baring episode, which can run as long as five minutes, and offered a $30 discount on a $150 purchase at bluefly.com, which sells designer and other branded clothing and accessories. Examples of television based 2D barcodes are rare. They include a placement for HBO's True Blood during the Lost finale and a promotion for a Weather Channel app using an on-air QR code. Both were experimental. Are 2D barcodes really the best way to activate time-based media? Do users want to scramble to open their reader app then quickly position themselves in front of the TV? Were there a majority vote, we're guessing not. There are alternatives. How about Google? According to Nielsen, three-quarters of adults already watch television while using the web. Perhaps prompting people to simply type in a URL would be a more natural solution. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/949042/shazam.png" border="0" width="525" height="293" width_o="525" height_o="293" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/949042/shazam_o.png" align="left" /> Another (more interesting) alternative uses the mobile phone’s microphone in lieu of the camera. Implementing audio recognition, mobile phones can react to sounds -- television can be programmed to trigger companion content. Shazam, an app with over 75 million users, has been experimenting with a service called SARA, partnering with brands like Dockers to annotate and extend TV to the third screen. Its iPad app may be built for identifying music, but it is also perfectly positioned as this sort of companion. ABC recently released an iPad app for My Generation. Like Shazam, it recognizes audio cues and is able to sync up with the show to pull up polls, trivia, and games. Social viewing services like Miso, Starling, and Tunerfish are also creating an annotated TV experience but through a different sort of mobile path. They use the declaration of presence, or check-in, to activate related content and interaction. This article was originally published on mobilebehavior.com http://www.calebkramer.com/undergroundpuzzle-Harnesses-The-Hive-Mind http://www.calebkramer.com/following/calebkramer.com/undergroundpuzzle-Harnesses-The-Hive-Mind Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:29:01 +0000 CK 948997 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948997/puzzle-combined.JPG" border="0" width="670" height="507" width_o="892" height_o="676" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948997/puzzle-combined_o.JPG" align="left" /> While traveling the NYC subway system last night, this collaborative advertising campaign caught our attention. It displays a piece of a puzzle, the bigger picture unidentifiable on its own. The only clues are a simple graphic of a camera and the Twitter hashtag #undergroundpuzzle. Obviously this is targeting the young and the tech savvy. After further research, it appears that WPP agency Johannes Leonardo is behind the effort. 40 unique images have been sprinkled across subway stations in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, sending New Yorkers on a hunt for an undisclosed client. According to Creativity, the final image is explicit, this is an interesting way of getting around the restrictions of the mainstream media. The campaign assumes that the target audience is wielding a camera phone and uses Twitter. For anyone without Twitter, this ad is irrelevant. Through these tools and the collaborative power of the web, the puzzle will be solved. Advertising agencies are experimenting with this idea of the hive mind, or swarm intelligence, pushing brand engagement via mass problem solving. Johannes Leonardo's website explains, "we harness the energy of the masses by creating ideas that acknowledge them as the medium, not just the destination." In the May 2009 issue of Wired, Lost's J.J. Abrams discussed new puzzle design with this opportunity in mind. In a world of Google, problems are sometimes too easy to solve, and for those creating alternative reality games, it is assumed that tools like Twitter and Facebook will be put to use. This was the idea behind the red balloon experiment, where DARPA tested the way social networking can help users solve a large-scale, time critical task. 10 balloons were released across the United States, a group at MIT was able to locate them within nine hours. With the #undergroundpuzzle campaign, print media becomes part of a larger digital strategy. It is the path to mobile presence. It goes to show that digital is not killing print, but rather freeing up physical media to play a different role, one that our mobile phones will be part of. With this emerging mindset, agencies look at consumers as users, mobile users with the power of connection. http://www.calebkramer.com/Check-In-Here-on-Foursquare-via-Nike http://www.calebkramer.com/following/calebkramer.com/Check-In-Here-on-Foursquare-via-Nike Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:16:34 +0000 CK 948948 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948948/foursquare.jpg" border="0" width="525" height="351" width_o="525" height_o="351" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948948/foursquare_o.jpg" align="left" /> When it comes to the Internet of Things, Nike+ is probably the most cited example of successful consumer application. In fact, Adweek named it Digital Campaign of the Decade last December. Together, a $20 sensor, iPhone/iPod, and iTunes enable users to track their running progress and compile a quantified self. We've said it before: If anyone can make wearable computing cool, it's Nike. They've already triggered change by making the connected shoe a reality. Now we look to designers, hackers, and artists who have been reprogramming Nike+ sensors to provide insight into what could be next. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948948/nike26_1.jpg" border="0" width="525" height="296" width_o="525" height_o="296" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948948/nike26_1_o.jpg" align="left" /> In early June, Fast Company reported on Nike+ 26, a project by designer Michael Robinson. Using the Nike+ sensor, Michael not only collected running data, but was able to visualize it in a glanceable fashion. Every mile the wearer runs, one of the 26 lights turns on, symbolizing progress during a marathon. My idea is about exploring the broadcasting of the NIKE+ information that has so far always remained private to each runner. For each mile you run, a light goes on from the back of the trainer to the front so that when you pass someone running, they know you’re faster and have gone further. Michael considered not only the collection of data, but also its use. We are reminded of the importance of feedback loops, the value in the architecting and presenting of data in ways that affect behavior. Another interesting hack for your Nike+ shoes involves Foursquare. Casey Halverson's setup lets him to automatically check-in to a venue by just walking in the front door. How he does this is extremely rudimentary, but it demonstrates what's possible. Location aware sneakers remind us of Blue GPS shoes, or satellite-monitored footwear for hikers and soldiers who fear being kidnapped. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948948/straphand_01_4jglT_176211.jpg" border="0" width="525" height="357" width_o="525" height_o="357" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948948/straphand_01_4jglT_176211_o.jpg" align="left" /> Taking it to the next level, what if Nike+, or a platform like it, was completely open source? The same thing that is happening to the desktop and mobile web would happen to what we wear on our feet. Innovation. Our shoes, what we do, and where we go with them would become part of the programmable web, APIs and all. http://www.calebkramer.com/Android-Nexus-S-and-Near-Field-Communication http://www.calebkramer.com/following/calebkramer.com/Android-Nexus-S-and-Near-Field-Communication Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:12:31 +0000 CK 948923 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948923/nfc2.png" border="0" width="525" height="292" width_o="525" height_o="292" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/2/72830/948923/nfc2_o.png" align="left" /> During last month’s Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced the next iteration of Android’s operating system would come with near field communication baked-in at its core. This week, Google came through on its promise. Along with a slick new skin, dual camera functionality, and Contour Display, the Nexus S establishes itself as the first Android device to sport NFC technology. It is a sign of what is to come; the Nexus S is the first of many next-gen devices that will influence everything from business to marketing and consumer behavior. What is NFC? Near field communication is a short-range wireless technology that enables devices to talk to one another. It is yet another sense for our mobile phones, making them increasingly sentient and allowing them to make our lives easier. It is similar to Bluetooth, Bump, or even QR codes in that it enables interactivity between personal and public devices or objects. While NFC has been around for a while, most notably as FeliCa in Japan, it is only now beginning to gain traction in the United States. iPhone RFID: object-based media from timo on Vimeo. What can NFC do? According to NFCWorld, the Nexus S, in its current state, can only read (not write to) RFID tags. This means that NFC will begin as a simple improvement on existing barcode readers. RFID tags are cheap and cost only cents to produce, meaning they can be embedded in just about anything. By waving a Nexus phone in front of a “smart” poster or t-shirt, users will be able to access complementary content. This is a lot easier than downloading an app, launching it, aligning with a barcode, and scanning. NFC only requires one action. As part of its integration with Gingerbread, the Nexus S also bookmarks tagged items and lets users star their favorites. It’s only a matter of time before developers tap into Gingerbread for more advanced read/write NFC-based interactivity. The most obvious application will be mobile payments, which will finally become a reality. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile recently announced its joint effort in creating Isis — a mobile payments system. Banks like Wells Fargo have been piloting mobile payment systems as well; they’ve partnered with Visa to activate phones using either NFC chip or protective case. PayPal is already partnering with brands like Starbucks and is experimenting with NFC through a startup called Bling Nation. We’re guessing that startups like Venmo will reposition (or pivot) around this new reality. The possibilities for read/write NFC are endless; they include probable applications such as ticketing, couponing, loyalty, and identification. Our keys, wallet, and phone will continue to converge into one master device (one that you won’t want to lose!). Thanks to NFC, the phone will become a mnemonic device and your digital identity. Creatives will use this to push boundaries in entertainment and play; product development teams will begin to integrate RFID into everything from children’s toys to digital cameras. Your phone could soon sense your tablet or netbook and turn off notifications accordingly, making for a more intelligent ecosystem of screens. Wireless in the world 2 from timo on Vimeo. How do we approach NFC? We should think about NFC as one of many paths to interacting with the world around us. QR codes, audio recognition, and search are all mobile paths that link us to the “Outernet”, or the cloud-based Internet outside our desktop and overlaying reality. While observing these technologies develop, we’ve noticed that each is positioning itself for different use cases. Shazam may be best for time-based media like radio or television while Google Goggles works for distance. NFC is all about proximity. In fact, to access information using NFC, a user has to wave his or her phone a minimum of four inches away from a tagged object. This makes it the most intimate, close-up, and personal of mobile paths. Understanding these interactions will allow us to better place them in a user’s everyday life. For brands, it is important not only to understand this new technology, but also to keep people front and center. Mobile phones and NFC serve consumers based on deep and long existing motivations. Understanding these as well as the NFC experience will allow for successful application, and the Nexus S is a great place to start. This article was originally published on tribalddb.com