There’s been a lot of announcements (here and here) recently about the partnership between Google and Adobe in some supposed hardened stance against Apple.
Whatever…
Something I haven’t heard mention of though, is how strong a browser-based phone solution such a partnership could offer. Has anyone heard of Ribbit? I think an implementation of Ribbit and Google Voice would be interesting…I haven’t read it, but this Google Wireless Telecom Strategy report is bound to unearth some interesting info.
Personally this is big news and a bold move by Adobe and Google, bringing more weight to the Open Screen Project.
Tourality is a new type of game for your mobile phone that combines sporty outdoor activity with virtual gaming experience.
In contrast to normal sport simulations, you will face the real challenge of reaching geographically defined spots in reality as fast as possible and before your opponents.
Invisible technology is a concept coined by Heidegger to describe tools that stop being tools and start becoming integral aspects of how we live in and experience the world.
Faris Yakob wrote a well crafted description of where the web is going by explaining the concept of The Invisible Web, you can read the full article here.
Heidegger uses the example of a blind man and his cane. The cane becomes more valuable to the blind man as an extension of his arm, than simply for its ability to aid his journey.
The blind man’s cane moves from being part of the external environment to becoming an extension of the blind man’s body.
Broadband internet access is often described as ‘Always On’.
‘Always On’ reminds me of having my TV on standby – on at the touch of a button!
And yet, my television doesn’t do anything until I ask it to.
‘Smart’ devices combine their purpose with live contextual data including time and place to create a usefulness that takes the internet to a wholly new realm.
Hide and Seek is a festival of social games and playful experiences, running in London from the 27th to the 29th of June 2008.
The festival celebrates the creative and social aspects of gaming, and invites artists from all disciplines to experiment with game design as a creative tool. This year sees projects from Blast Theory, Gideon Reeling (who were behind the Masque of the Red Death performance after parties on Fridays and Saturdays if you went), Momus, Jane McGonigal, and Coney, as well as parties, seminars, and a bunch of low-tech, high-fun games from the Sandpit.
The focal point of the festival is the Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall, where players can sign up for the big events, hire out devices to try GPS gaming, play Sandpit games, and interact with a variety of weird and playful installations.
There’s an incredible programme of events and social games to play during the weekend.
Sign Up to some of the following games:
Gold Bug Dissected produced by PunchDrunk, the masterminds behind Masque Of The Red Death.
Bring a public park alive with a swashbuckler’s adventure complete with virtual loot waiting to be unearthed. Tour the Tower of London alongside ghostly guides who reveal the history within. Conduct disaster simulations for emergency responders on real city streets.
Mscapes (short for mediascapes) are digital experiences directly related to where you are. Running on GPS-enabled mobile devices, they change as you move around, enriching the physical world with a layer of digital information, services and media.
Nike PhotoiD has been featured on the Guardian’s website and on Cscout as a new mobile marketing trend.
For those who haven’t heard about Nike PhotoiD it’s a piece of software which analyses the pixels colours within an image and generates a pair of Nike iDs for you based on those colours.
MMS your picture and the word DUNK to 88247.
Not only is it cool but it actually works. I tested it out about 6 weeks ago on some of my friends and they were really impressed.
My name is Rick Williams and I'm Creative Development Director at AKQA, London. The thoughts on this blog are mine and not those of the company I work for.
