Chatroullette is a hybrid of speed dating and hot or not (well pervert or not!), via video and IM chat, at least that’s my take on it. Watch Casey Neistat’s video study (above) to get an indepth view. Or, of course, play for yourself. In my 5 minute foray into this world I got seriously ‘nexted’, probably didn’t help that I was browsing with my shirt off (I had just woken up).. maybe there should be an etiquette guide: i.e. appropriate lighting, clothing and so forth. That said, the beauty of this, is the web at it’s most raw – warts, perverts and all!

First knowledge via Bri.

NEWSFLASH: a Chatrouletter just pointed their webcam at CNN and showed me the Hawaii Tsunami happening. Just checked Twitter and it’s going off… thoughts going out to those in danger.

They did it. The Internet Symphony is complete. Nice work by my mate Tom Uglow at Google in the UK – who’s at Carnegie Hall NYC right now. See my original post on the project here.

Of course that’s not strictly true. Its a ‘viral’ from the chaps at Google to showcase Latitude – real time positioning of friends on a map. You can make your own ‘spoof’ video here. Its really quite convincing the first time round.

Thanks to Tom (creative director & a brand defender at Google) in London for the initial surprise.

Google Latitude is coming soon to Australia (the iPhone, Android etc.) – no idea when… that’s just what the mobile link says when I click it.

64,000+ photos highlight cities and countries on a moving globe over 24hrs. Best watched full screen. First found on FlowingData and the clips author is here.

Since joining Twitter I’ve posted 696 times as @benhamin. It would seem that Fridays at 10am I have the most to say and 3pm I’m consistently blurting out 140 characters to who will ever listen.

It’s probably better to look at some serious Twitterers, rather than my poor excuse, so I felt that the lads from Bannerblog might be a good start. Top AU blog and all that.

Ashley aka 100ftzombie. 2,751 tweets so far. 10am Saturday is a hotspot, but Ash does most of his tweeting between 9 – 11pm. Work is for work and then the tweets coming flying out at night.

Ashadi Hopper. 1,170 tweets to date. Pretty consistent overall – but 10am is a strong time – after reading the news perhaps?

Who else, Gavin over at Servant of Chaos has tweeted a staggering 7,422+ times. Monday’s 11 – 3pm – what’s happening Gav?

At the heart of the idea is a musical audition via recorded video submitted to YouTube. Classical musicians play to a specially composed piece of music by Tan Dun, (known for the soundtracks for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero). Here’s an interview about the piece.

To participate in the ‘virtual performance’ musicians simply choose the instrument they want to play, this reveals sheet music (pdf) and a video of Tan Dun conducting. Musicians then record their performance and submit – currently unsure of the magic that happens at the YouTube end.. but would hazard a guess at a ‘massive’ mashup bringing all of the instruments together for Tan Dan’s orchestral vision. To be up for a chance to play in NYC a separate piece of music (list to choose from) and video is required for audition.

It’s a sound strategy that builds content around common interest, talent and idea. What better way to bring credibility than get a notable composer to inspire this talented audience. I look forward to seeing the results… and how its actually executed.

This morning I awoke to a message that ‘oneConnect’ in now following me on Twitter.

Weird coincidence?
Possibly. Although it looks like the people people being followed are Australian, and no doubt iPhone users – I know you can identify location, but can you isolate people who post through an iPhone?

I hate Twitter spam. But if this is a strategy to let me know the app is being launched here I’m quite open to it. However, they need to say something rather than the inane first comment below;

If anyone knows any more about this… I’d love to hear.

Annoying that the embeddable button (above) doesn’t really work with my widget width (you know what I mean, right?). Enjoy this whilst its on my homepage (click play), which will probably be a while, as my publishing behaviour is far from regular so it’ll take some time to move to the next.

More importantly have a play with Blip.fm.

Do you remember Fridays at work when Napster (was napster)? It was like jukebox heaven – setting music search challenges that you had to complete before the track that was playing came to an end. Well Blip reminds me of that… with the added bonus of annotating your track.. so you can share the moment; the who, what and why you love that music… what it means to you.. the picture in your mind or the tingle down your spine. Ahhh…

I’ve exhausted my ‘booster can’ already, mainly down to the fact that I didn’t know what I was doing… just clicked away on the arrows. Unsure when the booster gets replenished, but I need some speed.. got a long way to go to win this race.

So far I’ve been across some odd blogs, mainly on gardening, don’t know if that’s a secondary objective from Orange or what.

Again I think this is an outstanding idea. I’m flying across the web, being pushed from participating site to participating site, which is a laugh… its like a weird StumbleUpon hybrid with orange balloon animals.

Time to fly.

Poke are responsible [again]. They keep turning out great work for Orange and this looks like another online masterpiece.

What I’ve gleaned from a brief play is, its a balloon race across the internet! What does this actually mean though?

Well it seems that you participate in two ways;
1. As a site owner, embeding code (see floating Racoon bottom left of this page) to track passing balloons (aka site visitors)
2. A balloon owner, whom by visiting participating sites (like this one, and Faris’) can increase their balloon miles. I’d imagine that a media buy on major sites will feature banners that track ‘balloon miles’ too, so you can crank up your mileage.

Why participate? The balloon that flies the furthest wins an £18,000 holiday to Ibiza for themselves and 7 mates – plus other stuff, probably phones. Plus the fact that the idea is brilliant and you simply want to see how far you can go – wouldn’t you?

I’m facinated to see how this is actually going to rollout… page to page, site to site. Below is the personal widget you get once you get your balloon. This can be installed on everything from a social profile on Facebook, to your very own blog. I chose a Racoon, ultimately this is a far cooler animal than a dolphin, camel (or the other one). But I guess my ‘balloon miles’ will be recorded here for all to see… fingers crossed.

Get yourself a balloon and lets race!

I like the fact that he’s got a massive following on YouTube, due to sharing his findings, it just goes to show that video is opening up so many new possibilities – for a researcher it must be a dream come true. Here’s his original posting;

Visit, Johnny’s project page to adapt your own Wii.

The Wii is so dextrous in what it is to what its done. Not only has it reinvented gaming, by leaving the PS3 and Xbox for the hardcore, its platform and hardware seem to be open for interpretation and extention by anyone with an imagination.

More than a games machine. I have a friend that works in healthcare and they use a Wii to keep the oldies flexible. I’ve also heard of doctors practising surgery with the controller (it helps to run-through the procedure). The possibilities seem endless. I’m going to keep an eye out for ‘interesting uses of the Wii’, if you come by any do let me know.

I’m off to buy a Wii… all this talk is no good without action.

The post in my mind captures what the Cluetrain predicted back in 1999, ‘the end of business as usual’. Today, our lives are transparent and on show through the social services that we choose to surround ourselves with, whether its flickr that tells it in pictures, twitter in 140 characters and Qik in realtime streaming video. We’re open to the world, our friends and family.

Its just logical for us to expect companies and brands to behave in the same way and not hide behind advertising, marketing and PR, but embrace the chance to have a relationship, the chance to have a dialogue.

Gary’s got the words and the way – so probably best you watch the clip.

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Where my flat is in London

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My folks are somewhere around here

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Can your phone do this?
Talk to me… so if the iPhone wasn’t hacked, cracked and genuinely pushed beyond the realms of its supposed purpose in life – this couldn’t of happened. May we all open our lives and platforms to invention and opportunity!!! It’s Friday, I’ve had a beer – bare with me and get enthused.

First seen on: MAKE

All this week (17-21 December) we have Mr Whitty, the jazz songster, stationed in our reception. Through the magic of the ‘interweb’ you can dedicate a song to a friend and he’ll sing it for you live on webcam. Plus, between the hours of 1-2pm (Sydney time only), its happy hour when one of the HOST team will join in the song with suitably silly fancy dress and appropriate instrument. I’ve got photos of Mr Whitty and the setup on flickr too.

It’s got to be said that this last week at work is proving quite interesting, meetings have a constant ‘Christmassy’ soundtrack, and if you wonder through at Happy Hour its a constant revelation. Elvis with dancing elves and reindeer etc. etc.

Merry Christmas.