Beautifully executed pixel takeover of NYC, and then the world. If you like retro arcade games mixed with real-world footage in a fantastical mashup. Then you’ll love this. Ensure a full-screen view, wait for it to load and then hit play.

The lovely Rachael sent this.

what you’re looking at:
over 3,000 apps-and growing-are downloaded every minute from the App Store. This is a live feed showing the activity of 20,000 popular apps currently on the store. Every time a customer downloads an app, its icon lights up (5-min delay).

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.

Loving this. Check the kid going off in the opening scenes. Plus, if you like this you’ll probably enjoy my previous post on the iBand. Big respec to Olly C in the UK for the link.

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!

Big phat link to PSFK for the news.

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.

Few local celebs in the crowd.

First seen on Networked Performance

Big shout to the Thaddeus for sending the link to this ‘graphical interactive music making tool‘ (gasp). By moving the coloured circles (each pertaining to a sound) within the main circle you can increase the volume and compose your piece. It looks good too.

Just cut and paste the code and stick it where you like (not there). Whether its your MySpace/Bebo profile, your Blogger (blog) or you simply want to add it to your own site. Rich media for everyone! Go grab videos, games and custom widgets.

First read about Spring Widgets on Mashable my new favourite blog.

You can fly around most major cities in the world, Mars and the Moon! You can crash land (that’s the only way to land) and shoot at things… I’m off to London to shoot my flat, and I might do a fly by of Host in Sydney.. the afternoons looking great!

Big shout out to Mark Caswell-Daniels who developed it as a viral marketing piece to promote his work and portfolio.