As the iPad gets closer to arrival publishers seem to be flexing their digital prowess. The first video shows Adobe working with WIRED on how their magazine will come to life on a plethora of upcoming tablets and iPad like devices. Then the video below shows a number of Penguin titles brought to life for the iPad. From Spot the dog, showing that it’s child’s play to have fun with the loveable character, to a D&K Stargazer book on astronomy that makes all of us an expert on the night sky.

It must be said that I was a bit underwhelmed with the launch of the iPad – I wanted more. But I’m now getting pretty excited about its release and the positive upheaval its going to cause in publishing, education, and accessibility to information and knowledge. If Apple can revolutionise reading – like they did music – then we’ll all be better for it.

A new friend in NYC just sent me the link to the Chalkbot created by Deeplocal for Nike and the 2009 Tour de France, the idea lives on the website ‘Wear Yellow’.

In short you can send a message of hope and inspiration to cancer survivors and suffers. The idea is brought to life by placing that message in front of Lance Armstrong as he rides. The message is printed on the road, photographed and then sent back to a gallery where the author can forward to friends.

A brilliant example of digital physical ideas.

The video explains it better than I do.

The clip got me thinking. Story writing comes to life through a variety of mediums. A book, allows you to get inside the head of the characters, get direct access to their internal thoughts. TV, stories can be told through interpersonal relationships. And film, due to its longer format and cinematic delivery, often explores the human condition and delves into bigger questions. Of course there are many types of books, TV shows and films that break these rules – but ultimately this is what the mediums afford the writer to get their story across.

An interactive/digital narrative remains un-defined in how to lead a user through a story or stories. Often ego-driven, whereas I the user am in control, but can the talents of writers and directors come to life in these new channels?

In the internet only ‘Where are the Joneses’, the 2007 interactive comedy, is still the only example I can think of that tries a new method of story creation, where viewers/users help create and steer the story from a simple idea. The traditional role of a writer, as storyteller, is removed and the idea of them as ‘nurturer’ and ‘guide’ directs the story writing via forums and wiki’s.

The TV series LOST deployed cross-channel narratives. The ARG allowing fans to delve deeper, yet the primary story still lives out in the episode-by-episode format. The Dark Knight, Cloverfield etc. have all deployed ARG’s to create hype around launch and expectation. But it doesn’t actually become the story – it remains peripheral content that draws you to the primary storytelling medium.

The above-mentioned film and TV examples are for a certain type of audience – one that wants to delve deeper, to crack the code, unveil the clue and so forth. Perhaps its mobile, in the context of the shared clip, that provides us with a real opportunity to create a new type of storytelling?

Jen talks about screens, the 1st Cinema, 2nd TV, 3rd Computer and the 4th Mobile. Each screen providing the user a different experience, the first and second, sit back – the third, lean forward – and the fourth, mobile, a truly personal experience. However, does it mean we have to stay within the screen?

In the last few days IBM and OgilvyOne London launched an Android app for Wimbledon 2009. Amongst other things the app allows visitors to Wimbledon to get information on everything in their proximity. Simply point the phone and the onboard GPS, compass and camera identifies what you’re looking at. Superimposing the scores from centre court, restaurant and other location information on its screen. [see it in action here]

Forget tennis for a minute and observe how that environment is bringing a deeper experience. In the case of storytelling the environment could set the scene – and then the user explores the space to bring in pieces of the story – choosing a narrative path.

Augmented reality activated by environment throws up a world of possibility. Imagine pointing your device at the wall, you see characters whispering – the floor, a body lies motionless – you then search the rest of the space for the story. Every room, building and environment now has the opportunity to truly share its story – or one that we wish to bring to a space.

Writers and directors should be ablaze with ideas at the possibilities ‘augmented storytelling’ throws up. Whereas for me and the rest of the digital marketing world let us see how clients can fund these experiments so we can push this new and exciting space.

More…
35 augmented reality examples on Bannerblog

Bob Maddox bolted a dual-exhaust pulse jet engine to the side of an ordinary bicycle, donned a leather jacket and helmet and then held on tight as he peeled off a 73-mph run down a deserted back road.

Found these great pictures and article on WIRED

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.

Hoorah for Tom, another inspirational share to add to my collection of ‘digital educational’ videos (now topping 14).

“When Microsoft decides to imagine the future, it never fails to impress.”

Shame they struggle with the present.

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.

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

A 35-minute feature filmed entirely in Second Life has been sold to HBO. Its entitled ‘Molotov’s Dispatches in Search of the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey’. The video below is an overview of the feature, below that is the trailer.

This cross medium narrative I find extremely inspiring. Second Life inhabitants have been filming/recording their world since its inception – but this ‘first life / second life’ character analogy is brilliant – its not just role-playing in what could be seen as a ‘virtual studio’. It’ll be good to see if the story works for film fans – and is not eclipsed by Second Life. It seems to me that the story cannot be told without Second Life, its integral to the narrative – which is why I think we’ll see this potentially becoming a milestone in both film and online media. Everyday there’s something new, don’t you love the fact that evolution is everywhere and in everything!

About the feature, grabbed from MolotovAlva.com;

In January 2007, a man named Molotov Alva, disappeared from his Californian home. Recently, a series of video dispatches by a Traveler of the same name have appeared within a popular online world called Second Life.

In these dispatches Molotov Alva encounters everything from Furries to Cyberpunks to Neo-Luddites to Sex Slaves to the King of the Hobos, Orhalla Zander, who becomes Molotovs guide as he searches for the creator of their brave new world.

Filmmaker Douglas Gayeton came across these video dispatches and put them together into a documentary of seven episodes.

An interview with Douglas Gayeton on SubmarineChannel

Read the Press Release on PRWeb

The Burble is a massive structure reaching up towards the sky, composed of approximately 1000 extra-large helium balloons each of which contains microcontrollers and LEDs that create spectacular patterns of light across the surface of the structure. The public, both audience and performer, come together to control this immense rippling, glowing, bustling ‘Burble’ that sways in the evening sky, in response to movements of the long articulated interactive handle bar at the base of the structure. The ephemeral experience exists at such a large scale that it is able to compete visually in an urban context with the buildings that surround it.

Again – I’m dismayed at living in Australia when you see work like this coming to life in my home city of London. That said, there is always something somewhere which I’d like to experience.

Moët Chandon commissioned Architect Usman Haque to bring to life the ‘Golden Spectacle’. Particularly like the idea of 150 people making this installation come to life… true audience participation!

Get the lowdown from the Guardian.
Big shout to the BigShinyThing crew for the heads-up – made my Monday morning!
The installation is new to London, but was first seen in the Singapore in 2006 (see video).

This is a picture of my friend wheel, all the people I’m connected to through Facebook. Great application developed by Thomas Fletcher. There are a number of custom settings you can mess around with – have a play. Go here to get the Facebook Friendwheel application.

You cant fail to see the ongoing potential of Google Maps, they’re simply on another planet when it comes to mapping our world. Panoramic image integration is just the beginning…

The screen consists of concrete with embedded optical fibres, arranged as pixels, capable of transmitting natural as well as artificial light. The light-admission points are on the back of the screen where the fibres are positioned. The light, or the picture, will then be displayed in pixels on the front. The light source can be a projector emitting either pictures or film footage. In principle, the screen is capable of acting as a window since – owing to the combination of the screen concept’s light-absorption and optical cables – it has a capacity for transmitting natural light.

Read more at the Innovation Lab