True Digital - News & Experiments

Editors promote new album through Google Steetview

The Editors have joined up with Google to promote their upcoming album release. Users can view 360 degree views of the city that inspired the album while they listen.

A nice idea that brings something extra to the album experience.

Touch screens can be great - But only when they actually improve the experience

Thanks to the iPhone touch screen is all the rage, people now expect it on the latest mobiles and the technology is starting to spread elsewhere.

We often forget that touch screen technology is hardly new, you'll find plenty of touch screen booths around various tourist attractions and city centres across the UK. However, these touch screen experiences didn't really add anything to the experience and were only present as more of a security measure rather than anything else.

But the iPhone has shown how the touch screen can actually improve experience. The above example demonstrates how using google maps on a large scale can be improved by touch screen. It uses Microsoft surface which can bring the interactive touch screen experience to the table top.

What people must remember is that the iPhone touch screen works because it improves the mobile browsing experience. The Microsoft surface works in the in the context above because firstly it is plausible people might gather round a table to view such content and the Google map experience can be enhanced by touch screen technology. Touch screen will not always add to the experience, and it might even hinder it, it is key that alternatives have been explored and it has been proven that touch screen is actually adding something.

Bokode: The latest in a long line of new barcodes

In previous posts we've looked at various types of bar-codes such as the QR code and the Microsoft Tag, and how with the use of mobile phones these bar-codes or tags can help augment digital content to the real world.

Although tagging technology is being used in the UK, we are still along way off reaching the true potential of the technology like they have been doing for years in other countries such as Japan.

The very latest in tagging technology is called Bokode (see above) and it offers various advantages over the current offerings. Bokodes are made up of an LED, covered with a tiny mask and a lens. This enables them to be read by mobiles just like QR codes, however bokodes can be read from much greater distances or even when out of foucs, furthermore, than can store a much greater amount of information than all the current offerings. As well as the technological advantages, bokodes are significanlty smaller than all other codes and could be placed on materials much less invasively.

Bokodes could indeed be the tagging technology of the future, but with each individual tag costing £3, and the current need for an illuminated LED light, I don't think we'll be seeing them all over the place just yet.

The King of Pop lives on - Thanks to social media

This week the world got the chance to say goodbye to Michael Jackson. The official memorial service was held in LA on Tuesday, and was watched by over 6 million people in the UK. But this was nothing compared to what was happening on the web, Facebook saw an extra 2,000 status updates every minute during the service, and reports state that global web traffic was 19% above normal.

Aside from Tuesday's official tribute the web played host to plenty of tributes to the king of pop throughout the week. There were two particularity nice sites that made great use of user generated content.

The Eternal Moonwalk gave us a user generated never ending moonwalk. Users upload videos of their finest moonwalking which are then stitched together to create an all singing all dancing everlasting tribute.

Billie Tweets plays the Jackson hit Billie Jean and pulls out every word of the song from recent posts to Twitter. Simple, but enjoyable watch, and of course thanks to Twitter it's different every time. 

Augmented Reality gets useful - Mobile Internet goes to the next level

Augmented reality has been impressing us for a while now, but if it's going to be more than just a passing fad it's going to have to actually get useful. If the video above is anything to go by then it might just become very useful indeed.

This is a demo of a new service available on for Google Android mobile phones called Layer. They call it the world's first mobile augmented reality browser, and it lets you get real time information about your surroundings just by pointing your mobile camera.

Something very similar has been created by Mobilizy called wikitude which provides information from wikipedia on what you point your mobile at.

Rumour has it that work is under way for a iPhone 3G S version of Layar, and it might be on Apple's latest new and improved handset that the service comes into it's own thanks to both the technology provided by the iPhone as well as it's large Mobile Internet friendly audience.

It looks like Augmented Reality is here to stay, and it might be the kind of technology that takes the mobile Internet to the next level.

Will QR codes ever take off outside of Japan?

QR codes have been ‘big in Japan’ for years now, and back in 2008 QR codes were receiving plenty of attention in the UK and elsewhere and it seemed it might not be long before the QR code was common place in countries other than Japan. But now well into 2009 the QR code is yet to really take off outside of Japan, with clear benefits for both brands and users, why is this so?

Chances are since 2008 a lot more people have come into contact with QR codes. Within the UK major brands such as Pepsi and Volvo have been experimenting with QR codes, and although not common place many people now have some understanding of what these strange little black and white boxes are. But even with improved understanding, QR codes are not being used regularly within the UK.

QR stands for ‘Quick Response’ and many of the reasons for the lack of success can be brought back to the fact that activity within the UK does not satisfy this definition. The point of a QR code is that it offers the user a way they can save time and effort, it allows them to be  ‘quick’. For example, users see a advert and they want to know more, they don’t need to wait till they get to a computer they can use their phone, and they don’t need to go to the effort of searching for the content or type in a long URL, they simply scan the code and the information is delivered. But the majority of campaigns seem to have forgotten this and are assuming people will scan the QR code just for the experience of scanning a QR code. This might work for a few curious first time users, but the majority will require an incentive.

Another major issue that interferes with how ‘quick’ the service is that in the UK the majority of phones do not have an inbuilt QR code reader. Users have to download an application in order to use their camera as a QR scanner, and for some users these applications are not compatible with their phones. Either there will have to be some major incentives to get people to download the application or it needs to become standard issue on new mobiles.

It seems that the technology that the average person has access to in the UK does not make using a QR code a viable option. What’s more many uses of the QR are based around internet access and the majority of people in the UK still don’t have the handsets and the data plans to make make accessing the mobile Internet a regular activity.

So it seems for the QR code to take off firstly we need an improvement in the technology available to the average user, preferably all new phones will have an inbuilt QR code reader and then just as important is that the QR codes produced actually provide users with an incentive to use them. This might be years rather than months away, and by then there might be other technology available. Currently there are some very similar alternatives to the QR code, these include the datamatrix code and the Microsoft Tag. Either a single code needs to be established or code readers need to be able to read all types of short code.

Furthermore, there are other similar services becoming available which use a similar concept but take things to another level, such as Snaptell and Nokia Point & Find. These services work in a similar way in which relevant content from the Internet is delivered to the user in a quick and easy manner, however in this case users don’t need to scan a code they simply take a photo of the relevant content. Snaptell can provide a product price comparison just by the user taking a photo of the product in question, Nokia Point & Find can be used to show the user a film trailer just by them taking a photo of a poster for the film.

So it seems the UK is not quite ready for the QR code to take off, and when it is it might not be the QR code we see being used, but a more advanced service based upon the concept of the QR code . As accessing the Internet via a mobile device becomes more popular so will these technologies that can save the user time and effort. Brands need to be ready when their target audience reaches this stage but need to remember that such a service simply acts as a gateway and is worthless unless users actually desire the content to which the gateway leads.

Social Media: Do you need to reinvent the wheel?

It’s claimed that in Mesopotamia (part of modern day Iraq) 3500BC one of the most important tools ever was invented. That tool was the wheel, however the original use of the wheel is unlikely to be the use that most people would automatically associate it with in the current day. In 3500BC the wheel was used in pottery as what we would now call the ‘potters wheel’, and it was not until 3200BC that the wheel was used for transportation (contrary to evidence from the Flintstones…). This is a clear demonstration of how the use of a tool is not necessarily defined by its intended or original use, all that really matters is if the tool can be used to achieve specific goals.

Jump forward 5000 or so years and we can see how the same principles of a tool can be applied to modern day Social Media. The first thing to make clear is that Social Media is a tool, it is something that can (and in the case of many brands should) be used to help you achieve specific goals.

Twitter was positioned (and still is on the homepage) as a tool for people to let friends, family, and co-workers know what they’re doing. Of course people do use the service for this use, but many others have found many other ways to make use of twitter. For example many people are using the service to exchange information with people they’ve never met, and using the information provided by the service as a real time search of almost any subject. It’s not important that these uses were not the intended use of the tool, all that matters is that the tool is helping people achieve their desired objectives (what ever these might be).

Youtube was originally set up with the goal to allow ordinary computer users the chance to post their video content online. There is no disputing it has been successful in this aim, however, if you look to the most watched on youtube you’ll see that this is not the only way people are using the tool. In fact the majority of most watched videos on youtube are actually music videos, many of these have not been posted by ‘ordinary computer users’ but by large corporations, furthermore, many users are not actually watching these videos but simply using youtube as a music player. Once again the original use of the tool remains (as with the wheel and twitter) but the tool has really shown it’s true potential when it has been used in ways that were not necessarily intended.

So as with the wheel there is no correct way to use Social Media tools, the key is to find how the tool can work best for you or your brand, and in some instances this might even require discovering another way in which the tool can be used. Potters used the wheel in a very different way to cart vendors, just as groups of friends use twitter differently to brands, and how budding film makers use youtube differently to record companies. But even though there is such variation in the use of the individual tools no one group can claim to be using the tool in a manner better than the other, success is completely context relevant.

The most successful tools will have many uses and appeal to many different people, but even the most successful tools can’t be used by everyone. If there is no way the tool can be used to achieve your objectives then it’s not the right tool for you, you’ll need to find a different tool or tools to achieve your objectives. So therefore just because brand A is using a social media tool with great success does not mean brand B can use the same tool in the same manner to achieve similar success. Brand B needs to find a way to make the tool work for their specific goals or maybe even look to different tools altogether to which their goals are better suited.

10 great things about the Internet made even better by mobile

The Internet, perhaps one of the most useful inventions of all time is going to get a whole lot more useful when we can access it any time anywhere thanks to our mobile devices.

Here’s a list of some great things, that thanks to mobile can be made even better.

1. Social Networking

Create an event on facebook, but then want to change the venue, fine if it’s two days before the event, not so good if it’s 2 hours. But with mobile people can keep up to date just before the event. What’s more you’ll even be able to create an event just hours before. See an old friend at such an event, but don’t remember anything about them? No problem just have a quick check on facebook on your mobile and you’ll get all you need, checking the relationship status can also avoid those inappropriate questions!

2. Uploading digital photos

Now you can take photos on your internet enabled camera phone, or even your internet enabled camera. No longer do you have to wait till you get to a computer and go through the hassle of uploading, just upload in real time via your mobile device. What’s more thanks to GPS technology have your mobile device automatically geo tag each one of your photos. With things so instant and easy, more and more photos will become available many with real time relevance. Want to check out what a place looks like before you go, these days you should be able to find an image but soon they’ll be many more, and many showing you exactly what it looks like that very day.

3. Shopping comparison

Out shopping on the high street, see something you like, but not sure if it might be worth waiting to get it cheaper online? Just check on your mobile, to find the answer. With the latest technology from Snaptel (currently USA only) you simply take a photo of the item you want and the Snaptell application will run an instant price comparison, find it cheaper then you can buy it online then and there.

4. Online reviews

These days nearly everyone uses online reviews, but still only a small proportion of people actually contribute any reviews themselves. This might be for various reasons, the main issues are likely to be related effort and the fact that by the time you get to a computer after the experience the issue is no longer in the forefront of your mind. Now people can review things as they experience them, not only will you be able to find more reviews, but for things not previously available. For example thinking of going to a club, just check the latest reviews from people already there. Twitter is proving to be a great platform for such reviews, people are sharing their experiences as they happen in 140 characters and these are available for people to view just by searching for the relevant hash tag in Twitter search.

5. Searching for telephone numbers

It’s not hard to get a telephone number these days, get on the computer, and search the company name and the word phone, and google will magically find it for you. Could it get any easier? Yes! With mobile internet there’s no need find a computer, just go to google on your mobile, put in the company name and google will recognise you’re on a phone and display the phone number without you having to go to all that effort of typing ‘phone’ (actually on some phones this can be pretty useful), then there’s no need to go and find your phone (it’s in your hand!) or even type in the number just click (or touch) on the number and you’ll be chatting in no time.

6. E-tickets

Thanks to E-tickets we can buy tickets for things closer to the event (or departure time) than postage times had previously allowed us, without actually having to make a journey to go and buy tickets. But thanks to mobile this process can be further improved. No longer do we have to print off tickets, codes can be text to our phones, and internet enabled phones should even be able to display full tickets including images and barcodes. What’s more thanks to the mobile internet we order E-tickets even closer to event, if you’re already out and about you needn’t try and find a computer or a ticket office, just purchase on your phone and receive your E-ticket straight away. Some services also operate which allow you to simply order your ticket and payment can be taken off your mobile bill.

7. Wikipedia

Thanks to wikipedia debates such as how many different flavours are there in a bag of skittles, or what was Christmas number 1 in 2000, need never go unanswered. But where do most of these questions arise? Down the pub of course! You need never lose that £10 on your misguided faith of your knowledge of Angelina Jolie’s age, or how many league cups Man Utd have won.

8. Augmented reality

Augmented reality is the merging of the real world and the virtual world into one, this is often done using a webcam to film ‘reality’ and this is presented on a computer with virtual elements included. This can look great presented on a computer or laptop, but it’s when you get mobile involved that real possibilities emerge. Digital information can be attached pretty much anything in the real world, and mobile phones can be used simply as a tool to view this. Point your mobile camera at a view and you’ll be able to see all the digital information attached to that scene, such as road and building names. This isn’t just a future possibility, it’s something that is already being developed for phones that run google android.

9. Maps

Pretty obviously it’s much more useful to have virtual map with you rather than back at home as your navigate your way through this world, you could of course print one out, but that can’t locate your position via GPS, and who want to go to all that effort of pressing the print button. What’s more with your virtual map you can get up to date changes such as traffic problems, you can search the internet for information about the area you’re in, and soon you might even be able to see the location of you friends in your map view.

10. How to guides

These days you can pretty much find out how to anything just by searching on the Internet. Anything from how to cook a chocolate soufflé or how to fix a bike tyre, it’s all their with all the text, images, or videos you could ever need. But the problem is we don’t always have access to these guides when we might need them the most. It’s not very practical to take your computer outside while you change that tyre, or that you don’t have that computer on you when you get a puncture miles from home! But with your mobile you need never be without your help guides ever again.

Of course there’s many more things about the Internet that mobile access will improve (we could have had way more than 10 based on search alone), and there’s many more things that we’ll be able to do unlike anything that was possible before. But what this relatively short and simple list does demonstrate is just how important mobile internet access is going to become.

Twitter: What you can do and how you can do it

Twitter: What you can do and how you can do it

View more presentations from truedigital.

A short history of marketing and the latest dramatic shift

Scholz & Friends: "Dramatic shift in marketing reality" - aka "A short history of marketing" ... from Michael Reissinger on Vimeo.

This is a great little video from Germany that provides a little bit of marketing history and nicely demonstrates how our new digital culture is changing everything.

Source: Michael Reissinger