Social Hallucinations

The Extensions of Man

Technology empowers. Photo camera that enables people to create memories that would be lost if not for the camera. Camera that becomes the extention of the man.Well captured by Samsung.

via Scary ideas

 

The Art of Adaptation

How to catch people's attention and make them eat baby carrots? How do you make baby carrots cool? Well, the solution can be packaging them like junk food. You just need to adapt to people's needs and expectations. The question is whether the chips-like packaging will turn carrots into the new cool, people want to eat.

Packaging design by Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Via USA Today

People Do Anything to Get High

apparently...human inventiveness in this matter is invaluable

Via: Medical Billing

 

Internet Memes - what, how and where?

What makes us laugh? What makes talk? What is worth sharing? The overview of internet memes.

Via: Online University

 

What is Facebook Places?

Facebook Places has been launched in US and will soon reach probably the rest of the world. Some deaths are being discussed (Foursquare) as we try find out what Facebook places will mean for people and marketers.

Facebook for marketing as other geo-location services has a huge potential but how the potential turns out depends on the inventiveness of companies in adding more meaning to checking in. Checking-in is fun, especially in the first phase. It is like a game. The thrill of becoming a mayor, getting the badge. Then comes competitiveness. Ousting your friends from places and taking over their mayorship. Trying the first specials...and it appears there are no more specials near you. You just check-in less and less often. You ask yourself - why I should check-in. You lack the purpose. I believe the success of Facebook places for business will depend on the sense of purpose it manage to deliver to people.

As it goes for people, Facebook places will make geo-location accessible to broader audience. It will be another tool for sharing with friends where we are and what we are doing. As my colleague Lara wrote in her post on privacy: "Places provides us with another way of keeping tabs on our friends, of letting people know what we’re up to, of sharing what is basically unnecessary information with anyone and everyone we choose. It’s also another foray in to our private world, and will no doubt meet harsh critique from users who suddenly realise that what is actually private about their lives is diminishing at a very rapid rate."

Watch how you can check in with Facebook Places

 

The Future is Anchored in the Present

Once we used to believe it will be Google and Amazon who share the power and newspapers will be dead. We had no idea about the role Facebook will play. Why? Because we are anchored in the present. We believe in linear development of media and technology. We believe that some of them will progress and evolve undisturbed, while other become extinct. Well, fortunately the universe and people are full of surprises. It is interesting though to watch this video from 2007 and see how things have already took a completely different route.

Hat tip to Helge Tennø

 

Mobile & Social Media in Scandinavia

A demographic study within the Nordics of people mobile phone habits, and social ’s media network habits...men and women, boys and girls, from 15 – 55, from all over the Nordic regions, and from all walks of life....

Mobile & social media in Scandinavia

View more presentations from Vizeum Denmark. or read more about Vizeum

 

BBC Dimensions

Sometimes, it is hard imagine how powerful and big some events can be. We need to set things in perspective. This is what BBC Dimensions does. It takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.

 

 

 

 

Why you should buy art?

via Kitsunenoir

Technology Epitaph is Useless

The latest Chris Anderson's article in Wired on the death of web was rather provoking and caused quite a stir.

What always surprise me is the easiness with which we kill things around and present them as useless. Like we discard old clothes, we try to discard the technology. We've already tried to kill radio, TV and print. All three are still living and doing quite good, but the way they are used has changed.

As history shows, technologies evolve and being shaped by people and their needs they can coexist and merge.

There is some pinch of sensationalism in the way of declaring web dead. Alexis Madrigal from Atlantic responded to Anderson's article: "What's Wrong with X is Dead".

"From the vantage point of the present, it may seem that technologies are deterministic. But this view is incorrect, no matter how plausible it may seem. Cultures select and shape technologies, not the other way around, and some societies have rejected or ignored even the gun or the wheel. For millennia, technology has been an essential part of the framework for imagining and moving into the future, but the specific technologies chosen have varied. As the variety of human cultures attests, there have always been multiple possibilities, and there seems no reason to accept a single vision of the future." (David Nye, Technology Matters)

Killing the web seems like the attempt to simplify and feel more in control over the complex and unpredictable world of people behavior and interactions - choosing a single vision for the future. It is tempting to have a single vision, because it is more manageable and controllable but world keeps on evolving into plenty of parallel and intersecting paths.

There is no need to write an epitaph when nobody died.

The Cross that Divided the Nation

Mixing politics and religion isn't the best idea. Here is the photo story of a cross honouring the victims of the plane crash that killed the late Polish president Lech Kaczynski that has provoked a divide in Polish nation. The religious symbol has become the political weapon.

My photo reportage from my trip to Warsaw: the cross that divided the nation

 

What Athlete are You?

In the constantly jogging, sweating, striving and starving to be fit world where sport achievements are highly valued, this spot from Puma is quite refreshing. It is cool you finished marathon, yes it makes you an athlete but you know what we are all athletes, after hour athletes. It makes me smile. Relax. There is no need to run so fast.

"Because we know it takes just as much effort to score a phone number as it does to score a goal."

 

Transforming the Space

Space is a precious commodity as we populate cities. The more people, the less square meters. Many people struggle today with the housing problems as their families grow. The problem seems to be very difficult to solve, unless you've met Gary Chang - the domestic transformer. He gives the real meaning to the expression "small is the new big" .

This is very inspiring video showing the process of how Gary Chang transformed his 344 sq. ft. apartment into 24 rooms residence. Such solutions will be unavoidable in the near future in majority of cities. Exploiting the space. Optimizing it and making it sustainable. After all we just don't need vast space to live in, what we need is the functionality of the domestic surroundings.

Why Twilight is Popular?

Being teenager is hard - the feeling of being misunderstood by nagging parents, broken hearts, mean girl-friends. It is not easy being insecure. It is painful. You wish often you had superpowers and took revange for all those who were mean to you and didn't invite you to the party last Saturday...well this is where Twilight comes in play. See how it works

 

 

(Don't) Hold a meeting

It is a good post to start the Monday and hopefully change something this week. Stop meetings for meetings sake. Meetings have become the solution. We have problem on agenda let's meet.

Meetings can be good if only everyone is prepared and there is clear plan on how to follow up. So don't waste this week and all the upcoming weeks on fruitless meetings. Let's do something.

Via Johnnie Moore