LAYAR: SPRXMobile recently launched Layar, “the world’s first augmented reality browser for mobile.” Layar “displays real-time digital information on top of reality in the camera screen of a mobile device. While looking through the phone’s camera lens, a user can see houses for sale, popular bars and shops, jobs, healthcare providers and ATMs.” Layar premiered on the Android platform in the Netherlands yesterday, with five launch partners: ING (bank), funda (realty website), Hyves (social network), Tempo-team (temp agency) and Zekur.nl (healthcare provider). Until this amazing utility is available State-side, you can read more and view screenshots at Layar.eu, and/or watch this YouTube demonstration.

TRACKLE: We recently learned during research for a client that, while some people are aware that they use RSS on a regular basis, many users of RSS are not aware of what it is even though they already subscribe to updates from their favorite sites, podcasts, and the like. People don’t know what RSS is – and they don’t need to. It's not the simplest thing to describe: say, “oh, it means ‘really simply syndication’” and you haven’t really explained it any better. The challenge becomes: how do you say “subscribe to this content or update” in a way that’s more intuitive? You could come up with a name/skin for RSS feeds and alerts that implies "a way to track your favorite digital content"… Trackle, currently in beta, aims to be an effortless way to keep you notified about all the things that are important to you. There's already a whole catalog of Tracklets to choose from.

GET HUMAN: Automated phone systems are notoriously clumsy and user-unfriendly. When you have a problem you need addressed by customer service, talking to a glorified answering machine often only exacerbates your frustration. The desire to circumvent automated systems and speak directly to a human was the impetus for GetHuman, a site that collects all the ways to “bypass phone systems, talk to a live person, share customer help tips”. GetHuman isn't exactly new, but their new mobile app is. Now it’s even easier to get better customer service from anywhere with the free Get Human app on your iPhone or iPod Touch (iTunes App Store link).

TWEET PSYCH: See what your Twitter may reveal about you with TweetPsych. "TweetPsych uses two linguistic analysis algorithms to build a psychological profile of a person based on the content of their tweets". It works best on account with more than 1000 tweets, but may still be revealing when applied to those with fewer.

In Bb 2.0 takes the next step in YouTube-fuelled musical collaboration demonstrated by Kutiman's Thru-You and Tan Dun and Internet Orchestras. Named for the tuning of each clip, In Bb 2.0 is designed to give the viewer more control over the remix (though "Start All" and "Stop All" controls would be a welcome addition). Create Digital Music described it simply: “As the name implies, everything will blend, so you can start the videos as you wish, and control volume with the volume sliders. It’s part of the ongoing evidence that sometimes simple ideas can be deeply musical and effective."

Tinker is a Twitter aggregation tool that aggregates Tweets into “events” – and does so in a way its creators claim is “brand-safe” (filtering out negative conversation, surfacing only positive conversation in the form of what Tinker calls “events”). In some respects this is a step away from the Web’s overall leanings toward greater transparency. In another respect, Tinker makes Twitter more useful for marketers, which could in turn draw even more users into the Twitter and micro-blogging universe. Watch this Tinker demo video and visit Tinker.com to sign up and learn more.

It will be interesting to see what comes of Amazon’s Kindle Publishing for Blogs. Amazon describes it as “a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets you upload your blog for sale in the Kindle Store”. See that part about “for sale” in there? My hunch is that makes more sense for an already-free blog to remain free when read on a Kindle, but I have yet to create an account and explore Amazon’s broader publishing program further. If you have, kindly share your experience in the comments. Thanks.

Folks from all around the Tribal DDB network have been getting more-than-acqainted with Augmented Reality (AR). To pick up where I left off with my last post about AR, here is a great example of AR in action, from our fellow Tribalites in Hong Kong.

In the few years it has been running, McDonald's Dip Jack promotion is one of the most popular programs in Hong Kong. To build on this success, and target for remarkable sales results this year, Tribal was asked to develop an integrated through-the-line campaign that strongly engages consumers in a way that highlights the uniqueness of Dip McNuggets.

Tribal DDB Hong Kong bet Augmented Reality (AR) technology would perfectly fit the Dip McNuggets promotion. And they were right. This McNuggets "Do the Dip" 3D game, not only extends the excitement long after the food is comsumed, but also playfully reinforces the "Dip action". (Click here to view in English, or here to view a demo video on YouTube.)

A unique AR code is printed on every puzzle card (received with purchase of a McDonald's McNugget meal), consumers simply visit the local McDonald's HK website, point their card at their web cam, and a virtual McNugget becomes a gamepiece for three different mini-games: Fast Dip, Follow & Dip and Catch & Dip.

Giving McDonald's fans a new way to play with their food seems to be paying off, too. Just one month after launch, "Do the Dip" has attracted more than 173,000 page views, over 8,000 people registered on the site and generated an astounding 30,000 game plays.

 
Thanks for the tip, Kaya!

Taking a moment to put together three pieces of news coming out of the Google camp this week.

Two pieces pertain to YouTube. First, pictured, is a more deliberate mix of Hollywood and homegrown video content. An article on Wired's Epicenter blog reveals that Sony is the latest Hollywood partner to work with YouTube to "better promote authorized versions of full-length movies and TV shows on the site". The article goes on to quote Google CEO Eric Schmidt, saying that this new featured content will remain free for the time being, but that the company does "expect over time to see micropayments and other forms of subscription models coming" to YouTube.

Add to this news of YouTube's partnership with Universal Music Group to offer VEVO, "a music and video entertainment hub featuring UMG's premium content" and you start to see where things are headed: more premium content, and the potential to pay for access to it.

The third piece of news makes this even more interesting. Om Malik posts that Google's Android operating system is being ported to set-top boxes designed "to play DVDs, CDs and featuring a full-fledged Chrome-type browser". As Malik suggests, this positions Android as the operating system for a new generation of fourth-screen devices. With the provisions already being made for premium and potentially paid content at YouTube and VEVO, Malik's suggestion appears to have some promise.

2009 could be a big year for Android. But will it also be the year we start paying to watch videos on YouTube?

I spent some time this afternoon researching Augmented Reality (AR) for a couple client initiatives, and for our own curiosity. What I found was too cool not to share...

Augmented Reality is working its way into everyday use, thanks to the likes of Google’s Street View, as seen from Android which uses the device’s accelerometer and compass to re-orient the on-screen view to the direction you’re standing or holding your phone. See it here.

Of course, we wanted to find more than just Street View... Next, an exploration of an iPhone app by Pankaku called Xmas Camera2. It was intriguing, but left something(s) to be desired. You’ll see what I mean once you compare to the next link.

ARf is an Augmented Reality pet application, still very much in development at Georgia Tech. Lucky for us, there’s a video of it in action – click here to view it.

A step beyond ARf is this amazing Augmented Reality program developed for Topps Baseball Cards. From Topps’ 9 March 2009 press release:

“For Total Immersion, Topps 3D Live trading cards represent the company's first consumer product available commercially, introducing a broad audience to augmented reality, an interactive experience where virtual components are dynamically merged into a live video stream in real time.

Interactive code cards can be found in every pack of Topps 2009 Baseball Series 1 pack and also in packs of the new Topps Attax baseball card game. Fans log on to www.toppstown.com, enter the Topps 3D Live section and select the player on the code card. Once the player is selected and the program is initialized, it's game on! By simply holding the card under a standard webcam, the player magically pops up from the card onscreen and springs to life. Players can then be rotated around, and fans can control the action with just a keystroke or two as it unfolds on the desktop.”

How do you quantify good design? What are the parameters, the points of reference? Coming up empty? I did. I think that's part of the reason why we talk about innovation so much. Innovation is big and important and quantifiable: I've never heard of a bad innovation, and the best ones make history. It would seem that it's bullet proof by nature. But the way it's increasingly being used as a poor adjunct or even replacement for the creativity that makes design inherently critical to the development of an idea.

BusinessWeek’s darling of design Bruce Nussbaum (along with many others) helped propel the modern concept of innovation into the spotlight. Positioned as a type of uber-design rooted in business needs, this version of the process would indicate that all great creations are driven by analytics and data points.

FastCompany thinks that’s a load, and reminds us that design is more than just the tangible outcome of analytics and strategy, but the result of a creative process that in some ways can't be quantified (think of the contributions of Apple's Jonathan Ive or former design lead for BMW, Chris Bangle).

Which brings me to the Google part. This week, Doug Bowman left Google as the lead of their visual design discipline in part because of the rigid review process they placed on his teams. Forced to justify every decision, he believes that the engineering logic that made Google king is the very thing that is keeping them from making those tough, daring choices that can make or break a great idea.

Testing 41 different shades of blue for a navigation bar, for instance, is what Google's Marissa Mayer would suggest is the correct way to decide on the "right" design, which seems to miss the point. Great design fulfills emotional needs as well as practical ones: The iPod is not the cheapest device of its kind, and in some cases has similar or subpar features compared to competitors. But when you hold it in your hand or see it on your desk, it stirs something that can't be captured in an Excel chart. Design requires ability, conviction, and a gut instinct to elevate it beyond basic needs into the realm of desire.

PS. Word is, Bowman is going to Twitter. Go figure.

Three notable links for this fourth edition...

Flip for simplicity. Matt at 37signals' Signal vs. Noise shows us the elegantly minimal instruction manual for the Flip video camera (above). He points out that if a product does less, it becomes easier to explain and easier to use, and that serves as a form of advertising unto itself.

Relax, Charmin’s got your back. Charmin cleans up in the "social app to locate clean restrooms" category with Sit Or Squat - available via browser or Blackberry and iPhone apps, augmented by a presence on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon. Sit Or Squat began as a small blog in 2007, but after some growth and sponsorship help from Charmin, it’s proven itself more useful than locationally-limited apps like Diaroogle (previously on Tribal Drum).

A bicycle built for two thousand. Crowd-sourced singing may not replace American Idol any day soon, but Aaron Koblin and Daniel Massey could be (creepy) contenders someday. Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk web service, they captured 2,088 voices saying/singing various syllables and stitched it together to sing Daisy Bell.

* Thanks to Brett Eveleth for his contributions (first and third items above) to this edition of Linkage.

According to a Chicago Tribune article, the Federal Trade Commission wants to change the rules for endorsements in advertising. From the article:

Of course, this is significant news for advertisers - especially those who rely on atypical results to attract consumers to their products and services. A post about the Trib article on Consumerist suggests that Subway spokesman Jared Fogle (pictured) may soon be out of a job due to the proposed FTC rule. That's potentially bad news for Jared, but the demand for transparency from marketers is good news for consumers.

Image: AP photo by Ivan Chavez, August 7, 2001 - via Chicago Tribune.

Keynote starting at 9:00 am pacific with Bill Buxton and Scott Guthrie. Anticipating much discussion on Silverlight 3 -- beta tools are already available for download:

• Silverlight 3 Beta SDK: http://tinyurl.com/crfogs
• Silverlight 3 Tools for Visual Studio: http://tinyurl.com/d7q4v9
• Expression Blend Preview for Silverlight 3: http://tinyurl.com/ckapmy (Link not yet active)

Reminder, follow us on Twitter: @pauldain and @caubry.

Another batch of interesting and inspiring links, plucked again from Scott Rench's "That's Edutainment" emails.

Yellow Arrow
From the site: “Combining stickers, mobile phones and an international community, Yellow Arrow transforms the urban landscape into a "deep map" that expresses the personal histories and hidden secrets that live within our everyday spaces.” Granted, you have to know to look for a yellow arrow to take advantage of this project… but with 7535 arrows throughout 467 cities in 35 countries, it seems like more than a few people get the point.

This Next
This Next is a social shopping network where visitors interact with community-validated taste makers and influencers to discover new and recommended products.

Diaroogle
Here's how Scott described it: "We have all had that OMG moment where you are running and not walking in search of public bathroom. Now there is an app that lets you find only the quality public toilets in your area." That app is Diaroogle. There's also an iPhone app version, which will be handy once more cities are included. (So far, "your area" is limited to New York City.)

LikeMe
LikeMe is a personalized recommendation engine, based on input from your online peers. The site's algorithmic engine matches you up with people who have similar tastes and lifestyles to give you recommendations you're most likely to enjoy.

Interactive Vending
Sapient's innovative vending macines for Coke debuted recently, and offer an interesting look into the ways we'll soon experience with brands in real-space. Link to Gizmodo.com article.

Thanks again for the links, Scott. Great stuff.