Gio Gutierrez

Olympus Augmented Reality

// Monday, February 14th, 2011 12:36 pm GMT -5 // No Comments » // Advertising, Random

There is a problem we see time and time again: brands using technology for technology’s sake rather than using it to actually add value to the brand or product message. The biggest culprit in recent years has certainly been Augmented Reality.

Agencies have been swarming to use Augmented Reality (AR) in every campaign, plastering on QR codes and praying that their consumers will actually use them. And hey, if it doesn’t produce positive ROI it will win an award…right?!

We’ve seen very few genuinely useful examples of AR. Crispin and Porter used it to demonstrate the value of a $1 note promoting the Burger King $1 menu and Rayban gave consumers the chance to virtually try on their new range of sunglasses (as demonstrated by our very own Nick Hearne).

Now Olympus is entering that exclusive club of brands using AR to great effect. They have created an AR demo of the new PEN E-PL1 to allow users to virtually test drive the camera. The user holds the special Olympus QR card in front of their webcam; on screen it’s replaced with a dynamic 3D Olympus E-PL1. But the experience goes even further; allowing the user to interact with the camera controls, take photos (of yourself!), shoot video, try the flash, remove the lens and even play with the in-camera effects.

What makes the Olympus AR experience so good is just how useful the virtual experience actually is. It’s sure to engage a more techy audience, and is publicised in consumer mags such as Wired and Popular Science because of this, but it’s a great product demonstration for any user.

It’s refreshing to see Augmented Reality being used for a genuinely useful purpose rather than just another tick on the digital check list. To see the product demonstration in its entirety visit http://www.getolympus.com/pen/

1,000 Free Rollover Minutes on AT&T’s iPhone

// Friday, February 11th, 2011 03:31 pm GMT -5 // 1 Comment » // Random

AT&T launched a promotion to retain its iPhone users by offering some of them 1,000 free rollover minutes. They are doing this via text messaging which you must reply “YES” to in order to accept this. Well boys and girls, guess what… open up your iPhone and text message “YES” to 11113020 (AT&T’s Text Number) and you’ll be credited to your account even if you didn’t receive the text message. Sweeeeeeet!

PS I know this sounds almost too good but it’s 100% true and verified by yours truly!

New Year’s Resolutions: 2011

// Thursday, January 13th, 2011 12:11 am GMT -5 // 2 Comments » // Personal, Random

2010 has been a fantastic year… not only did I accomplish a few things on my list, but I actually continued some resolutions from past years. For example, I met my last cousin in my family tree, “Oscar Suarez“, did a few more workshops, purchased some more art (like this one and this one from Friends With You), stayed w/ my bootcamp regime, and travelled to Sonoma/Napa Valley again.

2011 List:
Take more pics with my Rebel T2i
Start a podcast
See more live music this year
Make another iPhone App
Travel internationally (Africa, Taiwan, Japan, or Thailand)
Travel domestically (DC or Vegas)
Read at least one book a month
Go to MacWorld & ComicCon

2010 List:
SUCCESS: Visit Cuba
FAIL: Visit DC
FAIL: Visit Vegas
SUCCESS: Visit Iceland
FAIL: Learn how to solve the Rubiks Cube
SUCCESS: Moisturize my face everyday now that I’m 32 lol
FAIL: Removal of this tattoo on my back that I got when I was 16 that’s barely visible
FAIL: Changing my own oil in my Prius
FAIL: Go to MacWorld & ComicCon with Dave
SUCCESS: Run a 5K/10K marathon
FAIL: Cook more Indian at home

Onward to 2011!

Golden Globe Nominations and Predictions

// Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 11:51 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Random

Check out the nominees for the 2011 Golden Globes and my predictions in green. (I didn’t vote on any I didn’t feel strong for).

Best Picture, Drama:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Best Picture, Comedy/Musical:
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

Best Actress, Drama:
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Actor, Drama:
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Best Director:
David Fincher, The Social Network
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Best Actress, Comedy:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Emma Stone, Easy A
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

Best Actor, Comedy:
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

TV Series, Drama:
Mad Men
Dexter
Boardwalk Empire
The Good Wife
The Walking Dead

Best Actor, TV Drama:
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

Best Actress, TV Comedy:
Toni Collette, The United States of Tara
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Lea Michele, Glee

Best Actor, TV Comedy:
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matthew Morrison, Glee
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Actress, TV Drama:
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy
Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs

Best Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours

Best Original Song:
“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” by Diane Warren, Burlesque
“Bound to You,” Burlesque
“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See the Light,” by Alan Menken, Tangled
“There’s a Place for Us,” Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Best Supporting Actor, TV:
Chris Colfer, Glee
Chris Noth, The Good Wife
Scott Caan, Hawaii- 5-0
David Strathairn, Temple Grandin
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Best Supporting Actress, TV:
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
Jane Lynch, Glee
Kelly MacDonald, Boardwalk Empire
Julia Stiles, Dexter
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Animated Film:
Tangled
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon
Despicable Me
The Illusionist

TV Series, Comedy:
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie

Best Foreign-Language Film:
I Am Love
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
In a Better World

Best Mini-series
Carlos
The Pacific
Temple Grandin
You Don’t Know Jack
Pillars of the Earth

Best Actress in a Mini-series or TV Movie
Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
Judi Dench, Return to Cranford
Romola Garai, Emma
Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List

Best Actor in a Mini-series or TV Movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Ian McShane, Pillars of the Earth
Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack
Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship
Edgar Ramirez, Carlos

iTunes 10 Is The Best Desktop iTunes Controller

// Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 10:45 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design, Random

Geek Artist Making $50 Caricatures Over FaceTime

// Monday, July 19th, 2010 10:01 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Design, Random

Dlanham Portrait

Does your Twitter/Facebook/IM avatar suck? The answer is likely to be a resounding “probably”. You need a custom caricature, and being a proper geek, you should get it not from the dodgy street-artist with the portfolio of sample “work” downloaded from the internet, but over the actual internet.

That’s just what Dave Lanham, artist extraordinaire and designer at the Icon Factory (the people behind Twitterific and a lot more besides) is doing. Dave is holding FaceTime calls with his iPhone 4 and drawing the portrait of the person at the other end. The hi-resolution Retina display no doubt helps him to see deep into your soul.

The fun started when Dave broke his foot and was left lounging around the house. His friend Gio Gutierrez (right) volunteered for a portrait and then things just got bigger and bigger. Dave is charging $50 per portrait, which you can then use as your online personality (or print on a T-Shirt, we guess, if you are really narcissistic). The demand is likely to be huge, so even if you can’t get on his list, you should check out Dave’s website, which has time-lapse videos of his work being made.

FaceTime Portraits [Dave Lanham on Flickr]

@dlanham [Twitter]

Dave’s website home-page [Dave Lanham]

[Post from Wired by Charlie Sorrel]

Power to the people – publishers take notice!

// Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 01:50 pm GMT -5 // 1 Comment » // Random

Michael Lewis’ latest book - The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine was published recently and the book’s reviews are extremely negative. Most of these reviewers haven’t even read the book! Reviewers are irate due to the fact that publisher WW Norton has decided not to release a Kindle version (nor Nook) of the book at the same time as its hardback release. Example review:

“I’d like to add my name to the list of people who are very disappointed that this book does not have a Kindle edition. No, I haven’t read the book, but I want to — on my Kindle! If all these one star reviews lead to fewer sales, I think that would be a great result and an excellent lesson for the author/publisher.”

I support these efforts 100% because publishers delaying Kindle releases to protect hardback sales is bullshit. Similar to what movie publishers are doing with Netflix, this is only pissing off consumers like myself whose spent hundreds of dollars on a Kindle and its books because we want our media in a different, arguably better format. Publishers should be embracing technology, not hinder it in any way.

At the time of this post, there are 70 one star reviews (more than all others combined) sending a clear message to publishers – we want digital versions now. I’m glad people are doing something about this although it sucks for Michael whom I’m sure has no word on this. Please don’t take it personal Michael, your just the “Rosa Parks” of the digital book revolution.

PS. Had to throw this funny review:

I cannot believe that Mr. Lewis and his publishers have the nerve to produce a book and not simultaneously produce a Na’Vi Audio Version. After watching Avatar, I only speak Na’Vi now with my friends and we wanted to listen to this audiobook – in Na’Vi – while on our summer roadtrip to Pandora. Avatar is the most successful movie ever by some measures. It’s not like we’re asking them to produce one in Xhosa.

Chat Roulette Craze

// Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 11:01 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Random

I’m sure you’ve heard of Chat Roulette by now, but if not, it is this site where you randomly and (NOT SO) anonymously connect to strangers for video chat. This simple concept by a 17 year old boy leads primarily to perversion, but also creates an entirely new way to interact with people that wouldn’t normally take place. For those more socially or creatively inclined, these new outlets and restrictions can lead to amazingly entertaining results. Case in point, this talented musician improvising songs to what he sees when he gets connected. Or this guy tricking people into thinking his eye is a vagina. Simply the best uses of Chat Roulette I’ve seen yet, and clearly the perfect reason to support its continued open existence.

Jay-Z Song Turned Into A Geek Anthem

// Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 01:54 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Random

Some think of “The New Dork” as the “ultimate geek/dork/tech-junkie’s anthem.” I think of it as one of the more amusing parodies of Jay-Z & Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind” and love the geeky shout outs crammed into it.

If you want to sing or rap along, here are the lyrics:

Now I’m in the blogosphere,

Now I’m in the twitterverse

Fans get so immersed, But I’m a nerd forever

I’m the new Zuckerberg, And since my website

I been cookin dough like a chef servin killa-bytes

Used to be the basement, Back at my mom’s place

Buildin web traffic so that we could sell an ad space

Make way for the, One man businesses

Bail outs finished with, White collar criminals

New sega genesis, Entrepreneur time

Makin big plans, To dominate the online

Yeah, I’m on YouTube, this is one man

Sharin’ google revenue, With songs on my webcam

Science is the new art, Databases day to day

Geeks spreadin’ sheet smarts, Hustle, make the data pay

I could be in Valleywag plus Geekologie

Tell from my avatar, That I’m most definitely

The New Dork,

Social networks – what dreams are made of,

There’s nothing you can’t do

Now you’re the New Dork

This V.C. money is brand new, The geek is now damn cool

Let’s hear it for new dorks, new dorks, new dorks

Catch me up in Techcrunch, Right on the homepage

Hell, I’m on Gizmodo, In a photo bout a phone craze

And Im up in Mashable, weekend trip to New York

Bar pitty, 1oak, parties full of New Dorks

Now I’m pitchin business plans, From the backs of napkans

Micro-lend to Africans, Monetize Kazakastan

Catch me up on linked-in, Dog, C.E.O.

You can see where I be, With the I.P.O.

Now I’m up in skinny jeans, Now a hipster’s lurkin’

Used to be a reject, But now I’m steady jerkin’

Now my glasses mainstream, Now the girlies eyein me

Popular kids copy me, The new swag is irony

Comin’ from the small time, Girls couldn’t find me

Now I scale models, Like I climb on top of Heidi

Start big trends, with tweets that I pass on

You should follow me, cuz I’m friends with Ashton

CHORUS

via This Is How To Turn A Jay-Z Song Into A Geek Anthem – New dork – Gizmodo.

The “Unofficial” iPad Experience

// Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 10:14 am GMT -5 // No Comments » // Random

Scott Dadich, Creative Director for Wired describes the “revolution in the way people consume journalism” (well said) allowing consumption in many different places, “paper, mobile devices, iPhone, iPad…”, and that’s his whole list. (more…)