Last week my family and I visited the Guggenheim in New York. There I saw a show called "Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum", it featured proposals by artists to fill the centre lobby of the museum.
The exhibition was filled with thought provoking and entertaining posters, architectural drawings, and illustrations. The Guggenheim has been an architectural landmark for 50 years and it was easy to see the artists where inspired by their subject. The ideas ranged from practical to outrageous for example one was for an indoor market and another proposed filling the museum with chocolate. While walking through the exhibition I could not help but be reminded of our classes proposal for Harbourfront.
The show is available on line at, http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view-now/contemplating-the-void. Take my suggestion and give it a look. If the work does not inspire it will at least amuse.
On the other side lingers the publishing industry, which has seemingly been killed off and resurrected numerous times within the last few decades. With the advent of new technology the face of publishing is changing as well. Analysts have predicted the death of print many times throughout history without their tragic musings coming into fruition. There is no doubt that the publishing industry is changing, but whether for the better of worse is the question. Magazines have been losing revenue steadily but paperback novels have remained constant. Case and point, with the release of Dan Brown’s new thriller, The Lost Symbol, publisher Doubleday managed to sell over a million copies in hardcover and e-book versions in the United States, Britain and Canada within the span of a single day.
With the highly anticipated release of Apple’s new iPad and Amazon’s number one selling product the Kindle, literature seems to be moving the way of the music industry into the digital realm. Now thousands of novels, books and other literary resources can be kept in a single touch-sensitive piece of technology. According to Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly, publishing trends and figures can be misleading, “174.5 million people paid to subscribe to magazines in 1970; that number has steadily and consistently risen over the years, to 324.8 million as of 2008”. The bottom line is that media is changing and publishing companies will have to adapt and embrace new technology.
Coincidentally, I have been exploring many of these trends in technology for a report I have been working on. I thought that I would share a few of these starting with Augmented Reality.
No longer just for fun, augmented reality, is being used by large companies to support some of their services and products. One of the most notable is The US Postal Service, using the technology to determine shipping box sizes by overlaying a semi-transparent 3D model of a box over your item being shipped. General Motors is using it for an ‘enhanced vision system’, by creating an Augmented Reality Windshield, to help drivers find their way by pointing to landmarks and buildings. Other uses? T-shirts, baseball cards, music videos, toys [Lego], shopping, buying sunglasses [RayBan] and of course, a multitude of apps.
More and more companies will be using this technology for differentiating their products and services. Expect to begin to see augmented reality used in teaching and education [MIT Press], as well as in the marketing and PR industry. Check out 'Bring your pack to life", a contest on the Dentyne site.
“AR provides a ‘touchstone technology’ that layers geo-data, social networking and location-based advertising in a seamless format for consumers. The ramifications for advertising and the idea of ‘virtual air rights,’ combined with myriad B2B and B2C applications, will provide our clients with a wide range of exciting opportunities in the near future.”John C. Havens, SVP of social media at Porter Novelli
Jimmy Choo has added LED lights the heels of one of his SS 2010 collection shoes. You know, this technology has been used in kids shoes for a long time - now its grown up!
In today’s world, clever devices and smart technology come in many forms. The same technology that makes our lives a lot more efficient can also create havoc and be used for the wrong reasons. We are seen more cutting-edge, complex, and clever gadgets that have challenged the law and our ethics.
There is no end to the ingenuity of the criminal hacker. They’ve figured out how to hack debit card PINS. Debit cards are linked directly to our checking accounts, which makes them easy targets for criminal hackers. At an ATM or cash register, most debit card users are unaware of what occurs when they swipe their cards and enter their pin numbers. A quick process takes place and we get to walk away with our new purchase, simply by swiping a card and tapping a few keys. The money magically disappears from our account and we celebrate by eating the Twinkie we just bought.
The convenience of debit cards has led to global popularity that vastly exceeds that of handwritten checks, all the way into 3rd world countries. We’ve known for some time that low-tech skimming at ATMs and gas pumps have been a point of compromise. Now Wired reports that the transaction itself puts your PIN number at risk. Academics discovered this flaw years ago, but didn’t think it would be possible to execute in the field. Criminal hackers, however, have come up with the ultimate attack, stealing large amounts of encrypted and unencrypted debit card and pin numbers. And they have figured a way to crack the encryption codes.
The compromise occurs in a device called a hardware security module (HSM), which sits on bank networks. PIN numbers pass through this device on their way to the card issuer. The module is tamper-resistant and provides a secure environment for encryption and decryption for PINs and card numbers. Criminal hackers are accessing HSMs and tricking them into providing the decrypting data. They are installing malware called “memory scrapers,” which capture the unencrypted data and use the hacked system to store it.
People should check your statements very closely and look for unauthorized activity. Read their statements online biweekly as opposed to relying solely on your monthly paper statement, and refute unauthorized charges immediately
To make their criminals’ jobs harder, Interac is now rolling out a next generation of debit cards that contain an embedded microchip. If you’ve a new credit or debit card, you’ve already seen the microchip technology. The chip acts as a mini computer, storing and processing information. The data on the chip is extremely difficult to copy or change, minimizing the chance of fraud. A debit card transaction conducted with the microchip technology is significantly more secure than a transaction completed with a swipe of the magnetic stripe.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Interactive Advertising- AD POD
Touch screens are another way to use our devices without the use of a mouse or keyboard and only requires our fingers.
Ad Pod uses a giant touch- screen that users can interact with to uncover advertisements with a stroke of the hand or finger propelling the idea of touch sensitivity. The mixture of advertisements with this technology gives way to a new type of interactivity that engages the user not only with a visual illustration or design but forces the user to touch a screen, adding the aspect of physical participation.
“Let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
