DISRUPTOMATIC

thisistheverge: ‘Inocente’ makes history as first...

angelanatividad — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:06:32 -0500

‘Inocente’ makes history as first Kickstarter-funded film to win Oscar

Kickstarter is an official contender in the arena of serious entertainment.

futurescope: Wrist-Worn Sensors that track finger movements via...

angelanatividad — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:47:28 -0500

Wrist-Worn Sensors that track finger movements

via singularityhub:

Microsoft developers in the UK working with researchers from Newcastle University have recently announced an intriguing project: a wrist strap sensor that tracks finger motions in real time. Appropriately called Digits, the wireless system allows wearers to control computers remotely by recognition of individual finger movement and orientation using an infrared camera and an inertial measurement unit. That means not only the orientation of the wrist but the angles of each finger can be used for gesture control. […]

[read more @singularityhub] [Newcastle University]

fastcompany: Sebastian Lindstrom’s What Took You So Long is a...

angelanatividad — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:22:12 -0500

fastcompany:

Sebastian Lindstrom’s What Took You So Long is a “disruptive filmmaking lab,” dedicated to traveling to the most remote corners of the globe to document people who are doing good things (and making money making ads for companies doing good things, too, of course).

Galactica: Blood & Chrome; or why Machinima is most...

poisse — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:56:35 -0500

Galactica: Blood & Chrome; or why Machinima is most definitely the future of TV

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, a prequel to that most amazing scifi TV series, was supposed to be a TV series too. Except NBCUniversal’s SyFy channel got cold feet, and cancelled its airing plans. Perhaps because this CGI-heavy production - made with scans of the original sets, and featuring a young William Adama - was delivered somewhat late. Still, it’s all good for gaming network Machinima, one of YouTube’s very biggest channels: further to Universal’s decision to run it online as a 10 x 12 minute web series, the first episode (above) got nearly 2 million views. Sure, the subsequent 3 parts, also free-to-watch, didn’t retain that audience (part 2 is at 600k) but still: this is top-notch entertainment, totally free and legal on the interwebs. SyFy must be rueing the decision to run B&C as a movie next February: and Machinima rubbing its hands. Indeed, why should producers and brands bother with networks when they can reach such audiences so easily? Welcome to the future, friends!

Gamers Beat Medical Residents at Simulated Surgery Using...

angelanatividad — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 06:41:49 -0500

Gamers Beat Medical Residents at Simulated Surgery

Using machines that simulate live surgical techniques, like needle passing and suturing, a study at University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found that high schoolers who play an average of two hours of video games a day fared “slightly better than our physicians in training,” according to Dr. Sami Kilic of UTMB Galveston.

“Our physicians in training have already participated in actual cases. It tells me that this computer games helps a lot to transfer the knowledge and skills gained from the computer games.”

This research also confirms a decade’s worth of evidence indicating recreational video games improve visual intelligence.

A Brand for Disrupting Gender Roles My favourite thing today...

angelanatividad — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 06:44:09 -0500

A Brand for Disrupting Gender Roles

My favourite thing today is GoldieBlox: engineering toys for girls. Just another Kickstarter success that’s brought a little more magic into this world. A fun and inspiring concept dveloped just this year by Debbie Sterling, a female engineer from Stanford who hopes to motivate more girls, from cradle-age, to cultivate an interest in engineering.

Anywhere Can Be a Keyboard. This app turns any surface into an...

angelanatividad — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:45:07 -0500

Anywhere Can Be a Keyboard.

This app turns any surface into an iPhone keyboard. Because a world in which we have one less bulky thing to carry is most definitely the world of tomorrow.

You Know You Want To. We give you the Romo. Inspired by the...

angelanatividad — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:02:15 -0500

You Know You Want To.

We give you the Romo. Inspired by the Bondi Blue iMac, it’s the ultimate way to make a robot friend out of what is probably already your most intimate companion: your iPhone.

Drive: the driving companion that knows you better than you...

angelanatividad — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:04:40 -0400

Drive: the driving companion that knows you better than you do

Here’s a not-stupid idea: Drive, a companion app for drivers, cuts out all the extraneous stuff that you’re not gonna need on the road and limits you to four basic things: calls, texts, music and maps. Easy on those texts though, buddy.

One step closer to a more perfect union with our technology.

Zombie 'Walkers' Attack Twitter Users!

angelanatividad — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:07:00 -0400

Our Follow list is crawling with walkers. And you thought the internet was safe!

French network NT1, which has just licensed Walking Dead for syndication in France, is running a guerrilla operation that gives people the thrill of being zombie-stalked … from Twitter.

A news article on their Walking Dead subsite alerts users to a “zombie virus” that’s contaminated NT1 employees. To avoid contamination, you’re advised:

NOT to Tweet the #walkingdeadNT1 hashtag
NOT to comment on #walkingdeadNT1 posts on Facebook
NOT to comment on the site.

The article went live yesterday. Since then, hundreds of people have tweeted the hashtag:

When you tweet it, a huge array of zombies starts following you on Twitter and will sometimes even @ you to go, “AAAAAAAH!”

No bites yet, but do you really want to risk it…?

Nice work by social TV agency Darewin. Noting that Twitter has taken to deleting the zombie accounts mere hours after they’ve been created, founder Wale Oyekanmi just laughed. “They follow you, you look at the accounts, and maybe some are dead,” he told us. “It’s coherent with the strategy.” In an ideal world, zombies don’t live long anyway.

checkthis: super simple social shouting OK so there’s...

poisse — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:07:00 -0400

checkthis: super simple social shouting

OK so there’s tumblr (right here), and there are clever module-based online flyer offerings like webdoc. But we’ve rarely seen as simple and effective “digital posters for social media” (their own words) as checkthis.

If you’ve got something to say, you can chuck in text, photo, video (this playlist example’s particularly smart) and even polls and the like (cf. our own checkthis what I just made, pictured above), then share it on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest etc.

Crucially, when you do so on Facebook inparticular, your checkthis is shared as a proper piece of content (like a YouTube video, for eg.), as opposed to — god forbid — just a link!

Yes, it is very similar to webdoc: but hats off to checkthis’ superior usability & overall quickness.

Try our poll & you’ll see! Plus we’ll be eternally grateful :)

Google Launches Nonprofit Campaign...

angelanatividad — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 07:09:20 -0400

Google Launches Nonprofit Campaign ‘Thermometer’

Google’s just launched YouTube Campaigns, a “digital thermometer” to support its nonprofit partners. Gleaning inspiration from those thermometers nonprofits so often draw to indicate how close they are to their fundraising goals, this digital version can be used on videos and in channels to show progress of an overall campaign — except it’ll measure video views instead of cash.

The theory is that this’ll compel to share the video when they’ve seen a contribution is as simple as a view.

Over 18,000 organisations use the YouTube Nonprofit Program. YouTube also includes a Live Streaming feature and a donate button for its organisations.

Social TV Digest: Social TV Market To Be Worth $256.44BN By 2017

angelanatividad — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:03:00 -0400

Social TV Digest: Social TV Market To Be Worth $256.44BN By 2017:

socialtvdigest:

Europe Taking Largest Share Now

Reblogged from TechCrunch, by NATASHA LOMAS

The global social TV market is already a multi-billion dollar industry, with TV giants betting big money on second screen viewing, but the market is set for double-digit growth in the the next five years, according to a report by market research firm MarketsandMarkets. The research firm expects the market to grow from $151.14 billion this year, to $256.44 billion by 2017 — an estimated CAGR of 11.2 percent from 2012 to 2017.

“The future for the television is social through integration of social interaction on the television. Broadcasters are developing and enriching social TV integration; they are targeting the tune-in customer, engagement and their loyalty to boost the rating and they are also discovering the social TV challenge,” the report notes.

Currently Europe grabs the largest slice of social TV market revenue. MarketsandMarkets calculates the region will take $55.48 billion this year, and expects Europe’s portion to grow to $77.74 billion by 2017 — at a CAGR of 7 percent, slightly below the overall market growth rate.

As well as social TV startups attracting big investment from established media and tech industry players, the space is seeing lots of tie-ups between broadcasters and social networking players such as Twitter and Facebook… [Read More]

Go, Europe!

Everpurse: The Clutch that Charges Your Mobile Phone Everpurse,...

angelanatividad — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 05:39:09 -0400

Everpurse: The Clutch that Charges Your Mobile Phone

Everpurse, a Kickstarter project by Dan and Liz Salcedo, enables users to wirelessly charge their mobile devices wirelessly and on the go.

Using the Qi standard for inductive charging, the purse itself must be charged for six hours on a charging pad before use. Dan Salcedo says that give your iPhone two times more battery life — meaning that when your phone’s going dead at a party, you need only pop it into the bag to get it back into service with a minimum of downtime.

There is no dock, but a magnetic charger within the purse pulls your phone down into the plug and starts charging it once you’ve slipped it inside. And the technology isn’t heavy: in total, the battery and receiver combined weigh a grand total of six ounces.

Find it in a variety of colours on Everpurse.com. Guys are also welcome — isn’t function the perfect excuse to go man-bagging? But if the murse is too girly for your taste, the Salcedos say they’re working on suit jackets and pants with similar technology. They likely won’t appear, though, until the Kickstarter campaign is over.

No worries, though — the campaign ends in six days and they’ve already more than doubled their hoped-for $100,000 funding goal. Minimum pledges for the bag are sold out, but you can still lock yours down for just $129!

Reddit: Making Waves in Fact-Checking Fact checking is part and...

angelanatividad — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:37:39 -0400

Reddit: Making Waves in Fact-Checking

Fact checking is part and parcel of our political events — the responsible act you commit to during the hangover of the event itself. (Consider The New York Times’ detailed fact checks on the complete First Presidential Debate.)

Fact checking in real-time? A tall order that demands as many multi-tasking skills of its audience as it does of its decryptors. But to take it on, no one is better-equipped than Reddit, the forum-cum-social news site whose audience possesses three crucial qualities:

It’s massive
It’s college-educated
It’s enthusiastic and super-anal about details (to wit: this complete explanation of Obamacare for five-year-olds)

As of yesterday it’s taken on fact checking itself. Reddit’s Live Fact Checker for the October 3 Presidential Debate actually made it possible to crowdsource fact checks from the most informed resources possible in real-time:

The subreddit, like its more professional counterparts, would be devoted to the often difficult work that is assessing politicians’ claims in, essentially, real time. Because “if you’re watching the debate,” another redditor put it, “you might as well get the facts, not just the spin.”

Results were mixed, which The Atlantic concedes is unsurprising, given that organisation and the momentum of the project were left entirely up to the audience. There was, of course, bickering. But for the most part it represents an incredible experiment in demystification à la carte.

Read it here, and make it your super power to ensure the verbal destruction of anyone who ever discusses the debate to your face ever again.

Here are some fun charts on the current State Of The Internet....

angelanatividad — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:09:23 -0400

Here are some fun charts on the current State Of The Internet. TV’s still holding its own!

Is the Workplace the Worst Place to Work? It’s hardly the...

poisse — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:52:00 -0400

Is the Workplace the Worst Place to Work?

It’s hardly the scoop of the century. And we’re getting a bit fed up with infographics. But when they’re as well done and as useful as this, we just have to tell you about them.

Here are just a few tidbits from “You Waste a Lot of Time at Work”:

- US businesses lose $37bn a year because of unnecessary meetings. No doubt because most people think they’re wasting their time in them (cf above image)

- The average employee is interrupted 56 times a day. Which leads to 2 lost hours per day. Seems a lot to me, but it echoes this excellent TED speech, which reminds us you need at least an hour to do anything creative. Not easy when you’re being interrupted every eight minutes

- You can lose 10 IQ points when fielding constant email: the same effect as a sleepless night. Not to mention poorly-written emails, which can cost over $4000/year/employee…

Yes, as with all infographics, this one’s paid for by an interested party, namely a team collaboration tool. But still. A corker. And you can even tweet/FB/Pinterest different bits! Which allowed yours truly to tweet it from a meeting. FTW!

And Here It Is: Twitter-Based Retail.

angelanatividad — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 06:37:07 -0400

Pay-by-Tweet is now a reality, at least for Special K buyers in the UK. The cereal brand has opened The Tweet Shop, in part to punt its move into the chips market. This also represents its first foray into retail in England.

Instead of whipping out a wallet, customers are encouraged to pay for the new Special K Cracker Crisps by Tweeting a message about its low-calorie snacking merits.

The shopgirls all sport red dresses, charged with checking every Tweet before handing the crisps over.

From Special K’s Sarah Case:

The value of positive endorsements on social media sites is beyond compare so we’re excited to be the first company to literally use social currency instead of financial currency to launch this new product in our bespoke Special K shop.

This is big news for Special K and we are hoping the brand’s move into crisps and the high street will create a major buzz on and offline.

Find the Tweet Shop on Meard Street in Soho. It’ll be open from the 25th to the 28th and, in addition to its ménagerie of chips, is equipped with a “community noticeboard” for capturing social media reactions.

Photos + story via CreativeBoom. Tip via So Particular.

New Myspace in “not shit” shocker Yes, it’s...

poisse — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:17:00 -0400

New Myspace in “not shit” shocker

Yes, it’s just a video. Yes, it was tweeted by new backer Justin Timberlake himself. Yes, sideways scrolling has been seen before, as have elegant interfaces used by, well, noone (Windows Phone 7).

But there’s something about this “new Myspace” demo that make us want to believe. And it’s not the fact its music was chosen by Entourage’s music supervisor. It’s the design, of course. But it’s also the understanding that Myspace (yes, that lower case “s” is now the way you write it) now seems to be taking on Facebook — cf. the party photos — as well as social music sites like Bandcamp, cf. the rather nifty “Tobias Muller is your most influential fan” snippet (as he got 20% of your views in Ohio, or wherever). And throwing those two sides together, cf. party photos including the playlist I dropped that night (NEATO).

We also like the “Trending” section, which seems inspired by music apps like Shufflr.fm, scrobbling hot tunes off the internets with nicely laid-out artist pics, for easy discovery. And the “top fans” list, which allows you to share exclusive content only with your most loyal followers.

It’s no proof, then, that the new Myspace will be any good; but as a statement of intention, it’s pretty damn persuasive. From there to worrying Zuckerberg, however? That’s quite a step.

Shazam to Give TV Networks a Helping Hand in Digital Sales

angelanatividad — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:02:25 -0400

The Guardian writes that as Shazam hits 250 million mobile app users, it’s expanding US-based social features. All shows can now be tagged, versus just networks or producers that have a marketing deal with it. Soon, Shazam also plans to link its app to Facebook, permitting people to publish tags to their newsfeeds.

“With more than a quarter of a billion people who have used Shazam worldwide, no other app has our scale when it comes to offering the opportunity to engage with the media that interests them the most, whether it’s music or television,” stated chief executive Andrew Fisher.

Some background: people typically use Shazam to identify — and therefore tag — any music track in its database. Now you can do the same thing with ads of partner brands and American TV shows. According to Shazam, over 160 channels have been covered for the latter.

When you tag a show, you’ll receive cast info, soundtrack details, trivia and news, as well as Twitter updates and data from IMDB and Wikipedia.

“With our expansion into television, we’ve seen a surge of activity due to recent Shazam-enabled events such as the NBC Olympic broadcast, where more than one million people tagged the closing ceremony,as well as the US Open tennis grand slam event on CBS earlier this month,” said Fisher.

“We think that broadening our television service and offering more comprehensive social features will continue to drive activity and engagement.”

Expanded features are expected to launch in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain “in the coming months”. Until then, those countries can tag ads from partner brands, including Renault, Reebok, Unilever, Pepsi and Microsoft.

Shazam reports that users produce about 10 million tags daily. It claims to have generated about $300 million in sales of digital goods for the music industry alone (as it enables users to purchase songs they like from iTunes). It hopes to do the same for producers and broadcasters in the TV industry.