Points is a new way of serving location-based content. It looks like a normal directional sign but displays dynamic content pulled in from a variety of sources ranging from Twitter and Foursquare to RSS news feeds.
AlmapBBDO came up with a novel way of discouraging drink driving during the Rio carnival this year – by turning beer cans into tube tickets. Created for Antarctica beer, the event’s main sponsor, the agency developed ‘The Beer Turnstile’, a specially adapted turnstile for the city’s underground system, which through optical reading, recognised an empty beer can as a viable ticket, giving punters free access to public transport.
Via: Creative Review
Digital artist Antonin Fourneau and tap maker Grohe celebrated their collaboration at an event held at in Grohe’s NY showroom. There, visitors were able to create artwork on Forneau’s water graffiti wall – a surface made of thousands of LED’s which were illuminated on contact with water. Fourneau provided foam brushes, spray cans and sponges, but even finger painting with water worked.
Via: psfk
Pepsi wanted to create a new way of sampling. An easy way to engage with consumers and know who is liking and drinking the product at the same time. That’s why they, together with TBWA Belgium, created the Pepsi ‘Like Machine’ a vending machine dispensing free Pepsi in exchange for a ‘like’ on Facebook via a smartphone or the built-in touchscreen.
Via: psfk
To promote the Peru-based University of Engineering and Technology’s capabilities, the first-ever billboard was created that produces drinkable water from the air. In Lima, despite atmospheric humidity being 98%, many suffer from the lack of potable water due to polluted wells and lack of rain. By tapping onto the air’s high amount of humidity, the billboard’s generators capture the humidity, does a ‘reverse-osmosis’, and turns it into purified water that is stored in tanks. Residents can then collect water from the billboard through the taps on its base.
Via: Design TAXI
Chinese e-commerce site YiHaoDian is launching 1,000 virtual supermarkets in vacant lots in iconic areas of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which can only be seen with the YiHaoDian iPhone and Android app. Anyone using the app can see the 1,200 square meter stores on their phones if they’re holding it up in the right location–and purchase up to 1,000 food products that can be delivered in one to two days.
Via: Fast Coexist
To showcase the road handling capabilities of the A4, Audi built this socially enabled, interactive installation to let people experience a mini version of the car. Passersby in Toronto had the chance to race one of 3 miniature Audis around a custom built racing track using an iPad to control the car. The iPad app was paired with an in-car camera which gave the driver the perspective from the driver’s seat, a first for this kind of installation.
Via: Digital Buzz
A short love story back projected onto the warm breath of a couple on a cold February evening.
Firewall is an interactive media installation that allows the audience to create amazing visuals and music by touching a stretched sheet of spandex membrane, which acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth and pressure.
The artist INSA thought the relationship between art online and offline could work better and set out to create paintings that were static in the real-world but were moving images when viewed online. He did this by painting layer upon layer, photographing the changes in order, and then stringing the pictures together into a sequence and played on a loop in an animated GIF file.
Via: Mashable
Displair, a start-up from Russia which recently showcased its new technology at CES 2013, is basically an interactive air screen that displays any image you like in mid-air. It’s powered by a multi-touch, optical system that makes it possible to control the image in the air by gestures only.
Via: Geekologie
Sonic Notify is a short range communication package that connects consumers with relevant location specific content (termed ‘proximity media’), using audio signals that communicate with smartphones. Speakers are used to send the signal and can cover wide ranges depending on the strength of the speaker used. Content, for example, could include special offers from products located in supermarkets.
Via: Sonic Notify
Wi-Fi robots were fitted with a wireless receiver enabling them to receive messages from a server, movements captured by the user’s webcam were translated into commands and relayed directly to the robot, and then Skittles were attached to each of the robots via magnets, making it seem that the Skittle was moving on its own. Users could log in via Facebook and control their allocated Skittle with their eye movements in real-time via their webcam. Certain eye movements also triggered ‘special events’ to show up on screen.
Via: Fast Company
If you’ve ever wondered what Pixar’s famous lamp would be like in real life, then this could be it. Pinokio, a real life ‘smart’ Animatronic Lamp conveys emotional characteristics while being aware of its surroundings, giving it the ability to interact and understand humans through sound, movement and touch.
via: digital buzz
Rovio has partnered with McDonald’s in China to offer location-based Angry Birds games. Inside the fast food restaurants Angry Bird gamers can unlock a variety of content, such as game modes, stages and power-ups depending on which outlet they are visiting. Players can also vote for their favourite McDonald’s branch in China, and the winning location will get to feature a real slingshot on its golden arches, like those in the Angry Birds games.
Via: mashable
Red Stripe Lager radically transformed overnight an ordinary looking East London corner shop selling everyday goods to an all-singing, all-dancing musical masterpiece as part of their ‘Make Music in the Corner Shop project’.
adidas NEO has taken window shopping to a new level with an interactive digital window concept that connects to a smartphone, making it possible to shop at the store after hours without an app or scanning a QR code. By typing in the special URL shoppers can connect to the window via their smartphone and take control of a virtual shopping bag. Any product dropped into the window’s shopping bag instantly appears on their mobile ready to save, purchase or share with friends.
To spread the word about BMW’s iTour, a “Window into the Near Future” was erected in New York City that transformed live traffic into futuristic BMW concept cars. Using hi-tech cameras, a projection screen and two projectors as well as car tracking technology to accurately mimic real-time traffic and environmental conditions, the digital façade represents what the streets could look like when the BMW i3 and i8 electric vehicles are in production.
Via: Creativity
Austrian researchers developed a unique technology for controlling dozens of flying drones at the same time, creating a spectacular visual display at night with the drones lighting the sky in an array of colours and shapes.
Via: The future of things
Blue Butterfly, an NFC-based communications company, has created a new app that simplifies connecting to WiFi by allowing users to connect by simply tapping their phone to a countertop, wall or window. There’s no need to register, remember a password or enter your email address; just “tap-to-WiFi”.
dontbelievethehype 