The World Cup is set to arrest much of the world’s attention in a few short weeks, and the sons of many nations will hope against hope that their team will bring home the championship. Embodying the furor of this event is this ad titled ‘Write the Future’ which frankly outdoes every other epic Nike soccer ad before it.
A report by AT&T Labs and Worcester Polytechnic Institute said that Facebook and MySpace sent user info to advertisers. When users clicked on ads, the advertisers often knew the users’ names, ages, hometowns and occupations.
“We were recently made aware of one case where if a user takes a specific route on the site, advertisers may see that they clicked on their own profile and then clicked on an ad,” said a Facebook spokesman. “We fixed this case as soon as we heard about it.”
This is another red flag for Facebook, given the company’s ongoing privacy issues.
Source: Forbes
We miss the golden age of movie posters where bright colors practically burst out of the image. Mock up posters like the one below for Half-Life 2, however, make us wistfully remember those days:
Source: Kotaku
The sales of the iPad are not just impressive by the scale of it as a new device now, the tablet computer is approaching the sales of other, better established Apple products. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky says that iPad sales have been better than that of the Mac in the U.S. and are approaching the iPhone 3GS.
Checks indicate that US iPad sales remain strong post-launch, driven by rising consumer visibility to iPad s user experience, sustained PR/word-of-mouth marketing, 3G iPad launch, and broadening iPad apps/content, wrote Abramsky. We believe Apple is now selling >200k iPads/week, greater than US Macs (est. 110k Macs/week) and just below US iPhone 3GS first quart (246k/week).
The iPad was sold out at many Apple and Best Buy stores, especially the 3G version. Abramsky has adjusted his sales estimates for the year up to eight million from five million before. While sales for the iPad are good, initial data suggests not much cannibalization of Mac sales.
Source: All Things Digital
Lovefilm today announced a marketing partnership with Rockstar Games. The European film and television rental service will launch a new campaign for the Western action game Red Dead Redemption.
As part of this promotion, Lovefilm will launch a microsite at lovefilm.com/micro/reddeadredemption. The site will highlight the film influences on the game and lets users watch John Hillcoat’s 2005 film The Proposition.
We re excited to be working with Rockstar Games and their latest blockbuster game Red Dead Redemption, especially as the title is set to reinvent and revive the Western genre for the 21st Century, commented Dionne Georgiou, Media Manager for Lovefilm. We’re raising the bar for this campaign and opening up the Lovefilm Player to give videogame and films fans the chance to watch, for no fee, one of Rockstar Games favorite Western movies, The Proposition directed by acclaimed film maker, John Hillcoat.
Lovefilm’s main has seen a take-over, where it will be heavily branded with Red Dead Redemption imagery. Also, 300,000 specially branded envelopes, distributed via rental titles will be mailed directly to Lovefilm members
Lovefilm is the perfect media partner to promote Red Dead Redemption, our first open-world videogame exploration into the Western genre, commented Neil Stephen, General Manager for Rockstar Games. Western movies played a key role in establishing film as a force of popular culture, and there have been some exceptional examples of great Westerns in recent years, many of which have gone on to influence the inception of Red Dead Redemption. We’re very pleased to be able to offer fans of both Lovefilm and Rockstar Games the opportunity to watch a classic Western title instantly at Lovefilm.
Ever wonder what certain game consoles would look like as buildings Thanks to French magazine, we now can see a Nintendo Entertainment System, a DS and a PlayStation 3 realized as multi-story structures.
How do they access the second screen
Don’t leave the flap open!
I’d live in a PS3 building…
Source: Kotaku
It seems Activision is doubling down on their pre-order promotions with Singularity. Those that pre-order the game from Activision will not only receive Prototype for the Xbox 360, they will also get a copy of the Singularity graphic novel.
A page from the Singularity comic.
The graphic novel was worked on by comic veterans, including David Atchinson (Occult Times Taskforce), Christopher Morrison (Dust, 13 Chambers), Davide Fabbri (Dark Horse’s Star Wars) and Tom Mandrake (Batman, The Punisher). The Singularity graphic novel will give more backstory about the events leading up to the game, where time is unraveling on the Russian Peninsula.
Google has long celebrated quirky occasions, events and birthdays on their front page with special versions of their logo. On Friday, the company released the first ever interactive “doodle” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man‘s release in Japanese arcades.
Playing the “Google” shaped maze is an interesting experience.
Brainchild of senior user experience designer Marcin Wichary and Google doodler Ryan Germick, it was designed as a fully functional 255-level version of Pac-Man. It is expected that Namco Bandai will have several releases relating to the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man during this year.
Sony and Google teaming up for Google TV might signal a change to television as it is known. Simultaneously, the venture is also a symptom of Sony’s shifting stance towards open source technology.
Historically, the knock on Sony has been that it has a blind allegiance to its own proprietary technology. From Betamax to ATRAC, Sony’s compression format which eventually lost out to MP3, the company often paid the price for its NIH (Not Invented Here) Syndrome, writes Daisuke Wakabayashi. If Sony’s format didn’t become the standard, early Sony adopters were left in the dark. Are there any Digital Audio Tape users out there
Recently, however, Sony has allowed SD flash memory cards on its digital and video cameras that used to only support their proprietary Memory Stick format. The company also switched its e-readers to the open-source EPUB format and Sony Ericsson adopted Google’s open-source Android platform for its first smart phone.
Now Sony is taking a big step by going open-source for its flagship product and the king of all living-room electronics: the TV, notes Wakabayashi. Part of the attitude change can be attributed to Chief Executive Howard Stringer, who as a former media executive has a more pragmatic approach to technology. In the past, Sony would often refuse to budge from its own proprietary formats because it believed its technology was superior, without factoring in more practical issues like price. Mr. Stringer has been trying to cure the company of its NIH syndrome, aware that technology is only great if people actually use it.
While Sony eventually won out with its Blu-ray HD standard, it did have multiple partners in designing the technology, including Panasonic, Samsung and Dell. When it comes to online and digital technology, though, open standards seem to be the building blocks to success.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Capcom and Zazzle today announced a partnership to offer Capcom branded products. Those interested can have customized designs on hoodies, t-shirts, skateboards, posters, mugs, postage stamps and more.
The games featured include obscure arcade titles like Battle Circuit, Don’t Pull and Side Arms: Hyper Dyne. Other products come from the more recent fighting games Power Stone and Rival Schools with the only contemporary game coming in the form of Monster Hunter Tri.
Check out the full selection at www.zazzle.com/Capcom.
