A change of heart

The Oxford English Dictionary now includes the ♥  symbol, the first graphical symbol to signify a word in the dictionary's 127 year history.

Image via The Hype Machine


'The new sense added to heart v. in this update may be the first English usage to develop via the medium of T-shirts and bumper-stickers [...] From these beginnings, heart v. has gone on to live an existence in more traditional genres of literature as a colloquial synonym for ‘to love’.'
Via OED


This got me thinking about other symbols that could be added to the OED in the next update:

Like

Dislike

The presentation is backed up, right?

More than coffee

Zion

Via Daily Telegraph and The Oxford English Dictionary



Feel free to drop me a line, words, symbols and puns accepted.


Vashti

Maybe he's born with it

Maybe it's moisturizer

Ever wondered how Latino men smoulder? Is there a class at school that everyone else sadly misses? Is there a special guidebook that no one else can get hold of? That we may never know but we're one step closer in understanding Latino looks with the results of a new survey, the aptly named 'Why Latinos Look So Good' by Univision. 


According to the study, Latino men in the US use non-essential items more (often double) than other ethnic groups, such as hair styling products, moisturizers and fragrance. On average, Latino men spend $8 more per month on non-essential grooming items than men of other ethnic groups. 


So there you go, the difference between looking passable/alright and looking so good someone writes a study on how good you look is a mere $8 a month. Doesn't seem like a bad deal. 


Contact concierge
Have you ever arrived at a meeting and realised you know nothing about the person you're meeting up with? Have you sometimes even forgotten his or her name and why you're meeting up? If you recognise this sinking feeling you're not alone. Happily Noteleaf, an information aggregator for Google's Gmail and Calendar has launched a new feature designed for just this scenario.

Via Noteleaf

Noteleaf now sends a text message to the user with a link to relevant contact information 10 or 15 minutes before your meeting.  This included their photo, information from LinkedIn and your most recent email correspondence. Phew!
Via Noteleaf

I imagine Noteleaf and similar services will gain popularity as even if you have done your homework, you've probably done other things in-between doing that and your meeting. For example, you may have thought about what you'd like for lunch and your deadline later and whether denim on denim is ever really a good look and if so could you pull it off and before you know it  you're sitting in a reception racking your brains for who you're meeting and why.


I imagine that some people might test whether you have gained all their personal information through LinkedIn or whether you have genuinely done your research. In a similar way to the secret question when you sign up for bank accounts or email addresses, once people become savvy to these services they may ask a question that only a true fan could answer. 


I'm sure there is a way around that too as a service could give you all of the official information, as Noteleaf does, and then some serendipitous information about their work or lifestyle that requires a greater level of commitment to find, similar to StumbleUpon but for a person.


Via Venture Beat

See you soon,

Vashti

Sign of the Times

iPad platform

A new app called Hollergram by Made By Many turns your iPad into a billboard with which to express your views. This 'physical messaging platform' means you can type in your thoughts and present them to anyone nearby on the screen. 

Image via iTunes

Via Creativity Online

This means that you can use your iPad to apply the same grading and commenting systems used on Facebook to real life situations. As you know, you can already do this in your head by disliking or liking a situation or making a verbal comment to this effect.

However, I think Hollergram is different to these because it is designed to be work simultaneously as a physical and a virtual messaging system. As the iTunes description states:

'Holler Gram turns your iPad into a physical messaging platform – a glowing sign – that you can load with a message and hold up to show the people around you. At the same time, you can also tweet your message, with a hashtag, right from within the app'.

Via iTunes

So Holler Gram is designed to function concurrently as a tool to make real world and digital world statements. It's like a real world tweet but everyone can see it, not just people you're friends with online. 

Via Made By Many

I like the idea of combining the sign and the status update/tweet, you get the best of both worlds in terms of the instant visual impact of a sign on the people around you and also the legacy of a digital statement, which can be easily passed on and which will leave a digital footprint. 

I'll keep an eye out for other examples of communication that is simultaneously visual and virtual, I'd love to know your thoughts. 

See you soon,

Vashti 

Show and Tell

Talking pictures
A new Android  app called Thrutu lets the user share images, video, location and contacts with the person on the end of the line without hanging up.

Via YouTube and VentureBeat

Available for free Android Market, Thrutu has 5 buttons that mean during a call you can take and send a photo, send one from your gallery, find each other on a map, share your contacts and prod the other person's phone to make it shake. 

The last one is probably quite effective if you're angry but can't shout because you're in the library or at church or something like that, instead you could make the other person's phone embody your rage.

Via Android Market

I have been thinking about multifunctional devices overtaking monofunctional devices recently and Thrutu, as an app that increases what you can do during a call, seems to be evidence of this shift. The device that can only do one thing such as the traditional alarm clock is on its way out as technology is developed that can perform an increasing number of tasks. 

This could also apply to ereaders in comparison to paperbacks. The draw of ereaders is that you can chose and change the content they contain whereas the content of a paperback is permanent. 

I find this a bit of a shame as monofunctional devices such as toasters, torches and alarm clocks have a certain charm to them. They have one definite purpose and were built to do it well, they have a fixed function and a fixed place in daily life.

Monofunctional devices know their place

Via StraightShooters

For example, I will only use a toaster in the morning to make toast. I will not think about the toaster at any other time of day or associate it with anything other than making toast.

Let's pretend this is my phone

Via TechDigest 

I will use my phone throughout the day for lots of different reasons for lots of different things, such as texting, making videos, making very important calls, accessing maps, playing games and so on. I do not associate  it with one single task or moment in the day, it is something I use all the time. 

I am interested in whether both objects as well as devices that aren't multifunctional will eventually become redundant. I would also like to see how Thrutu impacts on mobile behaviour and whether other apps will follow where it leads.

Let me know what you think.

Vashti

Monsters and Movie Stars

Dual identity

You've probably heard about The National Theatre's new production of Frankenstein but if (like me) you missed out on a ticket you're in luck, it's playing at Odeon cinemas on 17th March (with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature) and 24th March (with Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature):

Via The National Theatre


Blonde Ambition
I think this trailer for the new Anna Nicole musical by the Royal Opera House is similarly intriguing:

Via YouTube


I like the way that this trailer sums up the character's story  but it doesn't give away any content, the only reference to opera is in the opening credits. It is a brave advert and I think it works really well, I would love to see how it works on stage.


Let me know what you think,


Vashti
  

Working 9 to 5

Party bench

A bench that comes to life in the evening, playing games with passersby, has been created by Danish technological and architectural agency MAPT and designer Sune Petersen. 

Situated in Islands Brygge in Copenhagen, between 5 and 10pm the interactive bench can play 3 games: you can paint it different colours using the power of touch and you can run past it at different speeds triggering codes to flash up on the bench simultaneously. If you are feeling less energetic, you can take a seat and wait for the game to reach you, light particles will slowly approach your body, creating a 'wall of light' when they reach you.

Via Pop Up City

This project turns an aspect of public space which is seen as purely functional into something fun and magical. I like the fact that it goes 'off duty' after 5pm, fulfilling its role as a standard bench for the rest of the day and then having fun when it clocks off. This gives the bench an element of personality and also illustrates that it is aimed at adults, encouraging workers to unwind in the park. 

I'm sure Dolly would approve:

Via Dailymotion

This bench reminds me of Bins and Benches by greyworld, which brought moving and singing bins and benches to Cambridge in 2005. These each had their own characters and reacted to external stimulus, such as huddling under trees in the rain.

Via greyworld
These projects are good examples of public architecture that encourages people to switch off, as mentioned in a previous post the difficulty of doing so has been parodied by Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, and to interact with the world around them.



A car in the hand  
One place where there is not much to catch one's eye is the humble shopping centre but luckily Ogilvy and Mather, Ford and Grand Visual are changing this. Shoppers can now play with the new Ford C-MAX via augmented reality posters at shopping centres around the UK.

Via Interbrand

I would try this out even though I can't drive and can't afford to buy this car so it's a successful way of driving (excuse the pun) brand engagement. 

It is also a good place to park your boyfriend/dad/brother for  on shopping trips when it looks as though they're losing the will to live (incidentally, there's an amusing article about the difference between the way men and women shop on David Trott's blog).

Flatpack monument

If IKEA did Stonehenge:

Via AdFreak

The big rectangles also act as storage compartments for all your prehistoric apparel needs and the little ones have a fold out beds for when your neighbouring tribe comes to stay. 

See you soon,

Vashti

Hot lips

Animal lips are the new animal hats:

Via Hi tricia wang!
Animal lips by Paige Thompson

Thoughtomatic

Mind-controlled car
Your thoughts are in the steering wheel with this concept by engineers led by Raul Rojas at the Free University of Berlin:

Source: New Scientist

This program learns to associate two different thought patterns via electro magnetic sensors with left or right directions. What I find surprising about this project is that the computer is  trained to interpret the thoughts of the user, rather than the other way around. Usually when I think of computers programs I imagine something that has to be learnt, but in this case the program learns the user.

This links to my previous posts on Twitter and Google on the way that advances in digital technology are subverting the
subject/object relationship between computer and user. Increasingly, we will not be adapting to the machines that surround us, they will understand and adapt to us. 


Vashti

Pot Luck

Here are some of the weird and wonderful things I've stumbled upon today:

Brain Food

The School of Life has teamed up with Morgan's Hotel Group to form a global partnership. One of the first tasks has been the creation of a cerebral alternative to the traditional minibar:

And the promise of sparkling conversation at dinner with these conversation menus for the hotel restaurants:

Via Dieline

I think this is a fantastic collaboration and these products are pitched brilliantly. They caters to the increasing desire among consumers to learn and improve their skills in an entertaining way so that it seems like more of an indulgence than a chore, the learning is packaged as a luxury. I am excited to see what else this partnership comes up with.

Personal Touch
The Noteslate concept is a tablet which you can draw and write directly onto with a pen. This lets you literally put your signature on any information you share using the device, adding a human element to it that is lacking in computerized fonts.

Via NoteSlate

Sign of the times
Being married, in a relationship or single aren't the only options for adults these days according to Facebook. Now users can choose 'in a civil union' or 'in a domestic partnership' as a relationship status.

Via Huffington Post


This follows a recent call by a top British judge for unmarried couples who separate to have new legal rights, as reported by The Telegraph. 


Up Your Street
Speaking of education, the website How to Homestead by Melinda Stone encourages neighbours to get together to learn traditional skills such as composting, keeping chickens to produce eggs, brewing beer and creating stock.

Via Good


This encourages people to get to know those that live nearby and thus to feel more connected to their local community. It also helps people to become more self-sufficient, often as a collective, by learning how to grow, make and do things for which they would usually rely on a supermarket or handyman.


Hidden Worlds
The winners of the eighth annual International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge are busy making the microscopic visible to the human eye:

Mustard DNA 2.0 by researchers at Carnegie Institute for Science

Plush tomato seed by Robert Rock Belliveau

3D portrait of HIV by Ivan Konstantinov and colleagues from the Visual Science Company

In contrast, Elena Semouchkina, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University, is experimenting with ways to make objects invisible. By using magnetic resonance to make light flow around an object and meet on the other side, she is developing a way in which objects will be invisible to those looking directly at them.


Via Live Science


See you soon,

Vashti

Made for each other

Ken hearts Barbie
After being dumped by Barbie in 2004 for Aussie surfer Blaine, Ken has realised that she is still his dream girl and has recently been using social media to win her back. Fans have been voting to decide whether Barbie and Ken reunite and on Valentine's Day we'll find out. We will also be able to buy Barbie and Ken virtual goods on Facebook on Monday, a first for Mattel. 

Via Bloomberg Businessweek

Given that Barbie has had 126 careers including being an astronaut (she reached the moon 4 years before Neil Armstrong), the president of the United States, a CEO and a paleontologist, I always wondered why Ken appealed to her.


Now we know, who can resist a boy who bakes?

Special edition Magnolia Bakery cupcakes via barbieandken.com
Via USA Today


Customized content
Yahoo's new Livestand app for tablets is a 'digital newstand' that aggregates information from multiple sources. According to the website, the app takes a highly personalized rather than a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to delivering content.

Via Livestand


As with News.me, the upcoming New York Times iPad app, Livestand's focus is personalization. News.Me goes one step further by incorporating social networking into content delivery. 

Via  Tech Crunch


According to an exclusive review by Tech Crunch, News.me will display the stories that a user's Twitter followers are reading, based on the number of times they have been viewed or shared. Users will also be able to see what friends of friends (or followers of followers) are recommending. 


As previously mentioned on this blog,a couple of times, personalized content is a massive growth area with increasingly sophisticated tools and apps of this type appearing daily. 


The fact that Twitter followers on News.me can see what a user reads and shares has huge potential for showing off. For example, I read the Financial Times every day, usually on my 10 mile run to work in via the British Museum while listening to Bach, but that's just normal for me so I wouldn't count it as bragging.


And as we all know, with anything where there's an opportunity to show off, there's an opportunity to compete. I can see News.me leading to a bit of friendly competition among followers on who is the most informed in the Twittersphere/who finds out about stories first/who reads in Russian and so on. 


This kind of social competition is illustrated perfectly by the new Nike Throwdown adverts by Wieden and Kennedy:

Via YouTube

And an all-girls edition:

Via YouTube



I love these adverts because they show a challenge between friends, sort of like a relay but where you attempt to outshine the person who passed you the baton. 


Maybe that's the whole point of relay races and I never realised? Probably why I never won anything on sports day. 


Check back tomorrow for more.


Vashti