Rimino, A Radical Concept For The Future Of Mobile Computing | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

In the smartphone space, Moradganjeh sees a trend toward increasingly complex devices. With Rimino, he seeks to challenge that trend, developing a user experience concept that would be "more integrated and more sensitive to the human experience."

full article here:

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669047/rimino-a-radical-concept-for-the-future-o...

Quote of the Day (via io9): Alan Moore sums up everything that's wrong with the entertainment industry

Alan Moore:

"There's been a growing dissatisfaction and distrust with the conventional publishing industry, in that you tend to have a lot of formerly reputable imprints now owned by big conglomerates. As a result, there's a growing number of professional writers now going to small presses, self-publishing, or trying other kinds of [distribution] strategies. The same is true of music and cinema. It seems that every movie is a remake of something that was better when it was first released in a foreign language, as a 1960s TV show, or even as a comic book. Now you've got theme park rides as the source material of movies. The only things left are breakfast cereal mascots. In our lifetime, we will see Johnny Depp playing Captain Crunch."

Path Releases Valentine's Day Metrics, Ends Up Reminding Users It Has Their Data

Some of the metrics:

"Path metrics for Valentine’s Day in the U.S. on February 14, 2012:


  • Comments with the word “love” on Path up 26%
  • Comments with the words “romantic” or “romance” up 153%
  • Comments using the words “marry,” “date” or “engage” up 54%
  • Negative comments about Valentine’s Day up 38%
  • Comments with the word “single,” up 53%
  • Percentages of moments tagged with other people up 33%
  • Love (hearts), 43.5%
  • Happy (smiley face), 25%
  • Laugh (laughing face), 18%
  • Surprise (surprised face), 8.6%
  • Sad (sad face), 4.9%

full post on mashable:

http://mashable.com/2012/02/15/path-valentines-day-metrics/?utm_source=twitte...

Cool! Lego's social platform showcases fan creations | Article via rag an.com

By Matt Wilson | Posted: February 13, 2012

"People love Lego. Want proof? Take a look at Brickshelf, a fan-made Lego community with more than 4 million pictures of folks' creations made from its interlocking building blocks. Or take a look at LUGnet, a site that networks many of the world's Lego User Groups (LUGs).

So a few years ago, when the Danish company considered building a social network of its own, it had to consider the abundance of fan-created communities dedicated to the multicolored, plastic bricks.

"We can't just do anything," says Peter Espersen, online community lead for Lego. "We need to be respectful, and we need to mind what the other guys are doing."

What Lego ended up with is Rebrick, a social bookmarking site where users don't upload their own photos; rather, they bookmark photos on websites such as Flickr and Brickshelf to share with a wide audience. Think of it as a clearinghouse, Espersen says.

Lego's approach has attracted attention without alienating its global online fan presence, Espersen says. That's the goal..."

Planning the project...

Full article here:

http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/44388.aspx#

Woot for Scott Walker & Esther Lim! Announcement! – Speaking at SXSW on Co-Created Storyworlds

Posting from Scott Walker! Woot!

"I can FINALLY share this publicly: Esther Lim and I will be speaking at SXSW as part of their Digital Domain track (3:30 on 3/11)!

Our panel is titled, “The Rise of Co-Created Storyworld Communities,” and we’ll be joined by an IP attorney, J. Craig Williams.

I’ll discuss what a shared story world is and how to build one; Esther will share how to attract and keep a community of collaborators; and Craig will provide an experienced voice about the legal landscape for shared story worlds.

Our goal is to keep things very practical, so we’re dispensing with a lot of the theoretical discussions. Expect lots of “how” v. “what” or “why.”

Please share the word about this, and for anyone heading to Austin next month, I hope you’ll have time to swing by our panel!

The Importance Of Online Video In Transmedia Campaigns - Starlight Runner's Jeff Gomez

by Christopher Rick

Feb. 15 2012

"When I was at CES I was lucky enough to sit down with the crew from Starlight Runner who are doing great things in 'transmedia' campaigns to help brands achieve a wider reach for their products and projects. While we didn't chat much about work in Vegas it did lay some groundwork so that we could sit down and talk about how and why a brand should look at a transmedia approach to marketing and more importantly, the online video role in such a campaign.

[ReelSEO] What's the first thing you look at when taking a property that is only video and expanding it into other forms of media?

[Jeff Gomez] At Starlight Runner when we examine a property for its potential to be expanded across a variety of media platforms, we first have to establish with our client that we are not a company that repurposes content. What we do, that I think is in sync with what at least two generations of audience members are looking for, is to place the established video content into a greater context in terms of the vision and story being told. If your property or “story world” is rich and detailed enough — or if it lends itself to enrichment and depth — then it is a good candidate for multi-platform expansion. We’re the first to say that not all stories lend themselves to this kind of treatment...."

read the full interview here:

http://www.reelseo.com/transmedia-campaigns-online-video/

Why Apple Should Start Making a 3D Printer Right Now - Ross Andersen - Technology - The Atlantic

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Must read article by Ross Anderson, Jan 29, 2012:

"The progression that computers made from IBM to your laptop has patterned the expectations for all future technologies. First, big companies create and use a very expensive set of technologies. Then, garage tinkerers start to use slightly cheaper, smaller versions of the original technology. They create a culture that makes the technology easier to use and they give it more users, which drives down its costs. Finally, when it is sufficiently cheap and easy to use, mass market consumers start to buy it. This is a condensed, reductive history of consumer electronics, but it's the mental model Silicon Valley-types have.

The latest technology that seems to be working its way along this trajectory is 3D printing. For those not in the MAKE crowd, 3D Printers are machines that produce three-dimensional objects from digital data by printing in thin layers of physical material, similar to the way an inkjet prints in two dimensions. A 3D printer outputs not words on paper, but a thing. After a couple decades of research, development, and industrial deployment, the technology appears to be on the threshold of developing a mass market. Still, it's hard to imagine what to do with such a general purpose machine sitting in one's house.

And that's what makes Brendan Dawes such an interesting early adopter. For one, he's kept meticulous records of his productions since he bought his MakerBot Thing-O-Matic from Makerbot Industries, a company that sells stripped down do-it-yourself 3D printers directly to consumers, in December 2010. Over the past year he has posted his "printings" on a tumblr called everythingimakewithmymakerbot. The site reads like a diary or sketchbook; an intimate account of a creative person interacting with a new technology.

But more to the point: Dawes seems like a normal, creative person. He's not a hardcore geek with an industrial engineering degree. In the early nineties he was a minor figure in Manchester's rave scene. He cut several 12" singles, breakbeats mostly, and even scored a record deal. More recently, he has turned his attention to the graphic arts, and with considerable success: in 2009 several works of his were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

If a former-raver and artist could find fun and value in the $1,100 machine, maybe a lot of people might. And he did. "It took me a week to assemble my Makerbot, but remember that when Jobs and Wozniak and those guys first started out, you had to make your own computer," he said. "Now they're in your pocket. That's where I think this is headed." (Are you listening, Apple?)..."

Full article here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/why-apple-should-start-...

Google+ scores Digital Chocolate’s Gangs of Boomtown as an exclusive social game | Excerpt from VentureBeat

February 15, 2012 1:11 PM

Dean Takahashi

"Digital Chocolate is launching its new social game Gangs of Boomtown as an exclusive title for Google+. The title is the third that Digital Chocolate, the game company headed by Trip Hawkins, has made for Google’s social network. But it is the first that will be exclusive to Google+ for 30 days.

Google needs to get exclusives like this one to compete with Facebook, which has huge numbers of unique social games on its platform. To get more exclusives, Google is helping to promote exclusive games on its network. It is also charging a smaller commission — 5 percent vs. 30 percent — on virtual goods transactions on Google+ compared to Facebook.

Punit Soni, games lead for Google+, said, “Gangs of Boomtown marks the first exclusive game from Digital Chocolate to launch on Google+. We’re happy to see more of their engaging, high-quality games debuting on Google+. We think our users will really enjoy playing Boomtown.”

Google now has 38 games on Google+, including three exclusives (The Godfather: Five Families, Pirates: Tides of Fortune, and now Gangs of Boomtown). Facebook, by comparison, has thousands of games..."

Full post here:

http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/15/google-scores-digital-chocolates-gangs-of-b...