brian's blog

iPhone Cycling Computer

brian — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:28:36 +0000

Local (Minneapolis / St. Paul) company Pedal Brain is going to give Nike+ a run or better yet, a pedal for their money. Pedal Brain can be thought of as three integrated products. First, it's an iPod and iPhone ANT+ accessory. Second, it's a complete training log. Third, it's a coaching platform. Simply go for a ride and all your performance data is uploaded in realtime to the web where coaches, teammates and friends can see it (if you allow them to). There's no post workout data upload step.

The Pedal Brain, which has been Apple approved, will be available through local bike shops this spring with pricing for the device landing between $130 and $190. Pedal Brain's online service will be subscription based, though users will be able to get a limited version for free.

Google Wave - The Next Big Thing?

brian — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:09:01 +0000

Google has just announced Google Wave, a new in-browser communication and collaboration tool that is already being hailed as the next evolution of email, instant messaging, and tweeting. Could this be how we are all communicating in the near future? Is this a Twitter killer?

We will all need to wait to find out, because Google is only releasing the beta of Wave to developers at this point and it will not be available until later this year for the general public to play with (outside of them accepting your request to beta test). I've got our (Bucca's) place in line, as a developer that is eager to start using/testing/developing new uses for the wave, so hopefully we get the nod and we can play with it a little.

Here is the Google Wave Developer Preview presentation at the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O.

iPhone & RFID for Object-Based Media

brian — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:37:08 +0000

Here is a prototype of the iPhone using the built in media player that uses physical objects to trigger playback. It is based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) that triggers various iPhone interactions when the wireless tag embedded inside the physical objects are within range of the iPhone. Rumors have been circulating that Apple will be adding RFID support to the soon to be released (Summer 2009) iPhone, which would really push this technology into the fast lane.

iPhone RFID: object-based media from timo on Vimeo.

iPhone OS 3.0 Support for External Devices

brian — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:23:13 +0000

Apple announced back in March that iPhone Software 3.0 will include a new API that will allow iPhone apps to talk directly to third party hardware devices. The announcement came during the company's media event previewing the iPhone OS 3.0. With the release of 3.0 Apple molds the iPhone into something far more than a smartphone with fun and game applications. The iPhone is now poised to become your central mobile hub for controlling all sorts of hardware accessories.

During the announcement Apple gave examples of a stereo dock managed by the iPhone, and a radio dongle tuned by the unit. They also demonstrated a Bluetooth-enabled blood sugar monitor and depicted a blood pressure cuff attached to the iPhone.

With these new capabilities, devices won’t need to be designed with a user interface themselves, but instead only need to interface with the iPhone via a USB or Bluetooth connection. Everything from the treadmill at your local gym to the medical devices some are required to wear on a daily basis, they can now all be made “iPhone-ready” by simply developing an iPhone Application and adding it to the iPhone App Store.

These exciting abilities will be part of theiPhone SDK for the iPhone OS 3.0, which is currently in beta and will be released later in 2009. Learn more about this exciting upgrade and watch Apple's presentation here.

What type of external devices would you like to see iPhone connected? Let me hear your ideas, from the wacky off the wall idea to an earth shattering, paradigm shifting, million dollar sure thing. OR if your not interested in sharing your idea with the world in the comments, you can contact us separately.

Interactive Visualization To Go

brian — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:09:39 +0000

The Fluid Interfaces Lab of Pattie Maes at MIT has been working with a very interesting prototype... The SixthSense. It's basically a wearable camera and a projector that can interact with the world around you. Soon we will all be in the Minority Report future.

Skype Nomad Campaign

brian — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:14:43 +0000

Skype's Successful Nomad Campaign in the UK

Skype was keen to build on the successful promotion of its PC-to-PC voice services by extending awareness of its mobile offering among active Skype desktop users. Targeting a technology and media savvy, early-adopter audience, integrated agency Albion created a 33-day live demo to get people talking about the product.

Australian blogger Rebecca Campbell was sent on a month-long round-the-world trip in ‘perpetual motion’, which meant she could never stop, even when eating and sleeping. She shared her journey live online via Skype, her blog, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook. To promote the initiative, the Skype Nomad blog was advertised via dynamic text links in the Skype desktop software. One email was sent to opted-in Skype users and $1,200 worth of Facebook Social Ads were bought.

The campaign received coverage in the national, London and trade press, and internationally in titles in countries including Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Hong Kong and Australia.

During the 33-day campaign, there were 760,000 visits to the blog, 140,000 unique page views on Flickr, 300,000 total video views on YouTube (with the channel the 20th most visited in the UK during the campaign), 668 friends added on Facebook and more than 175 PR stories generated, with media coverage equating to £225,680.

Mir:ror - RFID Interaction with real world objects

brian — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Here is a very interesting way to interact with every day items. Stick a stamp on practically anything and bridge the gap of digital and real world interaction. Check the video demonstration from Violet and then click over to their site Violet Mir:ror to learn more about the product.

Siftables - Thinking Interactive Blocks

brian — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:05:49 +0000

A TED talk by David Merrill on Siftables, a very interesting way to interact with thinking blocks that can do some amazing things. Now that is thinking outside of the box... or should I say block;-)

The Interactive Future according to Microsoft

brian — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:23:17 +0000

At the Wharton Business Technology Conference, Microsoft unveiled the latest vision video from their Microsoft Office Labs called 2019". The video shows an array examples of how current prototypes may evolve in the years ahead within the worlds of education, healthcare and beyond. There are so many thought provoking methods of how people can interact with different media types that I felt I needed to share it.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&showPlaylist=true&from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

TV viewers vs. Internet users

brian — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:00:45 +0000

First off, let me say that I love Gary's no nonsense approach. Check out this short post from his blog about the value of viewer/user/customers not being equal. This is probably (at least in my mind) the concept that big business is struggling to understand the most. Gary explains it perfectly so check it out.