For the past few years I have been writing posts about Norad's Santa Tracker (once a partner of Google's) and how it works as a nice online activity to enjoy with your children and friends. Now that Microsoft's Bing has partnered with Norad, Google has gone all out and created their own Google Maps' Santa Tracker and until it launches on Christmas Eve, you can explore a fun interactive animated site with plenty of games and goodies or download a Google Chrome app for added entertainment.
above: screen grabs of the Village briefing and windtunnel
Santa’s many developer elves, who are hard at work in the North Pole helping Santa prepare for his big day, have combined their elf magic with the latest and greatest in Google Maps technology and sleigh engineering to allow you to follow his progress around the world, and also learn a little about some of his stops along the way.
above: a sneak preview of the Google Santa Tracker which launches on Christmas Eve.
Even without using Google chrome as your browser, you can enjoy the following at the Google Santa Tracker Site:
•Create a Custom Phone Call from Santa in the form of an mp3 file you can send to your friends (This is really cool. It takes a few minutes to make the first one, but it's worth it.)
•You (or your kids) can play one of three games that operates with your keyboard.
Present Drop:
Village Racer:
Jetpack:
If you use Google Chrome, you can download the app and enjoy even more fun like a dashboard tracker, play around with Santa's blimp or elf bus and write messages on a frosty browser window.
The friendly elves have also invited you to explore Santa’s village while Santa gets ready for his journey. So go ahead and explore his village, you might just find some fun activities and meet some interesting elves.
The Google Maps Santa Tracker is created and developed by Google, with a little help from Santa’s elves. Need help or have another question? Visit their Help Center to learn more about Santa Tracker.
I was wondering how long it would take for the ever-growing Pinterest platform to combine with the incredibly popular Instagram app. Not long as you will see with Pinstagram, a new site by co-founders Brandon Leonardo and Pek Pongpaet.
Below is a reprint of the article "Pinstagram: How Instagram Should Look On the Web":
We have all seen those mythical hybrid animals, like the zeroed, a mix of zebra and equine, or perhaps the more commonly known beefalo, a mix of buffalo and cow. You may even be familiar with the leopon, the result of breeding a male leopard with a female lion. Hybrids are real. And there are others too, mind you. But it's not all fur and feathers; many such hybrids live on the Internet. Especially sites like Pinstagram, a "Pinterest for your Instagram images," as co-founder Pek Pongpaet describes it. In an increasingly visual Web, it's a wonder that this hybrid didn't come about sooner.
Like most things on the Internet, Pinstagram happened fast.
"We were joking one evening about how Instagram is worth $1 billion and how Pinterest's valuation might already be in the $500 million range," says co-founder Brandon Leonardo. "And we were thinking about the idea of a Twitter for Facebook, what that would be like. Then I could tell Pek started thinking about it. The gears started turning; he was visualizing a Pinterest for Instagram."
Not more than 24 hours later, Pongpaet had already coded and designed it. This sort of fast turnaround is pretty natural for Pongpaet and Leonardo, who come from a hackathon "get stuff out as fast as possible and ask questions later" type of background.
above: Pinstagram on the iPad
If this sort of idea had popped up within a larger company setting, for example, it would have "taken months," says Pongapaet.
Since Pinstagram's debut just a few weeks ago, the site has already seen about 6,400 Facebook likes of Instagram images, thousands of tweets and a few hundred pins. Pinstagram: An Indicator of the Evolving Visual Web Services like Pinterest and Instagram are integral to the future of the visual Web. No longer do people send photos to document memories; they are lifestreaming as it all happens, with pictures telling the story. It's no wonder that Facebook snatched up Instagram while it still had the chance.
above: my own pinstagram page
"The visual medium has always had international appeal," says Pongapaet. "Sending pictures is very common. If you stick to English, you'll alienate a lot of people. Visual mediums let you transcend all barriers. It takes seconds to process a photo."
What about Webstagram, the Instagram Web viewer? Isn't this a sufficient way to view Instragram images on the Internet? For some, it's perfect. But like many news Web sites, Webstagram is organized around "popular," "my photos," "liked," "hot," "photo of the day" and more. It feels more like a news website and less like a glossy, Pinterest-like magazine.
"The reason I built Pinstagram is because this is my world view of how Instagram should look on the Web," says Pongapaet. "Our core focus is to recreate the Instagram experience on the desktop and to be able to extend that to our users."
Not everyone wants to see their Instagrams in a Pinterest-like layout, however, and Pongapaet acknowledges that.
"There are always different interpretations," he says. "That's what great about art, about having different APIs - people all have different interpretations."
Pinstagram just integrated into Facebook Timeline. As the Instagram-Facebook integration continues to rollout, so will this nifty Pinterest-Instagram hybrid beast.-by Alicia Eler on May 11th, 2012 for ReadWriteWeb.
Below is a video interview with Pongpaet about Pinstagram:
New York Writes Itself was created as a crowd sourced and branded content idea in New York City by the Village Voice and Leo Burnett NY. Designed to be shared through social media and cultural influencers, the branded content reached audiences in a direct way where they could enjoy and share the content; a website to which people can contribute, an art exhibit, an ongoing blog and a bi-weekly web series.
The entire effort has won several awards including a Cannes Titanium Lion for branded content integrating user-generated content.
THE CONCEPT:
Village Voice is an editorial channel that has heritage of capturing the real, uncensored voice of New York. The challenge was prove this brand position, and at the same time, re-establish the Village Voice as the go-to source of arts and culture. The objective was to re-establish the Village Voice as the real uncensored voice of New York, and a brand that is in touch with New Yorkers and the cultural scene of the city. Their strategy was to create a campaign that would not just advertise the Village Voice, but would give New Yorkers a new way to get involved in the creation of cultural content with the brand. Therefore, they created ‘New York Writes Itself’, a crowd sourced content platform designed as a place for New Yorkers to write down the amazing things they see and hear on the streets of NY every day, and see them turned into editorial and creative content. The first execution of the project was a letterpress art exhibition in which the city’s leading letterpress artists brought real words heard on the streets of New York to life letter by letter.
THE NEW YORK TYPES LETTERPRESS ART SHOW: Various printers and designers then turned the words of New Yorker's into beautifully designed letter-pressed posters that were shown in an exhibit. Every piece of art in the show was inspired by a person, scene, or quote witnessed in NYC.
THE CHAIRMAN BI-WEEKLY WEBISODES:
The Chairman is a bi-weekly webisode series that launched a month ago. The 'Chairman' himself is a New Yorker who reads a small excerpt from the official NYWI script in each episode. With the engagement of a story teller he reads to us from his iconic yellow leather chair which is placed on the streets of New York.
The audience were drawn to New York Writes Itself through integrated channels including: - newyorkwritesitself.com, the hub of the consumer generated content which fueled the campaign - Social media including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Village Voice newspaper and villagevoice.com - Editorial content including Village Voice and earned media - Key cultural influencers and bloggers who targeted relevant sub-cultures in the creative community - Street poster campaign on the streets of NYC.
‘New York Writes Itself’ was hugely successful as a piece of branded content: over 24m media impressions to date. Held at the Art Directors Club in New York, the exhibition achieved a record attendance. 2m unique visits to NewYorkWritesItself.com, 52 articles of earned media in editorial channels outside the Village Voice including New York Times and CBS News. $15,000 revenue generated in sold artwork of which 100% went to the artists involved. New York Writes Itself has made such a strong cultural impact, Village Voice has made it a permanent piece of its arts and culture content. An Off-Broadway play and comedy series are currently in production as is new content to come.
Get involved as a Scribe at newyorkwritesitself.com, and your everyday experiences of New York just might become part of the next New York Writes Itself experience, which could take the form of music, writing, photography, a short film or more.
Keep sharing your stories.
Credits Executive Producer: Jeremy Fox Leo, Burnett NY Village Voice Publisher: Josh Fromson Village Voice Promotions/Marketing Manager: Christina Pettit Village Voice Web Editor : Nick Greene Village Voice Online Operations Associate Manager : Tara Mcguiness Chief Creative Officer: Jay Benjamin Leo Burnett NY Creative Director: Michael Canning, Leo Burnett NY Creative Director : Kieran Antill, Leo Burnett NY Cultural Architect: Max Goodwin, Leo Burnett NY Managing Director: Tom Flanagan, Leo Burnett NY Village Voice Media President And Chief Operating Officer: Scott Tobias Village Voice Marketing Director: Rosemary Raposo Copywriter: Michael Canning, Leo Burnett NY Art Director : Kieran Antill, Leo Burnett NY Creative Intern: Skyler Dobin, Leo Burnett New York Web Developer: Avant, LLC Music: Comma Music Production: Radical Media Artists: Keystone Design Union Center for the Book Arts Center for the Book Arts Swayspace Tarhorse Press Peter Kruty editions Production: Bill Thomas Editors: Beast Nice Shoes
What does Karl Lagerfeld think? Eat? Like? What time does he get up? Where does he shop? What's he designing?
above: Karl Lagerfeld with Saskia de Brauw and Caroline Brasch Nielsen, both dressed from head to toe in the KARL line.
Karl.com went live this week and features a look at the world of the pony-tailed designer and his many quirks, talents and products.
above: Karl Lagerfeld, photo By Stephane Feugere
The new site contains several sections; personal sketches, various words of wisdom called 'karlisms', personal diaries, his favorite art, culture, shops, items and experiences, a collection of look books and an e-shop.
above: some of Karl's personal sketches
The e-store will soon be expanded to additional product categories such as men’s wear, perfumes and the upscale Karl Lagerfeld Paris line, debuting for fall.
above: some of the items presently available on karl.com 'Making of' videos, interviews, fashion montages and more can be found on the site as well as links to his bookstore, upcoming gigs, fashions and more.
Below is one of the many video clips from the site, recorded during the HOGAN by KARL LAGERFELD FW1213 collection photoshoot with Saskia de Brauw.
And one of the many images - KARL LAGERFELD Eyewear 2012 Making Of, with Bianca Balti and Jake Davies, shot by Karl Lagerfeld:
The quotes figure in a section entitled “World of Karl,” where one can find out where the designer buys his paper and art supplies (Sennelier, 3 Quai Voltaire), his favorite jewelry shop (Lydia Courteille, 231 Rue Saint Honoré) and optician (E.B. Meyrowitz, 5 Rue de Castiglione).
Here, web users can also view making-of images of campaigns, watch interviews and videos, and find out about the designer’s extracurricular activities. (Next up: A stint as guest editor of the May issue of French Architectural Digest.)
The site delivers the online fashions to France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain, with more European countries and the U.S. to be added soon.
You may know it as Marry, Murder, F*ck or Marry, F*ck or Kill. Either way, the addictive game of determining which, from three members of the opposite sex, you'd like to make love, make a lifetime commitment or simply eradicate from earth has been turned into a well-designed and clever online site and shop.
Advertising copywriter Thom Cordner and Art Director Amanda Mourenza pooled their sick sense of humor and their smart sense of style to design The MFK Daily (and the goodies that go with it). An appealing looking, easy to navigate website featuring the MFK game for both male and female players - straight, gay or otherwise - with seemingly endless options.
The clever trios, from which you are to choose, are grouped by everything from such general categories as Athletes and Politicians to as specific as your favorite Irish actors or the same actress in three different roles.
Not only can you play the game, but as soon as you've chosen, you can see where your own tastes lie in comparison with others who play:
Not big on online game playing? Do not fret, they sell well-designed hilarious card versions of the game that also do double duty as flirtational devices when left, boxes checked, at the proper places - or in the proper hands.
MFK Daily Cards: There are over twenty different 1" x 2.5" cards and more to come.
Colorful neon flocked appliques of the game name or icons are available on various colored shirts for both men and women: T-shirts in which you can tick off any box or none at all: And other fun MFK Daily tees in men's or women's styles with lots of color options: And black or white women's undies:
Thom & Amanda Thom Cordner and Amanda Mourenza are freelance creatives who combine smart strategic thinking with well-executed work. You can see more of their talents, or book them if they are available, at their websites:
