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Using the iPad as AppleTV

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:37:12 +0000

I was reading a rant about the new AppleTV on SmugMug’s blog and found myself nodding in agreement with “Imagine that the AppleTV ran iOS and had its own App Store.” I then reached into the drawer for the iPad’s VGA connector I’d bought a few months back for $30 (haven’t seen any cheaper knock-offs yet), plugged my iPad into the flatscreen, and there it was, an AppleTV with an app store. I downloaded a few Stanford’s free video lectures from iTunesU — the native Videos app supports video-out — and played them on the large screen. (Other shows rented or bought through iTunes might not play via VGA.)

I watched two movies from the Netflix app; they weren’t of Blu-ray quality, but were still very watchable and streamed smoothly over wireless. You can’t charge the iPad while the VGA connector is in, but the battery lasted long enough to provide video entertainment for the entire evening.

Among other video sources that looked fine on the big screen were websites (some through Safari, others through the Perfect Web Browser app that almost lives up to its name), the ABC app, YouTube, and AirVideo for watching video files stored on other PCs at home and streamed to the TV via iPad over the wireless. The Hulu app, too, should work with video-out, but I don’t have the Plus subscription to try for myself. Many more video apps are in the works.

I’ve been looking for a small HTPC to replace a dead desktop as a bridge between TV and the internet, perhaps an Acer or a Lenovo, but for now, it turns out the iPad will work just fine.

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Using the iPad as AppleTV is a post from: Advertising Balloon

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A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun]

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:57:51 +0000

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now.

You see, there is this company.

It publishes over a hundred RSS feeds and several email newsletters, but not a single blog.

The only conversations this company entertains are the ones it starts itself or is subpoenaed into.

Conversations it doesn’t like, it tries to silence.

It has sued some of its biggest fans.

Continue reading the original article and the follow-up. Both were originally published last fall.

Enjoy August reruns of some of our most popular articles while the editorial team (of one) takes a long-overdue break away from all things digital.

——
Follow @twadlab for headlines and more.

A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] is a post from: Advertising Balloon

A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now....
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A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun]

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:57:51 +0000

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now.

You see, there is this company.

It publishes over a hundred RSS feeds and several email newsletters, but not a single blog.

The only conversations this company entertains are the ones it starts itself or is subpoenaed into.

Conversations it doesn’t like, it tries to silence.

It has sued some of its biggest fans.

Continue reading the original article and the follow-up. Both were originally published last fall.

Enjoy August reruns of some of our most popular articles while the editorial team (of one) takes a long-overdue break away from all things digital.

——
Follow @twadlab for headlines and more.

A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] is a post from: Advertising Balloon

A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now....
The Myth of 5,000 Ad Messages [rerun] “You’ve seen this number before: an average American consumer today...
The Rise of Automatic Tastemakers [rerun] Just like factory workers of the 19th century found themselves...

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The Rise of Automatic Tastemakers [rerun]

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:37:14 +0000

Just like factory workers of the 19th century found themselves inevitably replaced by the more efficient machines, human gatekeepers are giving way to a new breed of automated tastemakers – sophisticated software that separates the information wheat from the chaff and whose influence is growing as fast as the amount of information we produce.

Read on.

Enjoy August reruns of some of our most popular articles while the editorial team (of one) takes a long-overdue break away from all things digital.

——
Follow @twadlab for headlines and more.

The Rise of Automatic Tastemakers [rerun] is a post from: Advertising Balloon

The Myth of 5,000 Ad Messages [rerun] “You’ve seen this number before: an average American consumer today...
A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now....
A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now....

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The Myth of 5,000 Ad Messages [rerun]

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:03:08 +0000

“You’ve seen this number before: an average American consumer today is exposed to — or “bombarded by”, or ‘inundated with’ — 5,000 advertising messages a day. This number finds its way into slide decks, it peppers newspaper articles, and it is quoted in academic papers.

You probably used it at least once. I know I did. Only today, I realized I had no idea where this number was coming from.”

See what we found out back in 2007, as well as a response from Yankelovich’s J. Walker Smith.

Enjoy August reruns of some of our most popular articles while the editorial team (of one) takes a long-overdue break away from all things digital.

——
Follow @twadlab for headlines and more.

The Myth of 5,000 Ad Messages [rerun] is a post from: Advertising Balloon

The Rise of Automatic Tastemakers [rerun] Just like factory workers of the 19th century found themselves...
A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now....
A Company That Fell Of The Cluetrain [rerun] Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time now....

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5 Low Cost Methods to Drive Traffic to Your Door

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:36:13 +0000

5 Low Cost Methods to Drive Traffic to Your Door!

1. Use a Giant Advertising Balloon.

A large 7 ft. in diameter helium advertising balloon can be purchased for as little as $269.00. It costs approximately $70 to fill the balloon with 180 cubic feet of helium and you are now on the map. Tether the helium balloon so it floats 120 ft. – 150 ft. above your business or event. People who may have passed by your location a thousand times and had never noticed you will now see you.

Drive Traffic with a big helium balloon.

2. Catch the Beat (and traffic) with an Inflatable Advertising Man.

You chose your location for the traffic count and visibility. Make that location work for you with an inexpensive inflatable advertising man. Sometimes called dancing balloons, dancing man balloons, dancing man inflatables, tube dancers and other names these floppy inflatables attract attention and customers. These can be purchased for as little as $399.00

Dancing Tube Balloon

Inflatable Dancing man

3. Take a Tip from Goodyear©

Look up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane – - – - It’s the Blimp. Most of us can not afford the $200K a month for a giant full size manned blimp but we can afford $461.00 for an advertising blimp. These helium filled advertising blimps are from 11 feet in length to 30 feet in length and can cost less than $500.00. Add you $35.00 of helium to the blimp and the crowds are seeing your blimp and your business! Fly your blimp between 100 feet and 150 feet above your location and you will get results!

Advertising Blimps Bring Business!

4. Blow Up Your Product or Mascot!

If you have a product or mascot that lends itself to being made into a giant sealed air inflatable replica – go for it!

These giant sealed air inflatables take advantage of the same technology as your air mattress but that is where the similarity ends. Prices range greatly in sealed air products depending on size and complexity. However, many 6ft. – 10ft. custom sealed air inflatables can be purchased in the $750 – $1500 price range. When you get your inflatable, inflate it with a small air inflator and tether in front of your location. If possible you can place it on the roof of your building. No helium, no electricity and put it just about anywhere!

Capture Attention with a giant sealed air replica.

5. Go Big, Really Big or Go Home!

Advertising inflatables can be rented almost anywhere. Advertising inflatables are giant, usually 25ft. tall or larger, figures, characters, animals, mascots or other forms. You can see everything from giant Aliens to Santa to Uncle Sam. These giant advertising inflatables are staked to the ground in front of your business or attached to your building’s roof. Some advertising inflatables can be rented for as little as $150/day or purchased for $4000 and up. An advertising inflatable can last for years if reasonable care is used in protecting it. The hundreds or thousands of vehicles passing your location each day will be certain to see you.

BIG BULL ATTRACTS ATTENTION

Great for Holiday Promotions!

If you want to drive traffic through the door give these giant balloons, blimps and inflatables a try. Combine two or more to see Giant Results!

5 Low Cost Methods to Drive Traffic to Your Door is a post from: Advertising Balloons

5 Low Cost Methods to Drive Traffic to Your Door is a post from: Advertising Balloon

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The ROI of Second Life [rerun]

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:51:08 +0000

What I wrote about Second Life four years ago can be applied to Foursquare check-ins and other emerging media behaviors that haven’t yet reached enough of a critical mass to be useful to advertisers in a traditional way.

“If it’s not about fame and if it’s not about money, why bother at all? The answer is knowledge.

Some experts predict that in the fairly near future at least part of the Internet will turn 3-D with online destinations either adopting some form of 3-D interface or expanding into the existing virtual environments (3pointD.com is one of the blogs tracking the signs of change). The argument goes that the companies that are playing inside Second Life and similar worlds today will be better prepared for tomorrow.”

Read the rest of this 2006 post on Hill Holliday’s blog.

Enjoy August reruns of some of our most popular articles while the editorial team (of one) takes a long-overdue break away from all things digital.

——
Follow @twadlab for headlines and more.

The ROI of Second Life [rerun] is a post from: Advertising Balloon

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BP Blames Photographer For Photoshop Blunder

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:36:56 +0000

When BP got caught altering one of the photos on their Gulf response press page, whom did they blame? “A photographer.”

Washington Post: “Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said that there was nothing sinister in the photo alteration and provided the original unaltered version. He said that a photographer working for the company had inserted the three images in spots where the video screens were blank.”

AP: “He [Dean] says the photographer was showing off his Photoshop skills and there was no ill intent.”

The photographer’s name shows up on the image’s meta data. He’s been doing work for the company since at least 2004. “Showing off his Photoshop skills?” Couldn’t they find someone else to throw under the bus?

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BP Blames Photographer For Photoshop Blunder is a post from: Advertising Balloon

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What I Learned From An Experiment in Spreadability

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:36:56 +0000

Just published some data and analysis behind the Jerzify Yourself site that Hill Holliday built back in January as an experiment in “spreadable design” and that got picked up by celeb publications and got passed around rather nicely. Lots of interesting stuff: the effect of celebrity tweets, the speed of link propagation in Twitter and Facebook, different levels of “spreadfulness” we saw on different sites — all right here.

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What I Learned From An Experiment in Spreadability is a post from: Advertising Balloon

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Billboards With Face Recognition Collect Demographic Data in Japan

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:04:19 +0000

One of the popular stories last week was this AFP piece about a group of Japanese train stations testing a new set of billboards with face recognition technology. The billboards were inevitably, and sometimes breathlessly, compared to the personalized signage in Minority Report.

The project is a lot less ambitious: it’s goal is to collect demo data on people who pass by and stop to gawk at the ads: “The displays are part of a one-year trial being conducted by the Digital Signage Promotion Project, comprising 11 railway companies and their affiliated advertising firms. Their aim is to learn what kinds of people are interested in which ads at what times.”

You can find additional details about the billboards in this press release (pdf in Japanese). Here’s the project’s website (Chrome does a decent job auto-translating it).

The technology is not very new; AdLab’s posted about it two years ago. Much cooler are these mannequins with face recognition.

Check out CNN’s coverage of the billboards back when they were displayed at a tradeshow in March complete, of course, with a Minority Report reference.

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Follow @twadlab for headlines and more.

Billboards With Face Recognition Collect Demographic Data in Japan is a post from: Advertising Balloon

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