Innovation and creativity all under one house

Lovely piece here from HAKUHODO Kettle Tokyo, in the fact they took a simple obvious idea for moving house and did something completely left-field - a very sweet and powerful eco-social experiment. Tapping into something that people care about and turned it on its head. With the behind the scene builds which puts it all into context this makes for a very watchable piece of content, that's so good on all fronts. Hat tip. I wish I done.

Clever Interaction in one easy swipe

Good morning beautiful people, Don't worry about the rain - people either run from getting wet or there's people who feel the rain - anyway this was very interesting; interesting in that yet again online meets offline - neat simple idea - that harnessing something that is as old as Keith Richards - the pin badge - what is also interesting my 16 yr old daughter sent me the link from Kickstarter - times are changing - this generation will be the next marketing directors, CEO's CCO etc. They don't see digital and an offline experience - they just see an experience - enjoy your day and think positive creative thoughts https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pinscollective/pins-collective

Young Upstarts

Power of Instagram

This made me laugh - thanks Kevin Morris for sharing, amazing in that we all get it, and it goes to show the power of social media and our addiction to our mobile phones - sharing experiences through the lens of your phone.

Breakfast hacks for the kids

Here's a cute little social content idea - We asked ourselves; 'Are our Tip & Sip bowls the ultimate breakfast invention?' We asked Dominic Wilcox a wacky inventor to put it to the test and asked him to create even more fun ways to get the kids to eat their breakfast #BreakfastHacks - with my little troop going back to school today - I reckon the cranehead is the one in my household.

Bank through Twitter

Tweet tweet look at this little birdie how Twitter is been used in India. The ICICI Bank is enabling smartphone users to make money transfers, top up phone credit and monitor their balance all via Twitter. Customers do not have to bank with ICICI, they simply need to follow the bank’s Twitter handle

@icicibank. To make a payment through the service — called icicibankpay — senders create a voucher by sending ICICI bank a direct message containing the recipient’s account name and the amount they wish to transfer. This will create a four digit passcode which the sender then shares with the receiver. The receiver can then use this code to authenticate the payment and receive their funds.

Data Visualization Porn

D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS. Found this while surfing the net on a Sunday rainy day, for all the geek heads and designers this is a great library of great content code. Enjoy.

Google Mobile in parts

Still beta phase but here is what Google have been up to regarding developing what they call Project Ara, custom build almost like a lego kit the mobile you want

Cat Memes

Just brilliant- what more can I say

Sounds A Great Idea

As a lover of old school Soul and with my love of vinyl and tech, by the way my record boxes and old school stack system is still out in display in my living room. (My kids still aren't quite sure what it is).So when I came across this idea, I must admit I did break into a bit of a two step across my living room floor. By harnessing conductive printed onto the vinyl cover, when tapped you can play a percussion sound. The ink responds to touch, interrupting a circuit that connects to a sound system. Sounds a great idea.

North Face Instore Experience

"Never Stop Exploring." so says the campaign line from North Face, by putting this to the test, South Korean agency Innored came up with this very clever idea with this in-store experience. Unsuspecting customers at this pop-up North Face store were startled when the floor below them slowly began to disappear, and they were forced to grab on to the walls, which happened to have rock-climbing holds attached to them. Then, a perfect North Face item descends from the heavens, just out of their reach, and a 30-second timer appears. Lovely connected interactive story.

Creative but savvy too

Yes indeed many great creative minds are like this, it's not by choice it's just the way our brains are wired. But what sets creative people apart from great creatives? Great creative minds have a clear goal, almost to the point of obsession, if that is winning a pitch, reaching a new audience, inventing a new product, it takes will power and brain power to make it happen, great creative leaders know this.

An invention that has left me speechless

Sorry for the pun but this really did leave me speechless and here's why; the inventor is 16 years of age!! and here's what he did; Arsh Shah Dilbagi from India developed a micro controller which turns your breath into speech - now that is bloody amazing, here's how it works. Using a basic $25 Arduino microcontroller as the core of the device, a special microphone called MEMS Microphone converts the breathing pattern into electrical signals. This technology uses a pressure-sensitive diaphragm etched directly onto a silicon microchip, and an amplifying device to increase the sound of the user’s breath. The user gives distinguishable exhales that vary in length and intensity and this can then be translated using Morse code into speech or other commands. Microprocessors compute the electrical signals and convert them into speech, with the device currently offering 9 different voices.

“After testing the final design with myself and friends and family, I was able to arrange a meeting with the Head of Neurology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi and tested TALK (under supervision of doctor and in controlled environment) with a person suffering from SEM and Parkinson’s Disease,” Dilbagi explained. “The person was able to give two distinguishable signals using his breath and the device worked perfectly.” As I said earlier; speechless.

Visionary

Throughout my career I come across many business problems, it's my job to solve it, one question I always ask clients is; do you want to solve this problem for the short-term or long-term? Can you guess the vast responses to that simple question? #clue>> They comeback 6 months later, with some more problems that need solving. The plus side I suppose it keeps me in work.

Sticker Beacons - Welcome to Nearables

I came across a company called Estimote,with a great offering, not only is this very functional but the design is just delightful. I love this. Here's how it works; they are tiny adhesive beacons that can be attached to any surface to help unconnected objects interact with smartphones. Smart. Despite their thin shape, each Estimote sticker contains an accelerometer and temperature sensors, as well as a processor and bluetooth connector. If an item is picked up, extra information from the price or user reviews can be automatically pushed to the customer's phone. Estimote is calling its stickers 'nearables' (I like that. They provide similar benefits to wearables without having to be attached to the user, and offer more information about the immediate environment. The Estimote stickers Developer Preview Kit can now be pre-ordered from the company's website To me this is great concept where tech connects to a much greater experience, great connected thinking. A 'very good' sticker goes to Estimote, top of the class in tech for you matey.

Steve Jobs lost interview

Love this lost interview from Steve Jobs, very frank and open about how he set-up, raw genius with naivety around business - one thing that drove him was his pure love of tech and how things work, almost childlike. Well worth viewing.

Running Souls

What a great story this is - Ronnie Goodman, a homeless resident of San Francisco who is a dedicated runner, who also ran last Sunday the San Francisco Half Marathon and raised close to $10,000 for Hospitality House, a charity that helped him pursue a career as an artist. Watching this video and hearing his story really makes me feel blessed that I can go for a run and feel the rush and freedom you get once you put your runners on, but this dude puts a whole different perspective on why runners run, inspiring and the great thing about running and runners is no matter who you are, no matter what life holds for you - it's never judgemental. Must watch

The Idea Catchers

What value on creativity? If an idea is profound enough, it can change the course of history...no pressure then. Keeping looking for truffles rather than mushrooms.

The customer journey is nothing but straight forward.

Great piece via econsultancy with digital, the traditional buying cycle has gone out of the window. Brands and agencies struggle with this, they're not dictating the journey but people are. It's a struggle for many but to build a successful brand you have to let it go a bit and let your customers lead.

Self-centred brand?

If anyone ever asks you what's the difference between brand centric and customer centric? Then this visual sums it up, genius

Beautiful Me - well maybe

What a beauty? No no not me this little beauty called BeauitfulMe, quite simply it taps into all the buzz around people's desire to discover more on their health and wellbeing. With this little app you almost feel you have your very own dermatologist or beautician to tell you how to take control of your skin issues everything from what colours and types of make-up to wear for your skin tone. The app can scan up to 500 photos from your Facebook profile and can analyze a ton of information from your face, skin tone, skin type. The interface is very user friendly too, very neat and useful for when you need to take those selfies.

Instagram Tree

Here's a wonderful campaign that is beautiful and unique that highlights the sad fact that the tropical rainforest is in real trouble, what happens there affects all of us. #TapForTrainers celebrates the amazing beauty of the Amazon, its wildlife and resources with a stunning installation in Instagram, supported by creative collaborations with some of the UK’s leading eco-fashion bloggers, designers and illustrators, such as Jean Jullien, AJ Odudu and the Boy from Dagbon. Simply by tapping the tiles on our virtual tree, the work of illustrator Sandra Dieckmann, visitors uncover stories about the Amazon, alongside narrative from Lily Cole, Veja and eco-fashion influencers. Tree tappers can also enter a competition to win a pair of limited edition trainers made from responsibly sourced rubber. Sky Rainforest Rescue ambassador Lily Cole has created and are giving away fabulous limited-edition shoe collection with Veja, the French eco fashion brand. The soles of the shoes are made from Amazonian wild rubber, tapped from the Sky Rainforest Rescue project. A great way to tell the story by harnessing tech. Happy tapping, as this tree is going to keep on growing.

A real caffeine hit

Love this, turning brands into functionality products - like Nescafe who've turned their cap into an alarm clock - I'm also loving the tactile design of the cap too. Nice connected thinking.