Now while part of me is afraid of what RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology can do, a majority of me is excited. This, RFID, is the future, not augmented reality. It has all the buzz words of today such as traceability, social, public/personals personas, e-commerce and mobility. As a digital communicator, this is what I am looking forward to. Depending how early developers and marketers harness these RFID tools, it won’t be an invasion of privacy, but rather something completely intuitive and captivating.

Like the Internet and social media has affected all aspects of daily life, I believe RFID will begin to do the same. As of now the possibilities that RFID can contribute to communications, marketing and PR are so unfathomable, it might as well be labeled as sci-fi. So I’ll keep on dreaming.

Here is a video what a single swipe of an encoded RFID card can do.

Nearness from timo on Vimeo.

Discuss.

image source: Ti.Mo’s flickr

This past week, Chicago’s Public Radio’’s This American Life’s program revolved around bullies, and 2 teenage boys in the UK’s plans to blow up their school were foiled; and in the previous months news programs reported ad nauseum about school bullying. I don’t say it doesn’t exist. But at the same time, it’s not news.

As main stream media continues to sensationalize common day occurrences/horrors, and social media makes it easier to get every Tom, Dick and Harry’s opinion out to the world, the little things that were usually swept under the rug, or dealt with behind closed doors are now out in the open and have become entertainment.

In high school, I kept a blog. When my feelings were hurt, I posted about it. When there were new photos, I posted them. I created events and poetry and they were all found on my Xanga page. The difference was that only my friends really had an interest to see what was going on in my life. And every once in awhile, I would post something that could cause either drama or a riff among friends, but it was a big splash in my small social life pond. But now, the social networks are more tightly bound. I tweet it, it goes to my followers and it is also posted onto my Facebook, where a whole new variety of people have access to it, including classmates, teachers and parents.  As a result, I constantly have to keep in mind what I want people to know about me.

Back in 2004, comments would come from the people I talked to every day, now “likes” and @replies pop up from people I haven’t even seen since 2004.  I run a casual PR program just for me, thinking about the audience and the message. And that got me thinking. Now is the time that an educational program (that goes beyond the retro-active “you shouldn’t have done that”) should be instated. When someone complains on their Facebook about getting a wedgy, they should be prepared how easy that wedgy-giver can see that and realize their impact and continue with their actions.

Image source: tigronx254’s Flickr

Augmented reality is a tool/trend that allows images to pop up that don’t exist and interact in real time. Augmented reality has found a home in rudimentary commercials and in iPhone app demos. If you haven’t checked it out, do so asap because this technology is cheap and will be available to the masses, resulting in people creating magic tricks, ecommerce gimmicks and hair mimics.

In my opinion, it isn’t ready for the mass market. It looks great for iPhone apps, but as far as using it to virtually try things on, becoming a virtual furry and even 3-D book animating, it’s just not there. With choppy graphics and the lack of customization, augmented reality has too many kinks to be worked out. And like every tool, there is a time and place to be used. Right now, there’s a rush to jump on this band wagon, but with patience, the evolution of augmented reality will either step up to the plate and create great products and ads, or it will create a few “fails” and then sputter out.

Image Source: Przemion’s Flickr

Thora Birch was an indie movie star. She had that attractive, attainable and snarky thing going on. She starred in the award winning, indie classic American Beauty as an insecure teenager that had few friends at school and a pretty wacky family dynamic. It was kinda hard hitting. There was death and took an interesting perspective in an otherwise mundane life. Well enter Hard Candy and Ellen Page. Page played a little girl, attractive, yet unattainable, due to her being underage, and was very snarky and smart. Once again, it was hard hitting, ya know, for dealing with pedophiles and all, and there was death. Act One Complete.

Now this is a bit out of order, but for the sake of a time consuming post, I’ll go there. They also both went mainstream. Thora was in Hocus Pocus. Ellen Page was in X-Men.

But then Thora Birch made another indie film by the name of Ghost World. It was good. As a future hipster, I loved it. I thought it was deep, funny, quirky and artsy. It talked about music (awesome points!), it flirted with pedophilia (hot topic!), and ultimately made you wonder (where did that bus lead to?). But after that, what then? Thora continued doing projects, but more or less fell into oblivion.

Juno is Ellen Page’s Ghost World. It had a trend inducing soundtrack (indie anti-folk,woah), it flirted with pedophilia (<3 Jason Bateman) and made you wish you had a quirky family, a quirky boyfriend, and a quirky pregnancy!

So what have we learned? Quirk and oddities are great for teens and early 20s, but after that… what do you have? A Drew Barrymore directed movie and lesbian admirers.

And I’ll leave you with this thought: Jason Bateman, the new Steve Buscemi?

Image sources: Hollywood Grind, Greg Wilker

First off, I love that the Muppets are using the Internet. I remember watching the variety show as a kid on Nickelodeon and their online adaptation is perfect.

I have a kinship with Statler and Waldorf. Maybe my whole online presence isn’t to be sarcastic and mean, but to watch and engage those who are (hence my involvement with digital PR).

The Muppets’ move to the Internet was a brilliant choice and well done. As you can see, the video above is shot the same way a regular YouTube video is shot (including Statler starting out too close to the camera). And there are other Muppet videos such as Beeker’s “Ode To Joy” which shows Beeker playing every instrument, similar to other countless YouTube video instrumentalists.

Bravo, Muppets.

I’m a Gen-Yer. And although I love it, I don’t always love the advertisements geared to me. Think about it. Advertising and messaging all pushes us to buy the non-estentials.

Since this is my first year living on my own in a real apartment, where I have to use cash instead of a student I.D. to buy food. My wants and needs are changing. Just a few months ago, it was clothes shopping all the way, now it’s grocery shopping. And I’m not the only one in this shift.

I now care about saving money some what. I care about what I buy. I care about what’s left in my bank account.

Now while I am among the 72% of those under 34 have printed or downloaded a coupon, money saving isn’t my primary reason on buying products. I have no problem spending the extra dollar or two to buy a brand I am familiar with. That’s right, in my world, brand loyalty comes first. In fact, the numbers are 37% of 18- to 29-year-olds buy based on brand.

While advertisers, marketers and PR are people are struggling to figure out how to see to my generation, I can tell you this… we buy household products too, and we aren’t all moms.

Stat sources: AdAge
Photo source:

Posted via web from saratara’s posterous

But low and behold, the iPhone is changing the ad space as we know it.

CBS Outdoor has partnered with Clusta, the digital creative agency, to develop a new advertising platform, launched yesterday, which connects a consumer’s iPhone to the display via WiFi or 3G.

By swiping in either direction on the iPhone’s touchscreen, users can make the object in the digital poster spin to the left or right, and users can also make the display change colour. (source)

That is cool! Granted, this technology and ad was premiered at the Media Playground conference in London and has not, as far as I know, been established for the general public; however the technology and possibilities are there.

Another thing about this new advertising opportunity is that it is left for the big dogs. When something new like this is available, only recognized companies and products get to play with it. (Whereas smaller companies like Zappos could dominate the early period of Twitter.) In this case, it was Converse, a Nike owned product, because pretty much everyone knows Converse and the classic Chuck Taylor style. It was also smart to sample this product with the iPhone interactivity because of the demographic that Nike and Converse already draws to. The youth/youthful that own an iPhone probably also own a pair or two of the classic shoe.

Either way, awesome idea. I wonder if Palm will be able to pull off daily life changing events.

As I type this, I am laying on my couch in a new apartment as I wait for the gas man to turn on our stove. So cooking, in general, is not an option. The unemployment also puts a damper on grocery shopping. This is where Super Cook comes in. For the site, you plug in what you have in your kitchen (for example: cereal, milk, bacon, and bread). Then it will spit out recipes you can make with those ingredients, and suggest other recipes requiring a missing item or two.

It’s a brilliant idea, except for one thing. The results are often unappetizing when you have such a short list of ingredients. I’m sure once I get a table to eat on, I’ll be more prone to cook more. Until then, it’s cereal and tuna salad all the way.

Image sources: SuperCook.com, ANVRecife’s Flickr.

The Food Network has a new plan to target the young 20 something’s. As a foodie by family association, I was intrigued about how they would go about targeting someone like me.

They are doing it by Food2.com. (Warning: full of food puns) And I have to ask: is this what they think is appetizing for us? I’m a fan of the Food Network programming. In fact, I’m a fan of programming about food on other channels too, such as Top Chef.

But Food2 looks like it’s a mix of Nickelodeon and some nonspecific blog. They think bright colors, flash and videos is what will keep us coming back or staying longer than the average 56 seconds. I don’t think so. That’s what keeps children around. If they really are targeting the 25 year olds, then they aren’t taking into consideration of what 25 year olds are looking for.

With growing demands on our attention and our time, entertainment on a sub site is usually not what we are looking for. We are searching for information. For Food2 and any other potential sites targeting the same audience with the same technique, it’s time to think about what will get us there.

For me, as a potential foodie (just wait until I get a kitchen in a few short weeks), here are a few reasons why I would visit Food2:

- Recipes

- Google search results

- Drinking games (yes, some of us never grow up)

- Cocktail party ideas for my generation

Things I won’t be visiting for:

- Videos

o I’ve got Hulu, I’ve got cable, I don’t need to follow any more television shows

- Read the blogs

o I’m going to assume that the recipes in the blogs will pop up in their recipe section.

o Once again, I’ll only visit if Google takes me there

Overall, I just feel like the impression of my generation is that we really just spend our time on the Internet, looking at junk, starting memes, and overall not being productive

I’ll have you know, that sure I like to be entertained, but I also like to be functional and relevant. Food can become relevant (Top Chef), but as of now, Food2 and Food Network is hardly cultural relevant, it’s punch line right now.

Image Source:Food2.com