TRACTA :: 4eyes

Phew!  Next week it will be December.  Christmas is coming, the sun is shining and we’re all busy as really busy things, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

In fact, I’m going to keep this post clear of any “hard” news.  Nothing Googley, nothing statisticy, this is pure entertainment.  But be warned – you may learn something too!

In New Zealand…

Did you know that some courier companies are offering advertising on their fleet vehicles?  As they have dozens of cars doing hundreds of kilometres around urban centres, TelstraClear saw this as an opportunity to promote their Business Network in Auckland.

Want to know what’s going to be on TV in March 2010?  TVNZ have released their New Season 2010 programming and schedules – all the links are here.

Want to know what TV people have been complaining about in 2009?  It’s all here.

Around the World…

How to integrate outdoor, PR, online and viral activity to sell 337% more chowder.  Clever, well executed and successful!

According to Guiness World Records, this is the most viewed online ad in the world.  Cute eh?

Sorry, I couldn’t do it.  Again!  I couldn’t do a whole post without a reference to Google Almighty. Sometimes their algorithms throw up results they’re not proud of, and they have to apologise.  However when I read this article and clicked on the “see the search results here” link I didn’t see the image in question, BUT Google kindly suggested a separate search for me!  And then they’ll apologise for it!

That’s the weird world wide web wrapped up for another week.  Have a good one!

Here we go again!  More mad news and interesting insights derived from the wonderful world of the web.

I’m going to call this post the TOP 5 at 5.  Because it’s 5pm.  And I have 5 news items.

Number 1: TVNZ OnDemand has a new, bigger, better viewer.  See it here.

Number 2: Dominion Post have a new layout.  See what the editor, and readers, have to say here.

Number 3: Farmers want broadband!!

Number 4: Free MySkyHD for Vodafone customers! Cross-media deals anyone?

Number 5: Google’s next big thing… the Google Phone.  Next… Google jeans, Google cars, Google ice cream?

But I won’t leave it at that!  You know you hang out for the fun bits at the end of these posts!

Here’s a little game from Seek (the recruitment website).  You can upload your own (or someone else’s) photo and shoot yourself (or that someone else) from a cannon!  Would you like to know who I have shot out of the cannon so far?

That’s all.  Have a good one!

Since it is Friday the 13th and we’re all petrified of black cats walking under our ladders and stepping on the cracks with their umbrellas up, I thought I’d keep this issue of 4Eyes fairly light.

But of course you can’t escape the Google Monster!  This week they’re in the news because they have completed StreetView mapping of all 50 US states, and are now ready to go off-road.  And in case Twitter, Facebook, Yammer et al aren’t enough to keep up to date with your friends, Google can now help find them in real life.  Also in the news is the newest iPhone feature “Monocle” which allows users to point their camera at a location and see real-time data about it, like restaurant reviews, movie times, sale items… the potential here is great!  No real Facebook news this week, but in a vote of confidence in the social network, major games producer Electronic Arts has bought Playfish for $400million.  Playfish make some of those annoyingly addictive Facebook games, but is not even the biggest player in that market.

Smart Wired

Kiwibank has launched its own social media site to connect young people in NZ (and connect them with Kiwibank by offering cool and relevant prizes a-plenty).

TVNZ are happy with their first foray into interactive web telly Reservoir Hill.

I enjoyed this site where you can mock up your own moustache (and see yourself morph really strangely), brought to you by Schick and GetFrank for Movember.

Weird Wired

Hastings new slogan/logo.  Contentious?  Check out the comments below the main article!

Tweeter lands book deal, sitcom.  Goes to show if you can create the content, someone else will market it for you!  Having looked at the twitter stream Shit My Dad Says (caution: explicit language) it could be funny…

The new Wii made especially for women (again, some content may offend…)

And with that, I leave you to your weekend.  Have a good one!

Iain’s Interesting Internet Information

Google continues to roll out new innovations, products and services on an almost weekly basis.  Google Voice is not available in NZ yet, but in its homeland it is offering users the ability to retain their existing phone number, while taking advantage of cheap VOIP calls and numerous additional features like voicemail transcription.  And Google are getting into the music business – providing search functionality that allows users to search for MP3s – both legal and illegal.  In providing the directions to downloads, Google potentially has the ability to make or break the music industry by choosing to include or exclude illegal downloads.  There’s got to be a downside to all this innovation at breakneck speed though – and it may be that accuracy is lacking.  Case in point: this town on Google Maps that doesn’t actually exist.

Meanwhile Apple’s iTunes isn’t taking Google’s entry into the music biz lying down… there is talk they will soon have deals signed to offer “all you can eat” TV content.  Have you looked at iTunes lately (I haven’t – I’m all talk)?  The range of content available is constantly growing and now includes course and educational content from Waikato University.

Meanwhile, in the real world…

An Indian man is suing Lynx because he has failed to score in 7 years of using their sprays

Poor parking presents opportunity for feel-good footage

DDB sponsors Mad Men to support their self-promotional campaign.  Perhaps soon when we say we work in advertising, people will ask “do you work for DDB”, rather than “do you work for Saatchis”?

And finally, NCC can’t give our neighbourhood away!  (Anyone want it?)

Cheers and have another good week!