TRACTA :: 4eyes

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!

I must have had a good Friday last week!  So good it’s already Monday and I’m still typing this post!

Today I’m going to ask you to cast your mind back to previous posts, as we feature a few continuing stooooriiieeeeesss…

Remember the outpouring of outrage when Kraft announced the name of their new spread (iSnack 2.0)?  They now have a new name chosen by the public – Vegemite Cheesybite.  Stars out of ten for originality??

And remember how I was hyping the wider reach of radio brands to their loyal audiences?  The Edge radio station are at the forefront of this development, giving their young and tech-savvy audience multiple access points to the brand.  They have just launched their own iPhone app, allowing users to listen live through WiFi or 3G.

Speaking of WiFi and connectivity – you may have seen ads for TVNZ’s iPhone app, giving access to news, weather and TV schedules and allows video viewing through WiFi.  It’s the most popular iPhone app in NZ!  What is this WiFi and where do you get it?  How about on your next flight with United Airlines?!  They promise it won’t interfere with flight communications or navigation!

On a completely different tangent, recent figures show US magazine advertising is in freefall – down 26% for Q3 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.  Meanwhile, Australian TV networks are reporting an increase in spend for the month of November compared with last year.  NZ’s media spend seems to be continuing to track down year on year across all media, except online (Q2 online spend in NZ was up 5.5% from 2008).  Looking forward to the market reigniting in 2010!

As usual I’ve included some interesting campaigns to make you smile… or at least mutter to yourself.  Stephen King is launching a new book soon, but if you’ve got the time you can search the web for clues to put the story together, line by line.  That story, and this one about Telecom’s new logo that isn’t, are on www.techday.co.nz – a new site by Action Media that brings together content from all of their tech titles (Netguide, The Channel, MacGuide, IT Brief and Telecommunications Review).  Read more about Telecom’s new logo here and here).

Finally, this ad has recently been doing the rounds and is touted as The Best Story Ever.  I like!

Catch you next week!  And someone please tell me why men want Snow Caves?!?!