To help promote what is possible with the new digital economy, Bullseye has produced a limited run of T-shirts containing the Semacode of the Bullseye mobile site.

Here’s our creative director Kev proudly modelling the t-shirt, as I point my camera phone at the semacode, which takes my phone directly to the site without having to key in the full URL.

This link lets you tag any URL to create your own semacode.

Semacode readers are included on many new phones such as Nokia’s N95, but will also run on any recent camera phone if you download and install the free reader.

Here are some download links
Nokia http://mobilecodes.nokia.com/terms.htm
Other http://semacode.com/download
If you have web access from your phone you can simply go to http://www.i-nigma.mobi which automatically recognises if your phone supports the reader and provides a direct download (it’s about 400k).
Smartphones http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/basic/download.asp

The uses for Semacodes are varied, but here are 2.

Print media.  Used in print media they can be used to link an article or ad to a particular website. Say you see an ad for a product  in a Health and Beauty magazine, the code could be used to enable people to directly go to a page containing more information about the product, a place to purchase or a page to enter a competition. 

Music. You have just released your first song and you want to provide people with a direct download to their phones. You create a semacode that links to the free song download URL.

New interactive technologies can help to bring brands or big ideas to life.
Bullseye in partnership with 808South are pleased to announce Australia’s first client demonstration of the iBar™.

Speaking about the technology, Ian Farmer Senior Brand Strategist for Bullseye said

“The iBar™ has received many innovation awards in Europe and we are excited about the digital possibilities this technology can provide to Australia. Designing a creative set of interactive experiences is an integral part of producing a rewarding and engaging brand interaction”.

Intelligent surface system

iBar™ takes consumer interaction to a new level. Integrated video projectors beam content onto the bar surface and the intuitive tracking system creates a new connection between real life products and dynamic digital content. This turns the bar into a giant touch sensitive screen allowing multiple people to interact with the content at the same time.
Coloured lights, animations or any rich media content can illuminate, link and follow every movement of a hand, bottle or glass.

The iBar™ software consists of two parts – tracking and displaying. All objects are tracked and their position is transmitted to the displaying-software. The displaying software can be adapted to your needs. The use of pictures, text, movies, animations or any visual content is possible. iBar™ is a modular, stand alone system that can be configured to suit your needs. The modules are 2m long and can be linked together to form a seamless interactive surface of virtually any length.

The iBar™’s can also be networked wirelessly to allow interaction between two or more separate units. Content can also be streamed via the net and bars can be fitted with Bluetooth technology to allow consumers to download content. Each portable module consists of its own cameras, projectors and computers. Any number of iBar™ modules are available for hire on short and long-term arrangements.

YouTube is introducing a new feature called YouTube Insight. The new feature will entail several new tracking abilities for those who want to advertise on the video sharing site.

YouTube Insight provides insight on how a video is doing over time and geographically.  YouTube Insight will show a breakdown percentage of the countries that viewers are coming from and how long a video takes to perform well

“Effectively, YouTube has become an ad-effectiveness, or an insight-effectiveness, tool,” stated Tracy Chan, YouTube Product Manager. “YouTube has millions of viewers every single day, and has become the world’s largest focus group.”

Brands will also have information regarding the geography of content consumers.  This will enable artists or marketers to target certain audiences for their videos.

YouTube Insights lets you see information on the geography of content consumers, how long it takes for a video to become popular, and ongoing performance. The new metrics are available under the About This Video, which are available to publishers and consumers alike.

Google Analytics is probably having an influence here and upcoming features will include how visitors were referred to specific videos.

MoFuse is a service that allows you to generate a mobile version of your site without the need to do any technical coding at all.

Just to prove it works, I whipped up a mobile version of the Bullseye Blog

http://bullseye.mofuse.mobi/   and as the picture shows the formatting looks pretty good in both normal and Iphone mode.

Whilst Mobile is still an emerging channel in Australia, but with the impending launch of the iPhone, an increase in available content, and bundling of access packages the uptake will gradually increase.  We think 2009 will be when Mobile comes of age in Australia, but it is important for brands to start experimenting.

.. now Microsoft presents a new surface computer….a new era of touch based user-interfaces?
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

I want one as well
– Brian

Always good to see what people think the future will bring. Brave new worlds..

AH

Paypal is launching a payment system that will allow consumers to buy directly from billboards by texting the number displayed. That’s cool.
See the video on the BBC website here.

– Jason

Sony have just revealed a Second Life-style, 3D, avatar-based world called “Home” which will exist on the PlayStation Network and will let all PlayStation users chat, socialise, display their achievements and set up multiplayer games through their PlayStation 3.

Home could be a really unique way of building the PlayStation community as well as having great potential in regards to advertising – sponsored areas & content, virtual events are just a few possibilities. It will be interesting to see if the idea sticks and doesn’t become to cumbersome and bogged down by technical issues.

Only time will tell. The official launch date will be later this year.

View a video demonstration(ps3scene.com)

Rodney

Visitors to fast food outlets in Japan will soon be able to pay for their burgers with their mobile phones.

Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo is teaming up with McDonald’s to offer electronic payments and special promotions for mobile users.

Using mobile phones to pay for goods is a massive growth area as operators look for new ways to make money.

Japanese mobile owners are leading the way, paying for food and train tickets via their handsets.

The deal will provide invaluable information about customer behaviour.

It gives both McDonald’s and DoCoMo the opportunity to track consumers and their eating habits for marketing purposes.

Increasingly mobile phone operators are also experimenting with electronic payments.

In the UK, YourRail is working with Chiltern Railways to offer commuters the chance to buy tickets with their mobile phones.

Users buy their ticket on the Internet and it is delivered to their mobile phone in the form of a bar code. Gates are currently being installed at Marylebone station which will scan phones.

For more information go to the source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6400217.stm

As this technology grows and develops it is inevitable that it will become more widely used in Australia…how can Bullseye use this technology to our clients advantage? That is the challenge…

- Coops

Originally posted by Jacqui Cheng @ arstechnica

Adobe confirmed that the next version of its popular Creative Suite will be announced in a few weeks, on March 27. The announcement will take place at a special event in New York City, says the company, which will be webcast globally at 3:30pm Eastern Time.

The launch date for CS3 has been long-anticipated, with some rumors claiming that Adobe would roll out Photoshop before the rest of the suite in order to kick-start sales. Adobe describes the launch as “the largest software release in Adobe’s 25-year history”.

For more info (and a teaser video on Youtube), check out whatisinthebox.co.uk

Tom