26 Mar, 2008
So, you’re so sick of advertising you could puke. You’re sitting in a café, look up and see an ad on the back of someone’s laptop. Two things may be running through your head. “Why didn’t I think of that” and “I wonder if they’ll pay me too.”
Well, if you’re a student in Germany you may just be able to turn your notebook into a shameless billboard. Company Smaboo (combination of “smart” and “notebook”) will shell out up to €150 in a few months for the unused space on the back of your computer.
The concept is simple. You turn people who would already buy the product into a walking billboard. This new type of targeted marketing is referred to as “embedded branding.” It’s an innovative advertising technique that is being developed by the startup.
Don’t worry, you’re not going to be bombarded with even more unwanted advertising yet. At the moment it’s limited to universities. But don’t be surprised if a similar concept catches on. It’s guerrilla tactics at it’s finest and it might just have you spilling your latte before you know it.
Thanks to Connie T. for the recommendation.
17 Mar, 2008
Can you believe that a company filed for a patent on a living species? The J. Craig Venter Institute created the first form of synthetic or “artificial life,” a bacterium named Mycoplasma laboratorium and filed in the US to own all rights to the life-form.
The bacteria could be released in the upper atmosphere, absorbing carbon dioxide in the battle against global warming. The process could also be used to create cures for life threatening illnesses. You can use your imagination as to the big bucks that would be behind one of those applications.
Yet problems arise when you try to apply patent law that was created during the industrial era. A patent can be filed when something novel or new is introduced to a product or invention. That’s fine and dandy when you have a device like the cordless telephone, but doesn’t apply so well with nuances like man-made microorganisms.
A company could very well file for patents for a range of lifeforms, successfully blocking innovations by future scientists. Imagine, every time someone wants to use one of these bacteria in a lab they’d have to obtain the proper permission. Anything that resulted as a breakthrough could be construed to be owned by the original patent holder.
With the halt to innovation aside, there are also broad moral implications. Today it’s ownership of a bacterial strain, tomorrow it could be a more complex organism. The snowball effect could be shocking. That’s why something needs to be done now to bring these laws into modernity, before it’s too late.
Image via electricsheep.org
15 Mar, 2008
From time to time I mention this blog when I’m out among friends. So naturally, I went to make a business card to pass out so they’ll remember what to type into their browser after our drunken conversations. But just how do you get an innovative message across in a business card?
After searching far and wide, I found a few unique designs that were noteworthy. Yet one stuck out as being the most memorable. Designer Jamie Wieck created an innovative card that will really grow on the people you hand them to. Literally.
It’s essentially a small seed pack filled with alfalfa sprouts. You dip it in water and a few days later, viola!, it’s a small plant. As it’s sitting there in water you can be sure that the people I handed them out to will remember to type in the URL that’s printed on it.
That just goes to show you, simplicity with a dash of creativity can push even the oldest of traditions up out of the daisies.
12 Mar, 2008
Organic light being used to change images and text with paper-thin technology is coming on us fast. Ever dream of changing the wallpaper in your house on a whim to any color or pattern? What about having one piece of paper that constantly updates to any book or newspaper with the convenience of being able to fold it up and put it in your pocket?
Organic light-emitting diode’s (OLED) are made by organic compounds being trapped between a plastic polymer. The flat rows and columns are placed on a flat surface by a “printing” process. The results are a matrix of pixels that can turn diffrent colors on a very thin material that uses significantly less power than other light sources.
OLED’s have been around for a while. In fact, you can buy a Sony TV that was released in 2007 made up of the technology. To give you an idea of price point, the 11′ version goes for $1,700. The big headline isn’t that the technology exists, it’s how its being formatted and how that format will be of interest to your daily life.
GE recently unveiled the first demonstration of “roll-to-roll” processed OLEDs. Manufactured in this way, they could be made for a very low cost and are so thin they can be used as newspaper or even wall paper.
After four years the GE Research Team has a working prototype that they are eager to place on the production line. They affirm that there is a lot of work ahead, but the goal is to get us all grooving and shaking with paper thin devices as soon as is possible.
