Check out the images below!
Showing posts with label Bluhalo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bluhalo. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Gran Turismo 5 - featuring Bluhalo pt2
We touched upon this over a year ago, but now that the game has finally been released, I thought it was necessary to load the game up and get some high quality images of the Bluhalo logo featured on the Subaru Impreza WRC in this game for real!
Check out the images below!
Check out the images below!
Friday, 1 October 2010
WebGL - see it in action! (one for the techies)
As keen and conscientious developers, we are always looking for new and more efficient ways of creating our sites. Cool and fun is a bonus. A while ago I briefly talked about WebGL and since I have had a bit of free time I thought it was time to revisit this.
To remind those who lack an eidetic memory / don’t read out blog and aren’t avid techies, WebGL is an attempt by the Khronos Group to develop a cross-platform API to bring the functionality of OpenGL to the web.
It is backed by browser manufacturers Mozilla, Opera, Google and Apple, albeit only in pre-release software thus far. It gets rid of the need for any additional plugins and allows hardware accelerated graphics rendering (where available, in theory software rendering is supported otherwise). Unfortunately, it does still rely on the presence of OpenGL on the target system. A more thorough list of the pros and cons of the WebGL can be found here.
Now, returning to my point (much rejoicing), I have been evaluating /experimenting with WebGL recently. Some time back, I did a lot of work with OpenGL using C++, and then C#, for which NeHe Productions was invaluable; indeed my research suggests it is still a heavily used resource and well worth checking out.
In spite of my super human ability to forget information almost immediately, I have still found myself comparing development with my previous experience. WebGL is an odd beast – it is a low level api, and has no fixed function support. This, combined with the relatively slow speed of JavaScript (the language used to invoke theWebGL functionality) has meant that a project must be approached in a very different way. Without getting too technical, in OpenGL, you would use the wide array of functions available to achieve what you set out to do (initially at least), whereas WebGL requires that you split out some of the calculations to be processed in parallel on the graphics card in the form of Shaders rather than using JavaScript.
This multifaceted coding approach is especially odd compared with Flash development, for which I tend to prefer to mix drawing on the stage (my artistic needs must be satisfied somehow!) with the application code. Like everything else, once you have the right mindset, it is relatively straightforward to create simple examples; indeed for anyone interested I would recommend http://learningwebgl.com/blog/as a good place to start. The lessons offered adhere broadly to those on NeHe, but help introduce the complexities inherent in WebGL development. To give you an idea of what is offered, below is a very simple demo built upon several of his tutorials that I created while first looking into the subject. It’s worth reiterating at this point that current browser releases won’t yet be able to display this – only those with pre-release builds need apply (if you are interested: http://nightly.mozilla.org/ is where I got my test one).
These complexities won’t make any difference to the user, though; indeed the lack of a plugin should eventually make the experience a smoother one overall. It will allow accelerated 2D and 3D graphics to be easily delivered in a cross-browser format without placing the onus on the user to download additional plugins or software beyond the browser itself.
That said, in addition to the previously linked cons, it is worth noting the lack of a proprietary, compiled format does mean that users who choose to can pick apart your WebGL app to see how it works – unless satisfied with JavaScript obfuscation, sites that are very concerned with the security of their proprietary code should maybe look at another solution. Ultimately though, the value of what your site offers should ideally mean more than the way you deliver it, so this shouldn’t dissuade people from considering WebGL when the spec reaches fruition (hopefully later this year).
This will ONLY work if you have a pre-release version of the new browsers. If you fancy have a go at our spinning cube game, download a pre-release version here. For those without the pre-release version of the browsers, there's also a screen capture of it below.
Click within the Cube box to make it work!
Nick Nawrattel
Head of Rich Media
To remind those who lack an eidetic memory / don’t read out blog and aren’t avid techies, WebGL is an attempt by the Khronos Group to develop a cross-platform API to bring the functionality of OpenGL to the web.
It is backed by browser manufacturers Mozilla, Opera, Google and Apple, albeit only in pre-release software thus far. It gets rid of the need for any additional plugins and allows hardware accelerated graphics rendering (where available, in theory software rendering is supported otherwise). Unfortunately, it does still rely on the presence of OpenGL on the target system. A more thorough list of the pros and cons of the WebGL can be found here.
Now, returning to my point (much rejoicing), I have been evaluating /experimenting with WebGL recently. Some time back, I did a lot of work with OpenGL using C++, and then C#, for which NeHe Productions was invaluable; indeed my research suggests it is still a heavily used resource and well worth checking out.
In spite of my super human ability to forget information almost immediately, I have still found myself comparing development with my previous experience. WebGL is an odd beast – it is a low level api, and has no fixed function support. This, combined with the relatively slow speed of JavaScript (the language used to invoke theWebGL functionality) has meant that a project must be approached in a very different way. Without getting too technical, in OpenGL, you would use the wide array of functions available to achieve what you set out to do (initially at least), whereas WebGL requires that you split out some of the calculations to be processed in parallel on the graphics card in the form of Shaders rather than using JavaScript.
This multifaceted coding approach is especially odd compared with Flash development, for which I tend to prefer to mix drawing on the stage (my artistic needs must be satisfied somehow!) with the application code. Like everything else, once you have the right mindset, it is relatively straightforward to create simple examples; indeed for anyone interested I would recommend http://learningwebgl.com/blog/as a good place to start. The lessons offered adhere broadly to those on NeHe, but help introduce the complexities inherent in WebGL development. To give you an idea of what is offered, below is a very simple demo built upon several of his tutorials that I created while first looking into the subject. It’s worth reiterating at this point that current browser releases won’t yet be able to display this – only those with pre-release builds need apply (if you are interested: http://nightly.mozilla.org/ is where I got my test one).
These complexities won’t make any difference to the user, though; indeed the lack of a plugin should eventually make the experience a smoother one overall. It will allow accelerated 2D and 3D graphics to be easily delivered in a cross-browser format without placing the onus on the user to download additional plugins or software beyond the browser itself.
That said, in addition to the previously linked cons, it is worth noting the lack of a proprietary, compiled format does mean that users who choose to can pick apart your WebGL app to see how it works – unless satisfied with JavaScript obfuscation, sites that are very concerned with the security of their proprietary code should maybe look at another solution. Ultimately though, the value of what your site offers should ideally mean more than the way you deliver it, so this shouldn’t dissuade people from considering WebGL when the spec reaches fruition (hopefully later this year).
This will ONLY work if you have a pre-release version of the new browsers. If you fancy have a go at our spinning cube game, download a pre-release version here. For those without the pre-release version of the browsers, there's also a screen capture of it below.
Click within the Cube box to make it work!
Nick Nawrattel
Head of Rich Media
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Liverpool F.C. website reviewed in New Media Age's site review
Today's New Media Age (NMA) reviewed www.liverpoolfc.tv in its site inspection, awarding it a very respectable 76/100.
NMA's Anna Richardson reviewed the website, giving it a score of 20/25 for content, 17/25 for usability, 19/25 for branding and 20/25 for monetisation.
The site, which was developed in conjunction with Liverpool F.C.'s in-house development team has been a great success since launch breaking several previous records - you can read more about that in a previous blog post.
You can read the full site review on the NMA website, but you'll need to be a subscriber.
NMA's Anna Richardson reviewed the website, giving it a score of 20/25 for content, 17/25 for usability, 19/25 for branding and 20/25 for monetisation.
The site, which was developed in conjunction with Liverpool F.C.'s in-house development team has been a great success since launch breaking several previous records - you can read more about that in a previous blog post.
You can read the full site review on the NMA website, but you'll need to be a subscriber.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Ford Releases Its Social Media Guidelines
Ford, often considered one of the more forward-thinking brands in social media has published its social media guidelines for staff, releasing bite-sized tips and pieces of information via Twitter and other social media properties.
Similarly to Coca Cola (more on that here), Ford has kept its guidelines simple and easy to understand, ensuring maximum buy-in from staff and demonstrating its commitment to the communication channel.
The guidelines key messages are based around honesty, clarity, awareness, respect and good judgement - they sound like a recipe for the perfect human being!
You can read the full explanation below:
Ford Social Media Guidelines
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Similarly to Coca Cola (more on that here), Ford has kept its guidelines simple and easy to understand, ensuring maximum buy-in from staff and demonstrating its commitment to the communication channel.
The guidelines key messages are based around honesty, clarity, awareness, respect and good judgement - they sound like a recipe for the perfect human being!
You can read the full explanation below:
Ford Social Media Guidelines
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Monday, 23 August 2010
Bluhalo Joins .Net Awards Panel
The .net Awards celebrate the best in web design and development, and are brought to you by the world's best-selling magazine for web builders - .net. The 16 categories for 2010 range from Design Agency of the Year and Mobile Site of the Year through to Community site of the year.
Bluhalo's very own Dan Steele and Alastair MacMichael have been invited to join this year's prestigious judging panel, alongside the likes of some of the best-known names in the industry such as Google, Yahoo! and TweetDeck. You can view the impressive line-up by visiting the .net awards judges page. With this many industry experts reviewing entries, it is clear why a .net award is one of the most sought after in our industry, and you can certainly be sure that the winners are going to be well-deserving of the accolade!
The awards are currently at the public voting stage, so if you'd like to voice your opinions on the best of digital this year, you can vote now by visiting the .net awards voting page, public voting closes on 12th October.
Dan Steele, a developer at Bluhalo and previous contributor to .net magazine said "It was a great honour to be invited to be a judge in the awards, I can't wait to see the shortlist!"
Alastair MacMichael, Bluhalo's Managing Director, added "I'm really pleased to have been invited to join this year's panel, the current nominees are so interesting, I think the results of the public vote will be a close one with many nominees worthy of a place on the shortlist. I very much look forward to being involved in the judging process."
Final winners will be announced on 19th November.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Bluhalo's very own Dan Steele and Alastair MacMichael have been invited to join this year's prestigious judging panel, alongside the likes of some of the best-known names in the industry such as Google, Yahoo! and TweetDeck. You can view the impressive line-up by visiting the .net awards judges page. With this many industry experts reviewing entries, it is clear why a .net award is one of the most sought after in our industry, and you can certainly be sure that the winners are going to be well-deserving of the accolade!
The awards are currently at the public voting stage, so if you'd like to voice your opinions on the best of digital this year, you can vote now by visiting the .net awards voting page, public voting closes on 12th October.
Dan Steele, a developer at Bluhalo and previous contributor to .net magazine said "It was a great honour to be invited to be a judge in the awards, I can't wait to see the shortlist!"
Alastair MacMichael, Bluhalo's Managing Director, added "I'm really pleased to have been invited to join this year's panel, the current nominees are so interesting, I think the results of the public vote will be a close one with many nominees worthy of a place on the shortlist. I very much look forward to being involved in the judging process."
Final winners will be announced on 19th November.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Cassandra from Facebook- not just a pretty name!
Everyone has heard of MySQL and others of its ilk – chances are you talk about nothing else at family get-togethers. Like most database solutions, it is optimised predominantly for reading, the idea being you write your data infrequently but read often (the classic content managed website model). While this model can obviously still be used in the development of the plethora of multi-write social websites, giving as it does a nice balance of performance and ease of use, it isn’t necessarily the ideal solution.
One emerging alternative is an open source distributed database management system called Cassandra. Originally developed and open sourced by Facebook in 2008, Cassandra is a second generation NoSQL top-level Apache Software Foundation project. NoSQL, originally a relational database management system accessed via a Unix shell, is becoming an umbrella term for data storage solutions that don’t follow the traditional relational model. This broad term does mean that the various solutions don’t exactly match up, so what does Cassandra provide?
It is a cluster database providing a structured key-value store with eventual consistency, without any single points of failure (it has no central master). This means that it’s extremely fault tolerant – if any one of the identical nodes fails, another will take its place. As well as this high availability, it also provides write and read scaling – as more nodes are added, read and write throughput increase linearly without interruption.
This all sounds very good, but as with all web technologies, it is best employed carefully – these benefits come at the cost of many of the tools often associated with a traditional database. Nevertheless, when used in the right situation, it can offer a reliable and proven solution as demonstrated by Facebook, Digg, Twitter and others. A discussion of when to use Cassandra is available here.
Outside the project page (linked above), more information can be found here, with a discussion of various NoSQL solutions (including Cassandra) available here.
Nick Nawrattel, Lead Multimedia Developer (wearing his programming cap)
One emerging alternative is an open source distributed database management system called Cassandra. Originally developed and open sourced by Facebook in 2008, Cassandra is a second generation NoSQL top-level Apache Software Foundation project. NoSQL, originally a relational database management system accessed via a Unix shell, is becoming an umbrella term for data storage solutions that don’t follow the traditional relational model. This broad term does mean that the various solutions don’t exactly match up, so what does Cassandra provide?
It is a cluster database providing a structured key-value store with eventual consistency, without any single points of failure (it has no central master). This means that it’s extremely fault tolerant – if any one of the identical nodes fails, another will take its place. As well as this high availability, it also provides write and read scaling – as more nodes are added, read and write throughput increase linearly without interruption.
This all sounds very good, but as with all web technologies, it is best employed carefully – these benefits come at the cost of many of the tools often associated with a traditional database. Nevertheless, when used in the right situation, it can offer a reliable and proven solution as demonstrated by Facebook, Digg, Twitter and others. A discussion of when to use Cassandra is available here.
Outside the project page (linked above), more information can be found here, with a discussion of various NoSQL solutions (including Cassandra) available here.
Nick Nawrattel, Lead Multimedia Developer (wearing his programming cap)
Monday, 9 August 2010
UK Sports Network Event
This Tuesday, the 10th of August sees a return of the UK Sports Networking evening at the Sports Bar And Grill at Marylebone station in London.
On 17th May I attended my first UKSN event. Going down to the basement things were quite literally hotting up. I was astounded by the number of people already chatting away to each other. All credit to the event's organiser, Daniel McLaren, who had persuaded 120 people to attend a relatively new event on a Monday night.
Daniel passed me a champagne bucket & suggested I collect the competition entries myself. Our VIP box at Tottenham Hotspur, (Bluhalo built their website) means I was lucky enough to have 2 tickets to offer the lucky winner on the night.
Going around the room, what a fantastic mix of people! I met someone about to sail around the world, someone with a virtual golf machine, a presenter from Sky Sports, corporates looking for sports sponsorship, fellow sports marketers, merchandisers, software providers, lawyers, the PA, the FA and a few familiar faces along the way.
I have high hopes for this Tuesday’s event where Bluhalo will be once again offering 2 VIP tickets to a Tottenham Hotspur match. If you work in sports I’d definitely recommend the event.
I will finish the post with some words from Daniel McLaren:
“The London Sports Networking event is becoming a firm fixture in the calendar now after our last one back in May attracted over 130 people on the night. This one promises to be even better with great attendees coming from all areas of the sports industry in London. Co-hosting the event with Lewis Howes from www.sportsnetworker.com gives us a fantastic reach with over 30,000 people in our combined groups not to mention websites, Facebook and Twitter! If you are free on Tuesday night and want to meet some great people then make sure you don’t miss out, come on over”
If you fancy coming along, you can buy tickets here.
Laura Hannan
Business Development Manager
On 17th May I attended my first UKSN event. Going down to the basement things were quite literally hotting up. I was astounded by the number of people already chatting away to each other. All credit to the event's organiser, Daniel McLaren, who had persuaded 120 people to attend a relatively new event on a Monday night.
Daniel passed me a champagne bucket & suggested I collect the competition entries myself. Our VIP box at Tottenham Hotspur, (Bluhalo built their website) means I was lucky enough to have 2 tickets to offer the lucky winner on the night.
Going around the room, what a fantastic mix of people! I met someone about to sail around the world, someone with a virtual golf machine, a presenter from Sky Sports, corporates looking for sports sponsorship, fellow sports marketers, merchandisers, software providers, lawyers, the PA, the FA and a few familiar faces along the way.
I have high hopes for this Tuesday’s event where Bluhalo will be once again offering 2 VIP tickets to a Tottenham Hotspur match. If you work in sports I’d definitely recommend the event.
I will finish the post with some words from Daniel McLaren:
“The London Sports Networking event is becoming a firm fixture in the calendar now after our last one back in May attracted over 130 people on the night. This one promises to be even better with great attendees coming from all areas of the sports industry in London. Co-hosting the event with Lewis Howes from www.sportsnetworker.com gives us a fantastic reach with over 30,000 people in our combined groups not to mention websites, Facebook and Twitter! If you are free on Tuesday night and want to meet some great people then make sure you don’t miss out, come on over”
If you fancy coming along, you can buy tickets here.
Laura Hannan
Business Development Manager
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Liverpool F.C. Smashes Web Records
July saw some huge successes for the Liverpool F.C. website, with fans from all over the world logging in to keep up with the latest news, which included a new manager and a new number 10.
By the close of the month, LiverpoolFC.tv had smashed all previous web records, welcoming more than 4m unique visitors to the site, who enjoyed more than 85m pages - what a July! Previous records hadn't even come close to this astounding performance, with past top performance levels for a single month at 65m pages views (in 2005) and 3.4m uniques (in 2009).
The site, which was designed and built by Bluhalo in partnership with Liverpool F.C.'s internal development team, is one of the most popular sports websites on the planet. The news article which reports this huge achievement also notes the importance of its fans in achieving this success; "Thanks to all of you who visited Liverpoolfc.tv during July for continuing to make the official website of LFC one of the most visited football sites on the internet."
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
By the close of the month, LiverpoolFC.tv had smashed all previous web records, welcoming more than 4m unique visitors to the site, who enjoyed more than 85m pages - what a July! Previous records hadn't even come close to this astounding performance, with past top performance levels for a single month at 65m pages views (in 2005) and 3.4m uniques (in 2009).
The site, which was designed and built by Bluhalo in partnership with Liverpool F.C.'s internal development team, is one of the most popular sports websites on the planet. The news article which reports this huge achievement also notes the importance of its fans in achieving this success; "Thanks to all of you who visited Liverpoolfc.tv during July for continuing to make the official website of LFC one of the most visited football sites on the internet."
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
Monday, 26 July 2010
Bluhalo's Farnborough Airshow Event Roundup
Friday saw our bi-annual Airshow event take place, with some fantastic and very un-typically British sunny weather following a more traditional wet morning, which at one point did leave us slightly concerned about the afternoon's event and running to gather as many umbrellas as we could find!
We had a great turnout, with many clients, contacts, partners and suppliers arriving to enjoy the gorgeous weather, great company, delicious food and most importantly, the breathtaking flying displays of some of the world's most impressive planes.
My personal favourites were the Blades, defying gravity with some rather heartstopping aerial acrobatics; and of course the impressive Airbus, showing us that big, can also be agile - although I'm still not sure how it manages to land in Farnborough airport!
Our charity raffle in aid of Cancer Research UK added a bit of extra fun to the day and raised nearly £300 for the charity too - massive thanks to Sequel for donating a Guess watch and to our hosting partner DediPower for donating the Amazon voucher. Thanks also to everyone that came to share the day with us and who bought raffle tickets.
Many of our guests were also plane enthusiasts and keen photographers - there were some great shots captured by Andy Piper and Benjamin Ellis; and not at our event, but with shots as good as this, certainly worth a mention - a local photographer's record of the Airshow.
We had a great turnout, with many clients, contacts, partners and suppliers arriving to enjoy the gorgeous weather, great company, delicious food and most importantly, the breathtaking flying displays of some of the world's most impressive planes.
My personal favourites were the Blades, defying gravity with some rather heartstopping aerial acrobatics; and of course the impressive Airbus, showing us that big, can also be agile - although I'm still not sure how it manages to land in Farnborough airport!
Our charity raffle in aid of Cancer Research UK added a bit of extra fun to the day and raised nearly £300 for the charity too - massive thanks to Sequel for donating a Guess watch and to our hosting partner DediPower for donating the Amazon voucher. Thanks also to everyone that came to share the day with us and who bought raffle tickets.
Many of our guests were also plane enthusiasts and keen photographers - there were some great shots captured by Andy Piper and Benjamin Ellis; and not at our event, but with shots as good as this, certainly worth a mention - a local photographer's record of the Airshow.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Alastair Macmichael becomes Bluhalo Agency Head
Following the recent departure of Bluhalo's Founder, Spencer Gallagher, Alastair Macmichael has taken over as managing director.
Alastair joined Bluhalo, GyroHSR’s pure-play digital agency, in May 2010 from 20:20 (formerly GraphicoDMG) where he headed up work with clients including Pepsi UK and its sub brands, London Eye and Britvic. During his eight years at the agency, he had responsibility for driving the agency’s digital strategy and most recently held the role of director of business development.
The appointment is designed to further enhance Bluhalo’s global footprint plans and support GyroHSR’s global offering. Founded 11 years ago, Bluhalo was recently named a top 10 digital marketing agency by New Media Age. In the UK some of its largest clients include Liverpool FC, Technicolor and Blackberry/RIM.
Commenting on the appointment, GyroHSR CEO, Richard Glasson said; “Alastair joins Bluhalo with a truly impressive pedigree in the digital world, and will further strengthen our expertise in this core discipline. Digital business accounts for over 40% of GyroHSR's world-wide revenues. It's an area that we continue to invest in, and in which we expect further strong growth. I'm delighted to welcome Al to the company”.
Alastair joined Bluhalo, GyroHSR’s pure-play digital agency, in May 2010 from 20:20 (formerly GraphicoDMG) where he headed up work with clients including Pepsi UK and its sub brands, London Eye and Britvic. During his eight years at the agency, he had responsibility for driving the agency’s digital strategy and most recently held the role of director of business development.
The appointment is designed to further enhance Bluhalo’s global footprint plans and support GyroHSR’s global offering. Founded 11 years ago, Bluhalo was recently named a top 10 digital marketing agency by New Media Age. In the UK some of its largest clients include Liverpool FC, Technicolor and Blackberry/RIM.
Commenting on the appointment, GyroHSR CEO, Richard Glasson said; “Alastair joins Bluhalo with a truly impressive pedigree in the digital world, and will further strengthen our expertise in this core discipline. Digital business accounts for over 40% of GyroHSR's world-wide revenues. It's an area that we continue to invest in, and in which we expect further strong growth. I'm delighted to welcome Al to the company”.
Friday, 18 June 2010
HTML 5 - the conversation continues
The web seems to be saturated with talk about HTML 5. Many people know what HTML 5 is – it’s the next big thing! It’s a new technology that does everything and destroys Adobe Flash! It makes computers run faster and does the tea run - a-mazing! Unfortunately, this isn’t all necessarily quite true (although I still have hopes the tea run can get sorted in a later revision of the spec).
There is no doubt that there is a lot of anticipation for what HTML 5 will bring, with Google, Microsoft and Apple all touting it as the way forward; however the term is being increasingly misused leading to it “becoming the next overloaded term” as Michael Mullany describes it here.
If one were to be pedantic about it, as our blog has touched on before, HTML 5 is simply a revision of the HTML spec. The core HTML 5 changes that will be user-visible include the canvas (allowing graphics to be rendered to the screen), audio and video tags. Under the hood, there are also a number of semantic additions and new mark-up to make html code cleaner, accessibility features, a drag and drop API, user-editable content and content caching directives.
It is also necessary to combine a number of other tools that fall within what some are calling the HTML 5 family in order to produce all of the demonstrations that have been emerging from proponents of the technology. Chief among these is CSS3, which is again not yet a completed specification (it is in fact a number of developing sub-specifications). As well as the expected improvements (like rounded corners, improved layout control, borders and backgrounds), CSS3 also includes a number of features such as 2D and 3D animations for boxed content; in fact a lot of what some people think is HTML 5 is actually CSS3.
Another technology that is instrumental in building up the HTML 5 family portfolio is Web Storage. As the name suggests, this basically offers both temporary and persistent local storage allowing for the development of sites that can continue to function even if connection is lost.
Other technologies that fall within the HTML 5 family include Geolocation (i.e. making the users location more accurately available by using WiFi towers and GPS to augment existing IP address detection), Web Workers (allowing the web site to become threaded to better allow the browser to schedule rendering while taking advantage of multi-core CPUs), and Web Sockets (allowing asynchronous client/server communication). More about these technologies can be found in Michael Mullany’s article linked to above.
Most of these specs are in various stages of development, meaning that features can be dropped as well as added before they are finalised (for example, a file upload progress component is currently on thin ice). In spite of this, there are web pages being built using the latest draft versions of the spec (links to which can be found here).
There are also a number of technical demos that are being released. One series of demonstrations recently released by Apple displaying what can be achieved via the HTML 5 suite of technologies can be found here.
As impressive as these demos are, some feel this is misleading the public with regards to the HTML 5 browser availability – upon attempting to view one of the Apple demonstrations, unless you are running Apple's own Safari 5, an error message is displayed stating the necessity of this browser. The reason this has been divisive is that rather than necessarily being a true indication of ability (or lack thereof) of your browser, it is something that is artificially enforced by the site simply by checking your browser agent.
Part of this may be due to the presence of vendor prefixes (browser specific versions of the implementation), meaning that this open standard is not yet truly open. However all is not lost - most recent browser releases support the HTML 5 family to varying degrees, as detailed here, or perhaps a bit more recently and simply here. As the specification is more firmly established, these vender specific implementations will disappear and the open implementation that is envisioned will emerge.
So with the use of javascript (or jQuery if you prefer) making far more sophisticated interaction possible, does this mean we no longer need Adobe Flash? While this may well change over time, right now Flash is still a useful way to get rich content to the many people who already have the plug-in installed – advanced effects or intricate interactive web apps are more easily constructed in Flash.
Also, some features such as multiple file uploads are just not yet available (hence Google's Gmail still relying on Flash for its file upload feature). Hulu, who recently released the US equivalent of the BBC’s iPlayer, opted to use Flash saying that HTML 5 was just not ready to meet their requirements (read more here).
Nevertheless, HTML 5 is a convenient shorthand for a very powerful and exciting family of technologies, and while it is not yet suitable for every project it is something we are all considering, and one for which we have high hopes!
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
There is no doubt that there is a lot of anticipation for what HTML 5 will bring, with Google, Microsoft and Apple all touting it as the way forward; however the term is being increasingly misused leading to it “becoming the next overloaded term” as Michael Mullany describes it here.
If one were to be pedantic about it, as our blog has touched on before, HTML 5 is simply a revision of the HTML spec. The core HTML 5 changes that will be user-visible include the canvas (allowing graphics to be rendered to the screen), audio and video tags. Under the hood, there are also a number of semantic additions and new mark-up to make html code cleaner, accessibility features, a drag and drop API, user-editable content and content caching directives.
It is also necessary to combine a number of other tools that fall within what some are calling the HTML 5 family in order to produce all of the demonstrations that have been emerging from proponents of the technology. Chief among these is CSS3, which is again not yet a completed specification (it is in fact a number of developing sub-specifications). As well as the expected improvements (like rounded corners, improved layout control, borders and backgrounds), CSS3 also includes a number of features such as 2D and 3D animations for boxed content; in fact a lot of what some people think is HTML 5 is actually CSS3.
Another technology that is instrumental in building up the HTML 5 family portfolio is Web Storage. As the name suggests, this basically offers both temporary and persistent local storage allowing for the development of sites that can continue to function even if connection is lost.
Other technologies that fall within the HTML 5 family include Geolocation (i.e. making the users location more accurately available by using WiFi towers and GPS to augment existing IP address detection), Web Workers (allowing the web site to become threaded to better allow the browser to schedule rendering while taking advantage of multi-core CPUs), and Web Sockets (allowing asynchronous client/server communication). More about these technologies can be found in Michael Mullany’s article linked to above.
Most of these specs are in various stages of development, meaning that features can be dropped as well as added before they are finalised (for example, a file upload progress component is currently on thin ice). In spite of this, there are web pages being built using the latest draft versions of the spec (links to which can be found here).
There are also a number of technical demos that are being released. One series of demonstrations recently released by Apple displaying what can be achieved via the HTML 5 suite of technologies can be found here.
As impressive as these demos are, some feel this is misleading the public with regards to the HTML 5 browser availability – upon attempting to view one of the Apple demonstrations, unless you are running Apple's own Safari 5, an error message is displayed stating the necessity of this browser. The reason this has been divisive is that rather than necessarily being a true indication of ability (or lack thereof) of your browser, it is something that is artificially enforced by the site simply by checking your browser agent.
Part of this may be due to the presence of vendor prefixes (browser specific versions of the implementation), meaning that this open standard is not yet truly open. However all is not lost - most recent browser releases support the HTML 5 family to varying degrees, as detailed here, or perhaps a bit more recently and simply here. As the specification is more firmly established, these vender specific implementations will disappear and the open implementation that is envisioned will emerge.
So with the use of javascript (or jQuery if you prefer) making far more sophisticated interaction possible, does this mean we no longer need Adobe Flash? While this may well change over time, right now Flash is still a useful way to get rich content to the many people who already have the plug-in installed – advanced effects or intricate interactive web apps are more easily constructed in Flash.
Also, some features such as multiple file uploads are just not yet available (hence Google's Gmail still relying on Flash for its file upload feature). Hulu, who recently released the US equivalent of the BBC’s iPlayer, opted to use Flash saying that HTML 5 was just not ready to meet their requirements (read more here).
Nevertheless, HTML 5 is a convenient shorthand for a very powerful and exciting family of technologies, and while it is not yet suitable for every project it is something we are all considering, and one for which we have high hopes!
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Thursday, 13 May 2010
More on Adobe & Apple...
On April 12th, rumours started circulating (eg IT World's article) that Adobe was considering legal action against Apple for opting to disallow cross-compiled applications. (My brief summary of that can be viewed [http://bluhalo.com/blog/view/292/cs5-apple-vs-adobe).
One might wonder on exactly what grounds such a lawsuit would be based. Indeed, it’s quite possible that Adobe’s lawyers wondered the same thing (assuming there was truth to the rumour in the first place) given that nothing has since emerged on this subject.
In fact all went quiet until Adobe announced (read the BBC article here) that they were going to cease development on the iPhone packager, with the company instead focusing on Android. In a move that came as a surprise to some (read the Register's Apple on Flash) Apple head honcho Steve Jobs subsequently released a document detailing his views on the subject (which can be read here). He lists a number of points ranging from the proprietary nature of flash, security, battery life and the speed with which the third party software would be updated as justification for his views. The result of this was a 2 percent drop in Adobe shares.
You could be forgiven for expecting a retaliatory response from Adobe; instead they announced (more at The Register) that they were working to implement new API calls available on Snow Leopard to hardware accelerate video in Flash. Given that fairly simple tests indicated that the lack of hardware acceleration was the only reason the video performance of flash fell below that of the HTML setup touted by Steve Jobs, this has the potential to reduce the belief that flash is a performance hog (for video anyway).
Hooray, Apple and Adobe are friends again. What could possibly go wrong now, right? Well, Apple is developing their own Flash alternative for providing Rich Internet Applications. The easily spelt Gianduia was first introduced last June, but is likely going to resurface at this year’s World of WebObjects Developer Conference. Gianduia was written in Javascript and has actually already been used by Apple Retail (read more here from Apple Insider).
It is still not plain sailing for Apple however. It has now emerged that the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are “locked in negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry into Apple’s new policy of requiring only Apple’s programming tools.” (read more at the NY Post)
This reiterates that Adobe were not the only ones unhappy with Apple’s decision. Indeed, the same article states some are now choosing to finance apps compatible with all of Apple’s competitors, rather than just the iProducts. Although Apple tend to be quite dogmatic in following their roadmap, I can’t help but wonder exactly how much public pressure it would take for them to change their minds…
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
One might wonder on exactly what grounds such a lawsuit would be based. Indeed, it’s quite possible that Adobe’s lawyers wondered the same thing (assuming there was truth to the rumour in the first place) given that nothing has since emerged on this subject.
In fact all went quiet until Adobe announced (read the BBC article here) that they were going to cease development on the iPhone packager, with the company instead focusing on Android. In a move that came as a surprise to some (read the Register's Apple on Flash) Apple head honcho Steve Jobs subsequently released a document detailing his views on the subject (which can be read here). He lists a number of points ranging from the proprietary nature of flash, security, battery life and the speed with which the third party software would be updated as justification for his views. The result of this was a 2 percent drop in Adobe shares.
You could be forgiven for expecting a retaliatory response from Adobe; instead they announced (more at The Register) that they were working to implement new API calls available on Snow Leopard to hardware accelerate video in Flash. Given that fairly simple tests indicated that the lack of hardware acceleration was the only reason the video performance of flash fell below that of the HTML setup touted by Steve Jobs, this has the potential to reduce the belief that flash is a performance hog (for video anyway).
Hooray, Apple and Adobe are friends again. What could possibly go wrong now, right? Well, Apple is developing their own Flash alternative for providing Rich Internet Applications. The easily spelt Gianduia was first introduced last June, but is likely going to resurface at this year’s World of WebObjects Developer Conference. Gianduia was written in Javascript and has actually already been used by Apple Retail (read more here from Apple Insider).
It is still not plain sailing for Apple however. It has now emerged that the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are “locked in negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry into Apple’s new policy of requiring only Apple’s programming tools.” (read more at the NY Post)
This reiterates that Adobe were not the only ones unhappy with Apple’s decision. Indeed, the same article states some are now choosing to finance apps compatible with all of Apple’s competitors, rather than just the iProducts. Although Apple tend to be quite dogmatic in following their roadmap, I can’t help but wonder exactly how much public pressure it would take for them to change their minds…
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
World Cup Buzz
Just 37 days to go to the 2010 World Cup and I, like all football fans, am very, very excited. But you know who is even more excited by the upcoming 'super event'? Businesses. According to Reuters, the tournament is expected to attract over 6 billion viewers and average over 93 million per match. Viewing figures for the 2006 final vary wildly between 280 million and 1 billion, but either way it is the most watched event of the year by a substantial margin. Furthermore, entire economies can be shifted upwards by 10% by the 'positive atmosphere' and overwhelming need for official merchandise, plasma TVs and cold beverages) - (read more on the world cup's effect on the economy).
Marketing departments large and small the world over have been planning for months or even years on how best to leverage the World Cup impact. From big players such as Visa and Coca Cola that can afford to drop $100million on official rights before their campaigns even begin, to rivals latching on by associating themselves with all things Africa and Football, one thing is clear: digital will play a bigger role than ever before.
Coca Cola recently launched a campaign based around goal celebrations and African dancing. As well as traditional marketing focusing on the positive aspects of celebration and dance, they are also embarking on a widespread social media campaign, asking people to send in their own goal celebrations in order to win tickets to games. Carlsberg are taking a similar approach, inviting England fans to video their own world cup team talk.
Official partner Visa decided to continue their 'Life flows better with Visa' campaign but this time with a world cup tie-in. We have all seen the Visa powered fan become a professional footballer on TV, but thanks to widespread integration, the campaign is estimated to have been seen or heard 2.2 billion more times over 532 different platforms. Convergence anyone?
Pepsi is not an official partner but gained a lot of viral publicity through their integrated 'Oh Africa' campaign. The campaign featured top players and music stars in an Africa-themed football video advert combined with a major social presence including content such as outtakes, interviews and alternative versions.
The 2010 World Cup will be the first truly social edition. In the last four years Facebook and Twitter have become household names with over 500 million combined users. For the first time it is not just possible but easy to communicate with fans from every other team, from Algeria to Uruguay. The scope for marketers is virtually unlimited, never before has there been such a large one-to-one bridge between companies and dedicated consumers, with an increased opportunity for long-term relationships that just aren’t possible in the same way with print or TV adverts.
The defining social football campaigns will only be apparent as we get closer to the final whistle, but an interesting pre-game warm-up comes from Sony Ericsson’s Twittercup, an app which tracks the best nations at the world cup by their Twitter buzz in real time.
Mark Laskey
Multimedia Developer
Marketing departments large and small the world over have been planning for months or even years on how best to leverage the World Cup impact. From big players such as Visa and Coca Cola that can afford to drop $100million on official rights before their campaigns even begin, to rivals latching on by associating themselves with all things Africa and Football, one thing is clear: digital will play a bigger role than ever before.
Coca Cola recently launched a campaign based around goal celebrations and African dancing. As well as traditional marketing focusing on the positive aspects of celebration and dance, they are also embarking on a widespread social media campaign, asking people to send in their own goal celebrations in order to win tickets to games. Carlsberg are taking a similar approach, inviting England fans to video their own world cup team talk.
Official partner Visa decided to continue their 'Life flows better with Visa' campaign but this time with a world cup tie-in. We have all seen the Visa powered fan become a professional footballer on TV, but thanks to widespread integration, the campaign is estimated to have been seen or heard 2.2 billion more times over 532 different platforms. Convergence anyone?
Pepsi is not an official partner but gained a lot of viral publicity through their integrated 'Oh Africa' campaign. The campaign featured top players and music stars in an Africa-themed football video advert combined with a major social presence including content such as outtakes, interviews and alternative versions.
The 2010 World Cup will be the first truly social edition. In the last four years Facebook and Twitter have become household names with over 500 million combined users. For the first time it is not just possible but easy to communicate with fans from every other team, from Algeria to Uruguay. The scope for marketers is virtually unlimited, never before has there been such a large one-to-one bridge between companies and dedicated consumers, with an increased opportunity for long-term relationships that just aren’t possible in the same way with print or TV adverts.
The defining social football campaigns will only be apparent as we get closer to the final whistle, but an interesting pre-game warm-up comes from Sony Ericsson’s Twittercup, an app which tracks the best nations at the world cup by their Twitter buzz in real time.
Mark Laskey
Multimedia Developer
Monday, 19 April 2010
Web Accessibility and Website Law
Websites started out as very simple text which was accessible to everyone, provided they had software to interpret the contents. In the last ten years, websites have altered dramatically to include movies, Flash and dynamic content, such that the job of the software reading the website has become a great deal more complex. The disabled could easily be overlooked in designing and building websites, however this would be an unwise decision since there are laws in many countries to protect them.
The UK Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 states: “It is unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate against a disabled person in refusing to provide, or deliberately not providing, to the disabled person any service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public and also in failing to comply with any duty imposed on him by section 21 in circumstances in which the effect of that failure is to make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for the disabled person to make use of any such service”
And further the law states that rules apply in the following scenarios:
Access to and use of any place which members of the public are permitted to enter; access to and use of means of communication; access to and use of information services; facilities by way of banking or insurance or for grants, loans, credit or finance; facilities for entertainment, recreation or refreshment; the services of any profession or trade, or any local or other public authority.
Most websites fulfil at least one of the above conditions – whether it be buying an item or communicating to friends. Mostly though, lawsuits have been targeted at websites providing a public service; after all if one site doesn’t provide access, another will.
The basics behind making a site available to all haven’t changed all that much over the years, most importantly the developers and designers need to bear in mind the various disabilities there are and how they will be gaining access to the information available...
People with disabilities may for example want to increase font size, have their own styles or be unable to use an alternative to Flash or Shockwave. In each case, alternative content / functionality should be available so that no loss of user experience occurs. Testing the site by using focus groups is the ultimate check, and testing services are offered by charities including RNIB, AbilityNet and Shaw Trust.
Sources/Further reading:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050013_en_1
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/resources/access/disabled.htm
http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/
Alex Rigg
Developer
The UK Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 states: “It is unlawful for a provider of services to discriminate against a disabled person in refusing to provide, or deliberately not providing, to the disabled person any service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public and also in failing to comply with any duty imposed on him by section 21 in circumstances in which the effect of that failure is to make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for the disabled person to make use of any such service”
And further the law states that rules apply in the following scenarios:
Access to and use of any place which members of the public are permitted to enter; access to and use of means of communication; access to and use of information services; facilities by way of banking or insurance or for grants, loans, credit or finance; facilities for entertainment, recreation or refreshment; the services of any profession or trade, or any local or other public authority.
Most websites fulfil at least one of the above conditions – whether it be buying an item or communicating to friends. Mostly though, lawsuits have been targeted at websites providing a public service; after all if one site doesn’t provide access, another will.
The basics behind making a site available to all haven’t changed all that much over the years, most importantly the developers and designers need to bear in mind the various disabilities there are and how they will be gaining access to the information available...
People with disabilities may for example want to increase font size, have their own styles or be unable to use an alternative to Flash or Shockwave. In each case, alternative content / functionality should be available so that no loss of user experience occurs. Testing the site by using focus groups is the ultimate check, and testing services are offered by charities including RNIB, AbilityNet and Shaw Trust.
Sources/Further reading:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050013_en_1
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/resources/access/disabled.htm
http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/
Alex Rigg
Developer
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
CS5 & Apple vs Adobe
Creative Suite 5 is nearly upon us – so close I am already nudging our resident sys admin to buy us the shiny new apps. Obviously, there are many new features / changes to encourage people to upgrade.
One such that certainly sounds interesting, is a tool providing the ability to export flash as HTML5 Canvas. With IE9 on the horizon too, this will mean all of the major browsers will support HTML5, a step towards making this a viable alternative to the Flash plug-in. More on this here and again with a performance comparison between Flash and HTML5 here.
As you may or may not have heard by now, another eagerly anticipated feature was the ability to export flash apps as iPhone code. Apple have very recently announced that they have changed the way their SDK works – only code written in C, C++ or Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs. Cross-compilers, such as that advertised to be in the new CS release, are apparently banned. This will potentially affect a number of other technologies (e.g. Unity3D), but the Adobe link is the most publicised given the public deterioration in their relationship with Apple.
Given this bad blood between Apple and Adobe, the cynical might wonder if the announcement was deliberately timed to dampen the build up to the CS5 launch. It is definitely a blow to the product, and prompted an Adobe employee to post a frustrated response to the move (more here, including links). Steve Jobs has since responded to this (more here) with a customarily curt reply, not giving any hope to those hoping for Apple to change their mind.
Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to trying the new Creative Suite, even without the opportunity to try my hand at iPhone development. More on CS5 here.
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
One such that certainly sounds interesting, is a tool providing the ability to export flash as HTML5 Canvas. With IE9 on the horizon too, this will mean all of the major browsers will support HTML5, a step towards making this a viable alternative to the Flash plug-in. More on this here and again with a performance comparison between Flash and HTML5 here.
As you may or may not have heard by now, another eagerly anticipated feature was the ability to export flash apps as iPhone code. Apple have very recently announced that they have changed the way their SDK works – only code written in C, C++ or Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs. Cross-compilers, such as that advertised to be in the new CS release, are apparently banned. This will potentially affect a number of other technologies (e.g. Unity3D), but the Adobe link is the most publicised given the public deterioration in their relationship with Apple.
Given this bad blood between Apple and Adobe, the cynical might wonder if the announcement was deliberately timed to dampen the build up to the CS5 launch. It is definitely a blow to the product, and prompted an Adobe employee to post a frustrated response to the move (more here, including links). Steve Jobs has since responded to this (more here) with a customarily curt reply, not giving any hope to those hoping for Apple to change their mind.
Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to trying the new Creative Suite, even without the opportunity to try my hand at iPhone development. More on CS5 here.
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Flash on Chrome
Some interesting multimedia news that emerged on Tuesday (via the Chromium blog) is that Google will be integrating the Adobe Flash plug-in in future builds of its Chrome browser. Already integrated in their developer build, the intention is to make the plug-in more easily available to users (i.e. no separate download), but also to improve on security: the plug-in will be updated via Chrome's own auto-update mechanisms and will benefit from future sandboxing enhancements.
This is a continuation of Google's work (proposed last summer) to produce a new browser plug-in API. The blog post mentions Adobe and Mozilla (and "the broader community" - no MS?) as helping to define this new API with the intention of allowing plug-in to be "just as fast, stable and secure as the browser's HTML and JavaScript engines." It is also expected to allow more seamless interaction between plug-in and HTML etc.
Several reports on this development have commented on how this is a response to Google's relationship with Apple (who are notoriously resistant to allowing flash on their iPhone / iPod Touch / iPads). Whether or not that is true, given the recent mutters of Flash dying in the face of HTML 5, I find it somewhat ironic that this significant Flash development would be coming from such a strong proponent of HTML 5. I also find myself wondering what impact this will have on the Google Chrome OS…
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
This is a continuation of Google's work (proposed last summer) to produce a new browser plug-in API. The blog post mentions Adobe and Mozilla (and "the broader community" - no MS?) as helping to define this new API with the intention of allowing plug-in to be "just as fast, stable and secure as the browser's HTML and JavaScript engines." It is also expected to allow more seamless interaction between plug-in and HTML etc.
Several reports on this development have commented on how this is a response to Google's relationship with Apple (who are notoriously resistant to allowing flash on their iPhone / iPod Touch / iPads). Whether or not that is true, given the recent mutters of Flash dying in the face of HTML 5, I find it somewhat ironic that this significant Flash development would be coming from such a strong proponent of HTML 5. I also find myself wondering what impact this will have on the Google Chrome OS…
Nick Nawrattel
Lead Multimedia Developer
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Bluhalo's Spurs site gets NMA site of the week
We love working on the Spurs website (http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/) - it's a great site, with a wealth of top quality content.
NMA landed on my desk this morning, and to my (and the Bluhalo team's) delight, the Spurs site has been awarded site of the week.
With an impressive 88/100, scoring 22/25 for content, 22/25 for usability, 21/25 for branding and 23/25 for monetisation, we're delighted, to say the least. A lot of dedication and passion went into the redesign of the latest version of the Spurs website and we're really pleased to see our expertise and efforts rewarded!
To view the full article, visit the NMA website.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
@jocelynkirby
NMA landed on my desk this morning, and to my (and the Bluhalo team's) delight, the Spurs site has been awarded site of the week.
With an impressive 88/100, scoring 22/25 for content, 22/25 for usability, 21/25 for branding and 23/25 for monetisation, we're delighted, to say the least. A lot of dedication and passion went into the redesign of the latest version of the Spurs website and we're really pleased to see our expertise and efforts rewarded!
To view the full article, visit the NMA website.
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
@jocelynkirby
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Familiarity Breeds Content
The troubles last month with snow and ice that caused chaos for many, if not all of us. An experience that I had brought home a few truths about how the familiar, when changed to be almost unrecognisable, worries us, unsettles us and even has us running for the door!
As I sat for two hours on a roundabout that normally takes me five minutes to cross, the snow falling heavily and piling high on the road, I had a thought... What seems so familiar that we don’t even consciously notice it, can change beyond all recognition when covered in a soft, shiny white layer of snow.
Think of your current website. Chances are a lot of blood sweat and tears went into its creation. This site says you are the best at what you do, you sell the best product or that you have really cool customers. Whatever it says about you, many of your core clients recognise it, feel comfortable with it and can be adverse to radical, or even small changes.
So you need a new digital presence, not just the site but your whole approach needs to be upgraded, needs more ‘nowness’, more features, more bang – the list goes on. Many agencies will want to offer you all the newest features; they will tell you that the current market demands it even!
But as with all new technological advances, they may not necessarily be the right ‘fit’ for you. The saying ‘Content is King’ still holds true, but it has to be relevant and useful for your clients and target market.
When considering a ‘new’ website, a refresh of your old one, or embarking on new channels of digital communications, keep in mind what your clients like, how they engage online, what currently works, what gets the most traffic - build on that. Make it better, more user-friendly and don't forget to keep what works - most importantly, don’t scare away your users!
Paul Windust
Project Manager
As I sat for two hours on a roundabout that normally takes me five minutes to cross, the snow falling heavily and piling high on the road, I had a thought... What seems so familiar that we don’t even consciously notice it, can change beyond all recognition when covered in a soft, shiny white layer of snow.
Think of your current website. Chances are a lot of blood sweat and tears went into its creation. This site says you are the best at what you do, you sell the best product or that you have really cool customers. Whatever it says about you, many of your core clients recognise it, feel comfortable with it and can be adverse to radical, or even small changes.
So you need a new digital presence, not just the site but your whole approach needs to be upgraded, needs more ‘nowness’, more features, more bang – the list goes on. Many agencies will want to offer you all the newest features; they will tell you that the current market demands it even!
But as with all new technological advances, they may not necessarily be the right ‘fit’ for you. The saying ‘Content is King’ still holds true, but it has to be relevant and useful for your clients and target market.
When considering a ‘new’ website, a refresh of your old one, or embarking on new channels of digital communications, keep in mind what your clients like, how they engage online, what currently works, what gets the most traffic - build on that. Make it better, more user-friendly and don't forget to keep what works - most importantly, don’t scare away your users!
Paul Windust
Project Manager
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
We're Loving: Augmented Reality Viral Campaigns
Last year Augmented Reality (AR) was in its infancy, but this year is proving to push the boundaries producing creative and engaging features. AR spans across various mediums, iPhones, maps, games, websites and even tattoos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XSB70J6a98).
This blog is a continuation from @JocelynKirby article, “The Future of Mobile – apps, AR and more”, concentrating on creative and intuitive AR virals. Virals need to be engaging and unique to spread the word of a brand. AR is an exciting technology and can create a great buzz.
Here is a collection of my personal favourite creative and fun viral augmented reality pieces (in no particular order):
Adidas Augmented Reality Sneaker – http://www.arvertising.com/news/2010/02/adidas-originals-arvertising/
Adidas turn their Sneakers into an Augmented Reality device. Adidas are introducing AR into their products, by embedding the AR barcode into the tongue of the sneaker. The user can then use the AR to play games and share their winnings with their friends.
Cadburys Creme Egg - http://www.cremeegg.co.uk/
Cadburys, (despite now being part of the American plastic cheese empire, known as Kraft), are well renowned for their campaigns and are utilising AR to promote Creme Egg specifically for the Easter period. Not yet live, the AR piece encourages the user to launch the Creme Egg into Newtons Cradle. The user can then enter a competition. Definitely one to keep an eye out for.
Doritos Sweetchilli - http://www.doritos.com.br/sweetchili/site/
To promote Doritos new flavour, an AR symbol is printed onto the back of the packet. When activated on the site, a 3D monster is born. The user can interact with the character and share with friends. A great example encouraging consumers to visit their website.
Eminem - http://www.therelapse.co.uk/3dartcomp/#/elapse
To promote Eminem’s new album, an AR based competition was created. Competitors use AR to graffiti a giant E, and the best artwork wins a prize. This is unique as the user can customise the object by drawing onto its surfaces.
Burger King $1 Campaign - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSc9TlCDBI
Who says AR has to remain in websites? AR is starting to emerge in banner adverts. Burger King $1 campaign is the first in its kind, not only because it is integrated into a banner but the AR device to activate the banner is a $1 note. Impressive stuff!
Esquire Magazine - http://www.esquire.com/the-side/augmented-reality
Augmented Reality magazine. Impressive use of combining both AR and video.
BMW Z4 - http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/augmented_reality/homepage?bcsource=vanity
This viral supports the vibrant Z4 TV advert, allowing the user to control the car leaving colourful wheel markings. Who knew driving a 3D Z4 leaving paint trails would be so much fun!
So there you have it! This is no means a definitive list, but shows what is currently out there and provides food for thought for future possibilities. Augmented Reality is a powerful tool to increase awareness of a brand.
Richard Fenn
@rfenn
Designer/Motion Graphics
This blog is a continuation from @JocelynKirby article, “The Future of Mobile – apps, AR and more”, concentrating on creative and intuitive AR virals. Virals need to be engaging and unique to spread the word of a brand. AR is an exciting technology and can create a great buzz.
Here is a collection of my personal favourite creative and fun viral augmented reality pieces (in no particular order):
Adidas Augmented Reality Sneaker – http://www.arvertising.com/news/2010/02/adidas-originals-arvertising/
Adidas turn their Sneakers into an Augmented Reality device. Adidas are introducing AR into their products, by embedding the AR barcode into the tongue of the sneaker. The user can then use the AR to play games and share their winnings with their friends.
Cadburys Creme Egg - http://www.cremeegg.co.uk/
Cadburys, (despite now being part of the American plastic cheese empire, known as Kraft), are well renowned for their campaigns and are utilising AR to promote Creme Egg specifically for the Easter period. Not yet live, the AR piece encourages the user to launch the Creme Egg into Newtons Cradle. The user can then enter a competition. Definitely one to keep an eye out for.
Doritos Sweetchilli - http://www.doritos.com.br/sweetchili/site/
To promote Doritos new flavour, an AR symbol is printed onto the back of the packet. When activated on the site, a 3D monster is born. The user can interact with the character and share with friends. A great example encouraging consumers to visit their website.
Eminem - http://www.therelapse.co.uk/3dartcomp/#/elapse
To promote Eminem’s new album, an AR based competition was created. Competitors use AR to graffiti a giant E, and the best artwork wins a prize. This is unique as the user can customise the object by drawing onto its surfaces.
Burger King $1 Campaign - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSc9TlCDBI
Who says AR has to remain in websites? AR is starting to emerge in banner adverts. Burger King $1 campaign is the first in its kind, not only because it is integrated into a banner but the AR device to activate the banner is a $1 note. Impressive stuff!
Esquire Magazine - http://www.esquire.com/the-side/augmented-reality
Augmented Reality magazine. Impressive use of combining both AR and video.
BMW Z4 - http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/augmented_reality/homepage?bcsource=vanity
This viral supports the vibrant Z4 TV advert, allowing the user to control the car leaving colourful wheel markings. Who knew driving a 3D Z4 leaving paint trails would be so much fun!
So there you have it! This is no means a definitive list, but shows what is currently out there and provides food for thought for future possibilities. Augmented Reality is a powerful tool to increase awareness of a brand.
Richard Fenn
@rfenn
Designer/Motion Graphics
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
The Future of Mobile - apps, AR and more!
The future of mobile – can anyone really accurately predict it? It’s a tough one as mobile usage trends throughout the world vary considerably. However, with the exciting technological advancements of recent years, the once, seemingly unachievable and futuristic predictions of mobile experts, are now one by one, fulfilling their prophecy.
So what are the most notable mobile trends for 2010 and beyond?
Mobile Apps
It had to come first in the list right? Still a huge growth area, the flexibility and uses for mobile apps never cease to amaze. With over 100,000 applications in existence and in excess of 1bn downloads, iPhone applications are very much leading the pack in terms of sophistication and popularity. With diverse uses; from the Sleep Cycle app, which monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in a lighter sleep stage, ShapeUp, which helps you track and plan daily calorie intake, through to HootSuite, for managing your social network updates, such as Twitter, LinkedIn etc; iPhone applications really are penetrating every aspect of our professional and private lives. How long before we have an app which tracks our children’s whereabouts or allows us to scan the barcodes of empty cartons to reorder our groceries?
Augmented Reality
It’s still early days in terms of the practical application of many augmented reality applications, but the potential when mobile meets AR is pretty exciting! A few recent apps have started to show more than just a novelty appeal and are actually beginning to be useful too. Some of the best include:
TwittARound – the application takes your view of your surrounding via your iPhone camera and overlays nearby tweets over the image – not sure how useful it is right now, but very cool!
Nearest Tube – it does just what it says on the tin! It helps you find your nearest tube station and identifies your location based on what the application sees through your iPhone camera.
TAT Augmented ID – almost scary in its capabilities, TAT Augmented ID uses facial recognition technology from Flickr to identify a person’s face and then display information such as their contact information and online profiles from various social networks – possibly more novelty than useful at this stage but the potential with this type of technology is huge!
Mobile Commerce
Mobile ecommerce is an area which has received a lot of air time recently, with many discussing the merits and potential that it holds for retailers. With mobile ecommerce a largely untapped market, retailers that take note of the growing power of mobile will gain huge competitive advantage over their rivals. Waitrose / Ocado was the first grocery store to launch an iPhone application (July 09) that allows you to do your grocery shopping on the move, regardless of whether you have an internet connection, and I suspect others won’t be too far behind – this is definitely a case of ‘watch this space’.
So there you have it, a quick summary of what I see to be the most exciting areas of the future of mobile for the year ahead – I am certain we are going to see many great things appearing on our mobiles, and I for one, can’t wait to give them a go! Anything that makes my life easier, saves me time or money, or just gives a bit of entertainment is a hit in my eyes!
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
So what are the most notable mobile trends for 2010 and beyond?
Mobile Apps
It had to come first in the list right? Still a huge growth area, the flexibility and uses for mobile apps never cease to amaze. With over 100,000 applications in existence and in excess of 1bn downloads, iPhone applications are very much leading the pack in terms of sophistication and popularity. With diverse uses; from the Sleep Cycle app, which monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in a lighter sleep stage, ShapeUp, which helps you track and plan daily calorie intake, through to HootSuite, for managing your social network updates, such as Twitter, LinkedIn etc; iPhone applications really are penetrating every aspect of our professional and private lives. How long before we have an app which tracks our children’s whereabouts or allows us to scan the barcodes of empty cartons to reorder our groceries?
Augmented Reality
It’s still early days in terms of the practical application of many augmented reality applications, but the potential when mobile meets AR is pretty exciting! A few recent apps have started to show more than just a novelty appeal and are actually beginning to be useful too. Some of the best include:
TwittARound – the application takes your view of your surrounding via your iPhone camera and overlays nearby tweets over the image – not sure how useful it is right now, but very cool!
Nearest Tube – it does just what it says on the tin! It helps you find your nearest tube station and identifies your location based on what the application sees through your iPhone camera.
TAT Augmented ID – almost scary in its capabilities, TAT Augmented ID uses facial recognition technology from Flickr to identify a person’s face and then display information such as their contact information and online profiles from various social networks – possibly more novelty than useful at this stage but the potential with this type of technology is huge!
Mobile Commerce
Mobile ecommerce is an area which has received a lot of air time recently, with many discussing the merits and potential that it holds for retailers. With mobile ecommerce a largely untapped market, retailers that take note of the growing power of mobile will gain huge competitive advantage over their rivals. Waitrose / Ocado was the first grocery store to launch an iPhone application (July 09) that allows you to do your grocery shopping on the move, regardless of whether you have an internet connection, and I suspect others won’t be too far behind – this is definitely a case of ‘watch this space’.
So there you have it, a quick summary of what I see to be the most exciting areas of the future of mobile for the year ahead – I am certain we are going to see many great things appearing on our mobiles, and I for one, can’t wait to give them a go! Anything that makes my life easier, saves me time or money, or just gives a bit of entertainment is a hit in my eyes!
Jocelyn Kirby
Marketing & Business Development Manager
Twitter @JocelynKirby
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