interesting things that are going on 2

I've going to do another lunchtime presentation for w+k on Friday. Like this one. I'm even less prepared this time, so any suggestions gratefully received. The basic premise is 'interesting things that are going on'. Or as they bill it - russell's rubbish.

I've not worked out themes yet. But things I thought I'd show/talk about are:

All the agencies etc leaping into Second Life. (I sort of did this last time but it didn't really work.) Just to suggest that that particular band wagon has left the er, band wagon depot.

Twitter, got to talk about twitter, because there's something really interesting happening there. And loopt I suppose. And I think it ties somehow to photo geotagging as a sort of voluntary version of Microsoft's MyLifeBits thing. (Aslo gives me an opportunity to talk about the splendidness of Nokia's lifeblog which is beginning to make me question my lifelong Sony/Sony Ericsson loyalty.)

Then there's random stuff like the open source car project; OSCar (via chroma). Or there's Imagini (via design verb) which seems, well, prototypical, but points at something interesting. And similarly, somehow there's musicovery. It'd be nice to talk about Charmin. And radish races (via wmmna). I think they'd like this culture catcher project (via MAKE) and it'd be worth talking about the MAKE: Owner's Manifesto too. And they should see etsy, if they've not already.

And I might talk about Leon and attention to detail. (They just sent out a promotional email offering free coffee with organic porridge to about 800 people, but they did it as a cc rather than bcc, so we all saw everyone else's email addresses. Then they sent this: 'Fuck fuck fuck ccd rather than bccd sorry sorry sorry. I will think of a suitable apology'. My favourite response so far has been 'it's going to take more than porridge'. I got slightly pedantic with Leon a while ago, which is, I presume, how I ended up on their mailing list. At the time I thought I was being an arse, but maybe attention to detail is something they have trouble with. And maybe I'm still being an arse.)

Sorry for breaking the no brands rule. Circumstances have overwhelmed me.

Anyone got any other interesting stuff I might share with the good folks at w+k?

And I've just added buddylube. Obviously.

Comments

[Matt]

Have you taken them to unboxing yet?

[Ben]

Arthur screaming.

[Ben]

What about all the coffee mornings?

If it wasn't you that started it you'd be talking about it...

[Clay Parker Jones]

I agree. Coffee Mornings.

[Ben Mason]

Social lending is quite interesting. See Zoga, for a UK example. I think this is particularly interesting for the long term, given the demand for transparency in companies. Most banks seem to be getting left behind the public.

http://labs.live.com/photosynth/ is one of the most interesting techie things I've seen in a while. It's creating 3D models of the world using photos from Flickr. I think this all fits in a general (open resource?) theme. Microsoft using Flickr images etc.

[Hamish]

Theres a presentation by Jawed Karim, one of the founders of you tube which is quite interesting. You may have seen it, its on his account as a response to the first ever video put up on you tube. The one where hes at the zoo talking about elephants trunks!

He talks about the rapid growth of the company and about the unexpected ways in which the users have shaped the development of the service and built community. Its quite long! and was prior to the google takeover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nssfmTo7SZg

[Dino]

Thought this was interesting:

http://www.socialight.com/

[Dino]

It might be good to do a bit on widgets, and how they relate to a lot of cool trends: brand utility, networked marketing, how the web is being reconfigured into small pieces, and the power of web 2.0.

My favourite example (and one that demonstrates the potential for these kinds of things to do good) is via kiva.org. Microfinancing for poor people around the world (kind of like the social lending of zopa but for a purpose).
Come to think of it Kiva combines more than a few interesting trends.

[neil]

I heard about, but have forgotten the name of, a programme/site that creates 'user generated' music videos by linking Flickr tags to Last FM. That's the sort of thing WK people would be like.
The synthtravel thing is funny/interesting, but maybe that's just me. Looking forward to seeing you. Bear in mind we have a big pitch thursday and another one friday morning, so we may be a little tired.

[martin]

some lovely links.

see also blyk.com.

a simple idea, hugely well funded, and run by smart people.

could be big.

[paul isakson]

they might like your perspective on the YouTube phenomenon in regard to Wired/Bob Garfield's recent article about it being the possible "End of TV Advertising."

i've shared some thoughts/ideas about it here: http://paulisakson.typepad.com/planning/2006/11/the_end_of_tv_a.html

not sure if they're any good or not, but i'd love some perspective, thoughts, comments from others as well.

[Richard Buchanan]

Twitter is strange although totally fits in with the idea of a mobile phone becoming a social co-ordination device!

[here be simon]

Ive just started using http://clicky.roxr.net/ they supply webstats for blogs, still in it's beta stage and so currentlty free.

[here be simon]

And here are a few sites people in the office have been playing with.

http://www.fonpods.com/

http://waymarkr.com:8000/homepage/

http://www.plinkme.com/

http://www.tagloops.com/

http://www.maplib.net/

[philip]

web2.0 v Crime. or Friendship via ziki Vs knife buddies. The current acknowledgement that younger (UK) muggers are attacking for kicks not reward. I am interested by the passive/calming nature of activities like musicovery and flickr type hacks compared to the energy/excitement in street crime. Does the wave of these social networks automatically exclude younger people looking for more ‘action’? Speaking of which isn’t a Loopt registered mobile a robbers delight? -this might, however be bollocks.