Amazon Adopts New Business Strategy - Giving Away Films For Free!

The way people spend their free time is set to change yet again. The internet has rapidly been eating into into both the hours we don't send at work (as well as those that we do), taking more and more time away from the time we used to spend watching TV. Well, TV is just not quite ready to be cast aside so easily, and more than going down with a fight, it is seeing a rapid reincarnation. Most of my English friends spend their time online watching the BBC iPlayer, and now I am sure my friends in the US will have an equally time consuming distraction as the IMDB site launches its new free TV show and film service.

The IMDB (Internet Movie Database), is set to offer movies and TV programs for free. Amazon that owns the site has started to offer a range of movies as well as popular series such as Lost. New episodes from TV series that have not yet even been broadcast on TV, including the new Knight Rider series will be offered for free. Shows will include advertising, but should the film not be available, or should viewers want an ad-free experience an alternative film will be suggested that can be downloaded from Amazons video on demand digital rental site.

So, Amazon, a pioneering online success story and true company of the digital age has already shown that it is having to move to avoid it's business model coming under threat. Rather than deny the inevitable, and try to protect its online sales and rentals, by offering content for free, they will integrate an ad revenue model, which ultimately will lead to increase online sales from users that are willing to pay for enhanced and ad free content.

Amazon are clearly targeting being both 'the destination' online to buy content and to own the best sites about the content they are selling. They also recently launched SoundUnwound a new site that they want to become the 'Wikipedia' of music and bands.

X-Rated Erotic Horror Film Marks Relaunch of Agent Provocateur Lingerie Site

Agent Provocateur, has completely revamped their website. It is not the most difficult thing to draw attention to, when you have the opportunity to legitimately show your product on scantily clad young models, but gent Provocateur do it with class and attitude in every area. They are leaders when it comes to innovating with video online, and are no newbies to video on their site. This time however they have the luxury of the web catching up with their ideas. The new x-rated style site delivers an emersive video experience. The erotic and dark theme has a combined look and feel of vintage horror and cult erotic movies - See end of this post for video. Sexy full screen action which also features an equally kitsch soundtrack.

The interactive video invites visitors to create their own path through the erotic story, and eventually decide the fate of the stories ‘Young Virgin’ protagonist. The main print campaign image also contains a hidden secret mystery to be solved. After a well made and evocative brand building experience there is a stylish online store to capitalise on all the visitors the site will have provoked.

The leading luxury lingerie brand is clearly investing heavily in online, and the site reflects and increased focus on the web, aimed at capitalising on the huge success of online sales through their site.




This campaign image contains a hidden message. Solve it to win the competition.

New iPods Listen To Your Music

Apple today presented a revised line of iPods in a special press event in San Francisco. The iPod shuffle and classic iPod received only minor changes, while the iPod touch received a minor design upgrade making it thinner and with a curved iPhone like back.

The biggest changes announced were to the iPod Nano line that is the thinnest iPod Apple have ever made. It returns to a similar, vertical design of the earlier 2nd generation Nano, returning to a screen format that would allow it to share some applications available to the iPhone and iPod touch, with particular focus on games, in order to increase potential sales on the already successful Apps store. The Nano does not benefit from a touch screen, but does have a newly added accelerometer, to add more fun navigation of songs and albums. Simply shake the iPod and it will produce a different shuffle of songs.

All of the iPods are cheaper than their predecessors, and with larger capaicity storage, with Apple hoping to captitalise on the sale of content to the devices from the iTunes store. It was the store that also got an upgrade with support for High Definition TV shows, a new way of displaying albums, and a neat functionality that enables iTunes to build automatic playlists of similar music. The software can analyze the songs in your library and recommend other similar songs in your library or even recommend new songs from the iTunes store. This 'Genius' playlist is described like having the worlds best DJ in your iPod. In fact the iPod touch and Nano's actually come with the functionality built into them.

Always looking for more ways to increase the sale of songs, this new function is sure to prove fun and useful for users, as well as helping generate more sales. Though Apple still seem to be missing out on many other social media ideas that could really take iTunes to the next level.

OLPC To Be Sold By Amazon - Rare Opportunity To Get Your Hands On Future Design Classic

For all of you that missed out on last years opportunity to get your hands on one of the most important computers designed in recent history, AND do your bit for the developing world at the same time, there is a second chance! The laptop in question has been developed for the much talked about One Laptop Per Child initiative, with the aim of providing a sub $100 computer for each child in developing nations. In order to avoid the issues experienced when the OLPC programe ran the same initiative last year, Amazon has been chosen to run a programme to enable United States residents to buy one of the most innovative laptops invented (that can also be powered by a hand wound generator) and for every computer sold, a second laptop will be donated to a child in a developing country. The computer will be available from November until the end of the year. Despite the computer costing only slightly more than $100, this is a price point for mass orders and not the public. The combined cost of the two computers will be set at around $380. This is set to be a design classic, as some of the industries best have worked on the project and pioneered many innovations to reduce the cost to near the $100 benchmark cost. Don’t miss out this time round.

Visit the site of OLPC for more details.

Google Knol

So the much awaited Wikipedia killer 'Knol' from Google has finally arrived, but to little hype.

Write Great Google Knols is a pretty good blog for people interested to know more about Google Knol, that is full of articles, advice and news. Of particular interest is the fact that Google are now both content and an advertising distributor, and so to watch will be how their own content is favored within Google search results. It may be an interesting platform for driving traffic, but from what I have gleaned about the site is that it is more like the blogger platform, but for individual articles rather than peope that want to write multiple articles on a subject as they would normally do with a blog.

Giant Robotic Spider Roams Liverpool Streets

Probably the only time I thought I would say 'I wish I was in Liverpool rather than here in sunny Italy' is because this weekend sees what is set to be a spectacular street theatre performance that takes in the entire city. Starting with a giant 15m tall 36 tonne robotic spider that is set to come to life on Friday night, and will then roam the cities streets. There are bound to be other creature and players in the five day production if the previous show 'The Sultans Elephant' that took place two years ago in London is anything to go by. That show was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, albeit having only been seen online I am gutted to not be able to see this one in person. Check out the video of The Sultans Elephant in this previous post, and for more info on the performance in Liverpool check out the official site, La Machine. I shall post images and video of the event next week.

Nokia Offer Free Unlimited Music Downloads

Nokia is aiming to take on the growing influence of the Apple iPhone by launching a new series of handsets that enable owners to download to their device and computer, an unlimited number of tracks from their library of over 2 million tracks. The cost of the service is built into the price of the phone, which is estimated to be around €300.

The service expires after one year, requiring customers to purchase a new ‘Comes With Music’ device, but the old handset will continue to work for normal phone use, and previous ly downloaded tracks can still be listened to.

This kind of packaging free music with another product or service is proving to be an interesting future model for the sale of music, aimed at getting to pay for music rather than download it for free. The only way to tackle this issue is to provide a better service than free music downloads offered on illegal P2P networks.

Nokia’s music service uses Microsofts Digital Rights Management and means that music downloaded from Nokia can’t be used on an iPod or the iPhone. This fact coupled with their policy of forcing people to buy a new handset each year, rather than offering customers the chance to pay for a new subscription seems aimed at ensuring more Nokia handsets to combat the increasing influence of the iPhone. But such a strategy goes against why the iPod and iPhone are such great success stories. Remove barriers and make things easier for the user, and you will be far more successful.

Offering a better and open service, where the revenue comes from actually selling the music seems to be a better approach that simply using the free music as a means to incentivize the purchase of a new handset seems short sighted in my opinion. In this environmentally sensitive time, and with a global recession looming, encouraging young kids to throw away technology after one year seems a little excessive.

Either way, expect to see lots more ‘Comes With Free Music’ bundled with everything, as the music industry seeks to revive itself.

Free Art - Download A Cloned Artist

When artist and furniture designer Bert Simons had a midlife crisis, he decided to tackle it head on . His solution was to clone himself. Not with complex biological methods using DNA and sheep, but with good old fashioned paper and glue. The results are striking. The three dimensional paper bust sculpture is fascinating in the way that it's computer generated form betrays a of high tech aesthetic while being something that is realised with such low tech materials. In this era of online avatars and virtual worlds, it is as if the artists alter-ego has stepped from the digital realm into reality.

The artist encourages people to help him in his quest, to mass produce himself, in true contemporary social media style, inviting people to download the online kit which gives you everything you need to recreate the artwork. People that make the sculptures have their masterpieces featured within the artist site. Is this art 2.0?

Bert has mastered the art of paper sculpting and has created many more in his series of photo realistic three dimensional portraits and sculptures. Visit Bert Simons site for more information and to check out his other works which range from furniture, interior, paintings and even rocket design.

Not only are the sculptures very unique, but he has also managed to craft an interesting story around it, and also by explaining and demonstrating his process.

Rain Of Madness

Check out this mockumentary of a trailer of a mockumentary of a documentary. So many great comic actors in one film, this is it a recipe for a great movie or a disaster! I can't wait to find out if Rain of Madness will live up to its billing. It will be interesting to see how Steve Coogan can play off Ben Stiller and Jack Black.

Artist Dominic Wilcox Is The Bee's Knees

I really enjoy the work of artist Dominic Wilcox. I found his site while browsing recent images on vi.sualize.us (a very interesting new social image bookmarking site, that I have been meaning to post about for a while). The humor and play reminds me a lot of the work of a close friend on mine, Daniel Eatock. Dominic is a fairly recent graduate from the RCA and is surely someone to watch out for. Please check out his excellent body of work on his site, but here are some of my favorite works by Dominic.


A bowl made from partially melted plastic toy soldiers. I love the contrast between the smooth outer surface and the rough inner surface. Resulting effect is beautiful, not only visually, but also in the fact that the final result has a lot of uncontrollability about it.


Chairs and installation created by vacuum forming plastic over office furniture and house hold objects.


Stickers to put on your car or bike that make it look rusty, to discourage thieves from taking it.



A bed where the mattress takes on the form of a sleeping body.



A bee's knees. A literal expression of the famous phrase.

New Sprite Ad & Old West Ad

A couple of ads that I found while browsing recently and wanted to consign to memory. I love the music in the Old Lady - West ad. I do not know who is the artist, so if anyone knows who it is please tell me if you know. How weird it that ad? I can't think of a less appealing character to promote smoking, which actually makes the ad all the more interesting! It really feels like an old Diesel spot.


West_Old Lady commercial from Stefan_K on Vimeo.

As for this Sprite advert, I really like it's simplicity and way that it delivers its surprise.


De lejos están todas buenas from Matias Tripailao on Vimeo.

My Friend The Next Victim Of A Serial Killer?

This shocking discovery of a serial killer in London seems to have every one living in fear. None more that one of my colleagues, Kimm Kroll who shares the same name as one of the names written on the killers apparent targets list found at the scene of one of the crimes. It is such a distinctive name, I just hope it is not actually my friend!! I hope that the catch this killer soon.

More information on the killings can be read here.

Top 10 Ways To Increase Your Visibility In Flickr

Thomas Hawk provides a very useful, informative and well written list of things you can do to help increase visibility of your images in the Flickr image hosting and photo sharing community site. Read it here.

BMW GINA - Morphing Car With Flexible Fabric Skin

Yesterday I posted a video of the BMW interactive kinetic sculpture, an installation that forms part of the companies recently launched museum. While browsing their Web TV site I saw a video of another exhibit from the museum. Called GINA, the exhibit is a prototype car with a flexible fabric skin instead of a traditional rigid metal or fibreglass body. The car is engineered to be able to morph, changing its shape. The changes can only be made within fairly limited physical parameters. It is a framework under the flexible skin that is able to move, but with such precision engineering in car design, even the most subtle of changes in a plane or line can have radical aesthetic or aerodynamic affect.

The concept of using a flexible fabric skin is in itself very radical and interesting, especially combined with the ability to change the cars shape, and I am sure that there will be great desire and expectation to see something so innovative find its way into production. However the thing that I find even more interesting is to see how the car itself has been so influential on the visual language of the current series of BMW production cars. The car itself looks very much a BMW. The shapes and lines that the car cuts, are distinctly BMW, yet it does not appear that a visual language has been mapped onto the car, rather the technology of a simple frame pushing through the flexible fabric skin creating its own unique language. From what I have garnered from other posts online, the car is at least six years old. It would appear that the team imagined up a car that not only explored the idea of a flexible skin, but also became a tool for exploring new forms and shapes, and became a tool in evolving BMW's avant guarde visual design language. This is an example where, at least in part the technology has been used to express the visual language. The shapes do not come from a computer, or from traditional crafts and design, rather from new materials and technology.

A truly inspirational project. From many angles!

See more images and video of the car below, and the teaser that preceeded it. Not only an interesting story, but also an example of successful online marketing, with the video notching up over two million views in several weeks.

I read about this first on Geekology blog

BMW kinetic Sculpture

The new BMW Museum in Munich, home to the company’s 90-year history, opened last month and has carefully combined architecture and exhibition design, focusing particularly on new media.

ART+COM media installations set the museum’s architecture in motion, creating a unique dynamic for exhibits and content. Along with atelier brückner, Stuttgart (architecture and exhibition design) and Intégral Ruedi Baur, Zurich (graphic design and visual identity), ART+COM has created a contemporary take on Schwanzer’s original exhibition concept of “the road in converted space”. Media installations literally set the museum’s seven themed buildings, 25 exhibition rooms and 125 exhibits in motion.

One kinetic sculpture uses 714 metal balls that move vertically along barely visible thread to reveal forms and planes. Seemingly weightless sculpture moves through a cycle of free abstractions and typical BMW vehicle forms to create a beautiful and magical effect. See the videos below.


The BWM Museum is open to the public from 21 June 2008.