Back in the 70's, the celebrated fashion photographer Helmut Newton developed "The Newton Machine", a device allowing his models to take photos of themselves as they saw themselves, without the need for the intrusion of a photographer to colour the process. So, the Helmut Newton estate have recreated this device in three of TopShop's flag ship stores (London, Manchester, Dublin) and opened it up to the public. Really nice idea, offering a great platform for Top Shop to showcase their clothes and (more importantly) the people that buy them. Have a look for yourselves at the website here.
Read all about it here.
Solid article from Forbes magazine about the nature of the "always on" populace, blogging, twittering, FriendFeeding and generally telling everyone and anyone who will notice what they're doing, reading, eating, dreaming about. Still, helps if you have something important to say. Not so good if you don't.
Got to say, this was highlighted to me by Jeremiah Owyang via his twitter, although he does talk about it at length on his ever excellent blog.
While we're on the subject, Chris Brogan has a great post that takes this "always on" mentality to its next obvious step. If people are always talking, the best thing you and your clients can do is listen to what they're saying, especially if it's about you. How did I hear about this article? Nicholas Butler, a complete stranger who I happened to hear on a podcast one time mentioned it in his Facebook status update the other day.
God bless the internet....
Jacked is a new service being launched over in the US, targeting television sports fans. I'm not a massive sports fan, I'll be honest, but the service seems like it may have something. Watch the game on the telly (remember those - generation Y people?) and get live stats, news, product info streamed to your computer, all ad supported.
Given there's an increasing number of people watching tv and surfing at the same time (twittering while Lost gets Lost) this isn't such a far flung proposition. If you've ever watched a baseball game or NFL, you'll know that half the screen is littered with stats. This eases the problem, letting you watch the game on your tv and getting your stats fix from your laptop. If they could offer a mobile service, so people could get this info while attending the game itself, I think they could be onto a winner. Google already have a live scores service for mobile users.
Saying that, have a look at this report from the beginning of the year, detailing the war against live blogging at sports events, following a recent crackdown by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). Given broadcasting rights are the backbone of the sports industry, control of stats from feeds and the internet, no matter how they're collated, carry a premium. Someone will at some point want paying for all of this.