Ron Cann

Here is an example of lighting used in the built environment to engage people in a purpose.  The vertical light columns respond to movement.

As I browsed http://www.go2web20.net/ yesterday startup Zopa caught my interest.

 ”Zopa - A Marketplace for Social Lending
People lend and borrow money with each other, sidestepping the banks. Social Lending is a financial category of genuine and increasing importance. It’s been happening on a small-scale in a families and social groups for hundreds of years and the internet has opened it up to everybody. It’s the biggest development in the world of money for decades, as people deal directly with other people, cutting out the banks.”

This is an interesting concept.  It essentially echos the original intentions of those who set up Credit Unions or co-ops earlier in the 20th century.  So, being that most Credit Unions are moving away from their grass roots, small community beginnings to large regional and eventually national footprints,  could this be an offering that potentially takes the place of the original grass roots intension of credit unions?  Or, with a lack of regulation and legislation, will this model degrade to a meeting place for “bottom feeders” – those with bad credit ratings and those trying to make a quick buck?

As 2006 progressed I began to notice more and more web sites featuring a “Web Host”.  Some for pure personality, some for attempting to help a user navigate through a site, some just because it’s cool.  Whatever the intent was, 2006 was certainly ”The Year of the Web Host”.  Fulled by the prolifereation of broadband and marketers looking for some form of differentiation online, the “Web Host” is everywhere.  Even we at Karo are in the middle of implementing a “Web Host” with one of our clients as a tool to help users navigate a fairly complicated product order.

 Here are some examples of Web Hosts that I have seen:

• Phillips uses a host for their new “body shaver”
• Dell uses a web host for walking a user through the configuration process when ordering a computer
• Coast Capital Savings uses “Julie” to bring personality to banking and attempts to help users with their natural language queries
• Royal Caribean uses multiple web hosts for their Freedom of the Seas website
• Elan uses a host for their ski selector
• CashAdvance.com also uses a web host for an intro.
• And the latest one I have come across is an innovative recruitment site from Accenture called BackStageatAccenture.com which not only uses a “Web Host”, but also uses other “Web Hosts” which are actual Accenture employees providing testimonials.

This list is just a start.  It will be interesting to see how this type of approach will evolve through 2007.

Another unique way of delivering a message to market – Pixmen.  They coin it, “nomadic media”.  It’s a backpack with an overhead extension that holds an LCD screen with streaming video above the wearer’s head.   Perhaps another good tool for standing out at a trade show or PR event.

See videos of the device here.

An interesting CBS interview talking about “Citizen Marketers” taking it upon themselves to either promote or alter brand perceptions of certain companies.  This is another 2.0 example of how control over the market is shifting from ”the Marketing Director” to the consumer even further than before.  Democracy rules.  Respect thy market!

Here is what I’m sure is one of many of the “2006 in Review” articles we’ll see in the coming weeks:

 Design in 2006: A year of innovation and utility

As a follow up to my last post, Scott Lawrence of Maverik Interaction (www.maverikinteraction.com) brought to my attention, this amazing interactive experience by Saturn and The Barbarian Group.

Here is the link to take a peek.  http://portfolio.barbariangroup.com/nextfest/index.html

Be sure to watch the video.

At Karo (www.karo.com) we are working on a very exciting and innovative project with Alberta Economic Development.  Alberta Economic Development runs the 10 visitor information centres around the province of Alberta and we have been asked to reinvent the experience at the centres.  The project involves a new exciting site plan, a new brand, new value added amenities for travellers, and innovative technology including interactive digital screens and kiosks. 

 In my research, I have come across some very interesting applications for this technology.

 One is from GestureTek out of Sunnyvale, CA.  The product is called GroundFX which features an overhead projector, mirror and a tracking camera to emulate such things as walking on water or even playing soccer.  This could be a surefire attractor to trade show attendees or retail store shoppers.  Here is a link:  http://www.gesturetek.com/groundfx/introduction.php Be sure to click “play intro video” to see the technology in action.

Here a great basic explanation of RSS and blogging from Oprah’s point of view:

 http://cravingideas.blogs.com/backinskinnyjeans/2006/09/how_to_explain_.html

 To Oprah, RSS stands for “Ready for Some Stories”.  Makes much more intuitive sense to non-techies then the real version – “Really Simple Syndication”.

An interesting site went live today – www.swivel.com .  It’s potentially for data what Napster did for music, and YouTube did for video.  The world can post and compare data, graphs and charts.  It will be interesting to see if this takes off outside of a small group of data lovers.  The big question is will the uneducated user take what is posted as fact as opposed to questioning the methodology?  Will users start to use this as a real source of research worth data.  Only time will tell.  Stay tuned.