Schulze & Webb (declaration of interest - Matt Webb is a mate) have launched Olinda, a social radio

Olinda is a prototype digital radio that has your social network built in, showing you the stations your friends are listening to. It’s customisable with modular hardware, and aims to provoke discussion on the future and design of radios for the home.

Social Networks in Physical Products

Six lights on Olinda show when a close friend is listening to the radio, using wifi and Radio Pop, the BBC’s website for sharing ‘now playing’ information. Each light is a button: you can tune in to listen along with them, discovering new stations via your social network.

Consumer Electronics learning from the web
On the Web, users are in charge of customising and adapting their experience … Olinda attempts to learn from this. Its hardware interface already joins the base unit with the friends module. By buying extra modules – or by making their own using the open interface – listeners can adapt their product over time, perhaps adding a remote control or recording

So bloody clever, yet so beautifully simple, and elegant. We’re increasingly seek greater integration of our offline lives with our online lives and social networks, and to be able to extend and customise our applications, services and products as we choose. So Jack & Matt have looked to embrace the online experience & marry this with a physical product.

It’s a cracking example of how everyday appliances could become fully networked, social appliances - with open APIs and modular design encouraging further modification and innovation. How long before this becomes the norm, and it’s an integral part of our standard repertoire of consumer electronics….perhaps where iPod become We-Pod?

Thanks to the lovely Bobbie, Dan & Rachel for helping to sort me out with a last-minute ticket, I was able to attend Gamecamp 2008 on saturday, which I hope will become a regular / annual occurrence.

Although the open plan nature of the venue (the pimptastic Sony 3Rooms) meant that sessions ended up spilling a bit over into one another, it was otherwise an absolutely perfect space for an unconference. And the fact that the event sponsors provided a shedload of consoles didn’t go amiss…I can confirm that Rockband totally ROCKS.

As is always the way, I couldn’t go to all the sessions I’d have liked, and inevitably some of the most valuable time was that spent hanging around chatting with people, swapping ideas and thoughts with friends old and new.

As well as learning a hell of a lot in a more general sense about the wider world of gaming (I’d not call myself an avid gamer, but would definitely express a fondness for ARGs and pervasive gaming), it was a brilliant exercise in getting to think more creatively, and ponder the application of play to communications.

Play is fantastic. Play gets us to have fun, think, and wholly engage with a given game or exercise. I’ve blogged about a couple of fantastic examples of using play/gaming to communicate a given proposition or product (Penguin’s We Tell Stories and Nine Inch Nail’s Year Zero) but the various sessions definitely reaffirmed more than ever that play can be such an effective means to communicate…..far more than simply advertising TO someone.

The simply amazing venue was another phenomenal example of branded communication - the branded space did more to communicate the Sony brand to me than any advertising ever could. The bright colours throughout the space and integration of Bravia screens throughout allowed me to experience the ‘Colour like no other’ proposition more richly than a TV ad, however stunning, could do. The sleek, modern, but playful design of the whole space let me experience the importance Sony places on aesthetics / form as well as function; allowing me to try Sony products let me ‘live the brand’ (to use a wanky marketing phrase) far better than an ad ever could.

Experience - whether it’s a branded space, event, game or whatever - is powerful; and I’d argue communicates far more richly than mere advertising ever can.

[ see my Flickr set for more photos of Gamecamp @ the Sony 3Rooms ]

They don’t make ads like they used to - but what if they did?

Video Games benefit your children!

Mr Nokia’s Patent Mobile Telephonic Communicator & Typographic Messenger!

The challenge to photoshop enthusiasts was to take modern products and advertise them in a vintage way, or take vintage products and advertise them in a modern way - check out the full set for more, including Marilyn Monroe promoting Philips , Tivo and the Ford Mustang.

Genius.

Being a huge kid and a massive devotee of retro toys, robots, collectibles and the like, I was instantly entranced by this amazingly colourful window display at Liberty’s. However on closer inspection, it’s not just a showcase of kitsch playthings - it’s actually part of an installation by Michael Wolf, called The Real Toy Story, promoting the China Design Now exhibition at the V&A.

Over 75% of the world’s cheap mass-produced plastic toys are produced in China: the installation showcases 20,000 of these alongside photos of the factory workers who produce them.

The project was conceived when the artist bought a huge sack of c. 600 second hand toys from his local charity shop as a surprise for his son - and discovered that every single one was made in China. His son was not only amazed by the fabulous array of toys, but surprised to learn that toys weren’t in fact made by Santa and his helpers!

Powerful stuff.

I love digital storytelling, and the latest innovation by Penguin is an absolute corker - exploring the intersection between literature, the web and gaming.

We Tell Stories was conceived by Penguin as a digital writing project, challenging selected authors to create new forms of fiction for a digital audience.

The project claims it will “create new fiction and offer a unique, immersive and innovative experience to readers everywhere” - and on first inspection it looks like they’re bang on brief.

The first story, ‘The 21 Steps’ by Charles Cumming, uses Google Maps technology to literally take the reader on a journey as they navigate through the story - its utterly delightful, and such a creative and different way to read a story.

Over the next 6 weeks, writers such as Mohsin Hamid, Naomi Alderman and Nicci French will be publishing their own interactive tales, with the added bonus of a hidden seventh story:

But somewhere on the internet is a seventh story, a mysterious tale involving a vaguely familiar girl called Alice. Readers who follow this story will discover clues that will shape Alice’s journey and help her on her way. These clues will appear online and in the real world and will drive readers to the other six stories where they will have the chance to win some wonderful prizes, including The Penguin Complete Classics Library, over £13,000 worth of the greatest books ever written.

I love the way that Penguin have embraced the digital space to bring together the age-old pastime of storytelling - the bread and butter of their business - with the modern world of digital interactivity, alternate reality gaming, and user participation. They’ve already dipped a toe in the water with their wikinovel experiment A Million Penguins - I’d predict that their willingness to explore this space further can only be richly rewarded, if other sectors are anything to go by - as the early adoptors begin to generate new avenues for revenue via digital channels and leave their slower moving competitors struggling to eke out revenues from their existing offline ventures.

Update: Check out Behind the Buzz for a full rundown on all the other many varied ventures Penguin have embarked on - they’re clearly absolutely committed to exploring the best ways to navigate the digital landscape to best connect with their consumers, and as far as I’m concerned, are doing a bloody great job…

[ Full disclosure - this has been produced by Six to Start, the company started by my friend Dan Hon: Dan’s past work totally rocks and this is no exception - I urge you all to check it out ]

I’m now totally coveting the beautiful business cards that the guys at Altogether have - standard information on the one side, puzzle to solve on the other.

The photo is taken using a cameraphone so you might not be able to see the detail - but there’s a sudoku one, a crossword, a wordsearch and a maze.

I love it when things can be useful and playful.

Genius.

After the ‘I‘m not a plastic bag’ Anya Hindmarch bag (now to be found on the dodgy fake bag stalls along Oxford st, so although perhaps not plastic, the likelihood of being under potentially spurious labour conditions slightly undermining the original’s ‘right-on’ credentials), comes the ‘I am not a paper cup’ cup, made out of porcelain with a silicon lid. For those that want to enjoy their morning vice with a better conscience.

Not sure quite if it’s practical enough to schlep it around, ready to be filled for your morning Starbucks - I can see it more likely serving as a more interesting looking mug that you’d use at home or work, but it would be lovely to be proved wrong.