@njlight re: branding/webdev for AMIA. qorvis.com has great experience in health IT & asso. branding/web. Pls contact Rick @ rls@qorvis.com

Cities Prepare for Life With the Electric Car . A few startups who time things right will do well in this space. http://qorv.is/ycb

Random rules for ideas worth spreading http://bit.ly/bAtdkP

Adobe: Flash for Mac is Getting Better — Really! http://bit.ly/cfZGns

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/technology/companies/09social.html
Google to Add Social Features to Gmail

Who says the future needs an advertising agency? http://bit.ly/bkbcqK

Check out our latest launch fr The Reznick Group http://www.reznickgroup.com/

Admit It, Microsoft: You Suck at the Web http://bit.ly/cRDCbu from @gigaom

A great piece was written by John Gruber about the open web and Flash.  Im republishing this here.  Thanks for the share Stefan

In my “Tablet Musings” piece two weeks ago, I speculated that Apple’s imminent tablet probably won’t support Flash, for all the same reasons the iPhone doesn’t. Reaction to this was polarized — typically either “duh, of course it won’t” or “no way, it has to support Flash”. You can see both reactions represented in the thread on my piece at Hacker News. One group is going to be very surprised come Wednesday.

I’ve been writing about this saga for two years. My fascination with the subject is fueled by the fact that it’s so polarizing, and that it encompasses both technical and political issues. Read the rest of this entry →

Ideas Still Rule

After reading countless 2010 prediction blog posts I have assembled what i think we are in store for.  Consider this a best of.   But what prediction I am most sure about is human beings want to enrich, connect and do as much with their limited time on earth.   This coupled with an artificial financial global economic system, risk rules at the end of the day.  Its what makes us and breaks us.  Humans are driven by love.  Risk is driven on relationships very very deep.  Technology will continue to “enrich” lives but speed up cycles and evolution much faster then ever before.  2010 and beyond is going to be great.  Expect many bubbles and many pops and many policy / society shifts to make it all work and make sense for society as a whole.  From a marketing perspective here are some of what i think are the best of predications I have been spotting.

The End of the Digital Agency.
There won’t be a moment when the invisible line dividing digital and traditional agencies is completely erased. But 2010 will see the distinction blur to the point of being meaningless. More digital agencies will compete for (and sometimes win) through-the-line projects, and more clients will be willing to chose a lead agency based on which of its roster shops comes to the table with the best idea. Read the rest of this entry →

WOW The next Flip will have Wi-Fi http://bit.ly/3jp2ov Storage is going to be a MAJOR need with video creation and upload that convenient

At the beginning of each new interactive project, Qorvis and the client articulate and visualize an engaging end-user experience based on client goals and objectives. The sky is the limit to our imagination, and guiding questions include: What experiences would best enable this client to interact and inform their customers or key audiences? What will it look like? How can we keep users coming back and spending more and more time using the application? What can be done to improve brand recall following the user engagement? Everything is on the table.

However, when it comes time to turn the imagined into reality, it is frequently technology limitations – not a lack of creativity, great ideas or technical know-how – that ultimately define the depth to which rich user experiences can go.

Each technology breakthrough empowers Qorvis to deliver enhanced user experiences to clients and to propose creative new ways to engage key audiences – from mobile applications to interactive video experiences.

Today, as webcams in laptops, homes and mobile phones reach a saturation point, another new technological breakthrough is on the horizon – augmented reality (AR). The level of excitement across the industry about how AR will re-define and create compelling new user experiences mirrors the enthusiasm around the AOL 3.0 launch, broadband proliferation and the ubiquity of the iPhone.

Wikipedia describes AR as a combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphic objects are blended into real footage in real time. So, imagine holding your iPhone camera to a billboard or print ad for a Nissan Z. Immediately, an interactive Nissan Z car drives onto your phone’s screen. Now, you can zoom in on the image, travel 360 degrees around it, and receive more information about the car with a few simple taps. In addition, you can interact with the product or message by changing its colors, fabric, etc. by simply touching a customizable part of the print ad. This is AR in action.

Other examples of AR applications coming to market include interactive games where a user can pitch to his or her favorite MLB player after holding the player’s AR-enhanced baseball card to a camera. Or, a World of Warcraft gamer can interact with virtual fighters or control an epic battle by holding up one or two playing cards to a computer camera.

The Qorvis interactive team continues to learn more about AR – built on open-source technology – and its applications so that we may put AR experiences to work for our clients. The opportunities are truly endless. Envision how something like the AAMCO mobile application could evolve to provide visual demonstrations and responses to a car owner’s repair and maintenance issues, after capturing an image of a user’s car. Imagine the information that could be shared when a camera focuses in on a Jim Beam bottle – from cocktail recommendations, to the history of bourbon, to stories from connoisseurs of the beverage.

AR is not a theory – it is in practical application now. Like anything new, however, it will take more time and more money to produce the technology as developers figure out ways to build usable templates and products to support this new medium.

Qorvis’ interactive studio is starting to incorporate this technology into the blend of pitch ideas presented to the marketplace every day. Stay tuned for some Qorvis AR in the months ahead!

Thanks to my brother Stu for the video tip off.

Thanks Kelley for the video tip

I am pleased to announce our latest launch with the Washington Post, a social video project called OnBeing.

www.washingtonpost.com/onbeing Read the rest of this entry →