Board of Awesomeness
Introducing Chaotic Moon Labs’ Board of Awesomeness — a longboard powered by movement. Using a motorized longboard custom rigged with a Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect device, Samsung Windows 8 enabled tablet with full voice control, a phidget interface module and all terrain tires.
More here.
Vinylocipede
Barley.
Here.
tweetalondoncab
Simply follow @tweetalondoncab and when you want a cab just DM them stating pick-up time, location, destination and your phone number. A TLC representative will reply via DM and the booking will be confirmed. The driver will then call you when he/she arrives.
Bingo.
It’s a great service and there are no hidden (extra) meter charges.
Here.
Site here.
Google Latitude Desktop
Google have revamped Google Latitude for the browser and added some very nice new features. Latitude now enables you view your friends current location on a large Google Map (no longer relying on iGoogle) and also enables you to view stats based on your location history. You can also visualise your location history. The map displays your current location and the last check-ins of your Latitude friends. The history stats includes a breakdown of the number of hours you have spent at home, work and out and about and it shows you a map of all the countries you have visited and it lets you view an animation of your check-ins to Latitude for any defined time period.
The animation of your check-ins (accessed by the ‘view and manage’ tab’) is pretty sweet. It enables you replay your location for any day, you can also download the data in KML so Latitude users can create their own Google Map animations or heat maps of their recorded locations.
Here.
Blog here.
Mobile here.
By the way, as you can see above, I don’t actually have any friends.
Google Goes Bananas
Apparently Google have been busy making a vehicle that can drive itself using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything around the car and mimic decisions made by a human driver (the good decisions obviously). Seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. The only accident being when one Google car was rear-ended by a human driver. According to the engineers, not only will this technology make driving safer, it could double the capacity of roads by enabling cars to drive closer together. Also, as the robot cars would eventually be less likely to crash, they could be built lighter, reducing fuel consumption and costs.
As you’d expect, the Google robot based drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or pissty and are incredibly smug.
Chromaroma
Chromaroma is an online multiplayer game played out as you travel the city with your Oyster Card. By using Oyster data the game is able to log your Tube travel, and every journey means you amass points, taking a few steps further along the way to owning London. It connects communities of people who cross paths and routes on a regular basis, and encourages people to make new journeys and use public transport in a different way by exploring new areas and potentially using different modes of public transport.
Here.
London Cycle Hire Visualisation In Google Earth
Live availability information based on the Boris Bikes API.
ViaDigitalUrban.
Live* Tube Mapping
This map shows all trains (yellow pins) on the London Underground network in approximately real time. Click the stations for a local map of that station. I have a (per-station) National Rail version, and abookmarkable train times planner.
*Approximately
Parkopedia
Not to be mistaken for someone that likes having sex in car parks, Pakopedia is a wiki for car parking based on Google Maps. You just tell it the area in which you wanna park and it comes back with info. As they say themselves: 1+ million satisfied drivers | 19 countries | 25,010 towns | 5,895,179 spaces.
Pretty useful – especially if you like having sex in car parks.
EasyJet Vs Facebook
The cynic in me is constantly searching for examples of good brand interaction on Facebook. As we all know agencies and brands are literally crawling all over each other to create some kind of ‘strategy’ or ‘activity’ that will leverage the millions of people knocking round on the networks. Yet seldom do I see an example that I think succeeds. Clients and agencies too often consider social media as simply another channel (mostly for some more content), which is questionable at best (if indeed a strategy at all).
EasyJet, on the other hand, seems to have (on this occasion) a good grasp of the one of the core fundamentals of brand interaction on a platform like Facebook: Adding value. It’s not rocket science – the people on social media are being social, augment that behavior and you’ll likely find some success.
Holiday Planner does exactly that, it’s an application that enables fans (of course you need to become a fan to use it) to plan holidays with their friends. It’s pretty simple, allowing groups to co-ordinate dates and availability and invite others via Facebook and email. What’s really interesting is that the tech includes eCommerce, meaning you’ll be able to book the flights directly from the Facebook app, so you won’t even have to visit the Easyjet website.
As destination sites continue to lose their long standing importance, functionality will begin to migrate onto other (in this case social media) platforms and that will, of course, include eCommerce transactions.
Very smart.
Social media strategy ramble here.
ViaBuzzBox
ObliqO | Personal Urban Vehicle
ObliqO is an innovative recreational device that combines the swinging motion of a snakeboard with a pair of hubless wheels.
Goby | Adventure Search Engine
Goby is a simple search engine focused on enabling you to explore new stuff to do with your time. Just select the type of stuff you are into, enter a city, and a time – and Goby provides you with options/links from multiple event databases. Goby can also find you a suitable place to stay.
MySkyStatus
‘While you’re in the air, MySkyStatus sends altitude, location, departure and arrival updates automatically to your Facebook and Twitter pages.’ Sweet use of Twitter & Facebook from Lufthansa.
Paris 3D Map | iPhone
Paris 3D is the first full texture mapped 3D city on the iPhone.
Here for more info (upcoming cities).
Mannahatta Project
“The goal of the Mannahatta Project has never been to return Manhattan to its primeval state. The goal of the project is discover something new about a place we all know so well, whether we live in New York or see it on television, and, through that discovery, to alter our way of life. New York does not lack for dystopian visions of the future…. But what is the vision of the future that works? Might it lie in Mannahatta, the green heart of New York, and with a new start to history, a few hours before Hudson arrived that sunny afternoon four hundred years ago?”
From Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City
Here.