Now while part of me is afraid of what RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology can do, a majority of me is excited. This, RFID, is the future, not augmented reality. It has all the buzz words of today such as traceability, social, public/personals personas, e-commerce and mobility. As a digital communicator, this is what I am looking forward to. Depending how early developers and marketers harness these RFID tools, it won’t be an invasion of privacy, but rather something completely intuitive and captivating.

Like the Internet and social media has affected all aspects of daily life, I believe RFID will begin to do the same. As of now the possibilities that RFID can contribute to communications, marketing and PR are so unfathomable, it might as well be labeled as sci-fi. So I’ll keep on dreaming.

Here is a video what a single swipe of an encoded RFID card can do.

Nearness from timo on Vimeo.

Discuss.

image source: Ti.Mo’s flickr

This past week, Chicago’s Public Radio’’s This American Life’s program revolved around bullies, and 2 teenage boys in the UK’s plans to blow up their school were foiled; and in the previous months news programs reported ad nauseum about school bullying. I don’t say it doesn’t exist. But at the same time, it’s not news.

As main stream media continues to sensationalize common day occurrences/horrors, and social media makes it easier to get every Tom, Dick and Harry’s opinion out to the world, the little things that were usually swept under the rug, or dealt with behind closed doors are now out in the open and have become entertainment.

In high school, I kept a blog. When my feelings were hurt, I posted about it. When there were new photos, I posted them. I created events and poetry and they were all found on my Xanga page. The difference was that only my friends really had an interest to see what was going on in my life. And every once in awhile, I would post something that could cause either drama or a riff among friends, but it was a big splash in my small social life pond. But now, the social networks are more tightly bound. I tweet it, it goes to my followers and it is also posted onto my Facebook, where a whole new variety of people have access to it, including classmates, teachers and parents.  As a result, I constantly have to keep in mind what I want people to know about me.

Back in 2004, comments would come from the people I talked to every day, now “likes” and @replies pop up from people I haven’t even seen since 2004.  I run a casual PR program just for me, thinking about the audience and the message. And that got me thinking. Now is the time that an educational program (that goes beyond the retro-active “you shouldn’t have done that”) should be instated. When someone complains on their Facebook about getting a wedgy, they should be prepared how easy that wedgy-giver can see that and realize their impact and continue with their actions.

Image source: tigronx254’s Flickr

Thora Birch was an indie movie star. She had that attractive, attainable and snarky thing going on. She starred in the award winning, indie classic American Beauty as an insecure teenager that had few friends at school and a pretty wacky family dynamic. It was kinda hard hitting. There was death and took an interesting perspective in an otherwise mundane life. Well enter Hard Candy and Ellen Page. Page played a little girl, attractive, yet unattainable, due to her being underage, and was very snarky and smart. Once again, it was hard hitting, ya know, for dealing with pedophiles and all, and there was death. Act One Complete.

Now this is a bit out of order, but for the sake of a time consuming post, I’ll go there. They also both went mainstream. Thora was in Hocus Pocus. Ellen Page was in X-Men.

But then Thora Birch made another indie film by the name of Ghost World. It was good. As a future hipster, I loved it. I thought it was deep, funny, quirky and artsy. It talked about music (awesome points!), it flirted with pedophilia (hot topic!), and ultimately made you wonder (where did that bus lead to?). But after that, what then? Thora continued doing projects, but more or less fell into oblivion.

Juno is Ellen Page’s Ghost World. It had a trend inducing soundtrack (indie anti-folk,woah), it flirted with pedophilia (<3 Jason Bateman) and made you wish you had a quirky family, a quirky boyfriend, and a quirky pregnancy!

So what have we learned? Quirk and oddities are great for teens and early 20s, but after that… what do you have? A Drew Barrymore directed movie and lesbian admirers.

And I’ll leave you with this thought: Jason Bateman, the new Steve Buscemi?

Image sources: Hollywood Grind, Greg Wilker

First off, I love that the Muppets are using the Internet. I remember watching the variety show as a kid on Nickelodeon and their online adaptation is perfect.

I have a kinship with Statler and Waldorf. Maybe my whole online presence isn’t to be sarcastic and mean, but to watch and engage those who are (hence my involvement with digital PR).

The Muppets’ move to the Internet was a brilliant choice and well done. As you can see, the video above is shot the same way a regular YouTube video is shot (including Statler starting out too close to the camera). And there are other Muppet videos such as Beeker’s “Ode To Joy” which shows Beeker playing every instrument, similar to other countless YouTube video instrumentalists.

Bravo, Muppets.

I’m a Gen-Yer. And although I love it, I don’t always love the advertisements geared to me. Think about it. Advertising and messaging all pushes us to buy the non-estentials.

Since this is my first year living on my own in a real apartment, where I have to use cash instead of a student I.D. to buy food. My wants and needs are changing. Just a few months ago, it was clothes shopping all the way, now it’s grocery shopping. And I’m not the only one in this shift.

I now care about saving money some what. I care about what I buy. I care about what’s left in my bank account.

Now while I am among the 72% of those under 34 have printed or downloaded a coupon, money saving isn’t my primary reason on buying products. I have no problem spending the extra dollar or two to buy a brand I am familiar with. That’s right, in my world, brand loyalty comes first. In fact, the numbers are 37% of 18- to 29-year-olds buy based on brand.

While advertisers, marketers and PR are people are struggling to figure out how to see to my generation, I can tell you this… we buy household products too, and we aren’t all moms.

Stat sources: AdAge
Photo source:

Posted via web from saratara’s posterous

But low and behold, the iPhone is changing the ad space as we know it.

CBS Outdoor has partnered with Clusta, the digital creative agency, to develop a new advertising platform, launched yesterday, which connects a consumer’s iPhone to the display via WiFi or 3G.

By swiping in either direction on the iPhone’s touchscreen, users can make the object in the digital poster spin to the left or right, and users can also make the display change colour. (source)

That is cool! Granted, this technology and ad was premiered at the Media Playground conference in London and has not, as far as I know, been established for the general public; however the technology and possibilities are there.

Another thing about this new advertising opportunity is that it is left for the big dogs. When something new like this is available, only recognized companies and products get to play with it. (Whereas smaller companies like Zappos could dominate the early period of Twitter.) In this case, it was Converse, a Nike owned product, because pretty much everyone knows Converse and the classic Chuck Taylor style. It was also smart to sample this product with the iPhone interactivity because of the demographic that Nike and Converse already draws to. The youth/youthful that own an iPhone probably also own a pair or two of the classic shoe.

Either way, awesome idea. I wonder if Palm will be able to pull off daily life changing events.

As I type this, I am laying on my couch in a new apartment as I wait for the gas man to turn on our stove. So cooking, in general, is not an option. The unemployment also puts a damper on grocery shopping. This is where Super Cook comes in. For the site, you plug in what you have in your kitchen (for example: cereal, milk, bacon, and bread). Then it will spit out recipes you can make with those ingredients, and suggest other recipes requiring a missing item or two.

It’s a brilliant idea, except for one thing. The results are often unappetizing when you have such a short list of ingredients. I’m sure once I get a table to eat on, I’ll be more prone to cook more. Until then, it’s cereal and tuna salad all the way.

Image sources: SuperCook.com, ANVRecife’s Flickr.

The Food Network has a new plan to target the young 20 something’s. As a foodie by family association, I was intrigued about how they would go about targeting someone like me.

They are doing it by Food2.com. (Warning: full of food puns) And I have to ask: is this what they think is appetizing for us? I’m a fan of the Food Network programming. In fact, I’m a fan of programming about food on other channels too, such as Top Chef.

But Food2 looks like it’s a mix of Nickelodeon and some nonspecific blog. They think bright colors, flash and videos is what will keep us coming back or staying longer than the average 56 seconds. I don’t think so. That’s what keeps children around. If they really are targeting the 25 year olds, then they aren’t taking into consideration of what 25 year olds are looking for.

With growing demands on our attention and our time, entertainment on a sub site is usually not what we are looking for. We are searching for information. For Food2 and any other potential sites targeting the same audience with the same technique, it’s time to think about what will get us there.

For me, as a potential foodie (just wait until I get a kitchen in a few short weeks), here are a few reasons why I would visit Food2:

- Recipes

- Google search results

- Drinking games (yes, some of us never grow up)

- Cocktail party ideas for my generation

Things I won’t be visiting for:

- Videos

o I’ve got Hulu, I’ve got cable, I don’t need to follow any more television shows

- Read the blogs

o I’m going to assume that the recipes in the blogs will pop up in their recipe section.

o Once again, I’ll only visit if Google takes me there

Overall, I just feel like the impression of my generation is that we really just spend our time on the Internet, looking at junk, starting memes, and overall not being productive

I’ll have you know, that sure I like to be entertained, but I also like to be functional and relevant. Food can become relevant (Top Chef), but as of now, Food2 and Food Network is hardly cultural relevant, it’s punch line right now.

Image Source:Food2.com

Those characters stayed in character. Big Mike is known for loving food. Morgan is known  for being a goofball and cheesy in a lot of his delivery. When Heroes made a product placement drop last season for Verizon, it didn’t blend.

So televised product placement…

In my opinion, if product placement goes unnoticed, then it is unsuccessful. Product placement almost every time receives an eye-roll. But Subway’s placement was successful, it was uninterruptive, yet noticeable and the eye-roll was a slightly smaller eye-roll.

Advertisers take note. Bad product placement gives the company a bad note. Since we are trained to spot an advertising effort from a mile away, product placement will never go unnoticed. The best you can do is make it the least interruptive and somewhat transparent.

All in all, product placement isn’t dead yet.

The blue glow was either from their iPods or their built-in or independent GPSes or the video screens on the back of seats or hanging from the roofs. It got me thinking, technology is not only everywhere, but welcomed into spaces, such as cars, where at first thoughts, would be a unnecessary addition.

Basically, SCREENS ARE EVERYWHERE. If they aren’t everywhere yet, they will be.

Now while television/movie screens in vans aren’t new (I believe they became almost common place in the early 2000’s), GPS screens are. As a user of a tab-browser and an automatic multi-tasker like so many of the X, Y and Z gens are becoming, maybe adding screens in cars was only a matter of time and is really less dangerous now than if implemented without the expectations of multi-tasking in other settings.

My face was lit with the blue glow back in the ’90s. When it was bed time and lights were out, I turned on my GameBoy to play a few more levels of Tetris or Pokemon Red. But all these devices I’ve listed so far are portable.

But the blue glow is making its way in other places that are unexpected such as the Kindle, potentially replacing the future of book shelves (and as of now, I don’t see it happening in the next decade). Or how about Verizon Hub? You may have seen the commercials where a parent communicates with their child or a husband gives his wife an alternate traffic route all from their kitchens? Verizon is calling it “The Home Phone Reinvented.”

The Blue Glow in your home is taking on a new place. Instead of broadcasting from your TV, or radiating from your cell phone, or pulsating from the home or mobile computer, it’s planted right there on your kitchen counter top. While I might not be their target audience, (due to not having a place to live after graduation yet) I want one. I think it’s cool. And I have to say Verizon made me think it’s cool. The Hub was actually shown on Gossip Girl, one of my favorite teen drama shows just 2 weeks ago.

So overall a few things I’ve realized about this glow:

Don’t count out the telecommunication field. They are doing some pretty exciting stuff. Things that I would love to work on.

Are the implementation of screens for entertainment, communication, and/or another purpose? Or does it not matter anymore? Like most successful tools of the web, will screen technologies, whether it’s touch or otherwise, be left up to the consumer?

Is portability possibly taking a back seat? The Hub, from what I gathered, is put as a pretty much stationary dock. Now while it looked like most communications were moving to be portable and small, maybe there is a small and slow reversal?

Where will the next source of the blue glow come from and why? Looking at the Hub, I can’t say where the next screen will pop up. If there is a purpose, a screen will be there eventually.

Image Sources:mdumlao98’s Flickr, Colourful Life 別”再”叫我阿姐 , 叫我Teresa’s Flickr, Engadgent/a>