Afternoon all,

No doubt you have all seen in amazement the $1bn buy out of Instagram by Facebook. This has sparked vast amounts of chat around; is this the beginning of the end of the next tech bubble?, how Instagram was FB’s biggest threats all the way through to proof that the imminent future of the web is already mobile only. A huge amount has been written about it all week so this isn’t the place, but the big tip is that it was the location data that Instagram has that most appealed.

Mega start-ups, who’s next?: Business Insider has put together their top 10 list and it makes for great reading (note, this was written prior to the Instagram acquisition so they are already getting some of it right) and shows a few companies you have probably never even heard of. http://read.bi/thenextbillion

Another of the companies on the list is, not surprisingly, Pinterest. A huge amount of thinking of late as to how to properly incorporate it in to our campaigns. For me the resounding answer and advice is still just try something, doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work. We have been exploring for weeks what the possible tracking solutions can be and at the moment a lot of it seems to revert back to “check your weblogs and see if traffic increased”, not the ideal. No doubt in a short amount of time we will start to see more advanced integration with our traditional 3rd party solutions, in the meantime a new solution has popped up called Pinerly, still invite only but you can sign up for the waiting list here

Google Art Project: Working too hard? Loads of plans for down time but finding you never get to visit the exhibition you wanted? Then Google Art Project might be your answer. In their continued attempts to “organise the world’s information” Google have released the Art Project. Much like streetview does for roads the Art Project allows you to go inside museums and galleries and explore the paintings from the comfort of your own home. No more worrying about fast approaching closing hour or the mass hordes crowding around the one painting you want. Admittedly it doesn’t have all the atmosphere of the trip but then it does allow you to see it

If you can’t be bothered with that then here is a really wonderful intro video to give you a flavour

YouTube 3D: If you still have some retro 3D glasses kicking about then hooray, you are about to get a load more content, YouTube have added a 3D format to their HD videos, just click the link, next to the cog, and it will play – apparently people are clicking on it.

Twitter history: Curious about your own or someone else’s twitter history and want to see all the tweets on a single list?Previously it has been difficult to get beyond a few months, now you can see up to a maximum of 3,200 (the API limit) regardless of time frame - http://bit.ly/AllMyTweets

Twitter Smart Cartoon: Ever wanted your twitter feed to be more creative? Check out this feed from Smart Car in Argentina when it loads press “J” to get the full effect (or just watch the video here)

Opportunities Spotify: If you missed it on Weds not to worry, Spotify announced their universal Play button. What does such a thing do you ask. Simply put it enables brands to embed a Spotify play button on their site. Think Cineworld for example having the soundtracks to the movie you are about to buy a ticket for.

It really is very cool. Here's just one example on MSN For the full Spotify write up check out their blog

Kiosked.com: And finally, I had an interesting meeting with a company offering a new opportunity – Kiosked whereby we can overlay interactive hotspots to video, pictures and games. Click on the link above and check out the Rihanna example. Very cool and a great way to bring the sales basket direct to the content. We should be able to add this to YouTube videos and within Facebook. Give me a shout for details.

Final final: This was so cool I had to put it in and big thank you to Elliot for the link, launching a new TV channel in Belgium it is worth the click, trust me.

Have a great w/e.

Oli.