Afternoon all,

We are living in time of phenomenal accelerated change. Some of the really big shifts that excite me the most that are happening at the moment are:
1. Crowd funding – finally making it mainstream for smaller projects to get 100% customer commitment before investing in stock – Kickstarter leading the charge
2. The rise of the maker – programming is becoming simplified so everyone can get involved. We see programming courses available to all and even the traditional press using the headline “coding is the new latin”. Google have just announced a 3 year partnership with Teach First in the UK to provide training and equipment to teachers to get them more technically focused and using entry level systems like Rasberry Pi (the £15 computer) and Arduino circuitry in their classrooms.
3. The interconnectivity of devices. Devices talking to each other and interacting think your phone and everything...

The second screen: Here is an interesting take on the whole second screen idea – is the second screen actually the TV and the primary screen the phone, tablet or laptop in your hands? Yes the TV has the bigger “experience” but the more intimate experience is the in the smaller device and for the majority of the time you are using it has the primary focus of your attention. The TV merges into the background and becomes a distracted source of attention or maybe the trigger for your intimate experiences via email, FB or chat etc.

With that thought I would like to do a little plug for some very cool work that Samsung are doing with Zeebox and Suzanne Perry’s favourite tv show The Eurovision Song Contest to be aired tomorrow night on BBC.

We will be sponsoring the Zeebox activity and creating more interactive moment during the show for those watching at home:

Vote along with the acts to show your support

As well our own voting system to reflect some of the more questionable acts

Remembering that this is on the BBC with no way to get our TV ad shown, well we will be pushing this through Zeebox too via the Zeetags

Throughout the show we will be pushing other Zeetags with Interactive polls Tweet to win a SMART camera And much more

We have also been able to create for the time on the platform branded Shoutouts to your friends, sponsorship presence in the live chat area and automatically branded hashtags which should all help to further promote the activity and the cameras.

Next week we will have a more focused look at some of the other players in the space such as Y! IntoNow, Orange TV check and Shazam.

The rise of the Maker: Combining two of my loves Kickstarter and tinkering I give the ability to turn anything into a keypad

It is amazing how access to technology is starting to make what only a year or so ago was the preserve of the seriously geeky and technically advanced open to the have a go hero. Yes companies like Apple are pushing us into more closed systems with computers and devices where we are never expected to be able to open them up and play around the hood but a huge swathe of more accessible and cheap tech is focusing on dispelling the myths of tech and bringing in the next generation of developer. Remember, Instagram was created by someone who learnt to code at night school, the Google homepage’s simplicity was not the result of creative though but simply the limitations of Larry and Sergei’s coding ability.

New control methods: This is very cool looking, at first I thought it was a fake but turns out it is real and will be available to buy in the next few months. Leap Motion – claims to be 100X more sensitive than the Kinect – bold statement. But very impressive and don’t let the use cases dampen the possibility.

Offer - O2 wireless: Virgin have locked up underground for the Olympics but O2 are looking above ground and have come to us to see if we want to sponsor their free London offering. Users will have a once only sign up process with brand messaging on the page and the opportunity to push more information on request. For more info please speak to the mobile guys Roberto Agosti / Michael Vitello or Milton and they can share the full deck.

And finally... With one of the trends mentioned above as the rise of the Maker I found this fun piece about a real life Tony Stark (Iron Man) who turned a Citroen CV into a motorbike to save himself after his car broke down in the desert

Have a great w/e.

Oli.