The bar has moved during the past few months for delivering High Definition (HD) streaming video and audio on the net. Vividas is a technology platform that is pushing the HD streaming capability forward. Check out the Ghost Rider full-screen HD trailer on sonypictures.com. The technology speaks for itself.
Aug 30
MyShape users submit information such as body measurements, color and style preferences to the site, which is then analyzed by ShapeMatch software. Each user is then assigned a specific shape and given item recommendations pulled from its online boutique of hundreds of styles from more than 36 designers many of which are not sold in department stores.
Aug 30
Check out this new fit analysis site that hopes to help frustrated consumer. Zafu analyzes multiple pieces of fit information (no measuring involved) from the user to identify the best fitting brand and style of jeans from a bank of over 200 styles and 70 brands. No jeans are sold on the site, but users can click through to purchase from other online stores.
Aug 30
[via flavorpill]
As summer’s sweltering heat subsides, the remaining long days and more temperate climes are perfect for a two-wheeled tour of the Big Apple. Instead of navigating the paved paths jammed with weekend warriors and rollerbladers, check out the roads less traveled on Bikely.com. Type in your location and Bikely finds rides from the Manhattan Bridge to Nyack, scenic jaunts through Rhinebeck and Red Hook. Avid globetrotting riders can also explore adventures through distant locales such as Japan and South Africa. Routes are conveniently linked to GoogleMaps and include descriptive tags, levels of difficulty, and downloadable .GPX versions. As registered pedal-pushers log in and contribute their favorite treks to Bikely’s budding database, cyclists can find more bike-friendly beats at and away from home.
[from c|net]
After years of hype, wireless users in the United States are waiting for all the technology pieces to come together to make surfing the Internet from their handsets as easy as it is on their PCs at home.
So how close are we to simple and robust Web surfing from a cell phone?The answer depends on whom you ask. Some experts say the mobile Internet is already here. Millions of people throughout the world are accessing wireless application protocol, or WAP, Web sites–stripped-down sites specially designed for mobile handsets. But other experts argue that WAP sites are too limited. Some people say an entirely new domain name, called “dot-mobi,” should be used for Web sites that are optimized for mobile surfing. Still others propose using intelligent browsers to turn traditional Web sites into something that can be viewed on a small handset.
Aug 29
Ghost Town is the first interactive text novella from Virgin Mobile and YouthNoise. It’s the story of a teenage football player named Ghost who is hiding a dark secret that he’s homeless. This secret will shock his classmates as he tries to manage the ins and outs of high school, an uncertain future, and just trying to stay alive.
Aug 29
Coca-cola did a commercial about their drink with their own style of grand theft auto.
Aug 16
Flixter is a better way to pick movies. You can rate movies, add friends, and get recommendations, but where do you actually rent or buy them? There are a lot of nice features in this site, but they seem better served as part of a Netflix site rather than as a standalone offering.
Aug 16
Thanks to Jed McClure for the link.
Mobmojo is another API mashup and in this case it’s a service that aggregates DVD reviews from Amazon.com. The data is layed out into some nicely designed charts that show DVD ratings and volume of reviews for a DVD. Nicely done.
Thanks to my colleague, Mark Shewmaker for the linky link. woot! has simple rules (one product per day) + fanatical and vocal following = unique ecommerce experience.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp. on Monday will announce the availability of software tools aimed at encouraging independent and hobbyist video game makers to create titles for its new Xbox 360 console.
The move from Microsoft, which kicks off its two-day Gamefest video game development conference in Seattle on Monday, comes as the popularity of user-created content on the Internet grows and as the software giant builds a large audience for its Web-connected Xbox Live online service.
Microsoft said its tool kit, called XNA Game Studio Express, will make it easier for enthusiasts to create games to run on Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox 360 console or personal computers running its Windows operating system.
A test version of the tool kit will be out by August 30. The final product will be available this holiday season for an annual subscription of $99 (52 1/2 pounds) per year for Xbox 360 game development. The software will be free to people making games to run on Windows
Read more.
[via mediapost]
J.P. Morgan Chase is pairing up with Facebook to be the exclusive credit card sponsor on the college social networking site for a year.
Starting this week, Chase will run banner ads throughout Facebook that invite members to join a group page–on the site–of people who want to learn about, or sign up for, Chase’s new “+ 1″ credit card. The card promotion geared toward students carries the tag line: “A totally new way to hook up your friends, yourself and your community.”
Through the Chase + 1 program, users will be able to earn rewards points by simply getting a card, referring a friend, and other actions. Earned points toward DVDs and other college-oriented merchandise can also be shared with others or donated to charitable causes or campus groups.
“For us, this is an opportunity to establish a life-long brand and business relationship,” said Manning Field, senior vice president of branding and advertising for Chase Card Services. He said the partnership with Facebook allowed Chase to reach students considering their first credit card and tap into the social networking phenomenon.
Read more.
Aug 16
Welcome to the Beta of MyCheats.com, the brand new next-generation game help site from the 1UP Network. Since they’re still in Beta, they’re still in the process of finishing some site features, adding content, and getting out the kink. Send them feeback if you like.
Aug 3
Wow. Talk about over concepting a web experience. Check out Puma’s new Mongolian Shoe BBQ customization service. This is probably the most difficult interface to use of all the customization builders out there in the marketplace. The customization builders for Nike, Converse, Timberland, Rbk, and K-Swiss are light years ahead of this builder when it comes to usability. Not sure what the designers were thinking of when they put this builder together because it is just plain difficult to use and hard to understand. The user also needs to get through 20 painful steps just to get to a point where they can purchase the shoe.
It’s unfortunate though because the shoes are really, really nice and the final step of process has a sweet 360 degree rotating hero shot of your design.
What happens when video games meet Web 2.0? When virtual worlds meet geospatial maps of the planet? When simulations get real and life and business go virtual? When a virtual Earth becomes your desktop, and your avatar becomes your online agent? What happens is the metaverse. Taking its name from the immersive virtual world imagined by Neal Stephenson in his visionary novel, Snow Crash, the Metaverse Roadmap (MVR) is the first public ten-year forecast and visioning survey of 3D Web technologies, applications, markets, and potential social impacts. Areas of exploration include the convergence of Web applications with networked computer games and virtual worlds, the use of 3D creation and animation tools in virtual environments, digital mapping, artificial life, and the underlying trends in hardware, software, connectivity, business innovation and social adoption that will drive the transformation of the World Wide Web in the coming decade.
On Thursday, August 10th from 6-9 PM Eyebeam hosts a Metaverse Roadmap Pre-Release Party with a series of short presentations and open conversations about the emerging metaverse space and what the Metaverse Roadmap has uncovered so far.
Aug 3
Even mass-media is jumping on the user-generated content tip. CNN Exchange invites readers to connect with the news: Share their stories, their pictures, their videos wherever a story on their sites has an I-Report logo next to it. Readers can weigh in on the blogs and click their way through QuickVotes and more.
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