Advertising

Automotive advertising shifts gear

By Gizmag Team

November 21, 2004 The success of a new advertising campaign from Citroën marks not only a coup for the company in the promotion of its latest model - the C4 - but a more general trend in automobile advertising that aims to grab the attention of an ad-weary public using an off-beat, creative edge. This trend (most notably demonstrated by the Honda Accord Euro 'Cog' television commercial of 2003) sees the C4 promoted by sophisticated animation in the form of a dancing robot. By generating a ‘wow’ factor rather than presenting the consumer with ‘just another car on the road’, Citroën has also benefited from widespread distribution of the ad via viral email networks . Read More

Broadband Phantom Game Service to launch in 2005

By Gizmag Team

November 17, 2004 Thanks to a strategic alliance with Limelight Networks, the Phantom Game Service from Infinium Labs is poised to deliver end-to-end subscription game services delivered over broadband, offering gamers a broad library of titles on-demand to a global market. Read More

Halo 2 Headset delivers superior gameplay

By Gizmag Team

November 15, 2004 The convergence of real-world technologies with online

gaming continues with the release of the GameCom Halo 2 lightweight communications headset from Plantronics, the brand Neil Armstrong used to give his historic "One small step for man" transmission from the moon in 1969.

GameCom Halo 2 was engineered specifically for the Xbox gaming system and the highly anticipated sequel to Halo, the best-selling game from Bungie Studios. Read More

New boardgame dispels wine tasting myths

By Gizmag Team

November 14, 2004 Move over, Monopoly - Winerd, The Wine Tasting Game That Crushes Grape Fears is a new approach to improving wine knowledge for connoisseurs and amateurs alike. Created by Tamara Leigh Murphy, a private wine instructor and former chef, and Richard Murphy of Winerd Entertainment, the board game brings the fun of wine tasting to the masses and dispels the notion that wine has to be intimidating. Read More

New Marketing Medium Turns Cans Into Ads

By Gizmag Team

November 2, 2004 Ambient media continues to invade every available niche left in our lives. This week it’s the top of your drink can, as a new can-top 5 layer plastic label made its debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, with cans of Coca-Cola sporting the new ADVERCAN labels. America alone consumes 260 billion cans per year, so ADVERCAN has developed what it claims is the world's first Can Top Media Campaign.

Five years in development, the six-layer plastic ADVERCAN label serves as both an advertising medium and a "Cleancap" designed to keep the can top clean from the bottling plant to the store shelf. Read More

Media Fragmentation – changing ways of using media

By Gizmag Team

November 2, 2004 New media forms, predominantly the internet and Pay TV, are changing our media consumption habits. In a recent presentation by Roy Morgan Research Chief Executive Michele Levine, the company's ongoing changes to its research methodologies were outlined, indicating just how many media are competing for our precious time. The accompanying chart clearly illustrates the rise in the Internet as a new force in media consumption. We also have links to the entire presentation. Read More

Get the Tamagotchi connection

By Mike Hanlon

Parents beware! The next generation of virtual Tamagotchi pets has arrived and the Tamagotchi Connection now has infrared capabilities allowing it to interact with other digital pets - and even breed! Read More

Serious Car Racing Simulator

By Mike Hanlon

As computer games and graphics head quickly towards highly-detailed realism, we can expect some pretty interesting computer peripherals to be built in coming decades. The genre of computer game which almost everyone can relate to is driving/racing a car plus there's a whole generation of fans out there who absorb every detail of the sport it is emulating - accordingly, car racing is the realism genre which has had the most attention from game developers, and is now so realistic that many genuine elite-level racers learn new circuits prior to setting wheel on them by playing the official games for that particular franchise of racing, such a Formula One, V8 Supercars or MotoGP. Every competitor, car, corner, braking area, trackside marquis ad infinitum is true in detail. Read More

Playstation 2 trimmed down

By Mike Hanlon

Sony has announced the release next month of the trimmed down Playstation 2. While inheriting the basic functions and design philosophy of the current PlayStation 2 (SCPH-50000), the internal architecture has been completely redesigned, resulting in a slimmer and more lightweight design. Internal volume has been reduced by 75%, weight has been halved, and thickness trimmed down to 2.8 cm (thickness of current model is 7.8 cm). Equipped with an integrated Ethernet port for network gaming, the new PlayStation 2 sets new standards in the fusion of design and functionality. Read More

The Digital Video Recorder a threat to television advertising

By Mike Hanlon

The era of the digital video recorder is looming large as new research studies emerging from the US indicate that 15% of all Internet households have connected their computers to a TV or stereo, that DVR users spend 60% of their TV time watching recorded programs and that when watching recorded programs, they skip 92% of commercials. Further, 75% of households with these PC/CE connections play music on their PC through a stereo and over 40% have viewed digital photos on their TV. "Music and imaging applications are much more important than video to these consumers," said John Barrett, director of research for Parks Associates. "People don't need a computer to watch video on their TV. However, they do need a computer if they want to view digital photos on their TV." Read More

3-D adds new dimension to jigsaw puzzles

By Mike Hanlon

For more than 200 years jigsaw puzzles have remained pretty much the same. While they have grown larger in size and more intricate and complex, they have always been designed with two dimensions in mind, until now.

Puzzleball, by Australian company Blue Opal, is the world’s first 3-D plastic spherical jigsaw puzzle, adding a new dimension to the two dimensional world of jigsaw puzzles. In its completed form it measures 23 cm in diameter and is comprised of 540 interlocking plastic pieces, which hold its spherical shape without any internal support or glue. Read More

SingStar - Battle of the lounge room rockstars!

By Mike Hanlon

Lounge room karaoke has gone to the next level thanks to Playstation 2 and the Sony SingStar Party game, which turns everyone into an Idol superstar. Building upon the original SingStar module that enables players to analyse their pitch, tone and rhythm whilst singing, SingStar Party now adds competitive multiplayer modes for between two to eight players to test their vocal abilities against each other in an open battle of the mic. Read More

Playstation EyeToy 2 offers surveillance camera

By Mike Hanlon

The next version of Sony's Eyetoy Play due later this year can be used as a security camera as well as for dancing, karaoke and gameplaying further strengthening the Playstation's as a hub for home services and entertainment. Budding detectives can set up their SpyToy to secretly capture photos or record video of intruders, or they can record their own stealth message that will pop up on the television screen should anyone cross the threshold. Read More

Happy Birthday to the View-Master

By Mike Hanlon

The View-Master is a toy which people of all ages remember vividly from their childhood. It's one of those rare high-tech inventions that has maintained massive appeal across multiple generations and this month it is celebrating its 65th anniversary. Despite numerous new media devices entering its domain since it first hit the market in 1939, its appeal remains strong and the View-Master has now sold more than a billion units. Read More

France Telecom develops flexible display clothing

By Mike Hanlon

In a bid to develop a new prototype for clothing which communicates with the surroundings, France Telecom has developed an integrated flexible screen to display animated graphics on the wearer. Researchers at France Telecom have recently developed operational prototypes of flexible colour screens integrated into clothing, opening up new horizons for services that let users display images on the clothes they wear. Read More

Sony EyeToy adds Video Conferencing to the Playstation 2

By Tim Hanlon

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has unveiled the latest title in the ‘EyeToy’ family. ‘EyeToy: Chat’ is yet another pointer to the versatility of the PlayStation2 (PS2) as a home entertainment system by adding videophone functionality.

On show at the E3 Expo and expected in stores in s... Read More

The Insane Company you Work for

By Tim Hanlon

The corporation is many things to many people. To some it is the devil incarnate, to others it is the instrument by which they earn a living and in the American legal sense, it is a person. Under American law, companies are accorded the same privileges as humans – all of the same protections and rights. A landmark film entitled “The Corporation” puts forward the notion that if the corporation is a person, then that person is insane. Read More

Innovative Advertising Ideas Generation Tool

By Mike Hanlon

Perth-based advertising agency Breakthrough has released an original and innovative ideas generation tool specifically focussed on advertising. The card-based system is designed to assist in concept generation and media selection and is one of the cleverest concepts we've seen to help with brainstorming communications strategies. Adpack is a card-based tool made up of trigger or strategy cards which contain proven techniques that are current and relevant in today's business divided into three sections - Media, Offer and Power Words. Each of these cards can be combined to create powerful marketing ideas. Read More

Internet Ad revenues continue recovery

By Mike Hanlon

The Internet continued its resurgence following the 'tech-wreck' when the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced yesterday that US Internet advertising totaled an estimated US$1.745 billion in the third quarter of 2003. Read More

Philips release interactive Gaming Headphones

By Mike Hanlon

Monday October 13, 2003: Philips HG100 Gaming Headphone uses a new Active Motion System incorporating a neck-and-ear shell vibrator and sound enhancers, that when coupled with powerful sound effects and deep bass reproduction add an extra element to the gaming experience. Read More

Full-colour "digital ink" promises ad revolution

By Mike Hanlon

Saturday September 20, 2003: magink is a full-color digital ink technology now being applied in the billboard industry that has the potential to revolutionise the way we view information in every aspect of our lives. Read More

Street communications system promises a connected future

By Mike Hanlon

September 5, 2003 Imagine living in a totally connected city where EVERY person has a high-speed broadband connection and an urban surveillance system provides police and emergency services with wide and immediate coverage. That's the reality of Mervyn Dobbins' NEXiPoster, the winner of the "Best Idea Product Development Stage" category at this week's Yellowpages Business Ideas Grants 2003, and it has far reaching ramifications. NEXiPoster, is part of a system called cityNEX, a new age communication system which automatically provides the city and everyone in it with broadband access and provides public information such as bus timetables and commercial advertising via the large format electronic "NEXiposter" billboards in real-time. Read More

Mobility, Multiplayer and Console-Quality Gaming

By Mike Hanlon

Nokia will release the first of its new mobile game deck line-up in February 2003 - the Nokia N-Gage promises console quality wireless gaming... Read More

Ducati Handlebars for PC and Playstation

By Mike Hanlon

Enthusiast motorcycle manufacturer (and home of Australia's very own World Superbike Champion, Troy Bayliss) Ducati Corse has perpetrated the perfect brand extension in releasing this set of genuine Ducati handlebars for PC and Playstation motorcycle racing games. Complete with force feedback, the handlebars can be procured from Ducati's eStore at www.ducati.com. Read More

Essential Reality P5 Data Glove

By Mike Hanlon

The Essential Reality P5 glove fits over the hand and senses all its movements in three dimensions, becoming the interface to your PC or game console. Read More