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News, insight and tips from the social web.
The Hoop blog covers the evolving digital landscape, social media, mobile communications, content marketing and also includes 5 top finds and Fish on Friday. Feel free to make comments.
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5 top finds #33 »
A balancing dog, an entrepreneurial young Londoner, snowboarding in the dark, iPad 3 rumours hot up and an Easter egg hunt hits central London. It's 5 top finds...
1. Maddie the dog (who likes balancing on things)
Tumblr's quite an interesting social network, with some lovely and sometimes rather strange content. Case in point; today's discovery of Maddie the Coonhound. Maddie's an American hunting dog, who seems to like balancing on things (or rather, her owner likes her balancing on things). Bizarre (but quite cute)!
2. The teenage entrepreneur and his six figure round of funding
It's not often you hear of a 15 year old budding entrepreneur, even less so of one who develops a technology that receives a significant amount of funding before said entrepreneur's 16th birthday. Mike Butcher over at TechCrunch EU has the info on Nick D'Aloisio and his Summly startup [iTunes].
3. Snowboarding (in the dark )
Remember when skiing with lighted torches seemed pretty cool? Fashion photographer and film maker Jacob Sutton and profession snowboarder William Hughes have wiped that from the collective memory with the 'L.E.D. Surfer' – which sees "Hughes light up the snow-covered French hills in a bespoke L.E.D.-enveloped suit". Worth a watch, not worth trying with a boiler suit and some taped on torches.
4. iPad 3 rumours
The rumour mill for the impending launch of Apple's iPad 3 is gearing up – as the release is expected in just over two weeks. What can we expect from the new device? A new and improved camera, retina (HD) display as per the iPhone 4/ 4s and faster processor(s) all seem likely. We'll have to wait until March 7th (the rumoured launch date) to find out for certain though...
5. Massive eggs. In London. Today.
London is welcoming 200 fibreglass eggs to the city this morning, having launched at 7.30am in Trafalgar Square. Participants of The Big Egg Hunt will be given a map and app to track down the eggs, each of which will contain a code that could help entrants win a £100,000 Fabergé egg. At the end of the month-long exhibition, the eggs will be auctioned to raise money for the charities Action for Children and Elephant Family. Awesome!
Categories: 5 top finds
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5 top finds #31 »
Apple attempt to reinvent textbooks (and learning), typographical tube maps, SOPA's good for EU technology businesses, an amusing idea to prevent embarrassing photos and becoming Spiderman. It's 5 top finds...
1. Apple release software to revolutionise publishing – or do they?
Yesterday, Apple debuted two new software products; iBook Author and iBooks 2 – aimed squarely at the education sector and to getting the iPad into schools/ curriculums all over the world.
Whilst the publishing programme iBooks Author does look like a great tool for publishers, there have been some interesting discoveries about the compatibility of its content and the software's licensing terms. We'll be watching how Apple's attempt to reinvent textbooks and classroom learning with interest...
2. A tube map with a difference
The London Underground map is a great thing and a source of inspiration to artists and designers the world over. We think you'll agree TRNSPRTNATION's typographic design is simply stunning.
3. An interesting take on SOPA/ PIPA
The British sense of humour eh? TechCrunch EU editor Mike Butcher published a piece on Wednesday discussing the benefits of censoring the web with SOPA/ PIPA – and gets a few readers riled up in the comments. Well worth a read (but remember, it's a joke).
4. A downside to the social web – blocked by beer
Ever found less than flattering photos of yourself online after a night out? If it's an affliction you suffer from frequently, you may want to invest in South American beer brand Cerveza Norte's 'Photoblocker'. Genius!
5. It's all an illusion. Or is it?
We recently spotted Leandro Erlich's latest installation in Paris – an easy way for anyone to start climbing the walls!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Apple, Sculpture, Social media, SOPA
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5 top finds #21 »
It's been a while since our last 5 top finds, but we're back with a bang this week; remembering Steve Jobs, going mad for innovative stickmen, Paypal talking NFC, some truly astounding time lapse images and experiencing zero gravity (on Vimeo).
1. We'll miss you Steve
After his battle with an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday – the day after Apple unveiled the latest iteration of the iPhone.
We were all a little deflated when Tim Cook announced the 4S and not the iPhone 5 like some of us were expecting, but when Steve died the following morning we understood. Tech evangelist Robert Scoble's post on Google+ says it all – it's well worth a read. And if you're wondering what the image above is, head over to Mint Foundry to find out more.
2. Draw a stickman. No, really
After spotting this the other morning, we spent our entire lunch hour drawing stickmen. We're pretty sure you will too. Head over to drawastickman.com for an idea of what all the fuss is about.
3. NFC is "years away" according to Paypal
We recently wrote about NFC here on the Hoop blog. Paypal recently featured the technology in their latest advertising campaign, but, in a recent interview with TechCrunch, their Director of Communications said "...we don't see NFC as something that will happen very quickly". It's an surprising admission and, from our point of view, a rather disappointing one.
4. Bing.com celebrates time lapse photography
We recently stumbled upon this truly sensational video, after if was featured as a video background on Microsoft's search engine Bing. MSNBC's Photoblog has an interesting write up about some of the photos that feature in 'The Mountain' video.
5. Base jumping in slow motion
We featured a rather hair-raising video in our last 5 top finds, but today, instead of blowing your socks off with insane daredevilry, we'll do it in slow motion. Because everything looks lovely in slomo – even a 6,000ft base jump. Head over to Vimeo to 'Experience Zero Gravity'.
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Apple, HTML5, Near field communication, NFC, Photography, Sculpture, Wing suits
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5 top finds #17 »
We thought we'd make your Friday a bit more enjoyable, so here's this week's 5 top finds. A new animation from Wallace & Gromit's makers, a discussion on beautiful web design, being asked for money by the American Government, growing your own bike and an innovative marketing ploy to get a job at Google.
1. The world's largest stop motion animation, shot entirely on a mobile phone
Do you remember Dot? We wrote about her a few months back, and today her makers are again getting some love on the Hoop blog. Aardman and Nokia again join forces to produce the world's largest stop motion animation, "Gulp", shot over five days on the Welsh coast using the Nokia N8. You can see the video here but it's the "Making of" that really blows us away. Superb stuff.
2. An insightful editorial on web design
We were impressed by this TechCrunch article, entitled "The Beautiful Internet". Whilst we agree with most of what Devin Coldewey (rather brilliantly says), we were a little concerned about his point about getting "the great unwashed" from their older browser versions. Which was wonderfully summarised in this piece from Isolani.
Web development isn't about getting everyone on the newest browser iteration, it's about catering to your target audiences' needs.
3. Apple has more money than the US Government
We followed the US Government's wheeling and dealing to raise the debt ceiling with baited breath last week. When it was announced that Apple had more cash in the bank than the 50 states of America, our jaws hit the floor.
But we knew things were really bad when the US Government gave us a ring and asked for our money.
4. Bamboo bikes
We've featured wooden bikes on the Hoop blog before, but none as innovative as this one. The above trike wasn't built into the above shape, the bamboo was grown (yes grown!) by its builder Alexander Vittouris as an entry for a competition run by Good Design Australia. Amazing!
5. Google, hire m.e
We've all been there, finding the perfect job but not quite knowing how to apply. If you're Matthew Epstein, you spend $1,200 on a moustache, a website and a video and you end up getting phonecalls from Microsoft, Google and Amazon three days after launching your "employ me please, Google" marketing strategy. Kudos to the guy, we're impressed!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Apple, Bikes, Design, Digital strategy, Google, Mobile, Sculpture, Twitter
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5 top finds #13 »
This week sees us journey to Cupertino, CA for a short discussion about Apple, the new tech startup support venture from Mashable and PepsiCo, some pretty amazing paper sculptures, a look behind the doors of startup funding company Y Combinator and how to respond to getting a ticket from the NYPD. Yes, it's 5 top finds...
1. WWDC 2011 and a rather nice new Apple campus
At the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference this week, Apple previewed (amongst other things) the two new updates for their operating systems; iOS 5 for the iDevices and Lion OSX for the desktop Macs. If you missed the keynote you can watch it on the Apple website - or read Engadget's iOS 5 summary and Apple's Lion OSX coverage. Whilst we can't wait to get our hands on Lion/ iOS 5, we were interested to see what effects these updates would have on third party/ pre-existing software. Mashable's got an interesting breakdown of who or what Apple are challenging.
Two days later, Apple CEO Steve Jobs pitched a new Apple campus to the Cupertino City Council. The fuzzy picture above is a screengrab of what they want it to look like - a huge doughnut shaped, 4-floored glass building with its own power source, parking, gym, R&D facilities and not to mention enough space to house 13,000 employees. You can see the presentation in full by watching it on YouTube.
2. Y Combinator
Ever wondered what goes on behind the closed doors of startup funding company Y Combinator? They've funded quite a few noticeable startups since 2005; Reddit, Scribd, Xobni, Songkick, Disqus, Dropbox, ZumoDrive, Heroku, Posterous, Airbnb, Heyzap, Cloudkick, DailyBooth, and Bump to name just a few.
Wired.co.uk have an exclusive look at what goes throughout the three month "bootcamp" process which makes for a fascinating read.
3. Paper sculptures
We spotted these amazing paper sculptures from Canadian artist Calvin Nicholls over on Dude Craft the other day. Truly awesome! Visit Dude Craft to see a selection of the sculptures.
4. PepsiCo10
Our friends over at PepsiCo have teamed up with Mashable for this year's PepsiCo10. They're looking for promising European startups within the areas of social media, mobile marketing, location-based technology, digital video, gaming and learning technologies. You can find out more by watching the PepsiCo10 video on YouTube.
5. Riding the bike lanes in NYC
And finally, because it's Friday, here's an example of what lengths you could go to to prove a point. This video from Casey Neistat is more than a little silly but has many laugh out loud moments. You can watch the video on YouTube.
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: Apple, Bikes, PepsiCo10, Sculpture, Y Combinator
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5 top finds #11 »
It's that time of the week again. We've got little cement figures, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and the CIA, an amazing swimming pool in Dagenham, a rather awesome Lego model and Egypt as you've never seen it before.
1. 1900s Egypt through lantern slides
We spotted this amazing collection of lantern slides from Egypt in the turn of the 20th century on Brain Pickings the other day. A selection of wonderful images from the early 1900s from the Brooklyn Museum archives.
2. The CIA's "Facebook programme"
Wikileaks' Julian Assange recently featured in an interview with Russia Today - where he made some interesting assertions about Facebook and the US Intelligence Agencies along the lines of:
Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies in building this database [of people] for them.
Whilst these claims are a little worrying (but so far unfounded), US satirists The Onion recently posted a hilarious video 'reporting their findings'. You can watch the video here.
3. Isaac Cordal
Spanish street artist Isaac Cordal has been changing the pavements and roads of London since 2006 with his tiny cement figures. He's just released a new book called Cement Eclipses documenting his work - which is absolutely fantastic. You can see some of his recent work here - well worth a look!
4. The Pool
What do you do with a soon to be demolished 39 year old swimming pool in East London? If you're Nike 6.0, you drain it and turn it in to a skatepark and hold a competition. The Nike Pool is currently open to the public and looks to be an amazing community project before the pool is demolished. Watch the video of the competition finals here and read about the Nike Pool here.
5. 388 figures and more pieces than we can count. It's Lego Star Wars
Lego is amazing. That's a well known fact - but there's times when people really drive the point home. Jay Hoff is one of those people. He likes Lego so much he cobbled together over 30,000 pieces and almost 400 figures to replicate a scene from the Return of the Jedi film. He's also made a Star Destroyer which you can see here. You can see Jay's model of the 'Emperor's Arrival' in all it's glory here - truly amazing!
Categories: 5 top finds
Tags: facebook, Lego Star Wars, Nike Pool, Sculpture
