Visuals are an important part of advertising, so it’s not surprising that so many companies have jumped on the augmented reality bandwagon, offering tools that visualize their products in a magical and memorable way.
Here we take a look at some pretty amazing promotional uses of this new tech that work with common webcams, giving everyone a chance to experience augmented reality — a trend that will be big in 2010.
1. BMW Z4
This BMW interpretation ties in with a TV ad that sees artist Robin Rhode using the Z4 as a giant paintbrush (think big-scale finger-painting with the car’s tyres). Downloading the software, printing out the 3D symbol and holding it up to your webcam will allow you to see your own miniature Z4 on your screen, which you can then drive around using keyboard commands, creating your own Rhode-esque car painting.
2. TOPPS 3D LIVE Trading Cards
Taking the trading card into the 21st century, the Topps “3D LIVE” range offers baseball (and now also football) stars that leap from the special cards onto your desk, as viewed via webcam. As well as creating miniature holographic representations of the players — a neat enough trick that would impress most kids — the concept is taken a step further with the angle that you can control the player’s signature moves via your keyboard.
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
As well as augmented reality, this example uses clever face-tracking technology to stick the original 3D CGI head of Optimus Prime atop your own visage. The campaign to promote “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” also includes a hidden holographic message from Bumblebee, again developed using the original 3D model of the robot that appeared in the movie, suggesting CGI films may be ripe for more AR apps in the future.
4. Doritos Sweet Chilli Chips
What we like about Doritos’ take on the tech for the Brazilian market is that the webcam code is printed on the back of the chip packet, adding value to something normally disposable. Perhaps this also means less chip bags littering the streets. Holding up the code on the Sweet Chilli chips packets initiates the appearance of a little cartoon character, which can then be used in an extended online game.
5. USPS Priority Mail Virtual Box Simulator
Erring on the functional side of promotion, the USPS Priority Mail Virtual Box Simulator is a wickedly clever use of the tech that lets users compare the size of an item they need sent to the size of boxes available from the postal service, by seeing how well their item fits inside a transparent box. Although not particularly high octane excitement, it does illustrate the practical use of AR which is yet to be fully explored.
6. Star Trek
These kind of applications work particularly well with a techie audience, or in this instance a Trekkie one. The front cover of certain versions of the Star Trek movie on DVD and Blu ()-ray doubles as a webcam code to initiate the “cadet orientation” program. It offers a holographic tour around the USS Enterprise (that appears as a hovering apparition on your screen), incorporating a look at the bridge, and best of all, a trigger to fire the ship’s weapons, complete with sound effects.
7. Wrigley’s 5 Gum
Created for the launch of Wrigley’s “5″ chewing gum in France (although the site is also available in English) this interactive example of AR sees five symbols (each representing one of the five gum flavors) becoming a different track that only plays when the webcam can “see” it. The desktop DJ experience is probably best explained by watching the demo video above, populated appropriately by masticating teens.
8. Ray-Ban
Although many items of apparel can be bought online, sunglasses are one of those tricky products that you really need to try on to ensure you look more chic than geek. Ray-Ban’s Virtual Mirror (ably demonstrated here by YouTuber NickHearne) lets you virtually try on glasses (after a quick bit of face-mapping). The software lets you move your head around to see how the shades look from different angles. Depending on the opacity of the glass, you can even see your eyes through some of the shades. Seeing this app in action makes us think this could be where the real commercial future of AR lies.
9. Lost Valentinos
John Mayer, Eminem and Julian Perretta are three other musicians that have dabbled with AR as a way of making their music videos more compelling, but this effort from the Lost Valentinos — with each printable code representing a member of the band to be arranged as you see fit — is a great example of how to keep it tight. In addition, the band’s site doubles as a video gallery for fans to share how they interacted with the AR by uploaded webcam video clips.
10. Always Infinity
This time round we’ve saved the worst for last. How best to promote feminine hygiene products? With an augmented reality white bunny of course. We think the world can do without this irrelevant foray into the AR arena that assumes a female audience will be blown away by an incredibly basic application of the tech.
Source: http://mashable.com/2009/12/26/augmented-reality-marketing/
Reverse IP Lookup for Class C IP’s
Reverse IP Lookup allows you to put in a IP address or the website domain name. Finding what domains are all hosted on the same IP address can be a very important tool when doing competitive research and analysis. Domain research can help when doing Internet Marketing but sometimes you need to know more than just the domains on that particular IP address, sometimes you need to know all the domains that are hosted on a particular Class C IP address. For this we have found a solution to the problem. Reverse IP Domain Check from YouGetSignal.com- it also includes a host of other useful domain tools including whois.
You Get Signal - Reverse IP Lookup
The Pope tells Priests: We Must Blog
Pope Benedict XVI has demanded in a recent message that the Priests start using Social Media outlets including Blogs. As the Catholics 265th Pope, Pope Benedict XVI has been a very surprising and extremely supportive advocate of Social Media and Social Marketing. After the support and momentium gained by social media for the now President Barack Obama it appears as if many of the world leaders has chosen to start using the internet to help them gain and retain followers.
It looks like even though Pope Benedict XVI is a fan of Social Marketing and Blogs, he does not have a Twitter account yet. Last year, he launched a YouTube channel, and six months ago, he released Facebook and iPhone apps to spread the Church’s message. It looks like that he hopes Catholic priests will follow his digital example. It is going to be very interesting to watch the evolution of the Catholic Church’s Social Strategy.
Here is a very small excerpt from the Popes message:
“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich “menu of options” might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”
Manage Multiple Twitter accounts with Twinterface
Their are many different ways to manage your Twitter account & when you have multiple accounts to manage you might want to check into Twinterface. TwinterFace enables you to add sub-users to your company’s twitter account. This way you can manage your brand perfectly! In an easy interface you can manage multiple twitter accounts and switch between them. All the information about this can be found at their blog at http://blog.twinterface.com They have the beta version open to the public. Not all elements are finished but enjoy!
How To Find Your Website Niche
Increase Your Following By Going Niche, How To Find Your Website Niche.
First of let me explain a few things about finding a targeted or niche industry to do business in. There are only a handful of companies who are able to be the all-in-one retailer online or off and can get away with it, and in many cases the places are still within a niche. For exmpale Wal-Mart; you may think that they do anything and everything from fixing your car to selling groceries. But in fact they are following a very specific goal and niche. The goal that wal-mart is trying to accomplish is to allow you to do all your general shopping from them within one stop. This is why they have hobbie related goods, electronics, recreational, groceries, and simple car maintenence services and goods. Lets not forget that they also have toys (which are conveniently on the opposite side of wal-mart as anything else a child may need like clothes.
Wal-Mart has the goal in mind to be able to sell you all you would ever need to get through the month and to do it at a discount price. They are not known for quality, they are only known for cheap products at cheap prices.
So you are probably asking what in the world this has to do with choosing a website niche to operate your online store, but in reality this concept has everything to do with your store. You must narrow down exactly what you goals are and what price ranges you want to sell within (if you are selling products or services. And you also must narrow down your products to be very niche. I recommend going as niche as possible to allow you to rank easier for those specific term or keyword phrases. For example: assuming that you would like to sell crafts for the house but your not sure what products to use, I would recommend finding the products that you are the most familiar with and enjoy selling. In this example we will choose candles. But in order to sell a niche product you will want to be more specific than just candles or crafts. You will want to sell scented candles, or fake candles, or multi-colored candles. Once you have narrowed the niche down to its core you can then break it down even further to get the most out of your website. For example you may want to then allow users to search by size, color, or scent.
All of this may seem to in-depth but trust me if you are going to start a website that sells products you are going to want to narrow your selection down to its core to find out what your niche is based on product, price, and how much you love are endorse the product that you are selling.
Netflix for the Nintendo Wii
The CEO of Netflix has confirmed the floating speculation that started to surface in October of 2009. Will you see Netflix on Wii? The CEO has not come out directly and said yes, but he did confirm several assumptions that have been made until now and stated that the two companies Netflix and Nintendo have an “Excellent” chance of working together.
We are interested in the way the interface will work and the performance that will be available. Since the processor power needed to operate the Nintendo Wii is hundreds more than what is needed to display a Netfilx video we are confident that the weakest part of the link will be the connectivity between Netflix and the Nintendo device. But Netfilx has already faced this issue with the online service that they currently offer for computers with a subscription.
Skype for TV (hdTV)
Reviews for the new Skype for TV (hdTV)
Coming soon, you will be able to skype from your TV. Skype has teamed up with Panasonic and LG Electronics bringing a TV that has a built in webcam and includes the necessary electronics making this a possible revolution with video conferencing and Skype calls.
With the research that Skype has presented they show that most users had a common suggestion in regards to video conferencing, and that is most people do not want to sit in front of a computer to make a video call. In most non-professional settings people had requested the ability to use a couch, bed, or other common places throughout the house to Skype with video to friends and family. And that is where the Skype for TV (hdTV) comes in to action. The new model is available to view and on display at CES 2010 and is expected to show up at your local retailer coming in the middle of this year.
One of the concerns that I have for this is the safety and security.
- Is it possible for someone to hack into my TV and watch whats going on in my house from this device?
- Can this Skype for TV device mis-dial, or accidentally dial when I am not intentionally using it?
- What are the alerts on the physical TV that will show me that I am online and on a Skype call?
- Is there a light on the top of the TV set to alert me that the camera is in use?
If certain safety measures are not met this device could increase the ability to publicize private matters that may happen in your house or bedroom. - Will Skype ever start using this to advertise, and if so how do they intend on soliciting the advertisements onto my Skype hdTV?
- What is the expected price point?
I feel Skype is going to have to be very careful with the price point, and here is why. I can get a cheap laptop or desktop and use my TV as an extended monitor. So if Skype is going to start selling TV’s then the TV should allow me to do just as much as a typical LCD HDTV and then some. I should be able to insert a media card from my camera so that I may show it to family and friends that I am on Skype TV with. And of course if they don’t get the price right, then ts going to be an awesome idea that will never float.
The issues mentioned in here are not answered by Skype to my satisfaction yet, and I hope they will soon clear up this line of questioning. After my own questioning to potential buyers I was able to find an interesting similarity amongst almost all that I questioned. First people wanted to make sure it will not be recording them without their knowledge (and want PROOF of it – with some sort of light, lock, or other indicator), and secondly the people I spoke with will only purchase this if it is the same price or very comparable to a similar TV model.
Social Bookmarking Software worth your time
Social Bookmarking is a great way to get your article or blog posting out there to the masses. Social Bookmarking Software can allow you to submit your site to multiple Social Bookmarking Websites all within a few clicks. I have personally tried and tested at least 10 different Social Bookmarking Programs and Social Bookmarking Submission websites. So far I have only found one software that I would recommend, and it has come with many added features like pinging websites about your new post. And you are able to submit to over 100 Social Bookmarking Websites.
EdwinSoft has created a software called Bookmarking Demon and its worth every penny.
Get links and traffic from hundreds of social bookmarking sites with our bookmarking tools. The best social bookmarking software and most advanced bookmarking tool.
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More Targeted Traffic
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| Since your bookmarks are categorized into different TAGS, you will get very targeted traffic from people searching within a particular TAG. They will click on your bookmark link and visit your site. Your tags will rank well in the search engines due to the authority these sites have. | |
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Faster Search Engine Indexing
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| Most of these Social Bookmarking sites are authoritative sites. The search engine spiders visit these sites so often that your links will be crawled almost immediately! | |
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Higher Search Engine Ranking
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| Getting one-way incoming links is the main factor to higher search engine ranking. With Social Bookmarking, you can get unlimited ‘keyword’ links to your site. Having more keyword links that are relevant to your site will result in higher ranking. | |
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Better PageRank
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| Having high PR Social Bookmarking sites linked to your site will improve your site’s PR. With a higher PR, you can link to your new/existing sites and improve their ranking too! You can even monetize on it by selling links from your site! |
6 Big Problems With These Tools
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Most Are Spam Tools
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| Most of the social bookmarking tools are designed to spam the bookmarking sites. These tools will auto-create random account login names and passwords. Their main function is to create multiple accounts and have them bookmark the same url.
Having hundreds of accounts created from the same ip address and having terrible randomized usernames will raise a red flag. The Social Bookmarking sites will ban your accounts for sure. Worst of all, they might even ban your ip address! |
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Some Are Only Designed For Certain Sites
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| Some of the tools are very limited. They are not designed to bookmark any sites. Some are only made for RSS feeds while others are just plugins for wordpress blogs.
If you have many sites which are not blogs or without RSS feeds, you will not be able to bookmark with these limited tools. |
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Most Are Over Priced With Monthly Fees
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| These tools are sold at cut-throat prices. They know most people are desperate for an automation solution and will pay almost anything to get them.
Some social bookmarking services even charge ridiculously steep monthly fees for the use of their program. They make it sound complicated but it isn’t! They just want your money! |
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All Have Duplicate Content Problem
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| When you bookmark your sites, you will be bookmarking the same Title, Tags and Description across multiple bookmarking sites.
This will create duplicate content issues which will result in the search engines ignoring your bookmarking links. |
There are several ways to gain media attention for your website or online business. Some of these are through press releases, and news-wires. But what if you had a chance to be in a magazine, on a TV show, or interviewed by one of the main network television channels? Some companies offer a guaranteed placement service where you only pay if you get the job. Here is one of those companies:
My Media Match – Here is an excerpt from here website:
Okay, well who am? Cick Here for my bio, or email me and I’ll prove it and send you my 8 page resume full of specifics and measurable results. Believe me, it is exciting to see your name in a recognized magazine. Your heart races and you want to jump up and down like a kid who wins the big prize; I know first hand having been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as a Business Coach. I also know first hand from my book being featured in Cosmopolitan, Complete Woman, Zink and more. I want you to know that you are not alone on your journey. 
I still get that excited when one of my clients lands a story or a tv interview , and we jump up and down together.
Let me tell you a bit about the Media Match program. It is a wonderful publicity program that matches your expertise to a journalist, TV show or website that is looking for what you have. It’s a bit like Babe Ruth at bat, when he hit, he hit a home run and when he missed he struck out.
A Lesson From The Babe
‘How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can . . . I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.’
–Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth created a World Record that survived many, many baseball seasons because he kept showing up at the plate with his bat in hand. With the Media Match program I show up to pitch you to the media when they are working on a story. That makes all the difference in the world and when it hits, it hits big. Publicity is not a science, and if you story is right for the journalist and the timing is right on the pitch, you have a media home run.
The greatest thing of all is you get to keep putting your money into your business. You never pay the enormous fees for a private publicist; try $3,000 to $6,000 a month with no guarantees. You also don’t pay $2,500 for a sidebar mention in a magazine. As a member of Media Match you pay $189 a month or a quarterly fee of only $500, with a guarantee. If you are not picked up for a story in your first 3 months, we continue to pitch for you on us, no matter how long it takes to find your perfect match.
There are also many amazing benefits of being in our network, a 60 minute strategic consultation with a Master business strategist, a connection to the Harvard Community, learning about promotional opportunities, being listed as an expert and speak on one of the nations highly respected news services, as well as being featured on our high traffic websites.
If you are working 24/7 on making your dreams come true, doesn’t it make sense to have a pro in your corner watching for opportunities for you? Give us a call 310-379-9620 and we’ll give you a complimentary 15 minute consultation so you can judge for yourself. I promise you’ll find it time well spent.
I look forward to talking with you soon.
All the best,
Whenever I come across a company or service I love to share with you my findings 
This is a completely unsolicited posting about Media Match.
Enjoy
Amazon Store WordPress Plugin
WordPress Plugin for your website that lets you have a complete Amazon Store
Up until now the only Amazon Store Plugin for WordPress has been a crappy snippet of I don’t know… All I know is that it sucked and looked bad, and didn’t include a cart, and ooohhh that’s right they called themselves a Amazon Niche Store but it doesn’t have a shopping cart. To me that makes the other plugin is ‘NOT a Amazon Niche STORE‘. Im trying to lay the sarcasm & frustration on very thick because I have been looking for a solution like this for years. But it looks like my wait has finally paid off. Now you can have a completely functioning WordPress Niche Store without much effort at all. And since it uses Amazon’s API it automates the entire plugin once it is setup. And of course since it is a plugin it can work with any template. And if that wasn’t enough it also includes a default template if you don’t want to take the time to find one or use your current WordPress template.
This is the real Deal – not a cheap wanna-be Fake Amazon Niche Store. But as it goes I can only tell you that it is here & I will be posting a link within a few days, so be patient with me as I test this thing out to the max.
Amazon Store WordPress Plugin
Link will be posted in a few days.
WordPress Amazon Niche Store plugin
