Graphics

On the lighter side...

Maniacal Rage has some pretty funny crash reports allegedly submitted to Adobe for Photoshop CS4.
Sample here:

Article at Maniacal Rage

Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip!

The excellent MIT Advertising Lab blog has this example of Photochromic ink used in a DM piece:

Another example of the message being built into the medium -- a print ad for Sundown sunblock, one half of which changes color when exposed to the sun (see full creative here). If you know how they might have achieved the effect, could you please leave a comment?

Why, don't mind if I do:

Photochromic ink is a technology that I saw paraded around once a year or so when I was in Print Production. The related Thermochromic (heat-sensitive) inks are a little better known, being used in things from kids' snow boots to coffee mugs and beer cans, but photochromic has never really gotten going.
It's not cheap, especially for a DM piece that I imagine had a budget of under $1 a piece (just a WAG, but you know...).

Nice to see someone got a project out the door with this, anyway.

Adverlab article

Here's a manufacturer's page.

Last month Esquire dropped the first magazine cover to incorporate e-ink technology. While the creative was underwhelming, the execution sure generated a lot of buzz.

Looks like in-store POP is next, followed one presumes by packaging (I'm betting on cereal boxes, but we'll see).

Quote:

Henkel's Right Guard is testing use of printed electronics to power flashing lights in corrugated in-store displays at Walgreens stores in the Chicago area, a first step for a technology from Arizona start-up company Nth Degree that could eventually bring low-cost streaming video to printed displays, packaging, direct mail or magazine inserts.

Link

And Guy Kawasaki's post about it:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/09/winners-of-worl.html

The folks at Yahoo - who own Flickr - have asked a few of their Flickr users for permission to turn their kitty photos into emoticons for the Yahoo Messenger.

Here's a link to some of the results: Yahoo Messenger blog

Here's a reaction from one of the photographers (I have reason to know she's thrilled):

Tunie is Famous!! "Talk to the Paw" Emoticat™ Icon released today!

This is an interesting twist on CGM - pull consumer-generated media from your user base (it helps if your user base is photographers :-) rather than waiting for it to be pushed to you, and meet the consumer half-way (in this case by providing illustration talent). Wonder if they did this with any other classes of photo, or is it just cat pix?
Apparently this is to support a chat environment called Emoticats - more here.

Here's where to get the Yahoo chat client.

Thanks to Rob Webber for this one.


Shinoda announced a new flexible display technology that's light and thin, presumable making it easier to fit into dramatic and well-placed signage locations. Posts have focused on using these in home, but I see this as a digital signage play.

Gizmodo post

via Pink Tentacle

Shinoda's website (in Japanese)

Adobe have opened their .flv and .swf formats, according to their release here.

Some key things they're promising:

• Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications

• Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player

• Publishing the Adobe Flash® Cast™ protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services

• Removing licensing fees - making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free

From the CEO:

A consistent, more open platform for developers will drive rapid innovation, vastly improving the user experience.

My fondest wish in this is that third-party tools will flourish, hopefully making the Flash vs. DHTML/AJAX divide less of an obstacle.
Project Page

Press Release

Nice set of infographics by Lokesh Dhakar.

Begs the question - why does a novice customer have to explain the product in this way? Why aren't Starbucks doing this?
And by the way - why do we have to learn a new vocabulary for "small, medium, large" to buy coffee drinks?