The last time the tech world ushered in a must-have fashion item, it was the Global Hypercolour t-shirt (you know, the one that changes colour when you touch it).
Following on from this questionable fashion statement, a new trend: internet-connected clothes that display your digital world, from status updates to YouTube videos. With in-built speakers, they can even play music. (Thanks, Nads)
Homecenter Sodimac in Chile asks you to use the 5 seconds before your YouTube video loads wisely. (Cheers, Alex)
As skippable pre-roll advertising becomes more and more prevalent, it’s fascinating to see the emergence of clever ways to leverage the format. The latest and perhaps most clever execution comes from La Casa Eco & Sodimac in Chile, with a pre-roll that aims to raise awareness about ecological habits. You can watch the pre-roll here:
Increasingly, people are using social media platforms to project an enhanced, edited version of themselves. This trend has prompted a new wave of branded apps – allowing social media users to create life story animations and photo slideshows using Facebook data, then share them with their friends.
This smart digital picture frame self-updates in real-time, featuring photos from your Instagram feed. (Nice spot, Tim!)
The 600×600 LCD touchscreen device lets users log in and connect to the web, then displays their photos (or photos from chosen Twitter users) whenever they’re posted. Users can ‘like’ the posted pictures by using the ‘heart’ button on the top of the device. Get ready for your close-up!
You’d normally associate cameras that track your movements with George Orwell’s ‘1984’. Yet a new app, currently on trial in Nashville USA, is offering this ‘service’ to the public.
By signing up to the ‘Facedeals’ app, you give permission for facial-recognition cameras to scan your features as you enter shops, then check you in automatically and send you targeted offers. Intelligent marketing or a step towards the nanny state? You decide!
You’ve already heard of flash mobbing, the craze that started way back in 2003 in Manhattan. People used social media to arrange to meet in a certain place and join in with an activity like dancing or pillow fighting.
The love pros at eHarmony have invented an app that calls with a fake ‘emergency’ when you need to escape a lame date.
You can set Bad Date Rescue to call in 5 minutes, 1 minute or just 3 seconds if things are really dire. You get to choose from a list of eminently plausible situations – your mum’s calling to say your sis is in labour, or your neighbour with the bad news your flat is flooded.
A new app that transmits data via a burst of ‘digital birdsong’ is simplifying the way users share files between smartphones. ‘Chirp’ plays a two-second long noise that sounds like a robotic bird. When this sound is picked up by other devices, it triggers a download.
Taking into account the growing perception that Pinterest is for girls only (a recent survey found that 83% of users are women) numerous copycat services are popping up to meet the visual bookmarking needs of men.
Uniqlo Wake Up is a social alarm app from Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo that incorporates the current weather, time and day of the week into its wake-up music.
The app wakes users up with music that’s automatically created based on the weather, with a voice to announce the time, weather and day of the week in either English or Mandarin Chinese. The app’s background also changes with the day of the week.
© Haymarket Media Group Ltd.
