Thank you for visiting our 4D blog. Here you’ll find thoughts and comments from our global colleagues about the digital world. From a campaign that inspires us to how we see the digital world changing to a new gadget we just love, you’ll find it here!

Archive for May, 2007

Facebook apps or ‘why this blogger finally caved in and registered’

Last Thursday, Facebook opened up their platform to developers by allowing them to create applications that users can display on their pages. In some senses similar to traditional desktop widgets, Facebook apps differ in that they’re not reserved for your personal consumption – anyone visiting your profile can check them out. Users of MySpace have been using similar toys for some time now and inserting them via strings of code. However, the large proportion of hideous or just plain broken MySpace pages is testament to the fact that giving web novices such a deep level of access to the functioning of their profiles isn’t neccessarily a good idea.

Posted May 30, 2007 3:16 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ,

Star Wars Kid Matrix

Oh they could not just leave him alone could they.

Posted May 30, 2007 1:16 pm by David Brown 1 Comment

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Videos on your mobile – Zannel

Zannel is a new mobile/web user generated content site. It is very, very early days yet, but interesting to see how this area develops for consumers.

Posted May 30, 2007 1:13 pm by David Brown 0 Comments

Filed under: Trends | Tags:

Let Google give you the 411

Currently only available in the States, Google recently launched a free directory service, catchingly titled Google Voice Local Search (we prefer Goog411). The whole system is based on voice recognition and completely automated, meaning costs can be kept low. How they’ll earn any revenue from this is unclear but imagine the difference this could make in the UK – the competition for 118 services is incredibly fierce. Google could certainly put a spanner in the works.

Posted May 29, 2007 9:24 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

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Techselector: the end to all your gadget woes

Are you the type of person who’s forever being asked for tech recommendations from your friends because “you work with computers so you must know, right?”. If so, Techselector could well be your new best friend. Users select a category (e.g. DVD players), answer a few questions about features they’re looking for and receive a tailor-made list of recommended products. You can then refine and review the recommendations and click through to buy them. Give it a go and let us know how decent your results were.

Posted May 24, 2007 3:20 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Cool Websites | Tags: ,,

Blogging through the years

Posted May 18, 2007 11:40 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Social Media | Tags: ,

Jott: for those with memory issues

Genius service this. Jott transcribes dictated notes to yourself, someone else or a group of people. So if I wanted to set myself a reminder: Call Jott Jott: ‘Who would you like to Jott’ Myself: ‘Me’ Myself: ‘Remember to pack bags for Paris trip’ Then, the service will send the transcription to my email inbox and ‘jottbox’ on the site. And this is all fully automated. Brilliant idea for those (like this blogger) who are forever thinking of cool ideas that seem to slip out of their minds in a matter of minutes. There’s even a mashup that lets you dictate your Twitter updates using Jott. Check out the demo on the site for a far clearer explanation.

Posted May 18, 2007 11:25 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Social Media | Tags: ,,

Twitter: pointless fad or important new content delivery channel?

We won’t bore you with a summation of the microblogging service (lord knows there’s been enough blog coverage already) but an interesting article from iMedia Connection explores the uses marketers may find for Twitter. What grabbed our attention were examples of major brands and personalities using the service. The majority of US presidential candidates (who have already demonstrated intelligent uses of social networking) and a range of influential bloggers represent a tiny fraction of early adopters. Users can also receive BBC or NYtimes news updates if they choose to subscribe to their accounts. One of the great things about Twitter is its immediacy and simplicity. Though corporate blogs are a great idea, more often than not they’re updated extremely infrequently or for a short period of time only before being abandoned. Convincing the CEO of a major company to write 140 words for Twitter though is surely a far easier task and allows direct, relationship-building connections with customers. Anyone know any other interesting examples from brands?

Posted May 16, 2007 10:38 am by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Innovations, Social Media | Tags: ,

Bad banners I: Australian tourist board

Apparently a thong is the Australian equivalent of sandal which leads us to believe this is a play on words of some sort, judging by her movement (be sure to roll over). Mindblowin

Posted May 15, 2007 10:37 am by Alex Horner 1 Comment

Filed under: Trends | Tags:

Maestro’s clever outdoor ads

We spotted this in Liverpool Street station this weekend. Simple, effective. Now how could the eyebox be used to measure these views?

Posted May 14, 2007 4:36 pm by Alex Horner 0 Comments

Filed under: Campaigns | Tags: ,