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Exciting times for online interactions

Wow, hot on the heels of the ADN (app.net) revolution, Diaspora today announced that it will become a community driven project.

This excites me on a number of levels. App.net is being shaped by the users and developers, as it set out to. Diaspora will now follow a similar path.

This has to be a good thing. We are on the verge of a shift in online interactions, in social media as we know it.

This makes me happy, it makes me excited, we are at the dawn of new tools, new apps and some fuck off brilliant ways of interacting with others.

What do you think, is this the start of the shift to something better?

 

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Ford B-Max 3D Hologram

Thanks to the guys over at Peerindex, a couple of weeks ago I received notification that I was eligible to enter to win a 3D hologram of the new Ford B-Max.

As a “shot to nothing” I entered and was subsequently surprised when I received notification that I had won.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and a large parcel arrived at home. I was taken aback at just how large the parcel was. In fact it didn’t enter my mind that it was the hologram.

Anyway, upon opening it, I was very pleased to see that it was indeed the hologram…… a 3D hologram at that!

So, to the unboxing. Packaging opened, the hologram was presented in a black box, sporting the B-Max logo.

Opening the box, the hologram sat underneath a protective tissue layer. Underneath the hologram was a seemingly very good quality torch and spare batteries.

The torch was preset to a wide beam setting, ensuring the best experience when using it to view the hologram.

Naturally, without the light source shining at the hologram it appeared as a glossy black plastic sheet. As soon as the torch was shone on it, however, the B-Max was instantly visible.

I was blown away by the quality of the hologram, the B-Max springing up from the sheet in surprising detail. The depth of the hologram was also very impressive. Shifting the light source allows the B-Max to be viewed from different angles.

I’ll try and get some video to give a better view and perspective.

Update: Youtube has more than enough video clips of the hologram in action. Here’s a good one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpqA9fWY7cg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The boys are loving it and are intrigued by the image, reaching their hands into the 3D hologram as though they could explore the interior of the car.

If you use Peerindex and have the chance to enter this competition, go for it. It’s impressive. I read somewhere that they cost around $300 a pop (I’ve no idea if that is true). They certainly are very good quality and fascinating to play around with.

Update: Enter to win here: http://www.peerindex.com/vip/bmax

Let me know what you think in the comments.

 

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Path updates to v2.1

Path has dropped a great update to its already brilliant iPhone app, adding a new filter and improving those already included in the app.

There are more great tweaks and updates. Check out the screen grab below.

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I am @icraigt on Twitter.

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What’s your go to service?

It dawned on me today, that the first app I reach for in the morning, my “go to” app, has changed. For as long as I can remember, Echofon Pro has always been the first app I’ve opened up of a morning. Twitter has always been the service I’ve checked first. Twitter is still the place I interact most, the place I discover and discuss, but I’ve recently taken to reaching for Path first thing in the morning.

 

The Path app is very well designed but what really makes it a great service, as with all such services, is the interaction. It’s the people using the service. Path is a much more closed affair, much more intimate. As people have to request permission to view it forces one to be more selective.

Thus far, I am loving the posts, the discussions and the folk.  If you haven’t tried Path I really do recommend it.

Take a butchers at what it has to offer here.

I am @icraigt on Twitter.

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Blogsy…. testing

I’ve just downloaded Blogsy after watching a couple of the tutorial videos. It seems like a great way to connect your various media streams to your blogs, making photo and image selection (and video) very easy when drafting a blog post. The drag and drop (from your Picasa, Flickr, YouTube accounts) feature works very well indeed. The image below was dragged from my Picasa albums in just a couple of tap

The interface seems fairly straightforward and the app runs very well on my (old!) iPad 1. I was concerned that performance might be lacking on the old iPad but it runs very well indeed.

Anyway, just an initial post to try it out. I shall post more thoughts on it later, when I’ve had chance to use it more.
So far, so good!

I am @iCraigt on Twitter.