GenArts & The Foundry Strategic Alliance

We are very excited about the recent strategic alliance between our client GenArts, Inc., the premier provider of specialized visual effects software for the film, television and video industries, and The Foundry, the world-leading visual effects software developer. GenArts is a revolutionary plugin developer who has expanded its visual effects software portfolio (Sapphire, Monsters, Raptors and wondertouch) and the alliance should ensure its plugins work seamlessly with The Foundry's popular Nuke software.

GenArts will now be taking over development of The Foundry's Tinder and Tinderbox plugins. The companies also will collaborate to build the capabilities of the infamous Nuke, which has been adopted by a number of vfx shops, including Weta Digital, Industrial Light & Magic and Sony Pictures Imageworks.

GenArts will start off big and immediately get started on all of the development, sales, marketing and customer support of Tinder and Tinderbox. GenArts' acquirement of The Foundry's Tinder and Tinderbox business allows both companies to focus on delivering best of class of product portfolios to the industry.

For more information on the alliance between GenArts and The Foundry please view the press release, FAQ, or check out the recent buzz in the news on fxguide, VARIETY, xconomy Boston.

The Wonderful New World That Allows You To Become “One” With Your Machinery

It is already perfectly ordinary to interact with a new wave class of devices entirely by using natural gestures. The Microsoft Surface, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the Nintendo Wii, and other gesture-based systems accept input in the form of taps, swipes, and other ways of touching, hand and arm motions, or body movement. These are the first in a growing array of alternative input devices that allow computers, like Hitachi, and PC makers that are on the brink of rolling out game consoles, televisions and computers that use gestures to control the machines. The idea that natural, comfortable motions can be used to control computers is opening the way to a horde of input devices that look and feel entirely different from the keyboard and mouse.

Gesture-based interfaces are changing the way we interact with computers, giving us a more innate way to control devices. They are increasingly built into things we can already use; Logitech and Apple have brought gesture-based mice to market, and Microsoft is developing several models. Smart phones, remote controls, and touch-screen computers that casually accept gesture input. You can make music louder or softer by moving a hand, or skip a track with the flick of a finger. Instead of learning where to point and click and how to type, we are beginning to be able to expect our computers to respond to natural movements that make sense to us.

The most common applications of gesture-based computing are for computer games, file, media browsing, and simulation and training. A number of simple mobile applications use gestures. Mover lets users “flick” photos and files from one phone to another; Shut Up, an app from Nokia, silences the phone when the user turns it upside down; nAlertme, an anti-theft app, sounds an alarm if the phone isn’t shaken in a specific, preset way when it is switched on. PicLens currently offers a small icon cue inset in each Web photo that lets users know they are at a site like Facebook and Google that can be browsed with the software. Some companies are exploring further possibilities; for example, Softkinetic develops platforms that support gesture-based technology, as well as designing custom applications for clients, including interactive marketing and consumer electronics as well as games and entertainment.

Because it changes not only the physical and mechanical aspects of interacting with computers, but also our perception of what it means to work with a computer, gesture-based computing has the potential to transform technology forever. The user and the machine become closer and the sense of power and control increases when the machine responds to movements that feel natural. Unlike a keyboard and mouse, gestural interfaces can often be used by more than one person at a time, making it possible to engage in truly collaborative activities and games. These activities that are used frequently in many casual sporting activities are suited now becoming suited for gestural interfaces on game consoles, televisions and computers.

Deviscapes Q4 2009 WIFI Report

Devicescape, the leader in Easy WiFi, performed a very detailed WiFi (preference and trend) report in 2009 with nearly 3,000 survey respondents around the world. The survey queried a cross-section of Devicescape's members, a group that includes a variety of professionals and students.

The report found that a majority of users (sixty-eight percent) will view advertisements in exchange for free WiFi. It also found that Sixty-three percent of respondents would like to receive coupons from nearby Easy WiFi venues for product discounts. If a condition is to view an advertisement for free WiFi access at a cafe or other Easy WiFi Network venue, the majority of respondents (eighty-one percent) are willing to view the sponsored advertisements. The report showed that a majority (67 percent) of respondents still will not pay for WiFi, while twenty-five percent stated they would pay up to $3.

We already know about the importance and demand for WiFi from prior quarters' reports, the most recent survey aimed to uncover compelling new trends that will shape the face of WiFi over the next few years. I think the use of advertising is an important trend to watch, one that will likely help offset the cost of providing free WiFi to users. In general, attitudes toward the ads were encouraging, as a majority of survey respondents indicated they would watch advertisements in exchange for free WiFi service. This opens the doors for endless opportunities in the near future.

Toyota's Use of Public Relations and Social Media to Preserve Trust and its Brand

It is interesting to watch the Toyota story unfold. But, as a marketing professional it is very interesting to watch its use of marketing—commercials, YouTube and etc.
Toyota used public relations, social media, and YouTube to deliver a message by Jim Lentz, president of Toyota’s US marketing, to reassure consumers over concerns surrounding the safety of its cars. They used the video-sharing website in an attempt to restore trust in the brand and avoid damage to its reputation, which reports estimated could cost the brand as much as £4bn worldwide. On the YouTube video, Lentz says, “I hope you will give us a chance to win back your trust.” Trust is a key value the company is also really pushing forward. We are the company you have trusted and you can continue to trust.

Effectively the company is using YouTube and traditional commercials in an attempt to restore trust in the brand and avoid damage to its reputation. While commercials are a great vehicle, a key YouTube element is that unlike television this clip will be around for public consumption for quite a long time and it can be embedded on blogs like this or Facebook, subscribed to on Youtube, and generally pushed around online so there is extra power in the message.