Cameron Wright

SXSW Eco 2012 – Interview with DJ Spooky [Video]

Paul Miller better known as DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid was at SXSW Eco 2012 with his session The Intersection of Art + Sustainability

Media is the new medium for conservation. Using art to impact the planet, causing a global shift: Academy Award Winner, Grammy Winners and Artists speak on altering awareness on a global scale through media, film, music and design.

He was also on-hand to sign his latest book “The Book of Ice”

“What I have done with this book is to unpack some of the issues that drive my artwork and its relationship to the constantly changing facets of contemporary life in our information-economy dominated, post-everything twenty-first century. Looking back over the last several centuries, an intense amount of energy has been expended all over the world exploring and unraveling the meaning of humanity’s condition on the planet. Much of this energy has been spent in perverse and self-defeating ways. Our vision of modern life is tinged by events like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which makes former disasters like the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident or the 1986 release of radioactive steam in Chernobyl seem quaint and self-contained. More than ever, we are interconnected, and interdependent. In the future, regardless of any human action, the planet will be here – we as a species, might not.”

We had a chance to tape a quick interview with Paul Miller/DJ Spooky where we covered the book, his work with Saul Williams and the role that startups play in regards to the environment. (I apologize for the poor lighting conditions and Paul being so dark. This was 100% operator error and a lack of working knowledge to fix this).

DJ Spooky traveled down to Antarctica with his recording studio to record the ice. Out of this trip grew Terra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica a multimedia art project. As described on his site:

Sinfonia Antarctica transforms Miller’s first person encounter with the harsh, dynamic landscape into multimedia portraits with music composed from the different geographies that make up the land mass. Miller’s field recordings from a portable studio, set up to capture the acoustic qualities of Antarctic ice forms, reflect a changing and even vanishing environment under duress. Coupled with historic, scientific, and geographical visual material, Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica is a seventy minute performance, creating a unique and powerful moment around man’s relationship with nature.

This is his third book, following Sound Unbound: DJ Spooky Explores Remix Culture and Rhythm Science both published by MIT Press. Like The Book Of Ice and Terra Nova, Rhythm Science also included a piece that accompanied it entitled DJ Spooky’s Rebirth of a Nation.

SXSW Eco 2012 – NJ Startup: Staxxon Dynamic Container Systems

New Jersey/Ohio startup Staxxon is working to address one of the largest inefficiencies in the logistics industry – the empty shipping container. Every year hundreds of millions of shipping containers are shipped empty taking up space, using valuable natural resources, and wearing out equipment.

According to Tom Stitt, Staxxon’s corporate development director, the company’s founder was inspired to begin working on a new container design while driving one of his daughters to college. “George [Kochanowski] kept seeing piles of containers [along the roadway] and thought there had to be a better way to deal with them than stacking them high,” says Stitt. ¹

Staxxon has created an “accordian-like” shipping container that can be folded to 1/5 it’s size. This allows 5 empty containers to take up the space of just one container. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how this could significantly alter the practices of logistics companies. Each container takes up space on trucks, trains, and container ships, as well as shipping yards. In April of this year they received a CSC Certificate for its 20′ container design and was issued the BIC registration code STXU for its test and trial containers. Below we have an in-person demonstration of the benefits via legos:

More details regarding Staxxon’s Dynamic Container Systems from their FAQ:

What technology and products is Staxxon developing?

Staxxon has developed, patented, prototype and obtained certification for a shipping container design that allows up to 5 empty containers to be folded, nested and moved in the same space as 1 container. In addition, Staxxon is developing an integrated system to support high speed folding/nesting and unfolding/un-nesting at terminals and depots that includes support for space/slot optimized freight bookings and related terminal/depot/ship/rail/truck workflow information technology.

Who will be Staxxon’s customers?

Staxxon will license its container, folding nesting system and related information technology to its customers. This means that a container fleet owner/operators – carriers, leasing companies, governments – can continue to work with existing container vendors/manufacturers. Terminal/depot operators will be able to source the folding/nesting system from current suppliers. leading freight booking and terminal operating system providers will be able to integrate Staxxon’s information technology.

How much does Staxxon’s technology cost? How much will a container with Staxxon technology cost?

Staxxon’s business model is based on licensing its intellectual property, designs and know-how, not manufacturing. Container fleet owner/operators will continue to source containers from their current vendors at prices negotiated by the fleet owners/operators. Staxxon will support existing container manufacturers with assembly line configuration, sourcing, training, inspections and certification services. Staxxon’s target cost for a container that includes Staxxon technology is in a range that provides the container fleet owner/operator a 100% return on the total investment, including operating costs unique to Staxxon’s technology, over a 24-30 month period. *Emphasis mine

LINKAGE

Staxxon homepage

The official Lego Video

Startups from Everywhere Else finally have a conference for them

Paul Roustan Aims to Create First “6-D” Body Paint Hologram Kickstarter

Paul Roustan creates some of the most phenomenal images I’ve ever come across. His kickstarter project is to create the first high quality three dimensional body paint hologram . 3-D images on 3-d Holograms means this would be the first 6 dimensional image, ever? Am I correct?

He’s part of a small but dedicated group of artists known as body painters. Originally from the Windy City Paul earned a BA of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. During his time at the Art Institute Paul became interested in holography. He worked his way up from being “just” a student in ‘98 to become the holography lab manager in ‘99. Eventually Paul and his wife moved to Rhode Island and Paul earned a Master of Arts in Teaching Degree from Rhode Island School of Design in 2006. Between the Art Institute and RISD Paul began body painting and it has grown into his primary focus (raising his children actually comes first).

Paul is known for his amazing 3D images that look almost too real to believe. He says on his kickstarter page,

The biggest problem I face with my work is the viewer’s perception of what is real and what isn’t. I’m often asked, “Is this photoshop or is it real?” As a result, to erase any doubt, body painting is best viewed via video and live performance. Here is a link to a video of the body painting process.

Paul has tried to raise the funds to do this over the past two years by applying for grants. The grant jurors typically reacted positively or negatively without much middle ground which seems to be par for the course in this form of art. The costs of doing a series of holographic images is significantly higher than other forms of “3D art.” This is an actual 3d form without the need to wear special glasses and without any trickery.

If you’re unfamiliar with what a hologram “really” is here is the definition

To produce a simple hologram, a beam of coherent, monochromatic light, such as that produced by a laser, is split into two beams. One part, the object or illumination beam, is directed onto the object and reflected onto a high-resolution photographic plate. The other part, the reference beam, is beamed directly onto the photographic plate. The interference pattern of the two light beams is recorded on the plate. When the developed hologram is illuminated from behind (in the same direction as the original reference beam) by a beam of coherent light, it projects a three-dimensional image of the original object in space, shifting in perspective when viewed from different angles. 1

At the Art Institute the holography lab was made up of lower-powered lasers which could only capture immobile objects. In order to capture those objects needed to be placed upon a vibration isolation table because the slightest movement can ruin the capture. By using pulsed holography Paul can capture an image of a person or even moving water. There is no need for massive vibration isolation tables and it is possible to get several different captures in a single day. Once the capture has occurred the next step is to create a positive from the master.

When a light wave hits the Master holographic film, it acts as a (diffractive) filter, allowing some light to pass through and pick up the imprint in the medium. However, unlike a photographic image, it is the interaction of the new light wave with the recorded interference pattern that is seen as a 3D image. It is 3D because the new light wave becomes modified by the wave-interference pattern recorded in the emulsion and appears thereby as the ORIGINAL light wave emitted by the object itself. 2

This is going to be a one of a kind item due to the process being similar to photography in developing the captures, the model will be painted with an airbrush, and only the lasers really need computer intervention. Paul is offering those who back him a number of rewards. He explained the costs that are involved in this process and he’s actually going to be losing a small amount on each of the 12’ x 16” 3D Holograms but that’s a small price to pay to make his dream come alive.

1 12″ x 16″ 3D Hologram of the proposed Holographic Body Painting With Halogen Bulb for illumination Matted and Framed securely Limited Edition Signed and Numbered with Certificate of Authenticity
Sonar Scar A 30″ x 44″ limited edition 2D Digital C Print of one of my photographic body paint images from the selection in the description. Signed and Numbered (with certificate of Authenticity)
1 Roustan Body Paint Airbrushed Tee Shirt Hand airbrushed by Paul Roustan You will need to specify size.

LINKAGE:

Go check out his kickstarter project here

Paul can be found on Facebook, YouTube, and Google+

Check out the gallery below for more of his body paintings.

Interview: Outgrow.me is the Marketplace for Products Successful in Crowdfunding

Outgrow.me is one of those startups that we came across and I immediately thought to myself. They are on to something. What is outgrow.me? Are you familiar with kickstarter or indiegogo – have you heard of projects that have Have you ever wondered what happened to that kickstarter or indiegogo project that you heard about weeks or months ago? Where did project end up? Is it possible to find the High Roller Adult Big Wheel or the Pebble after the hype has died down? What option follows a successful crowdfunding campaign?

Those questions are finally being answered with Outgrow.me. It’s the solution that was just waiting to be created. We talked to Sam Fellig the founder of outgrow me read below.

What is outgrow.me?

“Outgrow.me is an online marketplace for successfully crowdfunded projects.”

In layman’s terms, how does it work?

“Outgrow.me picks up where the crowdfunding platforms leave off. It’s a marketplace for successfully crowdfunded projects from all over the web. Outgrow.me offers product designers the ability to further grow their brand by marketing their products to a growing community of shoppers that support innovation, creativity, and small businesses. On the flip side, Outgrow.me offers shoppers a unique shopping experience filled with highly innovative and creative products supported by the online community.”

Powersharing Bringing the Positivity from Pasadena [Interview]

Pasadena startup Powersharing is a network of people who are working together to lift each other up. When asked what their secret sauce is they did not respond with “if we told you our secret sauce then it wouldn’t be secret; now would it?” Instead they responded with,

Our secret sauce is not that secret at all. We love our members. Love is the most powerful force in the universe and when it is unleashed, nothing can stop it. In our community, our members give each other a boost in motivation, inspiration, and hope for a brighter future. We give them incentives, resources, and new, creative ways to share the power in their lives. Our partner organizations, businesses, and governmental bodies benefit from our growth and success.

They hope to bring people together to help solve everyday issues, raise money, support individuals and organizations, and to spread positivity around.

Kickstarter project: Film Nikola Tesla – Electricity

Electricity: The Story and Life of Nikola Tesla a made for television docudrama is raising funds via Kickstarter. Created by “the creative partnership of Carol Bourgeois, business executive and writer along with Wilhelm Cashen engineering savant and entrepreneur” who began the project in the fall of 2010. The overall business plan for Tesla Productions, LLC includes; “education, film, video, games, broadcasting, human experience, technology and products.”

StampedeCon 2012 – Kraft Food’s Frank Cotignola on Understanding Consumer Behavior

St. Louis, MO – StampedeCon 2012 – Kraft Food’s Frank Cotignola presented Using Social Media Conversations and Search to Understand Consumer Behavior. His bio reads

As part of Kraft Food’s CIS (Consumer Insight and Strategy Group), Frank focuses on three key areas: (1) Global Analytics; (2) Social Media Listening and Measurement, and; (2) Community Management and Knowledge Sharing. He also authors the Kraft “Randomness” blog, which focuses on digital and analytic topics. His efforts to develop both free and paid listening platforms and insights have led to the integration and usage of such research into traditional “asking” research and shopper insights at the company.

Throughout the presentation there were zero mentions (or very few) of searching for the “brand” instead he discussed searching for relevant terms. Using twitter and or Facebook to identify sentiment about dessert, cookies, and hot peppers and Pinterest to see the pinned recipes. He highlighted two factors that make this such a powerful tool.

First is immediacy. There is practically no wait to see what people are talking about. Twitter and Facebook bring never-ending streams of information directly to him. Instead of waiting for survey results or “going out to talk to people” many queries can be done within an hour. Second is cost. It is ostensibly free.

An additional benefit is being able to gauge response – desserts typically elicits a positive response whereas snacking is something considered a need. Hot peppers presented an interesting variable – in North America the popularity of hot peppers peaks in mid-summer. Being Kraft Foods something like this is invaluable, allowing them to see when they should release a new flavor or when they might release an ad campaign or special.

One of the takeaways, for me, was that many businesses are missing the benefits that come from social media are focusing solely on their brand sentiment. Kraft seems to have figured out one of the largest benefits of social media and search as well. It is not necessarily about the brand at all. Many times, in the food industry certainly, the discussion is not necessarily about the brand itself. Using what customers are talking about nationally and globally Kraft is able to glean insights from the chatter and can use that to plan for products in the near-future.

Madison Startup: Moxe Health Applications – Triage.me

Triage.me is a solution for one of the biggest issues within the U.S. healthcare system – unnecessary trips to the Emergency Room. At the Milwaukee BuildHealth Hack-a-thon this idea was born from the challenge: “Reduce the number of ED (Emergency Department) visits for non-emergent care in Milwaukee County.”

We recently finished the second leg of our “Nibletz Sneaker Strapped Nationwide Road Trip.” We met Moxe Health’s CEO Dan Wilson while in Madison, his CTO was not available but I was able to find his description about how Triage.me works:

Providing people with the tools they need to find appropriate care everywhere saves everyone, hospitals and patients, money and time. Patients receive a SMS from triage.me post emergency room discharge. By sending a text to triage.me with their problem and current address, we route the person towards the nearest clinic, providing the address and a link to directions (for smartphone users). Many clinics that work with the underinsured also often have variable hours and locations. We’ve made it easy for these clinics to update their hours and location via SMS so that we can better route triage.me users to locations.

This is a huge issue that faces the current health care system, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that 50% of the 121 million emergency room visits in 2011 could have been handled in a primary care situation. The typical emergency room visit costs an average of $700 versus $150 for a primary care physician possibly reducing costs by $550.

We met Moxe Health’s Dan Wilson (CEO) while we were at Murfie HQ in Madison Wisconsin (coverage coming soon). He began explaining where the idea for triage.me began and where they’ve presented so far. It began at BuildHealth and a few weeks later they presented at Health Data Initiative: Health Datapalooza

A mere 50 days separated the two events and Dan blogged a few times about the experience:

Blog post 2…We’re now full steam ahead on triage.me and have some exciting things in store. Exactly 50 days after conceptual, triage.me will launch on June 5 for public use in Milwaukee and DC. We’ve started mapping out ways to expand triage.me to make it even better.

Blog post 3…So, we had 4 weeks to design a booth and rewrite an entire product. Oh, and Mark was already committed to working 30 hours a week in Chicago. We called in whatever favors we could muster and got some wonderful help from Abby Larner reworking the front-end design. Aurora stepped in to help with the booth and drove one of their display boards across the city so we could pick it up.

Where are we now? Mark and I are fully committed to building triage.me into the platform we know it can be. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback and guidance over the last few weeks and there ia a lot of thanks due.

Stay tuned, this ride’s just getting started!

Triage.me was presented at the Health Datapalooza (video below). Descriptions of both BuildHealth and HDI can be found below.

triage.me [Moxe Health] from HDI Forum on Vimeo.

BuildHealth is a context design for enabling collaborative conversation, engagement and accountability around the idea of good health.

Our definition of health is holistic: it is being physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, environmentally and socially balanced. With such a broad definition, the mission is currently focused on the Greater Milwaukee area in order to be effective. The core functions of the BuildHealth organization are facilitation and community alignment. Our intent is to avoid duplication of services, to overcome silo-ing and territorialization and to empower community at its most basic level. We believe each community already has what is needs to become accountable for its state of health.

Health Data Initiative’s: Health Datapalooza

The Health Data Initiative Forum III: The Health Datapalooza was held June 5 and 6, 2012, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The event brought together a diverse group of more than 1,500 data experts, technology developers, entrepreneurs, policy makers, health care system leaders, and community advocates to support innovative applications of health and health care data.

Links to Everywhere Else:

Moxe Health Applications triage.me

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more stories from “everywhere else”

Nibletz could use YOUR help click here

Chicago Techweek 2012: GoSoapBox Demo & Interview (video)

We met GoSoapBox here at Techweek Chicago 2012. They began with the idea of a Social Q&A service. Dave Mulder went to the Lansing Startup Weekend and walked away the winner with Social Q&A. Dave described it as, “socially-ranked questions and answers for the classroom.” This idea grew from Dave’s personal experience in college lecture halls and when he originally pitched the idea at the Startup Weekend it squeaked into the competition with the bare minimum requirements. Dave pitched the idea and captured the attention of John Pytel and Eduardo Serrano – who joined him to build out the idea.

John (who is now co-founder and CEO) described his reaction when he heard the pitch.

When Dave told me about his idea for GoSoapBox, it was an “Aha” moment for me. Give students a platform to contribute to class without a physical interruption and they’ll use it! I know I would have. What I love about GoSoapBox though is that its value isn’t limited to students who don’t feel like participating, it benefits the entire class….even the A+ students sitting in the front row.

Later they joined the 2011 Chicago Lean Startup Challenge – and won. Dave discussed this with me at length but explained (in a nutshell) that it stressed build fast, fail fast, build again, repeat. Don’t spend ages trying to “perfect” the app or idea only to find out that you’ve just blown all of the money in the bank and the users hate it. GoSoapBox built different versions of their app and let users test it, provide feedback, and then they went back and rebuilt.

Why were they at Techweek 2012? Part of the reason certainly must have included the fact that they work just four floors above Techweek at 1871. Primarily they decided due to the summer downturn by educators and schools it makes sense to look into other options for revenue. Notice I said other options. They are bringing in money already. Techweek seemed to be the perfect time for them to launch their solution for conferences.

GoSoapBox improves audience engagement at your event by giving your audience an anonymous platform to ask questions, and the ability to respond to polls using any smartphone, tablet, or laptop…. all in real time.

No more dealing with complicated clickers, running around with microphones, or hearing from THAT GUY over and over. GoSoapBox makes audience engagement more interactive, more efficient, and more enjoyable than ever before.

When I first heard what the original concept did I immediately thought of any number of conferences that I’ve attended that included a Q&A session. Typically, if the speaker is very popular, it can be absolutely impossible to have your question asked. I thought this would be perfect for those situations. The audience can vote up questions that appeal to the whole rather than just a single person, the speaker could track the crowds interests through live polling, and it can serve to help make it so the person who asked the tough question remains anonymous (giving those of us in the press an edge if we’ve already pre-written our story while betting on the answer we might hear).

Dave and I discuss GoSoapBox, Chicago, and 1871 in the video interview below.

Linkage:

Find out more about GoSoapBox here

Here’s more of our coverage from Chicago TechWeek 2012

Like what we do? Here’s a link worth checking out

Techweek Startup City: LAUNCH contestants

Tomorrow is the third consecutive year of Techweek’s LAUNCH event.

On Monday, June 25, Startup City will highlight the startup ecosystem’s creativity and variety, giving attendees an exciting sneak peak of the newest ideas entering the market.

Located in the exhibit hall, this space provides an area for startups and aspiring entrepreneurs from Techweek LAUNCH to demo their products and network with potential investors and customers. Exhibitors can also receive feedback from technology trendsetters, media representatives, digital creatives and other exciting industries that attend Techweek. Startups are an important part of the world economy and an integral element of our conference.

I have compiled all of the startups and their websites that I could. I was unable to locate MouseHouse and/or Care Content. Take a look over the different contestants and let us know who you feel has a chance at winning top prize here at Techweek.

Care Content

MouseHouse

Wink

Techweek Chicago 2012 – Images from Day Two

We’re here at Techweek Chicago 2012 and wanted to bring you some photos from day 2. The focus today is Technology Skills & Development. We are nearing the end of the scheduled events at Merchant Mart for today.

I embedded my tentative schedule for the rest of Techweek below. If you are here at Techweek and would like to get together – browse my schedule and get in touch. If you are not here at Techweek but would like to watch it live check out this article by WiredPRWorks to see where and how.

One of the highlights of the day for me, due to arriving late in the day, was the Food Truck Face Off. I wanted to share some of the different food “trucks” and their distinct look and feel. Enjoy, and we will be back tomorrow with a focus on startups (above all else).

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

Startup Beach House beaten up by Jersey Shore’s Reputation – Cancelled for 2012

<sarcasm font> Thanks MTV for ruining the beach </sarcasm font>

Back in May we covered the Startup Beach House – “The basic concept was to bring about 5 startup teams to the beach house for a week to see what they could build. We would then film it to document the week and what came of it.”

Originally they had leased a house in Avalon New Jersey but in their words:

In March, we secured a house in Avalon, which was perfect. After a news story ran dubbing the Startup Beach House the “Jersey Shore for geeks” (or something of that nature), which the owners of the house saw, they immediately cancelled the lease in fears of all things “Jersey Shore.”

So in April they managed to find a house in Stone Harbor, NJ. but again ran into issues because of the Jersey Shore “reality” show. Again, Startup Beach House explains,

Another news story came out, again making an association to the reality show “Jersey Shore.” The realtors of the initial house saw the story and sent it to the realtors of the Stone Harbor house saying something along the lines of “we wanted to make sure you are aware of what these guys are doing.” This caused alarm for the new realtor and the owners of the Stone Harbor house, they wanted to immediately cancel the lease over concerns of the type of people at the house and any filming that would take place. After explaining in detail what we were planning to do, they hesitantly agreed to rent us the house with added stipulations, however, we did not want to work in such a non-supporting environment.

They have chosen to shutter the plan for Startup Beach House 2012 because it became nearly impossible to find an appropriate unit and speaking from personal experience in South Jersey Shore vacation homes – even if they could locate a house the price would be significantly higher. Their post explaining all of what transpired ends with:

We sincerely want to thank the hundreds of entrepreneurs and the startup community in general who have supported and promoted this effort. Also we are looking for a beach house owner or sponsor who is willing to work with us to further our goals of promoting the entrepreneurial spirit in the Philadelphia area.

We also want to thank those who have applied to be part of the inaugural Startup Beach House and encourage them to work on their ideas, even without the Startup Beach House. When we launch in 2013 we hope to have you all on board!

So there you have it. Jersey Shore, a “reality” show that personally I feel describes (to a T) the failures of American “pop” culture, has indirectly ruined another American culture, albeit in an incredibly small physical area. It is disheartening that 10-15 entrepreneurs and the three men behind Startup Beach House are left to deal with consequences of the actions of morons who are getting rich by dumbing down America. I’ll leave you with this thought.

“I know he’s a nice guy … he’s gotta be clean.” – Snooki, on her friend Keith

Linkage:

Startup Beach House

Indiegogo: We’re going back on the road to spread the word about startups Everywhere Else. We’ve got a $2 perk = Ramen or a $10 perk – Shower at a Truck Stop (Gotta be clean like Keith) – We could use your support. If you can’t afford $2 sharing the Indiegogo campaign is still free. :)

background layer of image courtesy of this site

Vancouver Startup Thinkingbox: touching consumers and corporations alike

via thinkingbox.ca

Everywhere Else: Thinkingbox is Vancouver based startup with offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles. They bring touch to the advertising space. As they state in their about page, “As a true interactive house, our focus is to provide a 2-way communication for all brands.

[DISCLAIMER] I HATE ADVERTISING, I felt it was necessary to mention that prior to going into this article. I believe it is a necessary evil as it provides us with great and useful information for “free” (ala Google) or provides an income for sites like ours (however modest, in our case extremely modest). I tend to have ad blocking on most of the computers I use and on all my Android devices. The reason is simple – very often ads get in the way of the experience. Either through pop ups that have impossibly small close buttons or by being rudely smartly placed by those who run sites like ours.

I have to admit that a company such as thinkingbox could be what changes my view on some advertising. One thing that has always been missing in most ads, I believe, is the actual ability to truly communicate with the companies. I don’t know if thinkingbox can change that just yet. What they have managed to do is make advertising campaigns more personal by adding interactive elements to in-store displays, billboards, and building full featured digital campaigns. They explain what their focus is, “Serving the advertising industry we focus on alternative media such as Touch Screen Billboards, 2-Way Interactive Campaigns, Touch and Motion Storefronts, Mobile and Tablet Applications and everything digital.”

I have wondered how long until all the different forms of advertising would converge into a unified experience. Thinkingbox is pushing towards that idea. Once they can provide websites like ours with advertising that can really pull our readers in we hope that the (extremely modest) ad income might be able to become something better – like decent.

We will be following up with them and hope to have an interview with the founder Amir Sahba and/or Director of Interactivity Natalie Elbracht within the next couple of weeks. I’ve included videos to some of their recent work. You can find their portfolio here

Starbucks – My Starbucks Rewards Interactive Display :

Starbucks “My Starbucks Rewards” Interactive Display from thinkingbox on Vimeo.

Approach: Thinkingbox implemented a fun, whimsical and engaging interactive application which was prominently featured as a touch-interactive display window. Animated falling stars beckoned passer-byes to engage, touch and explore. Players can make the stars follow their finger, collapse into a gravity well or explode off the screen. Delightful animated details such as motion blur and bouncy spring motion enhanced the whimsical nature of the piece. The application was deployed and ran on both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

Another example is from the Nike #KobeSystem brand. In thinkingbox’s words,

Scope: This custom app was featured along side the Nike Kobe VII System basketball shoes at a downtown Toronto Nike retailer. Customers could try out Nike shoes and then watch funny commercials featuring Kobe Bryant himself, explaining the Kobe System to various celebrities. These videos were compressed and optimized into the app that would also capture metrics on how well the app was able to engage customers.

Approach: A rich multimedia experience was required to showcase the Kobe System brand. An iPad was chosen as the medium because of its portable multitouch capability, multimedia options and ease of development.

The Kobe video can be found below:

Linkage:

Thinkingbox

Nibletz: On The Road Again – We like Ramen but we love Dinner For Two

VIDEO Capital Connection TechBUZZ ’12 Ending Keynote – Steve “Makes Our” Case

(photo: nibletz syndicate)

Capital Connection TechBUZZ ’12 Had Steve Case as the Keynote speaker at the end of the two days. In 1985 Steve Case founded AOL. It was the first internet company to go public, it was the largest media acquisition of its time.

When crowdfunding was brought up he spoke about the ability to raise funds for projects via indiegogo or kickstarter Recently he has been spending a lot of time in Washington DC convincing the US Government to deal with entrepreneurial issues and American jobs. When asked how he feels about crowdfunding (JOBS Act) he mentioned the fact that it has been passed and is waiting for the SEC to finish their part. The law had previously stated that it was illegal to sell private equity to investors online. “You can sell the whole business – 100% but you will go to jail if you sell 1%” Case stated “for the first 6 years it was illegal for us to connect to the internet.” The JOBS act focuses on modernizing an extremely old system.

In this short clip he discusses the benefits he sees in crowdfunding for startups and where it will may have the biggest benefit. As we are well aware, if you are in North Dakota, Philly, St Louis, Chicago, or Everywhere Else – it is very difficult to get covered by media outlets or to raise seed or angel capital. This is where we come in. We are planning on driving across the country for just over a year meeting with startups, incubators, accelerators, and their towns. While we cannot directly assist in helping you raise capital, we are sneaker strapped ourselves, we can help get your names out. We will come to your city and spend time with you. We don’t discriminate against a lack of funds being raised or lack of angels in your region. We only care about meeting startups who are making a go at something new.

We do need some help though, which explains the title of the article, our case has been made by Steve Case himself. Take a look below:

More stories from Capital Connection 2012/TechBUZZ here

What’s this sneaker strapped, startup road trip? Find out here