As the 10th anniversary of the Internet power house Google Inc, is throwing out its feelers in search of an idea that may help the world. And they are willing to up to 10 million dollars to whomever can deliver it. This innovative project known as 10^100 (pronounced “10 to the 100th”) is searching for 5 winning ideas that will make a difference in the world we live in. The prize amount will either come down to 5 winners at 2 mil a piece or 2 winners at 5 mil.
People have until until October 20th to submit their ideas (www.project10tothe100.com) This will then narrow down all contestants to 100 semifinalists. The public can then vote on their favourite ideas between the Jan.27 and Feb.2. Google is embracing the Internet age of “crowdsourcing” and pushing it to a whole new level.
“These ideas can be big or small, technology-driven or brilliantly simple — but they need to have impact,” Google said in a news release. “We know there are countless brilliant ideas that need funding and support to come to fruition.”
For an example of the projects Google would be keen on funding, check out the Hippo Water Roller, an innovative way of delivering water in rural areas of developing nations..
Bar camp is coming to Vancouver this weekend, and people that plan on attending better be ready to participate. This event will be filled with manic individuals eager to dive into the realms of web applications and open sourced technologies. If you plan on just being a spectator, you need not apply. All people will be blogging, social bookmarking, and just down right sharing amongst one another. Locations on events are located through out Vancouver, check out the Bar Camp Vancouver website for more info. Register quick or you may find your self jumping a fence with your macbook.
It makes perfect sense, how many times have people misplaced or misunderstood the use of instruction pamphlets? Exactly!!! One too many. Children and adults going bananas over the amount of monoply money to start with, what really is a ‘full house’ in poker, or how many marbles entails a winner of ‘Hungry hungry hippos’,Hmmm, well thats probably taking it a bit too far. However if a customized claytorial was present online then , ‘BANG’ instructions. Right there, all the time. Spreading clarity of your favourite games through out the online world. Perfect.
I suppose that some people out there might wonder why use claymation to illustrate the ins and outs of a product or service. And, in fact, there are several answers to that question. There have been a multiple of different formats and styles out in the tech sphere that have been used to create a product demo. None of them are wrong, just different.
Check out common craft. They use paper cut-outs to help simplify a complex process. Everyone has seen a flash animation that highlights a step by step process. And there has even been screen shots with voice-over accompaniment that describe complex functions. That’s why claymation made so much sense. It hasn’t really been utilized in this way on the web before. It’s a style that is instantly recognizable and yet fresh all at once.
There have been some great claymation advertising campaigns in the past. Anyone remember the Techron commercials for Cheveron? Claymation even has a timelessness quality to it, if I may be so bold. I could see people enjoying Wallace and Gromit for generations to come.
To summarize my point I’ll leave you with a personal favorite of mine - Pingu. This little guy has been charming guys and gals for decades. He was hot before “March of the Penguins” and he just has such great attitude.
One of my favourite claymations has always been Mr.Bill, started in the mid 70’s on Saturday Night Live. His adventures always started off innocent enough, though would quickly spiral into dangerous scenarios for Mr.Bill and his dog Spot. The antagonists usually being Mr.Hands ( a pair of hands) or Mr.Sluggo, a series of blue claymation characters fit with scowls, that always had it out for Mr.Bill.
A big thank you to the people Eyejot in Seattle for upgrades to our account.This will be of great help to us up here in Vancouver in the delivery of the claytorial. If any of you haven’t had the chance to peek eyejot, I would definitely check it out, they are doing some interesting work in making video messaging the norm.
Have you ever visited a website with a intricate explanation where you wished you could just have a short video explanation to guide you?
The majority of us have, and as the Internet becomes a more complex arena, this is where custom Claytorial videos play their part.
Claytorials can be developed for any business or organization, that has a unique idea they are trying to get across to their audience. These are customized and branded for each organization, let it be for corporate or educational understanding. With a Claytorial, we make difficult things easy to understand.
