C4 Explosive Communications

Wood’s Words for 9/4/08

Perspctv

Perspctv is just what we all need with the election season upon us and this site will blow you away with its use of pie charts, poll results, widgets and how often it’s updated. It aggregates traditional media stories and all the blog talk too. As one report of this site said, “We have seen the future of news, and it is so two seconds ago.”

Traceable Retail
”Today’s global economy has given consumers an endless variety of products and services to choose from. With no real personal connection to the companies and brands creating such, a new generation of consumers that demands more information about their purchases is growing. They want to know how a product was made, where it was made, who it was made by, and how it was transported to them. In addition, information regarding the company’s carbon footprint, fair treatment of labor workers, and distribution methods is important to them as well.” Examples include:

• “Love, Earth,” a line of fine jewelry sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, allows shoppers to enter each item’s batch number online to reveal a ‘chain of custody’ - a documentation of locations the item has traveled, from its country of origin clear through to the store it was purchased in.”
• “Icebreaker,” a sustainable merino wool clothing company, provides shoppers with a special tag that features a Baacode. Consumers can enter the code on the Icebreaker site to read about the exact sheep that provided the wool in the garment, meet the sheep farmer, and follow the garment along the supply chain from sheep to finished product. Providing an in-depth look into the lifecycle of a product before it hits the shelf gives consumers vital information they can’t usually access, as well as some reassurance that the process in which it was made and how it came to be in their hands was a positive one.”

RoofRay

This site is still in beta but you can “use this site to find out if you can convert your house into a completely solar-powered energy hub. RoofRay uses a variety of resources, such as Google Maps, to evaluate and determine solar panel models for homes and businesses. Solar potential could soon hold higher value when it comes to real estate decision making, and RoofRay is getting an early start in the game by making it easier for consumers to access information on how to reduce their carbon footprint and lighten up their lives with some solar strength.”

Cymbolism

“Exploring the theory of color symbolism, this new website tracks the feelings, moods and emotions of people based upon their real-time perceptions of certain colors. The site’s blog provides a lengthy explanation about the history of color psychology, as well as cultural discrepancies and behavioral implications around color association, but per its mission statement, the website exists primarily to help designers make more appropriate color choices to achieve the “desired emotional effect” when creating new products and services.”

Dooce

Thanks to Gail for this one. “Heather Armstrong’s wickedly funny blog about motherhood, Dooce, is more than just an outlet for the creativity and frustrations of a modern mother. The site, chock full of advertising, is a moneymaking machine — so much so that Ms. Armstrong and her husband have both quit their regular jobs. The site boast 850,000 readers, mostly women, who avidly follow Ms. Armstrong’s adventures. Although Ms. Armstrong will not disclose exact numbers, Dooce’s revenue this year is on track to be seven times its size in 2006, according to Federated Media, which sells ads for the blog.”

BeCounted

“BeCounted is a Facebook application that is currently near the end of its development stage. Once released, BeCounted will dramatically change the voting landscape for college students. It will facilitate the voting process by directly linking young voters to the information they need to register, to request absentee ballots, and to ultimately, cast their ballots on time. BeCounted will eventually accrue large quantities of statistical data that will reshape the way that college voter registration drives are done. It will be a comprehensive tool for campus political activists and everyday students alike. Find out more about us and join our Facebook group in the meantime at our website given above or feel free to contact me via email. Once the application is out, we will send you a link to our Facebook application through a simple message. We are excited and, hopefully, you are too- spread the word.”

Has the Cat Got Your Tongue

Cat with four ears

Yoda’s extra ‘flaps’ are separate to the base of his skull, with one placed slightly behind the other. ‘The vet had never seen anything like it before,’ explains Valerie. ‘He immediately went to the internet and found the four-eared cat in Germany…

‘We have spoken with other vets in our acquaintance, and they likewise had never encountered anything like this. Yet despite his unusual looks, Valerie is sure Yoda’s behaviour - and hearing - are quite normal.

‘Yoda’s hearing is normal as far as we know,’ says Valerie. ‘People do a double take when they see him or his picture. It is great fun showing him off.

New motto for Russia?

Roger von Oech is at it again — with a challenge to come up with a new motto for Russia.  Let’s play …

http://blog.creativethink.com/2008/08/russia-needs-a.html

The new, unique, cool and trendy to ring out July!

(via Wood’s Words)

• Facecard is a new prepaid debit and gift card aimed at Gen Ys and Millennials. For this plugged in group, facecard’s unique draw is its online social networking component. Check it out: http://members.facecard.com/

• I’m a PANK! Savvy Auntie (www.savvyauntie.com) is a “parenting site for non-parents” which targets a new demo called “Professional Aunts, No Kids” aka PANKS.

• Ever wondered who was the all-time best band from each state? All those answers and more from this website put together by the staff of the alternative weekly paper, The Boston Phoenix. Each state’s page features artist videos and MP3 downloads. http://thephoenix.com/Supplements/2008/50States

• What’s next for Wii? Wii Resort, slated for Spring 2009 release, will let users do everything from jet skiing to sword fencing to beach frisbee with a dog. The game will come with a new Wii accessory, the Wii MotionPlus.

• I told you a couple of months ago about Muxtape, well now there’s Mixwit a more user-friendly way to drag songs from your MP3 collection into a playlist that can be embedded and shared – complete with a cassette tape graphic that can be customized for each playlist. www.mixwit.com

• Have you checked out the new YouTube Screening Room? This new section of the site (www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom) dedicated to airing films by top indie filmmakers. Many of them have been shown at international film festivals while others will be receiving their debut. New films are posted every Friday.

• www.neave.com The “personal interactive playground” of interactive designer Paul Neave, Neave is where Paul posts the design experiments that may not necessarily fit into his hired jobs. “Akin to a psychedelic light show, the site offers various channels in which the user can interact with abstract visuals ranging from digital dandelion fluff to strobe light graphics that offer some tricks to the eye. The Games section contains classic arcade games redesigned in Flash, while the Television is a mixed bag of vintage cartoons, old black-and-white classic films, and what seems like creepy surveillance footage”

• Looking for the latest sport? Leet, created by a group of Finnish entrepreneurs, is a new stick-and-ball team sport. Played four people to a team, the object of the sport, which is similar to lacrosse, is to score by using tube-like sticks to get the ball through raised circular hoops. Leet can be played both at the amateur level and at the professional level in a specially designed transparent Leet arena. The game has been getting a lot of exposure on college campuses, with stops at ASU and UCLA this past spring. www.playleet.com

• Just for fun, check out this and I’ll bet you’ll spend more time than you think you ever would making this guy dance! http://www.davidbessler.com/pulldown/pipecleaner_dance3.swf

• I had to include something for Twitter fans (and those keepings dibs on trends): An opinion search engine, Summize offers user-friendly features like keyword search filters, language filtering, the ability to reply to found tweets, to look at tweets from/to a specific user, and the ability to track mood based on emoticons. A sidebar also lists the top “trending topics”, and advanced search options even allow users to conduct a localized query. www.summize.com 

• For all kinds of “how-to” guides (you won’t believe the variety) check out this site powered by Barnes & Noble. Each guide includes step-by-step instructions, complete with brief historical tutorials and what you need to get started lists. I guess Quamut (pronounced “kwa-mut”) is Latin for how-to. http://quamut.com/

• The Hype Machine lets you listen to any song posted to a blog, which becomes just about any song every written. http://hypem.com