Tesco's First QR Code Enabled Print Advert

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Mike Fethers, a buyer for Tesco Entertainment, has sent me Tesco's first QR-code enabled print advert!

You should be able to scan the QR code on the image he sent me below (click image to show larger version if needed) using your smart-phone with a suitable barcode-scanning app.

The QR-code contains an HTML link which is http://bit.ly/aefZn7 which gets converted by bit.ly into 

That page is a deep link into our Tesco Entertainment site that enables you buy the game direct from Tesco. It's great to see QR-codes make the light of day at Tesco!

UPDATE: You can find out how many times that the HTML link has been followed by clicking this link! (Hat tip to @edent on Twitter)

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NTT DoCoMo's AR Walker on BBC Click

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06:10 - Details on the AR Walker designed by NTT DoCoMo

Some details on these Augmented Reality glasses for my dissertation topic -

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/06/ntt-docomos-ar-walker-is-augmented-reality...

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The Big Draw 2010 - DrawAndFoldOver.com

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THE BIG DRAW 2010

October 2010 is Big Draw month in twenty countries and on five continents. Launched in 2000, this annual initiative has grown from 180 events in the UK to over 1500 worldwide. The Campaign aims to use drawing to connect visitors with museum and gallery collections, urban and rural spaces – and the wider community – in new and enjoyable ways.

Every Big Draw season offers unlimited scope for those who love to draw and those who think they can’t.

Take a look at what’s happening in your area and join an event. More venues are added daily, so be sure to visit again. 
Big Draw Day is Saturday 9 October, but events started at the end of September and continue until early November.

Can't wait? Play Draw and Fold Over.

Join us on 22 and 23 October for Make your Mark on the Future: From London Bridge to Tower Bridge. At our Big Draw Festival you can choose from thirty activities at eight venues, and collect your free Daler-Rowney art materials. No one is too young or old to take part in this free drawing bonanza.

It’s not too late to organise an event and enter for a Drawing Inspiration Award. Publicise your plans now on our regional listings pages and use our logo on all marketing materials.Visitwww.facebook.com/BigDraw2010 and post information and photos about your event. Tell your friends.

The Big Draw is sponsored by Daler-Rowney and Cass Art.

One example of the drawandfoldover.com website -

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Digital Hero - A Working Progress

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I've been working on the interface design for my Digital Hero project. I've just added in some simple buttons with hovers but they don't navigate to anywhere yet. It's a working progress and will be changing over the next few days as I come to completing the project. 

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Digital Hero - The Solutions

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I wanted the solutions to these piracy problem to be characters that were friendly and inviting. I remember seeing the Cineworld certification and mobile advert and liking the animated mobile phones at the very end. I have therefore tried a similar approach with my characters. However, I'm finding it harder to create the characters for the movie side of things. I'm going to go for LoveFilm, Sky Movies and I was tempted to use BBC iPlayer, but it's probably seen as more for TV shows rather than films.

After a chat with my tutor I've decided to modified the navigation tabs. They will now be designed as yellow post-it notes. This makes more sense to see them stuck on the TV. An updated design for the music piracy page is above.

((tag: digital, piracy, project)).

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Charity Hack 2010 - QR Codes For Enhanced Mobile Giving

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<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src=" " /><div style="width:425px" id="__ss_5233233"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px">Charity hack   qr codes</strong></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more presentations from Terence Eden.</div></div>

Via - http://shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php/2010/09/charity-hack-qr-codes-for-enhanced-mobile-giving/

For more information of the event check out the Charity Hack website

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The Real Life Super Heroes Project - Inspiration for my Project

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The image is taken from The Real Life Super Heroes Project. Since my project is hero inspired, I want to look at real-life heroes and how the present themselves. Their styles and images will be used as inspiration for my Digital Piracy, Are You A Digital Hero? project.

The website itself is really interesting and is well worth having a look at. These are real-life super heroes.

'Indeed, there is a real subculture of genuine heroes, that bridge the gap between the fantastic and the practical. Anonymous and selfless, they choose every day, to make a difference in the world around them. Whether it be feeding the hungry, comforting the sick, or cleaning up their neighborhoods, they save real lives in very real ways. These are not “kooks in costumes,” as they may seem at first glance. They are, simply put, a radical response… to a radical problem.'

Image from - http://www.reallifesuperheroes.com/2010/07/21/super-hero/

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Influencers - How Trends & Creativity Become Contagious -Trailer

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INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends & creativity become contagious today in music and fashion.

Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today's pop culture.

Follow INFLUENCERS on facebook.com/​influencersfilm

((tag: influencers, documentary, trends, creativity, contagious))

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Digital Hero & Villain Designs

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Just been working on some possible improvements and interactive elements to the index page. Each character would hopefully be animated. It would also flicker between the two types of pages.

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Are You A Digital Hero? - Digital Piracy Project

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Over the past few days I've been working on the facts for my infographics and interface designs for my Digital Piracy project.
 
I've decided not to create infographics for the site but just write out the fact in an easy to read manor. This way I have more room for other illustrations within my TV screen.
 
Here are some points that I still need to complete -
  • I want to add in more colour for the more positive bits of the site
  • Produce a quiz possibly entitled 'How Much of a Digital Hero Are You?'
  • Animate main index page having the work 'HERO' flicker in and out with the word 'VILLAIN'
  • I want to add illustrations of super heroes and villains
  • I need to work out how to display the solutions, for example, using iTunes, BBC iPlayer, 4OD, Spotify, etc.
The basics are slowly coming together but there is still a lot of work to do.

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Debenhams Getting into QR Codes With a FREE Hot Drink

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QR Code in Debenhams Leeds store
 
Scan the picture with your smartphones and it should read - DB::ALERT::Thank you for downloading the Debenhams iPhone app! Enjoy a FREE tea or coffee in this store. Simply show your Debenhams app at the Restaurant or Cafe till in store! [Only valid today for one time use]
 

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Digital Piracy Facts for Designing Infographics

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I'm researching some Digital Piracy fact so I can create some infographics to include in my project.

Here are my findings -

'Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.'

'IPSOS SURVEY 2007 - Latest figures from the annual IPSOS survey show that the total loss to the whole audio visual industry through copyright theft, including file sharing, home burning and borrowing other people’s fake DVDs is £486million. The criminal gain from DVD piracy is £200 million at street prices.'

Fact Seizure Figures and Analysis


 2000 20012002200320042005 20062007
VHS98371136871833878746211067252022051106
DVD92458972333761716182032391398804162142214115021
DVD-R0093995195256538943127312014046812707111
VCD4665887337164499126810438747431188211
TOTAL15427431393167949820277312985282208054515468952823449

'The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimates there were 890 million free illegal music downloads through file sharing networks in the UK in 2007, compared with 140 million paid downloads' [VIA http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1189509/Illegal-file-sharing-downloads-cost-thousands-British-jobs-year.html]

'99% of the UK's singles market is now digital. The growth of this format has provided fantastic flexibility for consumers and great opportunities for the music business to innovate. The format has its challenges, in the main because of the proliferation of unpaid for and unlicensed online digital file-sharing. Online copyright infringement cost the UK music community an estimated £200m in 2009 - this is money that should have gone to those who created the music and into developing new musical talent.' [VIA http://www.bpi.co.uk/category/digital-music.aspx]

Lots of facts and figures in this report too - http://www.bva.org.uk/files/images/AV_Piracy_Final_Report_-_FINAL.pdf

  • Audio visual industry lost £531m in 2008
  • Music industry losing £165m annually from physical piracy
  • Music industry lost £180m from online piracy in 2008
  • Music industry projected to lose £1.2 billion from online piracy 2007-2012
  • Counterfeit clothing and footwear costing legitimate businesses £3.5bn annually
  • Business software industry losing £1bn annually
  • Criminal gain from fake clothing and footwear: £3bn
  • Criminal gain from DVDs: £200m
  • Games software industry estimates losses at £350m annually
  • 23% of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises have had their business significantly affected by IP crime
  • 40% of businesses surveyed by IPCG took no practical action such as trade mark registration or employee training to ensure their and others IP is protected
Digital Music and Movies Report filled with facts - http://newsroom.mcafee.com/images/10039/DMMRReport_US_25Aug2010.pdf

Now it's about finding the best ones and making some nice looking infographics with them. The clock's ticking!

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Love Plus - Augmented Reality Girlfriends

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Simulated Project Proposal - Digital Piracy

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I will be approaching this project as a government scheme set up to educate schools about digital piracy. This will be done by designing an interactive website that will include illustrated infographics about how digital piracy is damaging for both film and music industries and it will highlighting alternative legal solutions for the school children to use.

Since this project will be focused at school children, the language and images will match accordingly. It will be colourful, playful and simple. I will frame the site within the simple interface of a television and use the idea of ‘heroes and villains.’ This will help provoke a positive response to do the right thing, which in this case will be to download material through the legal processes suggested. I will develop the legal programs like BBC iPlayer and iTunes as the heroes and the illegal methods as villains. As heroes and villains are mainly used as concepts in cartoons and comics, I want to include their dot matrix style.

As interactive elements go, I will be including a quiz which will ask questions on digital piracy and showing them what is right and wrong. I will also include the ability to share the information to their friends if they suspect that they may be downloading music or films illegally.

Examples of sites that have a similar styles to what I have in mind are the following -

Knock-Off Nigel - http://www.knockoffornot.com/

This Flash based site has many interactive features that I would like to incorporate into my site. I also like the design style they've adopted for the site.

Fight Piracy - http://www.fightpiracy.org/

The roughness in design style and their comic book strip helps the website to be more relevant to its younger audience. Having information displayed in a visual way also makes it a more enjoyable experience.

Why Music Matters - http://www.whymusicmatters.org/

This site, informing users on the value of music, has an informal, hand-drawn and sketchy style which also appeals to a younger audience. Including short animations to inform users can be helpful. In my case, I hope to use slightly animated infographics.

The project will be made up of roughly 5 web pages which will be linked together via simple navigation buttons. The project will also require me to be using the following software - Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash and Xara Designer Pro 6, a vector drawing package. I will also use coding languages such as XHTML, CSS and jQuery.

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20 Interesting Things - QR Codes & Augmented Reality

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<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_4635418"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px">20 Interesting Things: QR Codes</strong></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more presentations from David Stutts.</div></div>

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_4403797"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px">20 Interesting Things: Augmented Reality</strong></object><div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more presentations from David Stutts.</div></div>

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Augmented Reality Business Card by James Alliban

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The Best Business Card I've Ever Seen!
Brilliant use of Augmented Reality

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Colourful Louis Vuitton Designer QR Code Rocks | Mobile Inc

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A creative solution to using a QR Code within an advert. Shame it doesn't actually work :-(

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How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online?

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Some more infographics as inspiration for my Digital Piracy project that I'm currently working on.

143 Self-pressed CD or 4,549,020 plays per month on Spotify. As a solo artist, which one would prefer your fans to do?

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Augmented Reality Meets QR Codes

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QR Codes working with Augmented Reality.
Research for my dissertation topic.

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The Future isn't QR Codes, it's Clic2C

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Two days ago I received an email from a guy called Alex McIntosh from DigitalSpace.

He had been reading my blog and had something to show me. That 'this is the future... no barcodes'

'Simply we can link any printed item (Leaflet , off the page add , packaging POS ) to the your mobile friendly web via a free to load application on a mobile device called Clic2c. This is enabled by digital watermarking of the printed piece which can be read securely by a camera on a mobile phone linking the device to the Content (video rich media) We feel there is a huge opportunity to enable consumers  to immediately interact with  brands , and interact in a secure mobile  way 

EG :An off the page advert can be linked directly to a web page on a mobile device in a secure way to serve up anything from a recipe to a coupon.'

 http://www.demodone.com/client-movies/clic2c-se.html

So in light of this, I had to try it myself. I went to their Clic2C website, downloaded the application on my HTC Legend and opened up one of their examples - http://www.clic2c.co.uk/example.html

It worked incredibly quickly. Within a few seconds of pointing my camera at the first example it open a browser window to a web page displaying interactive content.

Does this mean we won't need QR Codes any more? Well only if the method used in embedding the watermark is openly shared. As long as we know how to embed a watermark that will activate the browser to open a web page QR Codes could have some competition!

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Researching Digital Piracy

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I've spent the last few hours reading through some material on the web on Digital Piracy. Here are a few key things that I've highlighted -

The following notes have come from this research paper entitled 'RIAA, MPAA, and the Digital Piracy Issue: Comparing Public Relations Strategies and Effectiveness' and it can be found through the following link -

http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/1/4/4/6/p14465_index.html

'While the motion picture industry has addressed the issue through educational efforts, consumer awareness programs, and legislative action, the music recording industry has pursued an aggressive strategy of legal action against file sharers while seeking to minimize negative publicity resulting from lawsuits'

The film industry have got it right. Addressing the issue of digital piracy through educating people is the way forward. Thanking their audiences for coming to see their films is also a nice touch.

'A recent American Online poll indicated that 70% of the respondents either did not know or did not feel that sharing motion pictures over
the Internet was illegal'

'The few pay services that were initially available could not compete with the existing sources of free music online.'

Music for me goes on how quick I can get my hands on it and personally how good the music is. If I'm having to pay for it then it must be worth it. I am however a big fan of streaming my music via Spotify. I believe that in paying for music you like, you are ultimately helping that artist create more music, which you will no doubt also like. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the majority of the music industry is natural selection on a big scale. OK, thousands of good artists get their music passed around illegally but if their fans are true, loyal fans, wouldn't they be happy to pay?

Now onto what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) say about Digital Piracy - http://www.riaa.com/faq.php

'Plain and simple: piracy is bad news. While the term is commonly used, "piracy" doesn't even begin to describe what is taking place. When you go online and download songs without permission, you are stealing. ...For every artist you can name at the top of the Billboard music charts, there is a long line of songwriters, sound engineers, and label employees who help create those hits. They all feel the pain of music theft.'

'One credible analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concludes that global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.'

Don't get me wrong, seeing that music piracy causes losses of billions of dollars a year is a problem, but for me, seeing here that 71,060 people lose their jobs due to piracy is unbelievable! When you're download music tracks illegally you just don't see the repercussions of your actions. If people could see how it effects other peoples jobs wouldn't that be a more effective strategy rather than to say we lose X amount of money a year? Although we are told how much money is lost, how much money is gained for legal music downloads? What's the ratio between the amount they loose and the amount they gain?

'All the same, it?s important to note that across the board, piracy is a very real threat to the livelihoods of not only artists and record label employees but also thousands of less celebrated people in the music industry ? from sound engineers and technicians to warehouse workers and record store clerks. Piracy undermines the future of music by depriving the industry of the resources it needs to find and develop new talent and drains millions of dollars in tax revenue from local communities and their residents.'

Being educated on the livelihoods of the less celebrated people in the music industry is where the film and music industry really need to concentrate.

All this research has highlighted the bad point about digital piracy, but are there any good points I wonder? Oxford economist Karen Croxson suggests that 'piracy does not necessarily undermine profit as pirates may actually help to promote the product they steal.'
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2008/080317.html

Reading the article, I somewhat agree with Karen. Computer games don't have the same problem with piracy due to their methods of safeguarding their games but also due to the audience they aim at.

Looking at software producers, for example Abobe, they put a lower effort into protecting their products because they have guaranteed sales through professional users. Professional users tend to 'attach a higher worth to office software than, for example, students.'

I think the main point here regarding software is this - If I wasn't going to purchase it in the first place, surely that means you haven't lost any money? This theory could also be used on the download of movies and potentially music too, but is that just finding a reason for you to say it's OK for me to steal?

'With valuable users shying away from copying, the sellers in the business software market find themselves more naturally insulated against lost sales. Those more inclined to pirate, perhaps students, probably wouldn't have bought the product anyway, so represent virtually free promotion. This helps explain why business software companies do not put as many resources into protection as computer games manufacturers.'

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The Music Industry & Online Piracy by the Numbers - Infographic

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'A new infographic from D. Israel Peralta compiles data from various industry sources and Oddee.com to show how the music industry’s published figures about piracy compare to other external sources.  Some numbers worth looking at:

  • Digital music has grown from $20M in 2003 to $4.2B in 2009
  • The industry claims 95% Piracy Rate, while only 10% are seen as a loss of sales
  • The Average teen’s iPod has $800 of Pirated Music

There is also breakdowns of where the $15.99 of an Album sale goes, along with individual figures for the major labels.'

Via http://www.vizworld.com/2010/05/infographic-music-piracy/

I find displaying information as a graphic much easier to take in. Maybe I could approach my project as an infographic displaying the facts in a visual way. After displaying these facts I would then go on to inform the users of several different ways to stay on the legal side of the law. Maybe approach it as the broad and narrow path?

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Digital Piracy - Simulated Brief

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Project Introduction

The simulated project lasts three weeks. This project is designed to give you experience of the production process in anticipation of your live project. In industry the turn around for similar projects would be approximately one week and so this short project aims to help you understand more about the “pace” or “work rate” required of multimedia practitioners in the commercial arena.

Background / Context

Produce a short multimedia piece that informs about or illustrates Digital Piracy.

Here are a few more site I've come across while researching the topic of Digital Piracy and how to inform users about it -

http://www.knockoffornot.com/
The 'Knock-Off Nigel' anti-piracy campaign targeted the downloading of illegal movies from the internet. It has a catchy theme song that can be sent to your 'Knock-Off Nigel' friends and some interactive elements which included a game and quiz. This could be a brilliant example of what my project could turn out to be.


The IT Crowd's Piracy Warning - 'You wouldn't steal a policeman's helmet and go to the toilet in it... would you?' Very Funny!

http://www.copyrightaware.co.uk/
Targeting the film industry this website gives information on the copyright laws and downloading legally. It also includes short clips from workers within the industry encouraging people to watch films at the cinema instead of watching a bad quality version on your computer. Displaying information on alternative ways to get legal movies, music, etc. is important otherwise sites are seen just telling people what NOT to do rather than what to do.

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