Useful Google+ Hangout Apps - Toyota Social Car Configurator & Storytime

As Google+ matures G+ Hangout apps are continuing to be used in ways that allow people to collaborate in new and interesting ways.  We've seen a slate of interesting new Google+ Hangout apps launch over the past few months, but I wanted to highlight a couple of useful Hangout app executions.

The Toyota Collaborator Hangout app has it's origins in a prototype app that my talented colleagues on the Zoo developer team created some months back.  The prototype has since been picked up by Toyota with Saatchi & Saatchi LA + Joystiq Interactive developing it out into a beautiful and polished social car configurator.  The app brings the experience of the online car configurator into a collaborative space where users can create their own personalized Prius along with friends and family.  Furthermore, Toyota has sales people available in the Hangout to answer various questions. book a test drive, etc. Check out the demo video below.



The second Hangout app I want to highlight is from Penguin books and developed by BBH London. The idea is to bring storytime into the digital age.  As the Storytime Hangout site describes: 'Magically transform yourself into characters from your favourite tales with Storytime Hangout. Share stories with your family, no matter where they are in the world.'

As both a new father and someone with young nieces and nephews across the Atlantic, I find this incredibly compelling.  It's a case of using technology to make the world smaller and bring people closer together in a way that mirrors existing behaviour.

The app experience itself is delightful, as participants can transform themselves into their favourite characters using head tracking technology and the lines of the story appear on the screen alongside the masked faces so both adults and children can read the lines as though they were reading the book together physically.  Three Billy Goats Gruff is hopefully just the first of many Penguin books that's brought to life with G+ Storytime.  Check out the intro video below and head over to Story Time Hangout to experience it yourself.


P.S.  BBH Labs has a nice writeup about the background and process of bringing this to life.

Posted by: Reuben Halper

Newspaperswork - 6 Things YOu Can Miss While Reading A Newspaper

I somehow missed this prior to the holidays.  The guys at Duval Guillaume recently created this lovely video in order to promote Newspaperswork, the marketing platform for all Belgian newspaper publishers.  In the video, three of the top advertising executives in Belgium are offered a free ride to work in a chauffeur-driven sedan.  Ostensibly they've been offered the chauffeur service so that they'll have time to read the newspaper on their way to the office.
Rather than ruin the payoff, I'd ask that you just watch below.

It's an incredibly clever and interesting use of video to demonstrate the power of print.  Very meta.

Dolce & Gabana - Video Comes To Print

Several thousand copies of the October issue of the UK Marie Claire includes a video ad in print.  The double page spread for Dolce & Gabana fragrances feature a 45-second video ad (including sound) which plays when the reader opens the page.  The technology was developed by Americhip and gives advertisers the opportunity to bring their print ads to life.  It's previously been used in Russian Vogue, but this is a UK first.  So is this the start of a wider trend or just a gimmick?  I haven't experienced it for myself, so I haven't a clue, but I'm intrigued by the idea.  See the video capture below that someone else was kind enough to upload to YouTube


On a more low-fi note, I just came across this Cannes winner from Brazil.  Developed by JWT for Coca-Cola FM, it turns a magazine into an iPhone speaker.  At first read I thought it must be similar tech to above, but in fact it was a genius low-fi execution.  A few strategic cuts in the ad and instructions on how to roll up the magazine turned it into an amplified.  Check it out below.


via PSFK