Denuology: The Observation and Observations of Denuo. » Technology

PLAYED – January 2012

Rafferty — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:45:52 +0000

Hello Denuo friends and Happy 2012!

This month’s issue will get your new year off on the right foot with a look at gaming’s influence on health platforms and their subsequent influence on your waistline. We’ll also get a glimpse at what’s to come in 2012 with a few gaming trends and prognostications.

Xbox Live’s ‘Metro’ dashboard update debuted last month to great fanfare, but not all of the platform’s 44MM users were thrilled with the change. Speaking of thrilling, though The Last of Us currently isn’t more than a trailer, press release, and screen grabs, the amount of buzz around this new title has gamers on edge. What can marketers learn about bringing new IP to market from Naughty Dog’s latest? Lastly, while Humble Indie Bundle 4 may be over, we’re already looking forward to their next release; not only to play awesome indie games, but also to do our part for charities. Download PLAYED now!

As always, every PLAYED article contains links to videos, supplemental info, and other digital goodies – so be sure to click throughout the enhance your PLAYED experience.

Enjoy PLAYED and Happy New Year from all of us on the team.

CES 2012: The Return of Practical Tech

jdurbin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:33:56 +0000

Last year was my first trip to CES and frankly, I was disappointed. Everything had to do with 3D. 3D TV’s, 3D video games, 3D without glasses, 3D energy conservation appliances. I found this development disappointing and surprising for three reasons.

This year was a different story. I was amazed at the amount of practical technology that was being presented. Sure, there were still massive 3D displays (LG) but it felt more like a showroom floor where the theme is “we’ll make life better” as opposed to “isn’t this neat?”

"Cut the Rope" as arcade game. File under "Neat!"

Of course there was some opportunity to fall into each category. For example, TCL developed Dual Screen Television Technology. From one TV screen people can watch two different shows by wearing different glasses. Anyone who is married or shares a studio apartment (ew, seriously, find your own place) knows how useful this is. Now my wife can watch “Bridget Jones’s Diary” while I watch “Bridget Jones’s Diary 2: The Edge of Reason” from the same TV! (high five)

Casio demonstrated a watch that can sync with your smartphone. Someone calls you in a meeting and you can look at your watch to see who it is. Then awkwardly answer your phone. This is just one of many examples of device syncing that occurred all over the showroom floor but was definitely the most unique. Tapping into the cloud to sync was one of the bigger themes of CES 2012 whether that be syncing computing devices to save information or appliances to save energy. Tablets got a boost as they can now wirelessly connect to your TV. This is a big win for anyone who rents a movie through iTunes or just wants to experience a bigger display whilst playing Plants vs Zombies.

Despite the downplay on 3D, TV was still king of the show. This year just about every TV booth had a motion control TV. Which is great because now I don’t have to burn precious calories wandering my apartment looking for my remote. Technicolor displayed a panoramic TV technology that allows you to control the camera as you watch live sporting events. This was far more interesting than ESPN’s massive display pimping ESPN3D. Don’t get me wrong, ESPN staged a live boxing match and broadcast SportsNation from the show floor, which was super cool. But all of it was there to promote ESPN3D. Being able to point the camera wherever I want is far more appealing than feeling like Trent Richardson is coming right at me. The push of ESPN3D was interesting considering that a few months ago AT&T dropped it from it’s Uverse package. ESPN might be feeling the heat to recoup some of it’s high investment in the channel. My advice to ESPN? Ditch 3D as a separate channel and figure out a way to broadcast individual events in 3D on ESPN. Kinda like the way SAP or closed captioning works. Admission: I don’t know how SAP or closed captioning works.

Dish TV’s “Hopper” is a new set top box that has 2 terabytes of storage. This means you can record six HD shows while simultaneously recording four more HD shows. That sounds incredible. But as I walked by paper thin HD TV’s with unbelievable pictures, developing a box seems like a strange effort. I didn’t see any of the other major cable companies there, but they needed to be. They hold the keys to TV development now. Super thin TV’s are always going to look worse with a lot of wires sticking out or a box on a shelf nearby. AT&T has a new box that is wireless, which is a step in the right direction. But the first cable company who figures out how to stream their programming and push it onto the cloud is going to have the inside track in the cable race.

If you squint you can see a TV

This goes for video game console developers too. An XBox adds cables and wires and “stuff” next to a TV which hurts the overall aesthetics of the room. I don’t know the stats on it, but I am guessing a lot of gamers (15%?) are also renters and not in a position to drill a massive hole in their wall to install a wall mount. Of course of that 15% probably .03% are concerned with room aesthetics.

That’s not the only issue for game developers. I took some time to play EA’s Dead Space on the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. The Tablet was great. The game looked absolutely beautiful and was very responsive as I navigated through a spaceship with people impatiently looking over my shoulder. I did have some major issues, however, in trying to work the controls. It required swipes and taps and holding thumbs down in position. Overall, it was a very klunky gameplay experience. We’re very conditioned to use controllers and for deeper mobile gaming experiences, this is going to be critical. Companies are working on it, but it’s not here yet. In fact, given how prominent mobile and mobile accessories were this year, don’t be surprised to see some major tech players have some solutions to this at CES 2013 (assuming the Mayans were wrong). But until then, casual games or games designed specifically for tabs will dominate the marketplace.

There was no bigger sign (literally) as to the importance of mobile than Samsung’s promotion of it’s Galaxy Note.

The aforementioned sign. And yes, I will interrupt paragraph flow for a bad pun.

The Galaxy Note is a pocket sized tablet (bigger than a phone). It comes with a pen and is being positioned as taking on the role of a notebook you always take with you. To promote it, Samsung hired artists to draw caricatures of CES attendees on the Galaxy Note. Sounds kinda dorky, and I judged it pretty hard when I first saw, but it was pretty awesome. You could even get your caricature on a t-shirt. Which you should give to someone as a gift. There were several TV’s and mobile devices like the Galaxy note that came with pens for writing. Not unlike the Newton from the 90’s. Here’s the problem. If you have horrible handwriting (as I apparently do) it is a frustrating and pointless endeavor to try to take advantage of the writing capability on these devices. The thing that makes it all the more frustrating, especially the TV’s that could be “written” on, is that they make a lot of sense. They are very neat from a tech standpoint but also fill a void in our daily lives. Which is exactly what the tech industry needs to be doing and why this CES left me so optimistic for the future.

Caricatures on the Samsung Galaxy Note

A tip for anyone planning to go to CES next year: Go later in the day and later in the week. I was there Tuesday around lunchtime and it was a nightmare. It was so crowded that I not only gave up on trying to avoid running into people, I intentionally began running into people. But Thursday afternoon from about 3-6pm (the floor closes at 6) it was about as empty as you could expect it to be. I was able to move quickly around the floor and play with a lot of the devices that previously had lines 10 people deep. It was fantastic.

And with that practical advice, let’s open the floor. Anything not listed here you thought was especially nifty? Do you like 3D and I am just a curmudgeon? What do you predict will be the next big things based on what you saw? Did I run into you (sorry if I did)? Leave thoughts in the comments.

*Top Banner includes: Sony laptop that folds into a tablet, Art using headphones and paint by Jody Chestnut, Ford car that had doors that opened neat

Instagram friends, it’s just a matter of time…

Matt Story — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:17:27 +0000

It was with a heavy heart that I joined team iPhone this summer. As a self-appointed Apple h8r, I spent the previous 3 years of my mobile phone life with Android devices. As with any relationship, there were good and bad times but at the end I realized that we needed to test the waters with others. I was not the least bit enthusiastic about this decision but it felt necessary at the time. Now that I’ve had a few months to adjust, I can say it was the right decision if not for one main factor…Instagram.

Most of us Denuologists find ourselves as early adopters of most apps. We convince each other to be friends in order to play around with social features (while blocking all Facebook notifications to ensure our non-nerd friends don’t catch on) so that we can intelligently speak to capabilities when asked by clients. However in the case of Instagram, I wasn’t able to nab that early adopter status given their lack of an Android version. The frequent tweets by friends with Instagram links led me to expect to show up to the filtered picture party late with many of my friends touting huge libraries and follower lists. Minutes after signing up I was surprised to see that this was not the case. I found roughly 25 non-nerd friends and 25 industry/nerd friends. Considering the app was released almost a year ago and is rumored right at ten million users, all my digitally connected, Apple loving friends should be using this right?

It then dawned on me that this situation resembles another fairly successful app’s trajectory and adoption within my circle of friends…Foursquare. There are a number of striking similarities:

Clunky UI – Both started with a rather awkward user interface. Neither does what you really want them to when/where you want them to. Though despite the frustrations, you find yourself still compelled to check-in/upload pictures because they are so darn…

Addictive – Each experience is improved and more valuable with more interaction. Before you realize it, you are compelled to instantly jump into the app at every ‘moment’ (Foursquare’s being when walking through any door and Instagram being when you anything that must be shared with a witty caption).

Multiple Uses – Where most apps focus on one distinct behavior and look to address it, each found a way to allow for multiple ways to engage. As an example, our Denuo LA office has daily conversations on how one person is using Instagram the right way and the other is not (for the record, my capturing of every Saturday night’s follies is the right way). Foursquare did the same thing where many of us approached it as a game to collect badges, points and mayorships, while others simply saw it as a way to connect with friends on the go.

Limited Web Functionality – They both have initially focused on pocket interactions and left the in depth web experience to third parties. Many would argue that this is leaving money (or impressions) on the table but as many predict we are moving to a browser-less future, you can’t argue with the decision.

Plethora of Competition – As first movers, they both have been confronted with many competitors (big and small). Just as Foursquare was able to weather this from the likes of Facebook, Instagram has seen Google give up on their own version (Photovine) in just the past month.

These comparisons may hint at continued success for the guys over at Instagram. Let’s hope so as I’d like to see more of my digital savvy friends in my feed. If they are lucky, it may only be a matter of time before I’m ignoring/blocking people on Instagram. I can’t wait.

MLB Hits a Home Run with Twitter (Get it!?!?!)

jdurbin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:18:36 +0000

Twitter and pro sports have had a tumultuous love affair. On one hand, leagues have benefitted from players and fans connecting directly. On the other hand, Larry Johnson.

At one point in 2009, it looked like Twitter and professional sports would never get along. Teams and media properties were heavily regulating content of tweets or banning it altogether.

Thankfully, we’re to a point now where enough people in decision-making positions understand how Twitter works. Teams are able to give players social media training. They have gone from blanket banning to friendly warning if a player gets a little liberal with their tweets. The change has been great for fans as we can get news and insider views like no other generation of sports fan before us.

Tonight will hopefully be the next step in the evolution of how we view sports.

Major League Baseball has empowered players at tonight’s Home Run Derby to tweet their brains out during the event (but just this event). They will aggregate the content on MLB.com as well as other social channels or you can follow your favorite player who will be tweeting.

While the idea of players tweeting could never work during games (due to media commitments and you shouldn’t tweet during your homerun trot, amongst other things), it raises a question: Why not have someone doing this for every team for every game?

Players can’t do it, but a team employee can. Someone integrated with the team, on the bench, in the dugout, on the sideline with enough savvy to know what to tweet and what not to tweet that he/she overhears or sees. And honestly, if a player is injured or not playing that night, what reason is there not to let them tweet?

Twitter offers an opportunity that television and radio can’t replicate by allowing a series of Twitter handles that can each have a unique voice. A TV broadcast has to appeal to as many people as possible. Therefore, oftentimes you won’t get real in-depth analysis and only hear what teams are willing to tell a sideline reporter.

With Twitter, a team could create accounts that provide that instant analysis that TV executives think would alienate the casual fan (side note: I disagree with this philosophy. Your audience will be as smart as you empower them to be). They could explain why a pitcher is laying off his cutter that particular day. Or why the two tight end set is killing a defense. Or why a team that tends to rely on the three pointer is suddenly driving to the hoop.

It seems like a natural progression of where analysis and sports coverage is heading. Sportswriters and fans are starting to provide analysis during games. Better for teams to get in front of the trend and potentially create a property they can monetize along with their broadcast streams.

Watching the games is why we follow the athletes or executives. It’s like the opening credits to a movie. Following them tells us who or what we expect to see. But without the film (or game), then we just looked at a bunch of words. Yet the crux of their business, the games, is the one place that is going untouched. Here’s hoping that soon after tonight’s Tater Contest, that stops being the case.

Peace, Harmony, Tranquility, Advertising

Lizzy Bogacki — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:52:22 +0000

As my first three months here at Denuo come to a close, I can’t help but compare my new environment to my old. I began here as an administrative assistant in January, leaving behind a career as a massage therapist. I went from working at a small but busy spa one mile from my apartment to working in a giant building in downtown Chicago. My five hour work days that began at 3PM have become 8.5 hour work days that start at 6AM. A casual stroll to work has become a full-speed walk to trains where I sit for 50 minutes trying to avoid eye contact with everyone around me. And really, let’s not even talk about the elevators.

The spa environment is very relaxing, from its looks to its smells to its sounds. Everything is just so serene it is enough to make you crazy. It is so relaxed that after awhile you feel like you are going to turn into mush. There were times I was not sure if I was awake or not. I almost head-butted a client because while sitting on a stool at the head of the table working on her neck…I fell asleep. True story. To some, this may sound like the perfect environment; it is dark, lavender-infused, and soft music plays all the time. Ugh…I am over it. I felt like my mind stood still for a good two years before finally I said I need something new, something different.

Did I ever get different! Advertising and marketing is absolutely wild! The travel, the ideas, the meetings booked one on top of the other on top of the other. It is as if people here are constantly running: to trains, to airports, to cabs, to meetings. It is exhausting. The energy that fills the halls is palpable. There are times where it feels like my head will explode, and let’s be honest, I am the Admin, and I am not going on the trips or to the meetings. All I have to do is book them. Again, to some this is the ideal environment; it is bright, fast-moving and never boring. The Stanley Cup was here this week. NEVER BORING!

While it is all new and fun for me now, what about three years from now? I loved the relaxed environment and quiet of the spa, but it got old. Will this grow old too? Then I had a moment of clarity. What the spa needs is an energy room and 35 WW needs a relaxation room.

At this point the spa is all about relaxation, which is great for clients, but not so great for employees. You are too sleepy, too relaxed and then you get lazy. You don’t want to do any work at all because your brain is not being challenged. The office, on the other hand, is a place full of energy and deadlines and fast movement. It causes your brain to be over-excited and frazzled. At times, it makes you unable to work, because there is just too much going on, and you can’t think.
So, why not take the energy rooms of the advertising/marketing world and replace them with the relaxation rooms of the spas, and vice versa? When you feel yourself sitting at your desk with your mind going a million miles a minute, you can take a 20-minute break and sit in a room with the colors of the sky and sea. You can breathe in the aromas of lavender and allow the sounds of waves or Native American drums to come lightly into your ears. You can clear your mind and become more relaxed and therefore function a little better then before. Conversely, when you feel like you are falling asleep and getting lazy in the spa environment, you can take a 20-minute break and go to a room the colors of fire and ice and play air hockey. Play some Tetris and make your mind speed up a little. Get a little of that energy back!

The Proverbial saying: “Too much of a good thing, is a bad” is true. I urge you massage therapists: Play Angry Birds! Executives: Get your Om on! We will all function better.