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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Watch New Pink Floyd Viral Videos

Pink Floyd are using "viral videos" to help with the promotion of the Why Pink Floyd release schedule which commences in a couple of weeks on 26th September in the UK and the day after for the rest of the world.

What is a viral video exactly?

A "viral video" is a video that fans will share with their friends, their friends will then share it with their friends and so on thus spreading virally much like a common cold of flu. But these videos are much more fun than 3 days in bed with a runny nose and a brain that feels like Nick Mason has been playing drums on it!

Old Music, Modern Marketing Channel

It is good to see that Pink Floyd are fully utilising the "Digital Channel" of online digital marketing in the form of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It is interesting to contrast with Nick Mason suggesting in a recent interview that the whole Why Pink Floyd project was probably the last chance for the band to get something physical to the fans before the digital world takes over completely thus leaving the physical world of owning things behind. Keep in mind, however, the recent revival of vinly whose sales have been growing strongly lately with some top artists like the Fleet Foxes putting out popular albums on the good old medium.

Pink Floyd Viral Marketing Videos

Anyway, on to the new media, digital marketing channel, obscure videos worthy of discussion and sharing with your friends to send viral.... here are the videos posted so far by Pink Floyd on their Pink Floyd Youtube channel. Click the links below to view on YouTube.

Pig over Battersea Power Station for Why Pink Floyd launch

Pig over Battersea Power Station for Why Pink Floyd launch


The official Pink Floyd Facebook page has created an Event listing for a meeting at Battersea Power Station in London where the famous Animals front cover was created.For those of you that don't use Facebook, an Event is something you can list on Facebook and invite people to attend like an RSVP online.

Back in 1976, a giant inflatable pig was tethered onto one of the cooling towers which Storm Thorgerson then took a photo of to become part of the artwork for the Animals album. This is shown here on the right. The pig, however, managed to become un-tethered and fly off!

The event created on Facebook is called Pigs On A Wing and does not mention what the event is about or what is happening. There is no hint about what could be going on. However, it has been speculated that the famous scene of the Pig being tethered to the cooling towers will be recreated! This is just speculation though.

Edited 22/09/2011 - EMI Music have just confirmed that on Monday (26th September) they will launch the 'Why Pink Floyd…?' 2011 remasters and collectors edition campaign by recreating the legendary Pink Floyd 'Animals' sleeve and float the Pink Floyd Pig above Battersea Power Station. This will be the first time in 35 years that the Pink Floyd Pig will fly again above the iconic London landmark. For more details visit PinkFloyd.com

The event is happening between 6am and 9am on the morning of the release of Why Pink Floyd Phase 1 which includes Dark Side of the Moon in Experience and Immersion editions as well as the normal Discovery version of the albums bother as single albums and box set.

Come and Discuss Pigs on a Wing event on the forum and let us know your thoughts on the Event!

Source [ Pink Floyd Official Facebook and Speculation ]

9 Celebrities Who Look Like Chaz Bono

by

from http://www.screenjunkies.com/

Much to the chagrin of many viewers, Chaz Bono (formerly Chastity) made his appearance on Dancing With The Stars this week. A firestorm of controversy erupted when the transgender star was announced as a member of this season’s cast with some devoted viewers boycotting the program, and others applauding the casting.

We here at Screen Junkies don’t watch the show because we were naturally blessed with two hype feet and fly off into a rage whenever we hear the voice of Tom Bergeron. Therefore, we don’t really have an opinion on this matter beyond, “What’s the big deal?”

He was a she and now he’s wearing a stylish vest and squaring off against Nancy Grace. There’s no harm in that. Besides, there are several beloved celebrities who resemble Chaz Bono. For instance….

Val Kilmer


He’ll be starring in movies alongside 50 Cent in no time.

John Goodman


Mostly it’s the shirt. Chaz should hold on to that in case he wants to be Dan Tanner for Halloween.

Kevin Smith


There’s no way they’d be able to sit next to one another on the same flight.

Billy Bob


This one’s kinda freaky actually.

Violent J


It stands to reason that if Chaz Bono looks like John Goodman then Chaz Bono also looks like the Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J.

Steven Seagal


Now I really want to see Seagal on Dancing With The Stars.


Smash Mouth


Throw on a porkpie hat and some Oakley’s and the resemblance would be uncanny.

David Holbrook


What’s worse? Resembling Creepshow 2′s Fatso Gribbens or paying surgeons to make you resemble Creepshow 2′s Fatso Gribbens?

P.J. Pete


This one’s also kinda freaky actually.

ESPN Mag delivers all-Boston issue

Posted by Chad Finn, Globe Staff
http://www.boston.com/

COVERNOTAG.jpg

Sweet rings, sweet cover about Boston's winnahs, and sweet distraction from the submerging Red Sox. Or as Kevin Garnett put it in a classic commercial for ESPN Mag back in the day before he was part of the Boston sports scene, it's tastefully done.

While the suspicion here is that this week's all-Boston issue will include more references to "Beantown'' than most true Bostonians would ever actually say -- that would be one or greater -- a glimpse at the table of contents suggests it should be appealing overall even to the most parochial Boston fan.

Hey, anything with an article about Boston sports titled "Decade of Dominance" is off to a good start as far as I'm concerned. Also, Bill Simmons -- Grantland Sports Guy these days -- returns to the magazine to write a back-page piece on why the issue was a bad idea.

I know there's a punch line there, but I'm not finding it. So let's consider five other articles included in the issue, in order of appeal:

The Front Office Diaries -- A look inside the thinking of the Red Sox farm system featuring the scouting reports on some of the team’s best homegrown players, such as Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, and Jonathan Papelbon. Sounds like required reading for those howling without context or a clue that Theo Epstein should be fired.

How to Rob Fenway Park -- Chuck Hogan’s novel “Prince of Thieves” was turned into “The Town,” a well-reviewed and wholly Boston movie directed by and starring Ben Affleck. (Jeremy Renner, a Modesto, California native, had the most accurate Boston accent in the movie, however.) Following the movie’s release, there was a string of copycat bank and armed car robberies utilizing techniques seen in the movie. But no one has tried to copy the film’s heist of Fenway Park -- yet. Other than perhaps John Lackey every fifth day.

Bruins in the Bean -- This photo essay will show why the Stanley Cup champion Bruins are the most Bostonian of all the pro athletes in the Hub, with vignettes of their daily lives and what they love about Boston. No wisecrack here. Could not agree more with the premise.

Debating Boston -- Artie Lange (a Yankees fan) and Denis Leary face off to argue that Boston’s sports teams are awful and amazing, respectively. Then they rip apart the other’s view. Kudos to ESPN for going with two legitimately funny personalities to rep the two fan bases rather than, say, Billy Crystal and Lenny Clarke.

Who Does Tom Brady Think He Is? -- An examination of why Tom Brady is hard to relate to and "insufferable." Presumably co-bylined by Terrell Suggs and Bridget Moynahan.

Regarding that last article, I'm going to do what Brady does so well: pass. But I am looking forward to checking the issue out. It should arrive in subscribers' mail boxes today or tomorrow and is available on the newsstand Friday.

My beautiful streaming NFL weekend

From http://gigaom.com/


Like most folks without cable, the biggest drawback I’ve found is the inability to keep track of my favorite sports teams. While MLB.tv takes care of that need during the baseball season (Disclosure: I’m a big Phillies fan), keeping tabs on the NFL season is a whole different beast. But what if you could stream every NFL game over the Internet? That’s what I did over the weekend, as I got my weekly dose of football not on TV at a friend’s house or at the local pub, but in the comfort of my own home, on my laptop and iPad.

Don’t (expect to) try this at home

It’s important to note that this isn’t a guide to streaming games without paying for cable or satellite TV. The iPad apps I used — DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket to Go and ESPN’s WatchESPN app — aren’t available for free. DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket package costs $350 for the season, for instance. I was lucky enough to score a login to Sunday Ticket from a PR contact with an invitation to test out the service, but those without DirecTV satellite service can sign up for the streaming option if they’re willing to shell out the cash.

Meanwhile, live video on the WatchESPN iPad app is only available to Time Warner Cable, Brighthouse Networks and Verizon FiOS customers who subscribe to ESPN. Again, I was able to log in through a test accountI had received from ESPN when the application was launched. The good news is that NBC’s Sunday Night Football stream is still free, although that means those without cable or satellite will only be able to stream one game a week.

In other words, unless you’re a Time Warner Cable subscriber who also wants to pay for Sunday Ticket streaming, don’t expect to be able to simulate this exercise. That said, here’s a rundown of what I thought of each service:

NFL Sunday Ticket


DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket iPad app has pretty much everything a football fan could want on game day. It has live scores from around the league and the ability to switch between virtually any game shown on CBS or Fox during the 1:00 p.m ET or 4:00 p.m. ET time slots. It also provides stats and game highlights from each game shown during that time period.

Most importantly, the Sunday Ticket app has the Red Zone Channel, which jumps between games whenever a team gets into scoring position. Red Zone is perfect for the football fan who has ADD, or who might not be rooting for any particular team on Sunday, but just wants to be updated on all the scoring action happening from around the league.

The one thing Sunday Ticket doesn’t have on the iPad is a video archive, meaning it’s pretty much useless except for a period of about six hours every Sunday. But for those six hours, it might be a football fan’s best friend.

Sunday Night Football All Access

NBC has continued its tradition of live streaming its Sunday Night Football broadcast online, making it available to viewers through NBCSports.com. For viewers who don’t pay for cable, that means there’s at least one free game a week. I was particularly interested in this week’s matchup, which was between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. (Disclosure: I am also an Eagles fan.)

While the other two apps are available on the iPad, NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast leverages Microsoft Silverlight for playback, so it can’t be streamed on mobile devices. As a result, I watched it on my laptop. On the plus side, the service gives viewers a choice between multiple camera angles throughout the broadcast.

That said, video playback was just ok, and suffered from occasional buffering — something I wasn’t used to or expecting in the age of adaptive bit-rate streaming. It was an experience that reminded me how much I prefer HTML5-based HLS streaming on the iPad. One final downside to the SNF experience was a lack of diversity in the video ads that ran during breaks. If I never see the Toyota Venza Facebook commercial again, I’ll die a happy man.

Monday Night Football on WatchESPN


After a disappointing streaming experience on my laptop, it was nice to get back to watching football on the iPad. With WatchESPN, the iPad once again transformed into a personal football machine. While I was mostly interested in watching Monday Night Football, the ESPN app isn’t built for that. In fact, viewers can watch live streams from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU on the application.

The MNF broadcast on the iPad was more or less the same as what was on TV, which is a plus for viewers who might not be at home for whatever reason. Interestingly enough, while WatchESPN allows viewers to tune in on the Apple tablet device, those checking from their mobile phones are blacked out due to an exclusive mobile distribution agreement with Verizon.

When business trumps technology

If there’s one thing that I learned this weekend, it’s that the technology for distributing live streams of popular content like NFL games is fully baked, but access to those streams is being held back by contractual obligations.

DirecTV is paying about $1 billion a year for exclusive access to all Sunday Ticket games over the next four years, so you can’t really blame it for not being more open and selling the online portion at a discount to the satellite package it offers subscribers. After all, the whole point of NFL Sunday Ticket isn’t to collect the annual $350 charge from users — although that’s a nice bonus — but to get more subscribers signed up, who will hopefully stick with the satellite TV provider year-round.

As for the WatchESPN app, the biggest issue is that it’s not available to more cable or satellite subscribers, simply because the operators in their area haven’t struck a deal with ESPN. Hopefully that will change with time. In the meantime, streaming Monday Night Football on the iPad serves as a great example of good value-added service to consumers that is being held back by rights agreements.

Football photo courtesy of (CC BY 2.0) Flickr user Tom Newby.

Schweddy Balls Boycott: One Million Moms Angered Over Ben & Jerry's 'SNL' Flavor

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/





Schweddy Balls
Maybe they would have preferred Bill Brasky's balls, instead?

The humorless, fun-averse conservative group One Million Moms, an offshoot of the American Family Association, is -- once again -- none too pleased with frozen treat liberals, Ben & Jerry's. The very vanilla organization is calling for a boycott of the ice cream maker's new, buzzy flavor, the "Saturday Night Live" skit-inspired Schweddy Balls.

In a public letter sent to its members, the organization acknowledges the origin of the rum-tinted, malt ball-filled flavor, describing the Alec Baldwin-starring NPR spoof skit in great detail.

He then explains that he sells popcorn balls, cheese balls, rum balls--balls for every taste--and the ball puns proceed for about four minutes. Ben & Jerry's chose to go with fudge-covered rum and malt balls for their flavor. The skit culminates in Baldwin stating that "No one can resist my Schweddy Balls."

Then, they make a point to air out their dairy delight grievances, including another rejection of any sort of gay-themed treat.

In the past, Ben & Jerry's has released controversial ice creams, like a special edition of Chubby Hubby called Hubby Hubby last year which celebrated gay marriage. It seems that offending customers has become an annual tradition for Ben & Jerry's.

The ice cream is being released in a limited batch, which means it will be distributed nationwide but only for three or four months. If it proves popular, another batch might be forthcoming, but we hope not.

Finally, a call to action, asking for vigilance in the face of a full frontal ball assault.

Please send Ben & Jerry's Public Relations Manager, Sean Greenwood, an email letter requesting that no additional Schweddy Balls ice cream be distributed. Also, highly recommend they refrain from producing another batch with this name or any other offensive names or you will no longer be able to purchase their products.

Those at the Huffington Post, however, heartily embraced the Schweddy Balls; read our taste test reviews here.

WATCH:




That will come in handy: Ultra-realistic limbs that have freckles, hairs and even tattoos

By Claire Bates

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/


A prosthetic technology company has unveiled an ultra-realistic range of limbs with features such as freckles, hairs and even tattoos.

Scottish company Touch Bionics have been hand-crafting upper limb prostheses for years but have recently introduced a new photographic system that is designed to make passive prostheses look as real as possible.

Ultra-realistic: Scottish company Touch Bionics have recently introduced a new photographic system that is designed to precisely match a prosthesis to a person's skin tone

Ultra-realistic: Scottish company Touch Bionics have recently introduced a new photographic system that is designed to precisely match a prosthesis to a person's skin tone

Touch Bionics add freckles and hair to help the prosthetic blend in

Touch Bionics add freckles and hair to help the prosthetic blend in

The products, which come in parts of fingers, whole fingers, hands or arms, are known as passive prostheses - although light joints can be built in so they can be manually bent into different shapes.

Made from high definition silicone, they are part of the 'Living Skin' range and are designed with the help of a patent-pending imaging system called 'Living Image'.

Living Image has been under development for a couple of years and was revealed on Tuesday at Las Vegas at the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association National Assembly.

If a patient needs a single prosthetic such as a hand or finger, experts use the system to scan the skin tone, features and shape of their remaining limb.

The system, which simulates natural light for the best colour match, sends the resulting image via the internet to the production facility in Scotland. The resulting prosthetic is hand-painted to exactly match skin tone and appearance.

A prosthetic arm unveiled at the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association National Assembly in Las Vegas

Perfect match: A prosthetic arm unveiled at the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association National Assembly in Las Vegas

Livingimage: The device can add great realism to passive functional prosthesis

Livingimage: The device is used to make a passive prosthetic far more realistic

Touch Bionics spokesman Danny Sullivan, told Mail Online: 'We've tested the system on 100 patients and it has been very successful.

'Clients have been very satisfied, especially with the colour of the 'skin.' The aim is to create a prosthetic that is as close a match as possible.'

The scanning process removes the need for time-consuming and error-prone matching practices and results in a highly realistic prosthetic in a shorter amount of time.

'It used to take five weeks to create a finger and seven weeks to create a hand,' Mr Sullivan said.

'But the imaging system has shortened this process by two to three weeks. It's also more reliable and makes far better use of clinical time.'

There are several systems at Touch Bionic centres in the U.S and one in use in the UK at the headquarters in Livingston in Scotland. There are tentative plans to either sell or rent systems to other prosthetic centres.

'We want to bring living skin to as wide a population as possible,' Mr Sullivan said.

The company also unveiled i-limb ultra, an upgraded version of its flagship prosthetic hand solution, which they say is the most versatile prosthetic hand available.

It has multiple functions including pushing, pulling, stabilising, supporting, light grasping and typing. It is the only prosthetic that can gradually increase the strength of its grip on an object.

Mr Sullivan said living image could be used to create coverings for their latest products.

For more information visit www.touchbionics.com

Ticketmaster's CEO dishes on new interactive seat maps

From: http://www.forbes.com/


Ticketmaster’s new interactive seat maps combine two things that I absolutely love: social media and music. Now, as soon as you load a seat map on Tickmaster’s site, you see where everyone you know at the concert is sitting. The interactive maps pull data from ticket-buyers’ Facebook profiles.

To learn more about Ticketmaster’s interactive maps, I caught up with the company’s CEO Nathan Hubbard about the inspiration for the maps, how Ticketmaster protects fan privacy, and what’s down the road, including geosocial developments.


NathanHubbard_TicketmasterCEO

Photo by: Rick Diamond and John Shearer


Jesse Thomas: How did the idea come about to pull Facebook data into Ticketmaster’s interactiveseat maps?

Nathan Hubbard: We are laser focused on making the experience of buying a ticket and going to an event awesome. A big part of that is expanding the passion and energy of a live event into the digital space before, during and after the event. Social is the best platform we know of to do that, because event going is an inherently social experience. We sell almost three tickets per order. So first and foremost, we wanted to make the crowd come to life in the digital space. Secondly, one of the challenges in our industry is awareness of events. Historically people have used social to talk about what they are doing in real time, or to share what they’ve done through photos and posting. But that means people don’t always know about an event until after it happens. So we wanted to use social to spread awareness of events at the moment of purchase to drive awareness. Lastly, we wanted to make it really easy for people to coordinate their experiences, sit together and find new friends. The seat map is the perfect vehicle to do all of this.

Jesse: What has the response been to that data?

Nathan: This is one of the most well received innovations Ticketmaster has announced in recent history and the response continues to be phenomenal. Fans are using this new feature to expand their group of friends attending an event. They are using this functionality to help plan their event and coordinate the logistics of everything from travel to where to sit. And as a result it is driving new levels of awareness and engagement.

Jesse: What privacy protections did you put in place to avoid problems?

Nathan: Throughout the development and integration of Facebook into our interactive seat maps we carefully thought through privacy protections for our fans, as the safety and welfare of our fans is paramount. To that end, we made it so fans always had to opt-in first before their seats were shown on the map. Also, whenever fans opt in, we always give them the option to choose if they want to share with everyone or just their friends.

Jesse: Have you encountered any privacy concerns from anyone nonetheless?

Nathan: No, but we’re always listening. We made it very easy for fans to share or not share their event going information. Our fans using this feature haven’t notified us of any privacy concerns. The response has been uniformly positive.

Jesse: Is the interactive map available at all venues where Ticketmaster sells tickets?

Nathan:
We currently have over 9,000 events featuring interactive seat maps with Facebook tagging available, and we’re continuing to add more seat maps each week.

Jesse: Is there any geosocial element to make seating purchases or arrivals available inreal time, or is that down the road?

Nathan: We’re one of the few ecommerce companies that gets to connect with each of ourcustomers in person. They tell us where they will be at a given date and time, down to the exact seat location. So enhancing the event with geosocial is a cool part of the evolution of the experience and part of our roadmap ahead.

Jesse: Are there certain venues or types of concerts for which you’re seeing heavier useof the interactive seating maps?

Nathan: So far, we’re seeing the most tagging activity in concerts and sports games, but theater and family shows are definitely getting their share of tags as well. Some of the most
tagged events have been the US Open games, NASCAR, and college football. But the most tagged event to date is actually Bone Bash XII with Judas Priest at Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, CA.

Disclosure: JESS3 has proudly worked with Facebook, which is referenced in this interview.


Small is beautiful: Amazing miniature origami sculptures that fit on the tip of your finger

By Mail Foreign Service

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

The Japanese have been making origami sculptures of dragons for thousands of years - but they're never normally this small.

These miniatures are so tiny they can fit on a fingertip and they take days to make using a toothpick and paper no bigger than an inch wide.

Artist Anja Markiewicz spends days working on some of her remarkable sculptures, taking a break every two hours to keep up her concentration levels.

Enlarge Artist Anja Markiewicz creates her mini-sculptures, such as this dragon, using a toothpick and inch-wide paper

Artist Anja Markiewicz creates her mini-sculptures, such as this dragon, using a toothpick and inch-wide paper

The 24-year-old has created around 500 of the pieces and sells them for around £10 each on her website.

Anja had the idea five years ago after she made an origami ship with foil from a chocolate wrapper while bored at college.

She said: 'After I finished eating the chocolate, I started to fold the wrapper and ended up with a tiny ship.

Enlarge Anja's favourite sculpture is this yellow ball, which takes 10 hours to make

Anja's favourite sculpture is this yellow ball, which takes 10 hours to make

Enlarge This snowflake required the most paper to create - a mere 38mm square

This snowflake required the most paper to create - a mere 38mm square

Enlarge Anja stumbled on her art while playing with a chocolate wrapper while bored at college

Anja stumbled on her art while playing with a chocolate wrapper while bored at college

'I cut the paper to make it smaller and was still able to fold a ship - my friend gave it a go but couldn't do it.

'On the way home I bought some very thin paper from a craft shop and spent hours making more sculptures.

'It was very pleasing to me. I created more figures, using a toothpick for the really intricate parts.

A diamond rose and a tiny crane

'My favourite is the origami ball, because that took me the most effort.

'All in all, it was about ten hours, and I had to take breaks because it's tiring.

'I also like the rat, as it's quite a famous design in origami art but I have taken it down to a minuscule level.'

Anja, from Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany, added: 'Some pieces I can do in as little as five minutes and I love selling my work online.

'It gives me great satisfaction to know that people are buying my art and enjoying it.'

Enlarge Anja Markiewicz sells sculptures, including this beetle, for £10 a time

Anja sells sculptures, including this beetle, for £10 a time

Electric Tron Lightcycle Is Street-Legal & Amazing

from: http://mashable.com/



There’s no denying it: every Tron fan pictured himself on one of those amazingly designed, super-fast bikes from the movie. Parker Brothers Choppers turned that dream into reality a year ago, when they created the first Tron Lightcycle, but now they’ve taken it a step further and turned the gas-guzzling beast into an electric bike.

The all-new Electric Tron Lightcycle is powered by a 96 volt electric motor and lithium ion batteries. Its top speed is in excess of 100 mph, and its range is 100 miles on a single range, with a mere 35-minute recharge time.

As for practicality, we’re not experts on motorcycles, but it does seem a bit hard to ride. We guess it’s a small price to pay for the looks you’ll be getting when riding this beauty — especially at night, when the bike lights up just like the one in the movie. .

Pricing and availability are unknown at this point, but as a reference, the old, gas-powered version costs close to $55,000. Check out a video of the Electric Tron Lightcycle in action below.