Google Maps provides Street View

This is a brilliant new addition to Google Maps, especially those looking or directions. It now provides you with a picture of the place you are looking at and shows you where to turn. This is becoming more and more like the Star Trek Scenario where Science fiction is hitting reality. I don’t see too much of al ine between the integration of GPS into this system and then the system will know exactly where you are an give you directions as you move… with pictures.

But that’s the future, right now, this is an awesome development. I doubt South Africa will see this for a while, Google Maps doesn’t even cover any of our areas fully at the moment. But there’s always hope :)

Google has built its Street View into Google Maps’ ability to provide driving directions, the company said Tuesday.

With the feature, a small camera icon appears next to the intersections in the turn-by-turn directions. Clicking on the icon brings up a view of the intersection so people can see the area in question.

Google Street View is available in 44 areas of the United States, and there are strong signs Google is bringing Street View to Europe. Street View is available through the Google Maps programming interface so that those using Google Maps can add Street View abilities to their Web sites.

Link

TwitterSnooze: Pull the Plug on Verbose Twitters

Now this is a brilliant twist to the over-saturation of social media input into our lives. TwitterSnooze allows you to silence any member of your twitter community for a number of days. So when your friend has a bout of recurrent verbosity, and you don’t really feel like deleting them from your list, simply silence them with TwitterSnooze.

It’s amazing the amount of needs which spring up from our newly defined social habits in the Web 2.0 era, and the amount of web apps available to satisfy each need.

Maybe Web 3.0 will be a filtering of Social Media and provide all things relevant.

Mr. Potatohead does Clockwork Orange

Alex : There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.

I wonder if this little toy will give kids nightmares? Awesome movie, Awesome story, Classic Book, Really Weird Looking Potato.

link

The Twitter Blacklist

The Twitter Blacklist identifies all the idiots who Twitter spam and follow thousands of people in order to draw attention to themselves. I think it’s a really cool idea… I especially remember when I first joined Twitter and got all excited when so many people started following me, only to later realise what a bunch of self-obsessed, ego-driven idiots they are.

How do you know a person is a Twitter Spammer? The site gives a good ratio of identifying them by looking at how many people follow them vs. how many people they follow.

1:5 = twittercaster, 1:2 = notable, 1:1 socially healthy, 2:1 newbie or social climber, 5:1 twitter spammer. — evan

For those using Firefox, install Greasemonkey and then add in the Twitter Blacklist script.
There’s even an API for programmers so they can query if a certain user is on the blacklist.
Technorati Tags: Twitter, Blacklist, Twitter

Akira Adaptation to Hit Big Screen

Akira, the 1988 Classic Anime movie which defined the genre, has been announced to hit the big screen in 2009. The project is still in the scripting phase being written by Katsuhiro Otomo (who created the manga) and Garry Whitta.

Rumoured to be included in this classic production is Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, The Lookout). Leonardo DiCaprio is also Producing the film along with Akira’s creator Katsuhiro Otomo as the Executive Producer.

This project is also only part one of a two part adaptation of the Classic Manga movie. I guess we’ll know more after Akira (Part one) goes into production.

For those not familiar with the manga or the classic movie (which movie addict wouldn’t be?), the plot is simply that of a leader of a biker gang trying to save his kidnapped friend from a powerful supernatural experiment. Yup, Classic manga story-line too… philosophy, contemplation and complexity.

As we know, most times books are better than their movie adaptations, I just hope this doesn’t disappoint.

btw… for all you Akiraphobes, they have actually CREATED Kenada’s Bike!

“Speed Racer” gets Brands Revving Their Engines…

Advertising Age has an interesting article on how brands are leveraging this years blockbuster hit to increase their sales, especially since the movie is seen to appeal to a very wide range of audiences. The upcoming Wachowski Brother flick, Speed Racer, will have tie-in deals with General Mills, Yokohama Tire Corp., McDonald’s Corp., Nintendo, AutoTrader.com, esurance.com and Mattel. A Warner Spokesperson has said that the deals vary.

Similar to Burger King’s marketing tie-in with “Iron Man”, BK gets a mention in the movie. There is no branding for McDonalds on Speed Racer, though, Mcdonalds has the rights to sell Speed Racer toys with it’s Happy Meals.

Mattel is making a similar move by branding it’s Hot Wheels range with the Speed racer logo. General Mills will get a “Cheerio’s” Racing car. Yokohama Tires gave away Speed Racer key Cahisn and Posters at it’s paddock at the Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix. Nintendo give consumers a reason to buy the Nintendo Wii’s wheel Accessory and launches the Speed Racer Game.

Link
Technorati Tags: Speed Racer, Advertising, Marketing, Brands

Share your iPod Music: Introducing miShare!

You no longer have to be a hacker or tech g33k extraordinnaire to get music off your iPod and share it with whoever you want.This cool little gadget will do it all for you. Simply plug it in, hit the button and you’ll be able to share movies, photo’s, songs and even entire playlists (provided they’re not DRM protected.)

No computer cables, No hectic software, just two iPods and miShare.

There is one downside… it doesn’t work for iPhones or the iPod Touch as yet, but the firmware is being upgraded as we speak so register on the miShare website to keep updated.

The gadget sells for $100.

Technorati Tags: miShare, technology, Gadgets, iPod, Sharing, DRM

Zuma vs. Mbeki on Thought Leader

This is my recent blogpost on Thought Leader’s Reader Blog is my thoughts on the Future leadership on South Africa and the two main protagonists which play the critical parts in what looks like to be a tragedy (but hopefully, not).


Technorati Tags: Zuma, Mbeki, Thought Leader, Muhammad Karim

The Unhappy Person

“The unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwelling on himself and start paying attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When you’re unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. And you get to take yourself oh so very seriously.” – Tom Robbins

Technorati Tags: Life, Philosophy, The Unhappy Person, Tom Robbins

Unilever vs. Greenpeace: Palm oil and the Borneo Forests

Protests by Greenpeace at a Unilever factory in Port Sunlight, near Liverpool (left) and dressed as orang utans outside the companies headquarters at Blackfriars, London (middle and right)

On Monday 21 April, Greenpeace protesters, many wearing ‘orang-utan’ outfits, descended on Unilever to protest about the use of palm oil in its products. They entered Port Sunlight in Liverpool, UK, at about 6.30am and chained themselves to machinery, stopping production on some product lines.

In London, a mobile advertising hoarding was placed on a traffic island in front of the corporate headquarters and protesters were ‘aping’ around on a seven metre high balcony above the entrance to the building.

Meanwhile in Rotterdam, abseilers unfurled a large banner on the glass frontage of Unilever’s building overlooking the river.

That was a Unilever communication regarding the recent Green Peace Protests against Unilever. When reading the full story though, it wasn’t only the Palm Oil that Greenpeace were protesting over, it was also the fact that the production of Unilever’s products contributes to the destruction of the orangutan’s last forest habitat in Borneo.

What irks me is that Unilever’s communication doesn’t tie the orangutan outfits the Greenpeace activists were wearing with the fact that they were trying to make a point about the orangutan’s habitat. The communication just makes it seem like the Green Peace activists are a bunch of monkeys.

Greenpeace’s report, Burning up Borneo, says that Unilever uses 1.3 million tons of palm oil or derivative products a year, some three per cent of global production. It says the company gets half of this from Indonesia, now the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet because of deforestation.

The report says there is currently a massive expansion into Kalimantan’s peatland forest areas by Unilever’s suppliers and accuses the company of derailing international efforts to tackle climate change. - The Telegraph

From Unilever’s perspective, they assert that Unilever does chair the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm oil and that “the real problem is that demand for palm oil has exploded in recent years as demand from India and China has increased. Another major factor is the use of palm oil as a feedstock in the production of biofuels.”

Gavin Neath (SVP of Unilever Global Communications) says: “Unilever has a long history of promoting sustainability, for example in fish and tea. But in both cases, we only made the commitments when we had done sufficient work to ensure that we could keep our promises and maintain the security of our supply chain. This is the responsible and sustainable approach.”

Protesters on the roof a Unilever factory in Port Sunlight and an orang-utan talks to a passing motorcyclist

What needs to be highlighted here is that we should, like Green Peace is doing, hold corporations accountable for their practices. Especially since the main aim of corporations is to turn a profit and increase shareholder value, we need to make sure that this motive doesn’t overshadow the corporation’s environmental and social responsibilities. Equally, we need to give credit where credit is due and Unilever is one of the most socially responsible Corporations there is. Let’s hope their focus on Sustainable Palm Oil will render some fruitful results for everyone… including the Orangutans.
UPDATE: Unilever Increases Focus on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Technorati Tags: Unilever, Green Peace, Environment, Activism, Protest, Borneo, Orangutan, Rainforests, Palm oil

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