When the White House joined Google +, we knew something was up. And lo and behold, a week later, it was announced that President Obama would be holding his very own Hangout or the first “completely virtual interview from The White House.”

If you missed live Hangout, watch the whole thing below.

No matter what your politics are, in terms of social media, you’ve got to give it to the Obama Administration. They know how to do it.
 

Following the success of Facebook and Twitter in his 2008 campaign, in October 2011, Obama joined Tumblr, rounding out his social media collection. The behind-the-scenes photos and user submissions are an attempt to create grassroots support.
 

Like any product, politicians have a brand that needs to be fostered and managed. Considering that one of the principal attributes of social media platforms is their ability to create conversation, it’s a shrewd move for Obama who positions himself as someone different to the elitism and loftiness traditionally associated with politics. That’s why ‘Change’ worked for him so well in 2008.
 

This new level of interactivity is definitely a step forward in this space and with these technologies at everyone’s disposal; there shouldn’t be a reason why our local politicians and government organisations can’t use these platforms to engage in a similar way.
 

It’s always a bummer to get a 404 error message right? Well not this one!

Click HERE to see how to do error messages right.

Sometimes we’re so caught up with populating the spaces that we think we should, we neglect the little things that customers are in contact with every day. Error messages might seem like an administrative detail but why shouldn’t you use this opportunity to apologise, make them smile, tell them something important? It might seem like something small but small things can leave a big impression.

And just imagine if every error message was this cool. Wouldn’t the world be a much better place?

WeTopia is a new social game that enables players to directly fund initiatives that improve the lives of children.

Free to play via Facebook, players create and manage their own villages, making a real-world donation for any virtual purchase — for example, when trees or vitamins are bought in the game, a partner charity will donate the same item to a community they work with. Players can also earn ‘Joy’ points, which can be spent on charitable projects in the real world.

Games for charitable benefit sounds like a great idea. CityVille and FarmVille had a user base of close to 100 million at their peak. However, social games can get old fast and user numbers can drop as quickly as they grow.

But then again CityVille didn’t have Justin Bieber. The Biebs has invested in WeTopia’s developer, Sojo (combination of ‘social’ and ‘joyful’) Studios. When he recently posted about WeTopia to his some 39 million Facebook fans, he received almost 28,000 ‘likes’, over 4,300 comments and 320 shares. Already, WeTopia has 460,000 monthly active users.

Here is LOUD’s first attempt at spreading joy. In 5 hours, we’ve donated two hot meals to Haiti and donated ‘Joy’ to the US Homeless Children Care Organisation. Not bad eh?

We’re quite proud of it but we’d need a lot more hours before it looks anything like this.

Consider yourself an athlete? You’re pretty quick, right? Almost as quick as a world-class marathon runner? You’re welcome to try your luck. Well, for 60 feet anyway.

To demonstrate exactly how fast champion marathoners have to run in order to win the 26.2 mile race, ASICS installed a 60-foot long video wall underground in a US subway station.

Along the video wall, US Olympic marathoner, and ASICS athlete, Ryan Hall, demonstrated his marathon race pace, a 4:46 mile. No one could beat him, including Ryan Hall himself who stopped by to race against his virtual self.

After the race, fans are presented with a humbling fact: Ryan Hall runs this fast for 26.2 miles.

Hats off to VITRO in the US for this sweet work.

With internet privacy becoming an increasing concern not only for parents of children who use social networks but everyone who has ever posted anything on the internet, EVER, it is no surprise that something like Take This Lollipop has come about.

Working on a similar premise to Intel’s Museum of Me – a site that taps into your Facebook profile to create a museum about well…you, Take This Lollipop goes one step further and throws a serial killer into the mix, preying on the previously latent fears that we might’ve harboured about sharing our personal information online.

We know not to share too much on the internet but what about our privacy settings? As long as privacy settings are on, it’s all okay, right? Perhaps.

Sign into Take This Lollipop with your Facebook profile and watch the stalkerish nightmare unfold. Or, you could just scroll down and vicariously experience the rollercoaster of emotions through the eyes of our Production Manager.

“They don’t have all my information do they??? I’m deleting my Facebook!”

It might seem farfetched but it might not be as implausible as you might think. What’s a password anyway but for a jumble of letters and numbers protecting all of your personal information from the rest of the world? Not all the much. Still not convinced? Try it then. Take the lollipop. We dare you.

This week, Heineken announced the selection of the 19 designers they believe have the vision and talent to co-create a pioneering nightclub concept, as part of Heineken Open Design Explorations Edition 1: The Club

The 19 were chosen from four different countries – Japan, Brazil, USA and Italy – with design backgrounds in product, graphic, motion, fashion or interior design.

Forming cross-discipline, cross-cultural teams, the designers will uncover insights and nuances from localised clubbing experiences across the globe, exchange ideas and work to challenge traditional club environments.

Their concepts will be brought to life as a ‘pop-up club’ and presented to the world at Milan’s prestigious design fair in April 2012. That’s going to be one hell of a party.

A lot of people may think the internet isn’t big enough for another social network. So you have to ask what’s so special about the Australian Private Social Network, Family HQ?

To be honest, it’s hard to know exactly. We think FHQ plays off of the ‘lack of privacy’ issue that’s continuously raised with other Social Networks. FHQ targets parents and families offering a way to ‘keep your kids safe online’ – plus there are some interesting ideas and some potentially great business opportunities. Watch this space.

Check it out for yourself

Originally posted on Gizmodo

Check out the video and you’ll see why.

Isang Litrong Liwanag means ‘a litre of light’ and is the name of the campaign by an organisation called MyShelter Foundation. You can get involved or find more information here.


Turns out this little invention came from students at MIT, it’s called the ‘solar bottle bulb’. A true piece of modern day genius.

Despite his healthy appetite for Scooby Snax and other junk foods, Scooby Doo has been named  the “healthiest” cartoon character for British children to watch by the UK Department of Health.

The #1 ranking is for being the most active (and thus the best role models for kids) based on 200 hours of cartoon-watching. Great job if you can get it. Who knew chasing monsters, ghosts and other villains could have health benefits.

Check out the rankings of Department of Health-approved cartoon characters to see who Scooby beat for the big prize.

QR codes are nothing new really, but check out this article which highlights one of the MOST practical uses LOUD’s seen yet.

goo.gl/bnYd3

Something to think about next time you head off to a client meeting for a presentation and want to impress.