Monthly Archives: August 2013

Feeling moody?

facebook like

It’s a fact; we live in a digital era and turn to social media and online content sharing to communicate our feelings. What’s not so clear, how to fully capture and analyze our digital emotional behaviors. Enter, the mood graph.

Facebook and Google Plus have capitalized on the shift in computer-mediated communication, integrating features to enhance emotional expression. “How are you feeling?” Hopefully the prepopulated dropdown menu of emoticons can help answer that question.

Based on these emojis, symbols, and descriptors, companies will have the capability to chart emotional behaviors using mood graphs, much like Facebook’s social graph, Google’s knowledge graph, and LinkedIn’s work graph. The mood graph will focus on the emotional content in our social media sharing and enable companies to draw insights about our behavior patterns. This tool will allow companies to paint a more in-depth picture of consumers, what makes them tick and what turns them off.

What sparked our fire: The way we rely on computer-mediated communication to fulfill the basic need of human interaction.

When will the evolution of the emoji occur? What will it be?

Enjoy!

-Canopy Team

Getting in touch

touchscreen

Have you ever wanted to physically move information across makeshift screens like they do in the movies? Thanks to Microsoft and UBI Interactive, your wish has come true! Users can now project their computer screens onto nearly any surface and personally move the information with the touch of their fingertip. The innovative technology uses Microsoft’s motion-sensing hardware, Kinect, and works on surfaces such as walls, tables and glass.

Pushing for greater human collaboration, this technology has the capacity to benefit a diverse set of industries. Retail chains can implement interactive store displays, teachers can engage their students in hands-on lesson plans, and architects can turn their blueprint visions into reality.

Anup Chatoth, Ubi Co-founder and Chief Executive, says by turning any surface into a screen, they can eliminate the need for hardware thereby reducing costs, creating endless possibilities for their consumers. The software went on sale this week and ranges in price from $149 to $1,499.

What sparked our fire: The ability to turn nearly any surface into a fully functioning touch screen.

How long before we live in a screen-less world?

Enjoy!

-Canopy Team

Warning: may contain (coco)nuts

surfing4When it comes to hanging 10, the surfboard is a vital piece of the equation. Most high-end surfboards are made of carbon fiber because of the material strength to weight ratio. Global Surf Industries wanted to raise the bar and develop something different, a board made of coconut husk fiber. It turns out that the husks offer an unmatched strength to weight ratio, come from a renewable source and require less toxic resin to build. The boards are among the lightest and strongest on the market and offer a responsive, fluid ride and great flex characters. The Coco Mat surfboards come in a variety of sizes and range from $365 to $1,570.

What sparks our fire: Superior products from natural renewables sources.

Will coconut fibers play a prominent role in the future of sustainable products?

Enjoy!

-Canopy Team

Brain power

brain 4The human brain is a mysterious place where powerful connections, signals and chemical reactions are intertwined. A recent Kickstarter project called Emotiv Insight, is beginning to explain what goes on in our brains. Emotiv Insight is a small headset that reads your brainwaves and translates the data into something meaningful and easy to understand.

To understand how it works requires a bit of thinking. Our brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons, and when these neurons interact through a chemical reaction, they emit an electrical impulse. Emotiv observes and translates these impulses into simplified data. The headset and its data can help you improve your attention, focus, engagement, interest, excitement, affinity, relaxation as well as reduce stress levels.

The headset can also understand basic mental commands like push, pull, levitate and rotate. The device can even detect facial expressions such as blinks, winks, frowns, surprises, clenching and smiles.

What sparks our fire: The future is in our brains.

 

Enjoy!

-Canopy Team

Four wheeling hostel

Skoda

Skoda, a Czech Republic based auto manufacturer, was recently looking for an intriguing way to reach out to young buyers and increase sales of their compact car. This sounds like every other auto manufacturers’ mission, so how do they did Skoda break through the clutter? They turned their car into a hostel of course!

The Skoda Hostel campaign, was launched earlier this summer in Russia, at the peak of the festival season, when thousands of young Russians would be traveling to Moscow. Travelers were looking for cheap places to stay, and hostels were the go to. The Skoda Hostel was fully equipped with the basic essentials such as fresh linens, privacy curtains and a private portable bathroom for a one night stay for two guests.

The Skoda Hostel was unlike anything guests had experienced. Patrons were not charged for their stay, and were even encouraged to drive the car around the city. In lieu of payment, guests were asked to tweet, post and share their experience on social media.

What sparked our fire: World’s smallest social media driven, mobile hotel.

Would this campaign have been successful in the US?

Enjoy!

-Canopy Team