Tag Archives: Inspiration

Google’s Newest Technology: Cardboard

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This week Google hosted their developers conference, Google I/O where the tech giant announced a variety of updates to their Android operating system. But, seemingly the coolest thing that Google did announce came as a gift to all attendees at the end of the conference – cardboard.

Being that this is Google we are talking about, the Cardboard device is much more than what you would image from a piece a cardboard. Instead it is a full on virtual reality headset, similar to the Oculus Rift, except made of cardboard.

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All users need to do is assemble one of these devices, which is not that difficult, place their phone into it and then they can enter an entirely virtual world. Currently there are only a few apps available in cardboard since it was just launched this week. But, we can only image where this will go as a very simple and easy entry into the world of virtual reality.

This is clearly a sign of things to come though in technology. It is time for us as advertisers to start imaging how we can get our foot in the door of virtual reality and really ride the wave of this new technology.

What Sparks our Fire: How Google is able to take the simplest of materials, and make it an amazing piece of technology.

What uses can you imagine for Google Cardboard?

Sing, O Muse!

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“Tell me a story.”

“There’s an app for that.”

It’s been said that storytelling is a lost art. The oral tradition of telling a story vocally, injecting the emotion and creativity of the teller, has not been the preeminent form of information transfer since the invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press and the literacy that came along with it. However, the oldest form of information transfer has been integrated with the newest, enter an app that brings the stories of thousands to your fingertips.

The Moth is an organization that collects and collates recordings of real people telling their own stories in their own words. The organization has been doing this since 1997, when it was founded by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda’s porch. The movement grew, and has brought more than 3,000 live stories to over 100,000 audience members.

This October, The Moth has launched its own app, effectively bringing the common threads of thousands of stories to your iOS or Android device.  Previously only available by podcast, The Moth app focuses on the listening experience, allowing you to save your favorite stories, share them, or download them.

What Sparks our Fire: We are inspired by the unique stories that people are willing to share with others.

Will you download this app and share your personal narratives?

Record Less, Enjoy More.

What can you remember about yesterday? How about Monday, last week? What about June 23rd? March 17th? Odds are, you can’t remember something about every single day over the past year. The slow moments, the quiet days, they are all overshadowed by larger events and get lost in the shuffle of routine.

Cesar Kuriyama sought to fix that by recording one-second clips of each day for a year, starting on his 30th birthday and ending on his 31st. What resulted was a 6 minute long, watchable documentation of every day throughout that year. There are moments ranging from the beautiful to the mundane, from the sad to the heartwarming. It’s an incredible slice of life, and Kuriyama designed an app that will allow others to create their own second-a-day videos.

In an app called 1 Second Everyday, Kuriyama hopes to share with others the experience that so profoundly affected his own life. It influenced him to make the most out of each day, to live in the moment and to do something worth documenting.

He also mentions how, instead of dealing with the common smartphone problem of recording but not experiencing, he has found that capturing one second “helped me hone in on my old tendencies to over capture a moment or event. Like many, I used to take too many photos and videos … Now I record less and enjoy the moment more.”

The app is currently available on Android and iOS 7.

What sparked our fire: How technology enables us to easily create our own personal narratives, in video format.

What would your first one second video be?

 

Let’s Be Frank: Are You An Entrepreneur?

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Getting there…

You walk around with an undeniable thirst to dream big.

You’re not deterred by roadblocks and naysayers. In fact, they add fuel to your fire.

You’re not thinking about going to Shark Tank and selling out on day 4.

Because you want to be pursued for “your idea”… not be the pursuer.

Your partners look to you for inspiration and you step up everyday.

You look in the mirror and the word “inventor” appears followed by a flashing light.

And suddenly you see an image of Elon Musk followed by his inventions Space X,

PayPal and Tesla Motors.

Congratulations you’ve made the jump.

 

Igniting the Senses

Here is a second source of inspiration from our trip to Florence.
The Donatello Workshop sparked our fire because of the direct correlation between the great artist’s wisdom in art, space and music and the craft of what we do as branding strategists and designers.
When art and space come together, a permanent, abstract and visceral energy is released. From music, comes the inspiring third piece… the tone. Together,they excite the senses in an extraordinary way.
Stimulate your senses by clicking through to this video here

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What sparks our fire: Igniting the senses through art, science and music.
How does The Donatello Workshop ignite your senses?
Enjoy!
-Canopy Team