Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Know It All
I think that Stacy Schiff's articile 'Know it all' is one of the best articles I've read in RM class. I do agree with the point that knowledge should be free and made easy to find. Even if the information may be incorrect or basis, at least it sources where it got the information from. Well, most times. Its things like this that make me wish that Marshall McLuhan was still alive, so that he could of seen his global village come true. It would of been interesting to see what he would of said about it the internet, wikipedia, google and even internet messengers and chatrooms.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Interviews
For our group, we decided to study QR codes. That switched over to Tag codes developed by Toronto's Luna Development. I managed to set up an interview with the CEO of Luna, Michael LoPatriello. I also set up another interview with the promotion manager of the Auto Show. They are using QR codes in their poster ads. But I don't think he'll respond to my questions as he said he very busy. Anyways, here's the Luna interview.
Toronto’s Tag Code: Questions and Answers
1. Where have you been using Tag codes? Which locations, where Tag codes are used,
are the most successful?
We’ve used Microsoft Tags in a few locations throughout the City of Toronto. In particular, Luna and
Microsoft launched a joint initiative in June of 2009 to use them in Toronto’s exclusive Yorkville district.
The tags were provided to local businesses and a mobile enabled website that linked from the Tag was
also provided. The Microsoft Tags are most successful in areas where there is casually minded, high
pedestrian traffic.
2. What demographic do tag codes attract?
The Microsoft Tag has the ability to appeal to wide range of demographics depending on the ultimate
destination for the Tag. As you might have guessed, young, hip individuals with a passion for mobile
phones are an obvious demographic interested in the technology. However, when you place a Microsoft
Tag on a senior’s prescription medication and give them the ability to more clearly read the text and
participate in a survey to get a free supply of medication, it quickly appeals to a broad demographic.
3. Why Tag codes and not QR codes? Do you find Tag codes more successful than QR
(visually? more practical?)
We actually started out with QR Codes back in 2007 when we introduced the Blitzkap QR Code reader
for Windows Mobile. The problem with QR Code technology has not been with the technology itself, but
rather the market uptake. Without a champion for the QR Codes (e.g. a company with deep pockets, or
a carrier willing to load the technology on each new phone) the resistance to getting wide spread use of
the QR Code was high. Since Microsoft has the greatest marketing engine in the world, and with the Tag
reader being made available for free to a very wide range of devices, it’s simply a matter of who will
drive adoption.
4. How do you think Tag codes will change advertising?
Microsoft Tag’s impact on advertising will not be fully understood until there is wide spread adoption.
Since the technology is in its infancy here in North America, it’s the same as asking how the internet
would have had a change on advertising looking back to 1998. The Tags allow for a deeper customer
interaction. They allow for a strong connection between the manufacturer and the consumer. They also
rely on an opt‐in model of advertising which means that each and every person that views a destination
from a Microsoft Tag wanted to see what was there. Immediately advertisers can see metrics
surrounding real world advertisements the way they do with online advertisements and page views.
That’s a huge change from calculating “eye balls” that may potential see a sign or newspaper ad.
5. Are there specific areas you choose to or not to place tag codes?
We chose to focus on a controlled area to gauge the acceptance of the Microsoft Tag in a campaign.
Consider it like a lab experiment.
6. What has the response been to Tag and QR codes in Toronto? Good or Bad?
As far as response, it’s difficult to gauge that in a meaningful way at this point. Each time they appear,
there are mentions in local publications, trade magazines for advertisers and so on. When we first
brought the QR Code to North America, it was an instant success with the main stream media simply
due to the cool factor. In terms of companies actually adopting the technology for advertising or other
purposes, the uptake has been at a slow but consistent rate as we expected. However, compared to
other areas of North America, the QR Code and Microsoft Tag technology is certainly more employed
here than elsewhere.
7. Is there any other place you wish to put Tag codes to use? Such as Toronto's public
services? (e.g. Inside TTC buses or bus shelters)
We’d like to see them everywhere you see a URL for something. If a movie poster says
www.NextBigMovie.com I would love to see a Tag linking to a mobile website where not only can people
view a movie trailer on their mobile phone, but also download a ringtone, wallpaper, instantly send a
notice to their friends, add a calendar appointment for opening night and have a link to purchase tickets.
I’d love to see them used on all sorts of consumer packaging. Everything from everyday items like the
food we eat, showing nutritional information, to the medications we take, showing potential drug
interactivity issues. They’re also a great way to pass information securely between phones and other
electronic devices for payments, authorization, and so on.
8. What future do you see for QR codes in Toronto?
QR Codes (and all 2 dimensional barcodes for that matter) continue to crop up everyday around
Toronto. The Metro newspaper is using a lot of 2D barcoding. The Toronto Star put a Microsoft Tag in
their Wheels section a week ago for the first time. A billboard in Markham was one of the first to have a
Microsoft Tag on it. The Yorkville initiative will also be re‐launched in conjunction with a new Microsoft /
Luna joint venture, with contests, celebrity endorsements and a featuring at the Toronto International
Film Festival.
9. What other Canadian businesses have expressed interest in using tag codes?
Think of big names you see every day and we’ve probably talked to them or their advertising firms. From
auto manufacturers to fast food retailers and a lot of companies in between, they’re all keen to jump
onboard as soon as adoption hits critical mass.
10. Will Toronto see further upgrades and developments of Tag code technology in the
future?
It sure will. Stay tuned.
I hope this helps with your project. Thanks for the enthusiasm in one of our great initiatives. And best of
luck with your studies!
Micheal LoPatriello
CEO, Luna Development
Toronto’s Tag Code: Questions and Answers
1. Where have you been using Tag codes? Which locations, where Tag codes are used,
are the most successful?
We’ve used Microsoft Tags in a few locations throughout the City of Toronto. In particular, Luna and
Microsoft launched a joint initiative in June of 2009 to use them in Toronto’s exclusive Yorkville district.
The tags were provided to local businesses and a mobile enabled website that linked from the Tag was
also provided. The Microsoft Tags are most successful in areas where there is casually minded, high
pedestrian traffic.
2. What demographic do tag codes attract?
The Microsoft Tag has the ability to appeal to wide range of demographics depending on the ultimate
destination for the Tag. As you might have guessed, young, hip individuals with a passion for mobile
phones are an obvious demographic interested in the technology. However, when you place a Microsoft
Tag on a senior’s prescription medication and give them the ability to more clearly read the text and
participate in a survey to get a free supply of medication, it quickly appeals to a broad demographic.
3. Why Tag codes and not QR codes? Do you find Tag codes more successful than QR
(visually? more practical?)
We actually started out with QR Codes back in 2007 when we introduced the Blitzkap QR Code reader
for Windows Mobile. The problem with QR Code technology has not been with the technology itself, but
rather the market uptake. Without a champion for the QR Codes (e.g. a company with deep pockets, or
a carrier willing to load the technology on each new phone) the resistance to getting wide spread use of
the QR Code was high. Since Microsoft has the greatest marketing engine in the world, and with the Tag
reader being made available for free to a very wide range of devices, it’s simply a matter of who will
drive adoption.
4. How do you think Tag codes will change advertising?
Microsoft Tag’s impact on advertising will not be fully understood until there is wide spread adoption.
Since the technology is in its infancy here in North America, it’s the same as asking how the internet
would have had a change on advertising looking back to 1998. The Tags allow for a deeper customer
interaction. They allow for a strong connection between the manufacturer and the consumer. They also
rely on an opt‐in model of advertising which means that each and every person that views a destination
from a Microsoft Tag wanted to see what was there. Immediately advertisers can see metrics
surrounding real world advertisements the way they do with online advertisements and page views.
That’s a huge change from calculating “eye balls” that may potential see a sign or newspaper ad.
5. Are there specific areas you choose to or not to place tag codes?
We chose to focus on a controlled area to gauge the acceptance of the Microsoft Tag in a campaign.
Consider it like a lab experiment.
6. What has the response been to Tag and QR codes in Toronto? Good or Bad?
As far as response, it’s difficult to gauge that in a meaningful way at this point. Each time they appear,
there are mentions in local publications, trade magazines for advertisers and so on. When we first
brought the QR Code to North America, it was an instant success with the main stream media simply
due to the cool factor. In terms of companies actually adopting the technology for advertising or other
purposes, the uptake has been at a slow but consistent rate as we expected. However, compared to
other areas of North America, the QR Code and Microsoft Tag technology is certainly more employed
here than elsewhere.
7. Is there any other place you wish to put Tag codes to use? Such as Toronto's public
services? (e.g. Inside TTC buses or bus shelters)
We’d like to see them everywhere you see a URL for something. If a movie poster says
www.NextBigMovie.com I would love to see a Tag linking to a mobile website where not only can people
view a movie trailer on their mobile phone, but also download a ringtone, wallpaper, instantly send a
notice to their friends, add a calendar appointment for opening night and have a link to purchase tickets.
I’d love to see them used on all sorts of consumer packaging. Everything from everyday items like the
food we eat, showing nutritional information, to the medications we take, showing potential drug
interactivity issues. They’re also a great way to pass information securely between phones and other
electronic devices for payments, authorization, and so on.
8. What future do you see for QR codes in Toronto?
QR Codes (and all 2 dimensional barcodes for that matter) continue to crop up everyday around
Toronto. The Metro newspaper is using a lot of 2D barcoding. The Toronto Star put a Microsoft Tag in
their Wheels section a week ago for the first time. A billboard in Markham was one of the first to have a
Microsoft Tag on it. The Yorkville initiative will also be re‐launched in conjunction with a new Microsoft /
Luna joint venture, with contests, celebrity endorsements and a featuring at the Toronto International
Film Festival.
9. What other Canadian businesses have expressed interest in using tag codes?
Think of big names you see every day and we’ve probably talked to them or their advertising firms. From
auto manufacturers to fast food retailers and a lot of companies in between, they’re all keen to jump
onboard as soon as adoption hits critical mass.
10. Will Toronto see further upgrades and developments of Tag code technology in the
future?
It sure will. Stay tuned.
I hope this helps with your project. Thanks for the enthusiasm in one of our great initiatives. And best of
luck with your studies!
Micheal LoPatriello
CEO, Luna Development
Video of Multi-Touch Screen's in use
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9JBSEBu2q8&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_WywMTzc&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP5y7yp06n0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKqyn-gUbY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stcwxsWNZQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jhoWsHwU7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqBcBea0IHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKzm_fEes7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxk_WywMTzc&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP5y7yp06n0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKqyn-gUbY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stcwxsWNZQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jhoWsHwU7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqBcBea0IHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKzm_fEes7g
Original Thesis Idea
Last year I had thought about how design would help assist users in using new technology. The technology in question dealt with robotics and how robotic devices would soon be helping mankind. I decided to refocus on more current technologies, such as multi-touch screens. However, it seems that my ideas for multi-screen interaction is not such a new idea. However, I will share what I have researched and discovered...
First off, Multi-touch is a method of interacting with a computer screen or like many of today's smartphone. Multi-touch technology allows the user to interact with the device by placing their fingers directly onto the screen's surface. The movement of the fingers across the screen send commands to the device. The term multi-touch is a trademark of Apple Inc.
My original idea was to see how Multi-Touch screens could be used to assist in all forms of public service. From replacing public pay phones to city maps to information. In a multi-cultural city such as Toronto, the Multi-Touch screen could have a series of graphics to guide users through the interface and even allow them to change the language of the interface to something they understand. Such as how some phone service will ask a user to chose what language they would like to have spoken to them. This would make for fast and easy interaction by users who are not familiar with the city they are in. These Multi-Touch screens would appear on the corner streets such as public pay phones, or in bus shelters, providing information such as city maps or other useful information.
My other idea for Multi-Touch screens would be using for Interactive Posters and Ad spaces. The idea was that instead of the poster box that holds a poster for an Ad or a Poster, such as the ones we see in bus shelters and in subway stations, it would hold an interactive screen. The screen would display an ad for what ever product it was advertising, along with several small images along it's side. For a time the screen one ad after another. The new ads would come from the smaller images, constantly changing after a few minutes of being displayed in it's large format.
However, users can select which ads they wish to look at for a longer period of time. They simply touch the smaller image of the ad they wish to preview. The image grows to full size of the poster holder, allowing the user to look at and get more information on the advertised product.
I had a couple of thoughts of benefits that could come with this technology. One was advertisers could track what users are taking an extra interest in. Each time a ad is selected, the poster holder would record the action. It could as well video record the user, making record of the demographic of users who use this technology. The second was that if these poster holders could hold several ads, it could possibly cut down on the amount of ads that litter city walls and the skyline, instead of having walls just full of ads. It could help to make a city look better rather then a metropolis of ads. It could also help cut down on the amount of materials used to construct posters, from metal and paper. If a city changed it's laws on how ads are displayed, it could reduce the visual pollution and material waste public ads produce.
It was just recently that I discovered AD Pod. A advertising booth much like my Multi-Screen poster idea. See Link.
http://www.smart6six.com/AdPod.html
http://torontoadscapes.com/2010/01/05/sherlock-holmes-in-toronto/sherlock-holmes-ad-pod-in-the-eaton-centre/
http://www.wonderworks-media.com/adpod.html
History of Multi-Touch Technology
The use of touch technology to control electronic devices predates the personal computer. Early synthesizer and electronic instrument builders like Hugh Le Caine and Bob Moog experimented with using touch-sensitive capacitance sensors to control the sounds made by their instruments.
IBM began building the first touch screens in the late ‘60’s, and, in 1972, released the PLATO IV computer, a terminal used for educational purposes that employed single-touch points in a 16x16 array as its user interface.
Multi-touch technology dates back to 1982, when Nimish Mehta, an Apple employee at the University of Toronto, developed the first finger-pressure multi-touch system. The system used a frosted-glass panel with a camera placed behind the glass. When a finger or finger pressed on the glass, the camera would detect it as a black spot on an otherwise white background, allowing it to be registered as an input. Since the size of the dot was dependent on pressure (how hard the person was pressing on the glass), the system was somewhat pressure-sensitive as well.
In 1983, Bell Labs at Murray Hill published a comprehensive discussion of touch-screen based interfaces. In 1984, Bell Labs engineered a touch screen that could change images with more than one hand. The group at the University of Toronto stopped working on hardware and moved on to software and interfaces, expecting that they would have access to the Bell Labs work.
A breakthrough occurred in 1991, when Pierre Wellner published a paper on his multi-touch “Digital Desk”, which supported multi-finger and pinching motions.
Various companies expanded upon these inventions in the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mainstream exposure to multi-touch technology occurred in the year 2007, when Apple unveiled the iPhone and Microsoft released its Microsoft Surface. The iPhone in particular has spawned a wave of interest in multi-touch computing, since it permits greatly increased user interaction on a small scale. Small-scale touch devices are rapidly becoming commonplace, with the amount of touch screen telephones expected to increase from 200,000 shipped in 2006 to 21 million in 2012.
More robust and customizable multi-touch and gesture-based solutions are beginning to become available, with interfaces that register multiple touchpoints and gestures.
First off, Multi-touch is a method of interacting with a computer screen or like many of today's smartphone. Multi-touch technology allows the user to interact with the device by placing their fingers directly onto the screen's surface. The movement of the fingers across the screen send commands to the device. The term multi-touch is a trademark of Apple Inc.
My original idea was to see how Multi-Touch screens could be used to assist in all forms of public service. From replacing public pay phones to city maps to information. In a multi-cultural city such as Toronto, the Multi-Touch screen could have a series of graphics to guide users through the interface and even allow them to change the language of the interface to something they understand. Such as how some phone service will ask a user to chose what language they would like to have spoken to them. This would make for fast and easy interaction by users who are not familiar with the city they are in. These Multi-Touch screens would appear on the corner streets such as public pay phones, or in bus shelters, providing information such as city maps or other useful information.
My other idea for Multi-Touch screens would be using for Interactive Posters and Ad spaces. The idea was that instead of the poster box that holds a poster for an Ad or a Poster, such as the ones we see in bus shelters and in subway stations, it would hold an interactive screen. The screen would display an ad for what ever product it was advertising, along with several small images along it's side. For a time the screen one ad after another. The new ads would come from the smaller images, constantly changing after a few minutes of being displayed in it's large format.
However, users can select which ads they wish to look at for a longer period of time. They simply touch the smaller image of the ad they wish to preview. The image grows to full size of the poster holder, allowing the user to look at and get more information on the advertised product.
I had a couple of thoughts of benefits that could come with this technology. One was advertisers could track what users are taking an extra interest in. Each time a ad is selected, the poster holder would record the action. It could as well video record the user, making record of the demographic of users who use this technology. The second was that if these poster holders could hold several ads, it could possibly cut down on the amount of ads that litter city walls and the skyline, instead of having walls just full of ads. It could help to make a city look better rather then a metropolis of ads. It could also help cut down on the amount of materials used to construct posters, from metal and paper. If a city changed it's laws on how ads are displayed, it could reduce the visual pollution and material waste public ads produce.
It was just recently that I discovered AD Pod. A advertising booth much like my Multi-Screen poster idea. See Link.
http://www.smart6six.com/AdPod.html
http://torontoadscapes.com/2010/01/05/sherlock-holmes-in-toronto/sherlock-holmes-ad-pod-in-the-eaton-centre/
http://www.wonderworks-media.com/adpod.html
History of Multi-Touch Technology
The use of touch technology to control electronic devices predates the personal computer. Early synthesizer and electronic instrument builders like Hugh Le Caine and Bob Moog experimented with using touch-sensitive capacitance sensors to control the sounds made by their instruments.
IBM began building the first touch screens in the late ‘60’s, and, in 1972, released the PLATO IV computer, a terminal used for educational purposes that employed single-touch points in a 16x16 array as its user interface.
Multi-touch technology dates back to 1982, when Nimish Mehta, an Apple employee at the University of Toronto, developed the first finger-pressure multi-touch system. The system used a frosted-glass panel with a camera placed behind the glass. When a finger or finger pressed on the glass, the camera would detect it as a black spot on an otherwise white background, allowing it to be registered as an input. Since the size of the dot was dependent on pressure (how hard the person was pressing on the glass), the system was somewhat pressure-sensitive as well.
In 1983, Bell Labs at Murray Hill published a comprehensive discussion of touch-screen based interfaces. In 1984, Bell Labs engineered a touch screen that could change images with more than one hand. The group at the University of Toronto stopped working on hardware and moved on to software and interfaces, expecting that they would have access to the Bell Labs work.
A breakthrough occurred in 1991, when Pierre Wellner published a paper on his multi-touch “Digital Desk”, which supported multi-finger and pinching motions.
Various companies expanded upon these inventions in the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mainstream exposure to multi-touch technology occurred in the year 2007, when Apple unveiled the iPhone and Microsoft released its Microsoft Surface. The iPhone in particular has spawned a wave of interest in multi-touch computing, since it permits greatly increased user interaction on a small scale. Small-scale touch devices are rapidly becoming commonplace, with the amount of touch screen telephones expected to increase from 200,000 shipped in 2006 to 21 million in 2012.
More robust and customizable multi-touch and gesture-based solutions are beginning to become available, with interfaces that register multiple touchpoints and gestures.
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