Coming up...
» New idents for News
News Corp splits into two with new identities to match
» Sticky Toffee
Everton FC and their controversial new logo
» The fight for our living rooms has begun (again)
the announcement of the Xbox One heralds a new war over our TVs
» The future will be wearable
smartphones and tablets are so passé, the future will be attached!
» It's a GIFt
the inventor of the popular .GIF image format tells us where we've been going wrong
» Crazy happy running
possibly the happiest run on the planet?
Things that caught our eye this month...
New idents for News
 |
| Image taken from Pentagram.com |
The big reveal for the big split started earlier this month as the immediately identifiable '20th Century Fox' logo finally caught up with the rest of the world and re-branded for the 21st Century. Created by Pentagram, it's clean, neat and follows the new 'flat' aesthetic that seems to be doing the rounds. However, we can't help feeling like the movie logo has lost a little magic in the translation - especially when it comes to that animation - I wonder if they plan on losing the old familiar fanfare too?
 |
| Image taken from Guardian.co.uk |
The second half of the company announced its new logo the other day - and it's dramatically different in style to both the original News Corporation logo (featuring a rather stern and official portcullis) and the new 21st Century Fox logo above. So far, it's not been attributed to any agency and, as it's apparently based very much on Mr Murdoch's own handwriting, we're wondering if he hasn't created it entirely himself?
The question is, does it work and is that friendly, fluid script appropriate for a multi-billion dollar news 'corporation'. It's certainly divided opinion here – we'd love to know what you think (a quick Google will give you plenty of other opinions on the new News Corp identity!)
Sticky Toffee
 |
| Image taken from bbc.co.uk |
Another logo hitting the headlines is the new Everton logo. Massively unpopular with fans, over 20,000 have signed a petition calling for the ‘embarrassing, Fisher Price logo’ to be dropped. Everton has since issued a statement saying that whilst it will be used for the coming season, a new badge will be developed in consultation with fans for the 2014/15 season.
A win for the power of social media, however, it’s an embarrassing climb down for Everton (as a Liverpool fan, however, I think it’s hilarious!). It is worth noting that one of the reasons for the change was that the previous logo didn’t reproduce well digitally, an important factor that got lost amongst all the furore.
The fight for our living rooms has begun (again)
 |
| Image taken from telegraph.co.uk |
On May 21st, at Xbox HQ, Microsoft announced the next-gen Xbox gaming console to the world. Why should we care? Well, apart from offering us new ways to shoot zombies (it's a pretty safe bet right?) the presentation was interesting as it focused almost exclusively - not on games - but on new ways to control and interact with your TV. Microsoft is positioning this device not really as a gaming upgrade but as a new 'all in one' box that controls everything you do on your tellie (hence the new moniker 'Xbox One' - which is a little confusing as this is actually the Xbox 3 - but we'll leave that for now).
Whilst its main competitors at Sony did a 'sort of unveiling' a few months before of the PS4 (showing the games, but not the box - in fact its recently released a hilarious teaser showing the device itself - or at least a very blurry image of it anyway - can you imagine any other brand doing this?) - Microsoft seem to be aiming at a different set of competitors altogether - that of Google, Apple and maybe even the big media companies too.
The new device features a brand new version of the 'Kinect' device - which captures user motion, gestures and speech to control the console (whether you’re telling it to 'duck and cover' or 'show today’s TV guide for BBC1'). But at a rumored retail price of £399 (although currently on Amazon at £599!) is this just too high a price for their budget conscious, mainstream target audience?
The battle for the touchscreen is ongoing, but the battle for who dominates the 'TV space' has just heated up several degrees. All eyes are still on Apple though - can it do another 'iPhone' with its much rumoured big-screen Apple TV?
The future will be wearable
 |
| the Apple 'iWatch' (artists impression!) |
Unless you've been hiding under some virtual rock over the last few months, you'll no doubt be aware of the Google Glass project which has been getting a whole load of media attention recently. What is it? Well, it's basically a smart-phone on your head - not strictly virtual reality or even augmented reality (it doesn't overlay a full Heads Up Display - but projects a small image to one corner of your vision when wearing the glasses).
Some say it will completely revolutionise the way we live - finally removing all barriers between us, our daily lives and the internet at large. Others say it's a creepy invasion of privacy - constantly gathering personal data and creating a whole new barrier between humans and other humans. Recently, Apple's Tim Cook commented that he thought it really won't catch on. He may well be right, but then, he would say that wouldn't he?
Apple and Google have been at loggerheads for years over the smartphone space - and wearable computing threatens to be the next battleground. There are very heavy rumours that Apple is set to launch their new iWatch (probably early next year) - which will come as wonderful news to Apple die hards who can't own enough Apple devices and will proceed to get seriously confused as to which 'i' device they've been reading their emails on.
Whilst Google Glasses is definitely NOT a return of the fabled 80's tech: 'virtual reality' – the forthcoming Oculus Rift (we love the name!) does look like someone's finally managed to turn the dream into a reality. Whilst still being far too bulky to be considered something that you might wear as part of your daily life, the promise of genuine virtual experiences must be very interesting to anyone wanting to demo or experience a true virtual environment - from games to architects or even learning tools - the possibilities are, (as they were 30 years ago), boundless.
It's a GIFt
 |
| The 'Dancing Baby' .GIF animated 'meme' |
Over the last year or so, the humble 'GIF' image has been responsible for many a meme. (Just a few of our favourites: iheartcatgifs, whatshouldwecallme and jamesvandermemes).
Invented in 1987 by CompuServe (a long dead pioneer of the internet age - since swallowed by AOL). The GIF format may not produce the same quality of image or get anywhere near the compression efficiency of the now standard 'JPEG' - but it did offer one major USP - that of simple animation. It remains as one of the only ways you can guarantee to show animating image content on ALL devices (from emails to Flash banner ads on mobiles).
However, 26 years after inventing it, the original creator: Steve Wilhite has announced that we've all been pronouncing it wrong - it's not GIF, it's pronounced 'JIF'. Well, that's us told. It seems however, that the rest of the world disagrees with the inventor - where do you stand - is it 'Jif' or 'Gif'? And does that make him an old 'Jit'?
Crazy happy running
 |
| Taken from thecolourrun.com |
The Colour Run London 2013 , this is quite possibly the happiest 5k run on the planet and caught our eye this month. It's coming to Wembley on the 16th of June and is a truly unique running experience, being less about speed and more about brightly coloured paint flying through the air as you run! Our Katie is signing up... pictures to follow but for now enjoy this video.
No comments:
Post a Comment