Panasonic Next Generation Talent Winner

As mentioned back towards the beginning of this month, I participated as a panelist for the Panasonic Next Generation Talent thing-y. Well, the results are in - along with lots of video footage from the evening. Oh boy.

So ... check this clip if ya wanna see me acting way more important than I ever should:

... and this one to see us panelists pontificating about the winning piece:

And, of course, here's the winner! Cool.

Read more about the Panasonic and New Generation Talent here.

Panasonic’s Next Generation Talent Competition

To kick start its campaign for the new Viera Home Hub TV, Panasonic has teamed up with Young Creatives Network to challenge students across the UK to create a film, storyboard or print ad telling the story of the new Panasonic Viera Home Hub TV. Read the brief here.

Among the many entries, six were short listed last night by a panel of “social media, advertising and tech experts,” a panel which for some crazy reason included me. But don’t worry too much because the rest of the panel were super topnotch expert-y peeps:

- Head of Advertising at Panasonic, John Dixon;
- Beri Cheetham, Creative Director for Billington Cartmell;
- Oli Christie, Creative Director at Inbox digital agency;
- Rich Trenholm, reviewer for technology news site CNET;

- Willem van der Horst, digital strategist for Ice Cream 4 Everyone;
- Social media and tech expert Ged Carroll;
- Guillaume Foutry, social media and photographer/design blogger;
- James from advertising and design site Spinning Around;
- Vice Magazine's Alice Judge-Talbot, an alternative culture and trend spotter magazine; and
- Matt Gierhart of advertising and creative sites Josh Spear and mattgierhart.com.

Very cool. Thanks to Panasonic, Young Creatives Network and PR agency onlinefire (hey Melanie!) for including me. As judges, we were given the very fun and somewhat challenging task of choosing the six pieces we deemed worthy of winning £6000 of Panasonic gear and perhaps playing a role in Panasonic's Viera campaign.

But enough about us! Here’s where you come in: The final winner is to be decided by the general public (that means YOU). View all six and vote for your favourite online (and become eligible to win a Panasonic S7 camcorder!). The voting is on now and continues until midnight tomorrow (Wednesday the 10th). The winner will be announced Thursday morning on the Next Generation Talent website.

Equal rights for robots

This takes the fun out of everything! What good are robots if you can't abuse them?

Robotic age poses ethical dilemma
An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea.
BBC News
Last Updated: Wednesday, 7 March 2007, 13:46 GMT










The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007.

Click here for complete article.

Muppet Mobile Laboratory at Disneyland - too cool!

I would have been the happiest kid on the planet if this had been around when I was a tike!

Disneyland intros roving animatronic Muppets; Mickey and friends fear pink slips
by Evan Blass
engadget
Posted Mar 2nd 2007 3:05PM

The happiest place on Earth (Disneyland, not Las Vegas during CES) just got a little happier this week, thanks to a new exhibit called the Muppet Mobile Laboratory that roams the park and delights visitors with inane banter and sprays of water.

Click here for complete article.

BBC gets wise to YouTube and the future

Finally, a major network/content owner sees the benefit of working with YouTube and the futility of resisting the inevitable!

BBC and YouTube partner to bring short-form BBC content to online audiences
- YouTube content to include two BBC-branded entertainment channels showing short-form videos
- Dedicated channel for BBC News clips also to be featured on YouTube
BBC Press Office
02.03.2007

"It's essential that the BBC embraces new ways of reaching wider audiences with non-exclusive partnerships such as these."

Click here for complete release.

BBC And YouTube Implement Program Sharing Agreement
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer
All Headline News
March 3, 2007 7:55 a.m. EST

BBC's director of future media and technology, Ashley Highfield, said the company would not run after BBC-copyrighted clips already posted by YouTube members although it has the option to change bad-quality clips or remove content that maligns the BBC name ... "We don't want to be overzealous," Highfield said. "A lot of the material on YouTube is good promotional content for us."

Click here for complete article.

And I only just got my first iPod

Just a few interesting pieces about Apple's new iPhone:


Apple's 'magical' iPhone unveiled
US firm Apple has confirmed its move into the telecoms industry, unveiling the long-awaited iPhone.
BBC News
2007/01/09 23:02:24 GMT

It is essentially a computer with a blank screen that users configure so they can operate the monitor with their fingers.

Click here for complete article.

Apple's New iPhone unveiled!
M. Snow
Mannequin Snow
Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Now, if the iPhone proves to be as simplistic and quality as the iPod, or any other Apple product for that matter, it could end up shaking up the cell phone industry.

Click here for complete post.

iPhone: Initial Reactions
Posted by Andy Beach
Zoom In Online
January 9, 2007

You can look at the iPhone and immediately see that an amazing amount of thought and attention went into the development of his product.

Click here for complete post.

How the iPhone keyboard probably works
by Hanford
blog.hanfordlemoore
January 9th, 2007

I’m not going to explain the details of the iPhone. To find out about them, go to Apple’s site. I did find the keyboard on the iPhone to be perhaps the weakest link of the device, but I’m going to take a stab at how it might work.

Click here for complete post.