MUST SEE ART!

My good friend Eyal Gever has been tearing up the Art Scene ever since he went in it with his whole heart. I am so proud of him, and jealous as hell at his genius and talent. After successfully exiting on a number of startups, he's been using the time, and technology to kick start his long awaited art carrer. Considering he has been in Wired Magazine, traveling the world talking to the top curators and now is on the BBC shows that he is doing it well.

Actually whenever I'm in Israel, I always stay over at Eyal's place. It is such a trip to see my crash pad (Eyal's Studio) on the BBC. Have a look for yourself!

Collaborative Creation Presentation

Here is a presentation I gave at the Marketing Expo of DMEXCO in Germany. It is one of the largest Marketing Expo's in Europe and it was a real privilege to talk about the projects and the collaborative creative process we use at Indie. I hope you enjoy it.Click HERE if you want to skip to my part of the presentation or just skip to 11:55 in the video below.

Burn Cycle - My Ride through Burning Man 2011

I hope you enjoy this cycle through the Playa at Burning Man 2011. It was the most unforgettable journey of my life. This video only captures a small segment of what I saw an experienced. Thanks to Jeffrey and John for the best bike on the playa. Thanks Rupert for the photographs. Thanks to all the burners.

UPDATE: Since the publishing of this video, it has been video at some bike festivals down under. Fun to think people had to cycle to keep the projector running.

Restore Pattern Security Android

I really like my security pattern on the Android phone (Nexus 1). Basically I can draw a pattern to unlock my phone rather than using some pin number or password. I don't like password or pin as it is just annoying to quickly input on my phone with the keypad. I've seen many friends using this feature, however recently there was a problem.

After trying to install e-mail from my work account on my phone, I kept recieving security updates from the server. [Note to self: do not install stuff when you are intoxicated]. After allowing this by accident I realized I coudn't use my pattern security swipe anymore. I kep[t recieving the message "pattern disabled by phone administrator". What? So how do you fix this?

1. Goto Home > Settings > Location & security settings > Device administration

2. remove the device administrator.

Now I'm not sure what other security problems this may have, but I've got my security pattern back. If you have the same problem I hope this helps. And of course if anyone has any tips or comments about this and why it may be good or bad, leave a comment!

And remember to keep your fingers clean or it doesn't work so well :-)

Related articles

• Smartphone Security Thwarted by Fingerprint Smudges (pcworld.com)

Data Visualization Movies

Image via Wikipedia

I really love the incredible boom of data visualizations. To me this exploding artform is really offering us a new insight into our lives. As an example, via Many Eyes [an open data visualization site developed by IBM] I came across an interesting graph for all my film making buddies. A graph that shows all the various genres of films made since the late 1800's. Interesting that Reality TV has the most increase lately where as Westerns have been in the decline for years. Funny enough Musicals have been rather steady since 1920's. The most interesting is the enormous rise of Short Films in the last years, and seems to be making a comeback. Probably because the tools are getting easier again to not only create but also to publish. I say if you're making a movie check which genres are doing best if you wanna get your audience, or go for a niche that is in decline if you feel you can bring something new to the table. There are lots of other graphs to check out as well on the site, or even make your own.

If you are interested in learning more about data visualization there is an excellent film on Vimeo that I received via my old colleague Peter Hutton. The film describes how Journalists are starting to use these tools to research stories. Once we start to navigate information in new ways, new conclusions and discoveries begin. My feeling is that Good Data Visualization Designers are going to start creeping into every aspect of our lives. From our bank statements, tax reports, health reports to even our report cards from school [if you are still in school]. I say try making a simple data visual of some data block from your life and see what you discover about yourself. If you want some inspiration go check Nicholas Feltron and his beautiful personal year reports.

Journalism in the Age of Data from Geoff McGhee on Vimeo.

Related articles

• Google Expands Data Visualization To Europe (informationweek.com)
• Six Stunning Projects That Show the Power of Data Visualization (pbs.org)
• Where should an aspiring data journalist start? (onlinejournalismblog.com)
• ManyEyes is a Powerful Visualizer for Your Data [Data Visualization] (lifehacker.com)

Viva La Givolution!

For the past few months I've been working at INDIE. One of the projects I've been working on is the new campaign for Ben & Jerry's. The site is the first "Give It Forward Auction" site. This is better than Freecycle.org because of the wonderful stories that happen.

It starts with 100 ice creams from Ben & Jerry. People bid on them. So far there are bids like theater tickets, foot massages, jackets and more. Those people get an ice cream and then others can bid on those items. For instance guitar lessons, etc. The winning bids then become the next in the chain of giving forward. Or what we like to call Giving Chains. If you are in Holland (it is in dutch only I'm afraid) you could try it out for yourself. Trust me there are a lot of very cool things that are going to be planned for this campaign so keep watching here. It's gonna be a lot of fun! And I can't imagine a better company than Ben and Jerry's to do it with. a real socially conscious company. Viva La givolution!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQykGinvNrw[/youtube]

Related articles

• Ben & Jerry's Converts All Flavors to Fair Trade Certified (treehugger.com)
• Ben & Jerry's and Fair Trade (one.org)

Tim Kring of Heroes

Interview with Tim Kring, creator of Heroes and Knight Rider. He talks about Alternate Reality Games and Transmedia production.

I've been back for a bit in Amsterdam working on my new job since being at the DLD conference in Munich. Gabe Bauer and I got to go there and make some more videos this year. They've been published on the DLD site and I'll be adding more of the next days. However, I usually get to have one really great interview with someone I really admire at the DLD. This year I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Kring. Tim Kring is the creator of the popular tv series "Heroes". The number one illegally downloaded show. But he doesn't get to pissed at me when I admit that in the interview. But Tim does talk about the trans media approach to creating Heroes. From TV to websites to mobile and Alternate Reality Games planned for June in England. And of course his favorite super power he would like to have. Enjoy the interview!

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Tags: timekring, heroes, arg, alternaterealitygame, dld10, crossmedia

My New Job as Digital Creative

The headline says it all! Today I have just signed a contract to be Digital Creative at Indie in Amsterdam. I am so excited about this new job and about working with the team at Indie. Indie is a great Agency in Amsterdam with an excellent reputation, formerly known as SVH. For the past month I have been working closely with Lode Schaeffer, the head Creative at Indie on a few projects. I am very excited about all 3 concepts that we have created and successfully pitched over the past month. The chemistry at Indie feels perfect. Here I've found a company that's not scared to try new things and strive to push the envelope of advertising. One of my favorite campaigns they created was with Sportlife and the Yetiball.

Working with Lode over the past month has been a challenge and also a great creative collaboration. In Holland Lode's reputation proceeds himself, and to say I've sat across from him for the past month concepting is enough to make many people in the biz in Holland nearly break their necks in a double take.

There are big plans and lots of great projects on which I will be working, officially starting on January 1, 2010. All I can say is that Indie is finally a place where the crazy ideas I have and the preachings about engagement and approach of digital campaigns do not fall on deaf ears. Quite the opposite, they are being stimulated. What's also great about Indie is that they understand how important it is for me to be able to work on purely creative projects and to keep teaching Design for Virtual Theater and Games at the HKU, which they have re-enforced in our agreement by allowing me to work part-time still as a teacher and digital artist.

To get a perspective on how much Indie is prepared to try new things we have projects ranging from Augmented Reality Games to Virtual Flashmob Dance mash-ups in pre-production. A very exciting time, and a very exciting company to work with. I couldn't have dreamed of a better job at a better company a few months ago. A big thanks toIsabelle O'kanewho made the first introduction with Tim O'Kennedy that landed me an interview with Indie. Thanks a bunch Isabelle! Next time out the champagne is on me. Now I head back to the states for the Holidays to reconnect with my family before starting this next adventure. PEACE!

Image by Guido Van Nispen