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Facebook used to find blood donors in emergencies

Dylan — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:29:01 +0000

Socialblood uses Facebook to connect people of the same blood group, facilitating blood donations in emergency situations.

Hospitals around the world depend on blood donors for the treatment of patients in emergency situations, as well as for the treatment of patients with ongoing conditions. Some blood types, however, are less common than others, making it harder to find matches. Now in India, Socialbloodis taking advantage of Facebook to connect people of the same blood group, facilitating blood donations in emergency situations.Socialblood was launched this summer by 22-year-old founder Karthik Naralasetty who won the Staples/Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur competition. The Facebook app invites users to register simply by selecting their blood group. They are then connected to one of eight Facebook groups — one for each blood type. They can invite friends to join the campaign via Facebook, post a message in case of an emergency or respond to requests for blood donations. Already Socialblood has seen participation from 1,500 people, and Naralasetty says a recent post from a man asking for blood for his daughter received 74 responses in 24 hours.

Could a similar campaign help hospitals find suitable blood donor matches quicker in your locality, and could you be the one to set it up?

Website: www.socialblood.org
Contact: hello@socialblood.org

Spotted by: Murtaza Patel

We want to employ this kid!

Dylan — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:18:58 +0000

Check out this brilliant pint sized developer!

Thomas Suarez is a 6th grade student at a middle school in the South Bay of Los Angeles. When Apple released the Software Development Kit (SDK), he began to create and sell his own applications. “My parents, my friends and even the people at the Apple store all supported me,” he says, “and Steve Jobs inspired me”. Thomas points out that it’s hard to learn how to make an app. “For soccer you could go to a soccer team … but what if you want to make an app?” He’s started a club for fellow students at school, where he shares his knowledge of programming. Thomas articulates his vision that students are a valuable new technology resource to teachers, and should be empowered to offer assistance in developing the technology curriculum and also assist in delivering the lessons.

Thomas has been fascinated by computers and technology since before kindergarten. Recently, he’s been focused on the development of applications for the iPhone, and has established his own company, CarrotCorp http://www.carrotcorp.com/. His most successful application is one he terms “an anti-Justin-Bieber game” called “Bustin Jieber”. “It’s is a variation on the Whac-a-Mole theme,” he explains. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bustin-jieber/id404956571?mt=8

Farewell Google Wave

Dylan — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:41:04 +0000

Google has outlined the plan for the shut down of Google Wave, here’s whats going happen:

Stage 1: Google Wave is read-only — January 31, 2012

In this stage, you will no longer be able to create or edit waves. Marking a wave as read will also not be saved.

Robots that try to write to a wave will stop functioning.

During this time, you will continue to be able to export your waves using the existing PDF export feature. You’ll still be able to read existing waves and access the Google Wave client.

If you want to continue using Wave, there is an open source project called Walkaround that includes an experimental feature to import all your waves from Google.

Stage 2: Google Wave shut down — April 30, 2012

In this stage, all the Google Wave servers will be shut down and you will no longer be able to get to your waves. Make sure to export any waves you want to save before that time.

FT-86 Fastest Painted Website

Dylan — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 08:22:23 +0000

A brilliant campaign by Japanese agency “Party” to celebrate the launch of Toyota’s official unveiling of the FT-86 II concept car (the spiritual successor to the “86″ cult car) at the Tokyo Motor Show in December.

A mural has been painted on a wall in front of the bustling Shinjuku Station in the city which is streamed live via UStream. Using Flash buttons, they’ve enabled “hotspots” on the mural that users can then click on that link to interesting things online. Some of these are Toyota-based, such as info on the FT-86 II concept car, speed related video clips, and a ‘social network racer’ game on Facebook.

Here is a time lapse video of the mural being painted:

The website will only be online until November 26 so check it out while you can at FT-86 Fastest Painted Website

The Honda Experiment

Dylan — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:37:16 +0000

Wieden + Kennedy London’s latest campaign for Honda, titled The Experiment, is an online game that asks players to create a chain reaction on screen by placing a set of pop-up windows in the correct sequence…

The campaign is reminiscent of the Honda Cog ad from 2003, where a series of car parts were used to create a giant Rube Goldberg-esque chain reaction, to emphasise the complex engineering inside the Honda Accord. Here, the audience become the engineers, and are encouraged to experiment with moving the pop-ups around the screen until the correct chain is achieved. The film below shows how it works:

There are six levels to the game, and when these are completed, players get the opportunity to create their own chains to challenge their friends with. The game is best played using either Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers, and was created in collaboration with B-Reel, the production company behind the Wilderness Downtown site for Arcade Fire, which also had fun with pop-ups.

Play the game at experimentgame.com, or find out more about it on the Honda blog here. And if you want to find out more about how the campaign was made, simply watch the making-of film below:

Credits:
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy London
Creatives: Lisa Jelliffe, Kirsten Rutherford
Producer: Dominic Tunon
Creative directors: Chris Groom, Sam Heath
Interactive creative directors: Gavin Gordon-Rogers, Andy Cameron
Designer: Chris Welsby
Creative technologist: Mike Tucker
Executive creative directors: Tony Davidson, Kim Papworth
Production company- B-Reel
Music: human

Online service makes appointments and reservations on user’s behalf

Dylan — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:50:06 +0000

Scheduling and confirming appointments is typically a tiresome chore, and we’ve already seen Lifebooker and ZocDoc spring up with solutions designed to simplify the process. Now throwing its own hat into the proverbial ring is Reserverr, a free online service that can make appointments and reservations on a user’s behalf, including booking hotel rooms.Currently gearing up for a launch into private beta later this month, according to its Facebook page, Reserverr aims to speed up and simplify the booking process for busy people. When users want to set up an appointment, they begin by entering the time and place they have in mind, along with the venue’s contact information. Reserverr then takes care of contacting the establishment for the appointment, and reports back to the user via email, SMS or phone as to whether the appointment was successfully made. Confirmation is then made with a real human being.

Consumers’ pain can be entrepreneurs’ gain, as always, and anything that helps cut through red tape to make life easier stands a good chance of receiving a warm welcome. One to help regionalize for other parts of the world?

Website: www.reserverr.com
Contact: hi@reserverr.com

Social media platform provides dog-sitting service

Dylan — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:52:54 +0000

We’ve recently featured several luxury hotel concepts that cater for pampered pooches, but now Stayhound in the US is offering a less costly alternative, by matching vacationing dog owners with available local pet sitters via Facebook.

Stayhound was founded by a team of dog lovers who wanted assurance that they could leave their pets in safe and caring hands during any lengthy trips. Currently only available in Portland, the concept aims to connect pets with loving families and promote responsible pet ownership. Stayhound requires that all users log in through Facebook, which ensures the social context of community members is visible. Owners can then view pet sitters in their area, read user reviews and check availability. Sitters are responsible for setting their own rates, and while the site is in beta transactions will be handled directly between owners and sitters. Stayhound are planning an online payment facility in the future, and hope to create a network of “trustworthy and friendly” pet care providers.

Through its use of Facebook, and implementation of user ratings and comments, Stayhound presents greater accountability to sitters and provides reassurance for owners. Inspiration for pet lovers in any country?

Website: www.stayhound.com
Contact: help@stayhound.com

Spotted by: Zachary Love

Smartphone app brings digital benefits to print publications

Dylan — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:56:14 +0000

Paperboy uses image recognition technology to enable users to share, save and explore printed media, online.

Paperboy is available for iPhone and Android devices, and claims to benefit readers and publishers alike. To recommend an interesting article to friends, users snap a photo of it on their phone using Paperboy, which will recognize the page and allow sharing via email, Facebook and Twitter. The app will also suggest related articles, images and videos, and recognize URLs on the printed page. Pages marked with a shutter icon indicate exclusive digital content can be unlocked by using Paperboy, and there is also the function to save favorite pages in a personal archive. For publishers, the Paperboy platform means printed content can reach a much wider audience, quickly and easily, and offer greater engagement for readers. Paperboy currently supports printed titles in 16 countries around the world, and publishers can choose from two versions of their Interactive Print product. The basic package is free and enables every page of a printed title to be recognized by Paperboy. The PRO package costs USD 399 a month and has additional features such as SmartAds, which claims to increase the value of print advertising space by serving relevant, interactive ads to consumers via Paperboy. The video below explains Paperboy in more detail:

Smartphone app brings digital benefits to print publications

Paperboy uses image recognition technology to enable users to share, save and explore printed media, online.

17th November 2011 in Media & Publishing.

As newspapers and magazines struggle to find solutions to decreasing audiences — a problem driven by competition from digital media — Switzerland-based Paperboyhopes to offer a solution, with a smartphone app that uses image recognition technology so users can easily share, save and digitally explore content from printed media.Paperboy is available for iPhone and Android devices, and claims to benefit readers and publishers alike. To recommend an interesting article to friends, users snap a photo of it on their phone using Paperboy, which will recognize the page and allow sharing via email, Facebook and Twitter. The app will also suggest related articles, images and videos, and recognize URLs on the printed page. Pages marked with a shutter icon indicate exclusive digital content can be unlocked by using Paperboy, and there is also the function to save favorite pages in a personal archive. For publishers, the Paperboy platform means printed content can reach a much wider audience, quickly and easily, and offer greater engagement for readers. Paperboy currently supports printed titles in 16 countries around the world, and publishers can choose from two versions of their Interactive Print product. The basic package is free and enables every page of a printed title to be recognized by Paperboy. The PRO package costs USD 399 a month and has additional features such as SmartAds, which claims to increase the value of print advertising space by serving relevant, interactive ads to consumers via Paperboy. The video below explains Paperboy in more detail:Paperboy has the potential to increase audience numbers along with advertising revenue. One for newspapers and magazines who don’t want to be left on the shelf?

Website: www.kooaba.com
Contact: info@kooaba.com

Spotted by: Regina Fischer