instagram, my new favorite app

Posted in lifestyle, social media

The older I get, the more I seem to enjoy older things. Not things intended for older people, mind you. Rather, things that were once new, but are now old and considered “old fashioned.” Antiques without the stuffiness. If its hay day was between 1920 and 1960 I’m all about it these days. That’s why I LOVE taking photos with this new app: Instagram.

Instagram allows you to transform everyday photos taken with your iPhone into works of art. Most often giving them that “old timey” look and feel. The app is 100% free and comes with heaps of custom filters, borders and depth-of-field options to make your photos as unique as you.

Continue Reading

print is now interactive with QR Codes

Posted in business, feature, social media

ScanLife is a great app that’s making the Print medium more interactive. “Interactive Print” does sound a bit like an oxy-moron, but this just seems to be the next step in the Evolution.

ScanLife produces a 2D QR Code (boxcode) that can be programed to do a multitude of tasks. One code may take your smart phone to the ad’s website, or if the article or ad is about an artists’ debut album, the code might take you to iTunes to download an exclusive single. Or maybe the code is on your business card. Once someone takes a picture of it with their camera phone through the ScanLife app, all of your contact information can be automatically inserted into their contact/address book. That, is cool.

The way it works is simple. Download the ScanLife app from the App Store, “scan” (take a picture) of the boxcode/barcode within the app and let it take you to where you need to be. That’s it!

Now print ads can offer you more information about the product they’re talking about. Stores can now offer exclusive incentives to those with the app. Artists and musicians  can now sell tracks right from a print ad. Who knew?

Below are examples of how business are using ScanLife:

Esquire Magazine is using ScanLife as part of their  “Esquire Collection” which details the essential wardrobe that every guy should have.  25 codes are connected to each individual item throughout the layout which gives readers a menu of options in one-click.

Morgans Hotel Group celebrates their 25th anniversary with a code that links to video and offers.

Scan this code to see blooper videos of a Fanta commercial in Scandinavia.

This code links to the book’s Amazon.com page for easy on-the-go online purchase.

Scan this code to get animated desktop wallpaper from NIKE.

How can you and/or your business use ScanLife?

Snow Patrol App for iPhone

Posted in Uncategorized

Wow. Talk about thinking outside the box. Snow Patrol’s new album “A Hundred Million Suns” now has its own application for iPhone and the iPod Touch. And best of all it’s FREE!

The app houses all of the bands “special features” for the CD like lyrics, behind the scenes videos and links to third party sites: Facebook, myspace, etc.

The technology and creativity on this is what blows my mind. You can zoom in and out of the starfield, tap on an origami star, pinch it to open it and read song lyrics for a particular song. Other origami stars house behind the scenes videos of the band in the studio.

Behold evolution, y’all.

Check it out and download it here!