We’ve been doing a bit of running recently at igloo towers in preparation for Run for the Kids .

Thursday lunch time, out round the Tan and back. About 7kms in total.  I trail at the back of the group the whole way and look like a wheezing tomato with its stomach kicked in when we return. While I have a fair bit of enthusiasm for most tasks, the term “fun run” has always struck me as a bit of an oxymoron. So I’ve found myself asking “what’s my motivation?”.

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I woke up yesterday morning and the first thing I did was go through my iPhone and you-tubed,  googled and Tweet searched for Tiger Woods’ press conference apology video. After watching the video, I felt a sense of satisfaction. Not because I was cheering for Elin and not because he apologized to his wife and implied he’s no Tiger, but a “Cheetah” – it was because I already had my first dose of celebrity news for the day. I did not need to wait till Monday to get the latest OK or Famous magazine to read all about it.
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If you, like me, are finding there aren’t enough hours lately to be extra creative or discover you may not have a single artistic bone in your body – or you may even just be a lazy artist – here is a simple mouse tracker (mac or pc) by Anatoly Zenkov that will make you, the budding abstract artist, make Jackson Pollock look like an amateur.

Have it running in the background and it’ll track your mouse movements throughout the day. Sit idle and it produces a circle, the size and opacity of which depends on the amount of time spent on one spot.

Below is one I  ‘produced’  earlier. Note: the big black dot wasn’t  a result of an extended pub lunch, nor was the activity on top of it a result of me covering it up. ;^)

Save screenshots, or comparatively gauge how busy your week has been – and who knows you may be inspired to use it on your next design. Take that, La Guernica.

Hard at work

I’ve now been working at Igloo for a little over a month, and it has been a massive career change for me. Learning the web development role has been fun and exciting, and the job has both similarities and differences to what I was used to, video game development.

One big change for me was the programming language used in web development, C#. (pronounced see-sharp).

I’m used to programming in C++, and only played with C# a little bit at home. The games industry generally only uses C# for game tools, and not for actual game code, and my work in that area was very minimal.

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There’s so much talk these days about augmented reality. At igloo, we love the concept and the potential that it has once it matures into usable, mobile technology so here’s some more!

The latest offering is from Microsoft, or more specifically part of their new all encompassing web product, Bing. Bing Maps demoed two new additions this month that are revolutionary and just plain awesome.

Rather than me explain what the new features are, here are some excerpts from the Bing blog. Its a bit of a read, but it’s so damn fascinating that I highly recommend it!

P.S. There’s a video at the end of the post…   Fancy!

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Are you a digital producer? If so, igloo is seeking to employ an experienced digital producer for our Melbourne office and that could be you.

You must have significant experience working on ’A’ list websites and digital campaigns. We are looking for someone who lives and breathes digital and has managed projects that have a strong strategic focus across multiple digital touchpoints and involve complex user experience thinking.

Our immediate need is for someone who can manage a team to deliver major, award-winning websites, online advertising, campaign microsites, and possibly even mobile. All, of course, on time and on budget!

Experience required:
- Proven experience track record with significant web projects
- Proven experience with project management processes and documentation
- Complete understanding of the online environment

If this is you, then we would love to hear from you. Yesterday!

Not that I’d needed it, but my recent trip to Japan late last year confirmed all the hype I’ve heard about Japan being the ultimate “cute paradise”. You simply can’t get away from all the visual cuteness. On the streets, ads plastered all over the trains, tv commercials, websites…

Nothing is safe from the cute invasion. Police stations and blood banks have their own cartoon mascots,  and airplanes are decorated with colourful anime characters, they even have official cute ambassadors. It’s embedded into an array of situations that may even be considered inappropriate in other cultures, things like public service warnings, office environments and military advertisement. (more…)

Word up “Opportunity doesn’t knock, it vibrates”. Is that the significant difference between traditional media v’s new media, conventional v’s innovative, same v’s different? If only it was that simple.

The truth is traditional media and new media are co-dependent. Like any marriage in its early blossoming stages, its all about compromise. Debate is part of the process and it’s not always smooth sailing and champagne breakfasts but when it does work it’s marital bliss.

With harmonious conversion and digital knowledge on the brain I recently attended the AIMIA & IAB 7th Future of Digital Advertising conference (more…)

Written by Andrew Englisch, CEO & Tony Prysten, Creative Director, igloo for 29 January Adnews

Driving the next generation of brand engagement to getting the most from the new wave of cool touchscreen devices, here’s our hotlist for a great start to 2010 for marketers looking to supercharge their brand’s online activity for the year ahead.

The Top 10

1. Get in touch with a new era of interaction
The iPhone, our new best friend, is moving us away from mouse driven interfaces to touch-based computing. Progression in design frequently follows progression in technology. As we await a potential revolution in tablet computers from Apple and HP, fresh opportunities will be created to exploit with great digital design. (more…)