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Earlier today I was interviewed about augmented reality on Bob Cudmore’s radio show which is simulcast on radio in the Amsterdam, NY area on Lite 104.7FM and 1570AM and which is also streamed at www.1570WVTL.com

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, John C. Havens first made me aware of augmented reality this summer on his BlogTalkRadio series. Since then, BusinessWeek’s Stephen H. Wildstrom has been following the trend while Esquire magazine, John Mayer’s new album and the new book about Michael Jackson have actually employed the technology.

To clarify, with virtual reality the environment is totally computer-generated and the user becomes immersed in that computer-generated world where nothing is real. (Think The Simms and Grand Theft Auto). With augmented reality, computer-generated applications
(apps) are imposed onto the real world using the web camera on your computer or SmartPhone to provide additional information or to enhance your real-life experience.

Zugara’s Webcam Social Shopper lets you try on clothes (virtually) then take pictures to send to your Facebook friends to get their opinions:

Baby Boomers might watch this video about Microsoft’s Xbox Project Natal and think it’s just about games but the last part of the video shows some very practical applications for augmented reality technology:

In an earlier posting, I’ve talked about some new iPhone apps which Baby Boomers might find useful.

At one point, a lot of us thought that GPS units were a little frivolous. If you have a GPS unit now, you probably think of it as essential.

I’d be interested in whether or not you can foresee augmented reality becoming an integral part of your lifestyle.

Our experiment with new media continues. We’re learning how to successfully integrate my blog into my new Brindle Media Facebook fan page. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Brindle+Media&init=quick

I tend to be a bit too analytical and so focused on a goal. Unfortunately, when I’ve finally done everything necessary to achieve that goal, my reaction will be more, “OK, that’s done. What now?” rather than one of joy. I get so wrapped up in the details of the work that I forget to celebrate the accomplishment. That’s not a good quality-of-life strategy.

So, I was moved by a recent Harvey Mackay column which reflected on holiday season celebrations and observed: “I often wonder why we limit our celebrations the rest of the year.”

In his book, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future”, Daniel H. Pink notes that Henry Ford fired assembly line workers for laughing or even smiling while on the job. Ford felt that workers who were having fun were a danger to efficient production. Fortunately, that kind of thinking is as outdated as the Model T.

Harvey Mackay feels that work should be done “in a place where we can be excited, enthusiastic and passionate about what we do.” So here are some suggestions he makes:

1) Celebrate often
2) Big celebrations are great but get-togethers to celebrate small
successes are good, too.
3) Be creative in your celebrations. The basics are food, fellowship
& fun. Build on that base.
4) Share the responsibility of creating a celebration. A fresh
perspective can create unexpected positive results.
5) It doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s the intention of the
celebration that’s important.

You can read Harvey’s entire column here: http://bit.ly/Mackay

So, what should we celebrate next ?!

Augmented reality is the overlaying of digital data on the real world. In a world where pretty soon that mobile device most of us use to make phone calls will also replace your laptop, your GPS, your radio and who-knows-what-else the concept of augmented reality is not as outlandish as it initially seems.

In a recent article, Mashable listed what the editors deemed “10 Amazing Augmented Reality iPhone Apps”. These were the ones that seemed the most practical for Baby Boomers like me:

This app identifies Wi-Fi hotspots and potential workplaces like coffee shops, bookstores, libraries,etc. and provides user reviews. Right now, it’s only available in London but versions for Manhattan, San Francisco, Berlin and Madrid are due to be released soon.

With this app, you can use your iPhone to gauge short distances up to a foot (30 centimeters) and, using the built-in camera, shows an overlay onto the live image on your phone’s screen which changes as you move the phone.

And when was the last time you forgot where you parked? Once your car’s location is set, Car Finder creates a visible marker that shows the car, how far away from it you are and tells you in what direction to head.

Do you think you’d use these apps? What apps would you like to see developed which aren’t yet available?

You can check out the other apps that Mashable recommends at http://bit.ly/iPhone_app

Saratoga Springs resident, Bruce Piasecki has consulted Toyota and HP about the capitalistic benefits of going green. Hear Bruce’s perspective in this interview on the Small Business Advocate podcast.

Click here to learn more about Bruce’s book.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about John Mayer is using augmented reality with his new album and how the technology will be incorporated into a new book about Michael Jackson which will be released just in time for Christmas.

Augmented Reality is becoming a hot topic. BusinessWeek magazine has an article in its November 23rd issue about the Dutch startup, Layar which makes free software that developers can use to associate digital info with specific locations. On the BusinessWeek website, technology editor Peter Elstrom interviews Stephen H. Wildstrom who wrote an article, “Augmented Reality:Not That Real Yet” for the magazine. You can read the article and listen to the interview here:
http://bit.ly/2kWiRx

Meanwhile, the December 2009 edition of Esquire magazine with Robert Downey, Jr. on the cover is titled the Augmented Reality issue. I think you’ll enjoy this video:

And you’ve got to watch this from Pranav Mistry at TEDIndia

So, how do you see augmented reality being incorporated into your life?

In September, I wrote about about a customer service problem I experienced with my local Home Depot. Since Brindle Media’s services include marketing, branding and customer service, I thought it would be useful and fair to the Home Depot organization to to share my experience and post this follow-up.

A brief overview: Due to negligence on the part of the plumbing subcontractor that installed a water heater which I’d purchased at Home Depot in late July, our laundry room was flooded. The plumber paid for an emergency crew to dry out the laundry room and installed some dry wall which had to be removed but refused to take responsibility for restoring the room to its original state. The plumbing company then proceeded to turn the victim into a victimizer and accused me of trying to rip them off. That whole process took us to mid-September. When I complained to the local Home Depot who had hired the subcontractor for installation, their position was that I needed to negotiate directly with the subcontractor. This is where social media and customer service entered the picture.

After blogging about the problem on September 14th, I Twittered about the blog and hash-tagged Home Depot. Within minutes of that tweet, I was contacted by Michael at Home Depot’s customer care center in Atlanta who then connected me with Stephanie in the company’s Customer Care Social Media department. Within 48 hours, I was connected with Sedgwick Claims Management and on October 22nd received a check to cover the cost restoring our laundry and family rooms to a semblance of their pre-accident state.

As a customer, I was very satisfied with my treatment by Michael and Stephanie on behalf of Home Depot and by Tammy at Sedwick CMS. The good news is that the situation was resolved. The bad news is that the resolution took three months. It was interesting and disturbing that no one on the regional or local level at Home Depot ever bothered to follow up.

So the lesson here is that when you encounter a customer service problem with a national retail chain, social media tools like Twitter and Facebook can provide you the leverage that you need to get the attention of the customer service department and help resolve a problem using a top-down rather than a bottom-up approach.

Hopefully, you won’t ever find yourself in a situation where you’ll need to employ this advice !

The run of the Michael Jackson movie, THIS IS IT has been extended. To be honest, I was among those who had intended to wait until it was released on DVD but my wife and I saw it last night (the theater was approximately 1/4 full and the demos were surprising older) and we were both impressed and moved. I conducted a survey to learn if people were intending to see it in theaters during its run. Results are posted below.

Only 12% of those who took the survey planned to see the movie during its 2 week run. The remaining 88% were either not interested in Michael Jackson, have other priorities or they plan to see it when it’s released on DVD/on-demand (25%).

Here are some of our respondents’ comments:

“I saw it yesterday and I loved it. It was well done and Michael was without a doubt the ‘King’. I felt like I was at a concert. The atmosphere in the theatre was awesome.”

“…will probably wait till it comes out on video”

“It’s relevant to my profession, but I seldom have time to go see movies, and seldom do.”

Like many, I’ve been turned off by all the negative tabloid press concerning Michael during the past 20 years but seeing this documentary provided me with some perspective. Obviously, it was edited to portray Michael Jackson in the best light possible but it’s difficult to walk away after seeing this movie and to not be impressed by the man’s humanity, concern for others, dedication to his craft and his humility. The opening sequence of interviews with people auditioning to be part of Michael’s final concert tour is quite touching.

After seeing THIS IS IT, my former MTV colleague Chip Rachlin sent the following to friends in the music industry. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m in agreement with his assessment:

“I’m writing everyone to recommend you go see the Michael Jackson movie, “This Is It”. Most everybody on this list is somehow connected to the talent business. We’ve all been around talents, some great, and some, not so great. Michael Jackson’s talent has been in our lives for forty years. His talent for writing, recording and performing had been obscured the last decade by his talent to attract bad press and some not so terrific people in his life.

So go to this movie. Take your kids. Take your civilian friends who only know about the MJ that was in the tabloids the last ten years. More important, take yourself to remind you of the gold standard of talent.”

A couple of weeks ago I told you about how augmented reality will be incorporated into a new book about Michael Jackson. The website, Mashable notes that John Mayer has become “the first recording artist to release an augmented reality music video.”

According to Mashable, “The music video for ‘Heartbreak Warfare,’ from the upcoming Battle Studies album, is now featured on John Mayer’s website, http://www.johnmayer.com/ar/#/Home After the Flash player loads, viewers can activate their webcam and hold up a printed or mobile version of the Battle Studies icon to their webcam, which, if aligned correctly, will prompt the video to begin playing with you as an extra in the background.”

I’d be interested to learn how you see all these new technologies impacting the way that you use audio/visual media.

For those of us who’ve been used to the standard in-car FM/AM/CD player with mp3 player plug-in options, things are about to get a lot more complicated. It won’t be long before the ability to receive Internet radio will become standard in new cars which will mean that you’ll have the ability to choose from not only local radio stations but also from among the 10,000 or more Internet stations from around the world.

Can you say “Information overload” ?

It’s pretty obvious that we’re going to need help in narrowing our choices with aggregators and I’ve been wondering when we’d start seeing these services pop up. So I was pleased to read Jennifer Lane’s Audio4cast (www.Audio4cast.com) and Mark Ramsey’s Hear 2.0 (www.hear2.com) recent blogs about Muziic and MixCloud.

Jennifer notes that Muziic was created by 15 year old developer and offers the chance to search for music, listen to Internet radio stations, watch music videos, build playlists, chat with friends, or post what you’re listening to on Twitter.

Mark points out that MixCloud is designed to be the equivalent of YouTube for radio shows. It’s not about individual songs but rather about individual talk or music shows.

I’d be interested to learn what you think about these services.