Android

Forever paranoid?  Conspiracy theorist?  Scared of mind control?  Then this is for you.  Apparently Google has just taken the wrapper of Ingress, a new game concept that lets players use their smartphones as gateways to an alternate dimension or reality, and where the everyday can take on extraordinary significance. The game’s premise talks of “a mysterious energy has been unearthed by a team of scientists in Europe” who “believe it is influencing the way we think.” Players can choose to either embrace this energy as a powerful new tool or to resist it and become part of a rebellion.  Catch up with whats happened so far here.

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We’ve looked back at 2011 through the eyes of search via Bing and Google so now its time to have a looksie at the world of mobile over the last 12 months.  As always this year was finally the year of mobile…although I’ve lived through at least 8 ‘this is the year of mobile’ years, so who knows what that really means anymore!  Some great stats to think about include;

• The human race sending over 8 trillion texts! (up 1.1 trillion)
• 103 million mobile tweets being sent each day
• Over 1 billion Foursquare check-ins taking place (I account for about 600 million of those)
• And my favourite, 26 photos were made “hipstery” on Instagram every second!

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Ingenius!  Have you ever been late to work because when you wake mother nature has dumped 3 feet of snow on your car or Jack Frost has iced your wind screen to within an inch of its life?  Never fear, the team at agency Boondoogle have created a super smart alarm clock called the ‘Winter Wake-up’ that monitors the weather over night and wakes you up early if things outside have got a little hairy!

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There have been some great ideas that have been funded by Kickstarter but none, and I mean none are better then this one.  I present Run, Zombies!  The world of GPS tracked running is good but is a bit same same.  Nike+, Run Keeper, Track My Run etc, all do a good job of tracking your performance but aren’t great at motivating you to run further or faster.  That is all about to change because with Run, Zombies you are being chased by, yes, Zombies!  I can already picture people running around parks and city streets with scared looks on their faces as imaginary Zombies close in!  Genius!

And here are some mock-ups of the app itself.  Are you not excited!?

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This isn’t the first and I’m sure it won’t the last alcohol brand to attempt to create a sobriety test.  The latest variant from Becks combines their famous keyed logo with the idea of struggling to get your car key in the ignition when your drunk (do cars still come with actual keys or is it all proximity based sensors now?!).  One nice touch is the location based taxi database which can be set up in advance so that if you play the game and fail the app auto dials that cab company for you.  That aside I do have concerns about insinuating that if you can complete some simple game then you are safe to drive.  The idea completely disregards the units of alcohol consumed or when.  For example I could down a bottle of Vodka, play the game immediately, pass the test, jump in my car and head to the closest motorway.  I think we all know how that would end.  A far better example of addressing drink driving is the ‘Drunk Valet‘ social experiment out of Brazil.

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SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) have created a neat little mobile application designed to poke fun at their tardy competitors.  For the last 2 years Scandinavian Airlines have been named the most punctual airline in Europe and as a result have released a time killer mobile application incorporating 4 time wasting games.  The app is designed to be used by passengers flying on competitive airlines who might be experiencing a delay!  Definitely a nice twist on the way brands have traditionally used mobile apps.

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Fancy yourself as a bit of a lothario?  A different date every night?  Having trouble keeping up with all the lovely ladies you are seducing?  Well Axe want to help with the release of their new auto Romeo application.  Simply add in a few personal details about the ladies in your life and the application sends mysterious and seductive text messages at random, keeping you in their good books and maximising your free time for other activities!

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A big week in the world of social media with Google+ moving to Beta and the Facebook F8 Developer conference announcing a raft of platform updates, but that hasn’t stopped the communication industry delivering a few advertising gems.  Also the ADZAG Facebook page is slowly growing, please like us here if you haven’t already! Right, here’s our round-up of the best of the week incase you missed anything;

• Pepsi unites some of the greatest music icons from the past a present highlighting its pop heritage!
• Google and Hertz team up to supercharge Google Streetview.
• Yes, Your resume as an Infographic, awesome!
• Can you book a Hotels.com hotel room while free-falling at terminal velocity?
• The evolution of advertising executive  from 60′s Madison Ave. to Apple fan boys!
• Nissan aim to see if Gran Turismo skills translate into actual driving talent.

Clearly hotels.com are super pleased with their mobile app, so pleased in fact that they decided to through a guy out of a plane at 15,000 feet and make him book a room at the hotel he was about to parachute into!  To be honest, if I were free falling at terminal velocity I’d be more concerned about surviving than choosing the thread count of my bed sheets, but that probably won’t make a very good video!  So did he succeed?  Watch below.

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A week not dominated by communication but by technology.  The Apple rumour mill has been in overdrive with leaked images and speculation around the forthcoming iPhone 5 and Google finally launched its Flights product over a year after it acquired ITA Software. The ADZAG Facebook page is inches away from its 100th fan, please like us here if you haven’t already! Right, here’s our round-up of the best of the week incase you missed anything;

• Durex tells you your sexual future with its own fortune teller named Xerud.
• Dodge invents the worlds first real world search engine, also known as the Journey.
• Playboy lets you tattoo you name on one of its bunnies!
• Google disrupts the travel industry with the launch of flights.
• Vodafone lets you catch ghosts on your phone with a new mobile app.
• ASOS promote their Autumn/Winter collection with this gritty piece of content.
• Could Pepsi refresh the ocean, this big idea out of the Miami Ad School says yes!
• Girls get their wandering eyes busted this time courtesy of Cosmo for Guys.