Author Archives: Christina Holden

Take a photo, get a waffle.

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Google photos, the photo-sharing service Google launched in May, are deploying food trucks in NYC to market and fine tune their technology… You can #paywithaphoto to get a waffle!

Google Photos tweeted that they have something very special cooking in NYC,  “Wafels, not waffles.” They partnered with Wafels & Dinges– a popular New York City food truck chain specializing in Belgian Waffels.

By using food trucks, Google Photos is getting the opportunity to demo their products to people who wouldn’t necessarily have known about it. The article says food trucks always get people’s attention, so what better way to lure them in and say try our product and get some free food.

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the locations the photo teams are going to are as follows, keep an eye out!:

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Why it’s hot:

Who doesn’t love food trucks? and more importantly who doesn’t love waffles? and even more importantly who doesn’t love to get them practically for free! A pretty fun marketing plan for the summer.

Read More here and here.

 

Extreme Sports Video Editing Made Easier with ‘Shred Video’

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Action junkies out there rejoice! Instead of spending hours going through your GoPro footage of your sick moves through a massive wave or fresh powder on the slopes, a new startup called “Shred Video” will allow users to take footage from their iPhone, GoPro or drone and match it with a song from the users iTunes library to create a video for them.

Shred Video uses the acceleration of the camera itself to pin-point the moment of action for surfers, snowboarders, skaters and other extreme athletes out there. This highlights the coolest clips of your footage and matches the epic moments with the beat drop of the song.

Shred Video won’t work with static cameras but the hassle of editing hours of footage into a few minute video makes it worth it for iPhones and GoPros. It will cut down the videos in a matter of seconds.

The article says that for now, Shred Video is free to use, with extra costs around saving the video to your computer and removing the watermark for sharing.

Why Its Hot:

I know from personal experience that extreme sport enthusiasts out there who use GoPros leave it on the recording feature all day and will then spend a lot of time and effort to edit down their videos into a final clip of their best moments. This advanced technology that is being used here to deliver professional movie edits in seconds will better so many people. Whether you are truly an extreme sport expert or just a tourist exploring a new country or new hobby (like trying to surf) Shred Video could be beneficial to helping cut down the hassle and energy it takes to make a cool video.

Read more about Shred Video here, or check out their website here.

Shopping Made Even Easier With New ‘Crave’ App

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Have you ever seen someone walking down the street and really admired their clothes or shoes and thought, “I want that”? With the new app called Crave that went live to the public on Tuesday (it’s a free download on iTunes), you can now snap a photo of the clothes you see and crave in your everyday life, and it will pull up visually similar results in seconds, then you can purchase the item directly on the app itself.

There have been other applications on the market in which you need to scan a barcode to compare prices but this requires no barcode scanning– instead it just analyzes a photo in order to help consumers find things that look like the item in the picture. “These photos can be snapped right from the Craves app, or they can be uploaded from the phone’s Camera Roll,” says the article.

Craves features clothing from a variety of stores at the moment from department stores to boutiques (Nasty Gal, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor, ASOS, Signer22, Coach, etc.). When a user makes a purchase through the app, Craves receives affiliate revenue but they hope to expand to other revenue systems in the future.

There is also a social component to this app, shoppers can follow friends and influencers and also browse through trending items and favorites and receive sale notifications.

 

 

Read more about Craves Here. 

“Like a Girl” Campaign comes out with Phase 2 “Unstoppable”

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Last summer Procter and Gamble’s Always created a “Like a Girl” ad where a diverse group of girls and young women were asked what it means to do something “like a girl.” The feminine products brand took this phrase and changed it to be an expression of strength, and it got a slot in the Super Bowl.

This next phase similarly features a group of girls and young women who instead talk about limitations as a result of social norms. They then kick and stand on cardboard boxes with the limitations and stereotypes written on them, symbolizing their strength against the restrictions they face as girls. The video also includes statistics about girl’s confidence and how they view societies standards.

Why It’s Hot

With over 25.4 million viewers on Fox watching the Women’s World Cup final this past Sunday (a record for any soccer game– men’s or women’s), and Facebook now making men and women equal in their new Friends icon, it is clear that now is a time where women’s empowerment and the ability for us to be seen as equals is prevalent in our society. I think this ad will resonate well viewers and stir up some emotions with their powerful message about confidence and power.

Read more about the Ad here.

Wearable Sensor Technology Helps Keep Students Safe on College Campuses

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Whether you are on a college campus or on the streets of NYC, when walking home alone after a night out we must all take extra safety precautions to keep ourselves out of harms way. It has been shown recently that sexual violence on campus has reached all-time high levels, so in response to this epidemic, a new app called MrGabriel has been developed bringing safety to its users by using wearable sensor technology with machine learning and real-time data.

When wearing or using the Apple Watch or iPhone, MrGabriel monitors all sudden moves or change of pace that could be interpreted as signs of danger. If these seem irregular, the app sends a user message asking if they are OK and if they do not respond or dismiss the message, that triggers an alert in the form of an SMS to the three of the users chosen friends or family members called “angels.” The SMS (chosen because it has the strongest signal instead of internet connection) relays the message that their friend needs help, and provides them with their exact location, time of the alert and the user’s phone number to call immediately. The location is updated every 10 seconds or every yard until the user cancels the alert from the device. Instead of calling 911 immediately, friends/family were chosen to be the point of contact in case there are errors or accidental dismissals of the confirmation screen.

 

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Why It’s Hot

There have been other apps similar to this,like Guardian and Stiletto, but they all focus on manual activation which isn’t as effective when someone is in real danger. MrGabriel focuses on sensors and artificial intelligence to determine changes in behavior that trigger an alert as opposed to manual activation, making it much more practical and useful. With the technology we have it is important that we do everything we can do keep ourselves, family and friends safe. I think this could help keep people more safe and prevent more tragedies from occurring.

Read more about MrGabriel here.