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Apple's first Australian retail store opens in Sydney tonight, changing forever the landscape of the computer experience in Australia.
While I can't go to the opening myself, thousands of others will and indeed some loyal fans have been queueing* outside the store a full 24 hours or more before it opens.
If you've ever wondered what could possibly entice people to queue outside a computer shop for 24 hours, including some who have flown halfway around the world to do so, have a listen to this segment on ABC radio. Several of the people lining up outside the Apple Store are interviewed and discuss what it's all about, including Anthony Agius, who runs Australia's popular MacTalk website (and used to be an employee of mine).
The Apple Stores are the best retail experience you could ever imagine. Free training, free use of all the products, free internet, wireless purchasing, make an appointment to ask a genius anything, free, workshops, seminars and guest appearances by movie directors and rock bands. I spend many hours geeking out in them while I was in San Francisco earlier this year.
*Incidentally, did you know queueing is the only word in the English language with five consecutive vowels?
I just came across a video of an ad Nokia made of a game of snake played with humans. Looks like it may have been around for a little while now but this is the first time I've seen it. It's very well done.
There's a quirky outdoor art project going on in London and New York called the Telectroscopes. It's the brainchild of visual artist Paul St George, who is fascinated by the blurring lines of illusion and reality, and outdoor events production company Artichoke, who have a penchant for unusual spectacles such as 'The Sultan's Elephant' project that surprised Londoners a few years ago.
The Telectroscopes sit in New York and London and allow people to look at whatever is happening at the other side. There is no sound, but people have been writing messages to each other on whiteboards and there have even been marriage proposals conducted silently from one end to the other.
The story goes that Paul St George's great grandfather in the late 1800s had a vision for a device that would enable 'the suppression of absence', and set about digging a tunnel from London to New York so that a large device could be built at either end that would let people see each other across the distance. After several setbacks and a few tragedies where people working on the tunnel lost their lives, the project was abandoned, St George's great grandfather was devastated and gradually went insane. Paul discovered the old plans after his family had denied their existence for generations and set about completing the project in the modern age.
The story has been widely reported across much of the world media at first as being true, although it is difficult to imagine how this could be the case given the engineering involved, and also given that the initial press release for the launch was given on April 1st. Nevertheless, a lot of thought and effort has clearly gone into the execution of the project, and the telectroscopes really do exist and attract large crowds, so chalk up a victory for modern art.
Getting anything done about climate change requires political will, which in turn requires public outcry. The challenge of getting millions of people to care about something from a standing start, enough to be prepared to change their behaviour, is a tall order. I am surprised by how much our society has already been siezed with the issue over the past few years, though I fear it is still not happening fast enough to avert major disaster.
Anyway, it's always interesting to see the methods people use to draw attention to the issue to try to raise awareness and understanding.
In this clip, Harrison Ford gets his chest waxed to explain how deforestation hurts the planet.
In 2001, the average Australian watched 163 minutes of TV per day. In 2006 the average was 144 minutes.
67% of Australians with internet access are using broadband (4.3 million subscribers)
The average Australian spends 22.1 minutes online per day, has 6.5 internet sessions per week and and views 41 pages per session.
35.4% of Australians use the internet more than 8 times a week.
The top 5 internet activities in order of popularity are email, internet banking, general browsing, paying bills and reading news.
TV viewers in the crucial age 18-39 bracket have fallen 17% from 2001-2006.
39% of Australians watch less than 2 hours of TV per day or none at all.
TV advertising profits fell 31.3% from 2005-2006.
Overall media advertising spend is increasing, driven largely by online spending which is up 61.5% per year. Radio advertising is also increasing slightly while TV advertising is falling.
There are 21.26 million mobile phone services active in Australia as of June 30, 2007, meaning for the first time there are more mobile phones than people in Australia.
Perhaps you've heard of the new 'Bean-Boozled' range of jelly beans being sold by Jelly Belly. Basically they're selling boxes containing 10 different flavours, but with another 10 flavours thrown in disguised to look like the original 10. Thing is, the 10 disguised flavours are all foul and disgusting. And you won't know which is which, so instead of getting buttered popcorn you might get rotten egg, or pencil shavings instead of banana. It's truly malicious - I love it
Apparently they're taking their inspiration from Harry Potter. I haven't read the books so I wouldn't know, but on the strength of this it may just be time to start!
A few years ago, Brian Gordon of Shoebox Cards, a subsidiary of Hallmark that makes the funny ones, made a short video which humourously depicts the way the greeting card industry works and a day in the life of a Shoebox greeting card artist.
It is a must-see for anyone who works in creative industry or aspires to, even if just for the comedy value.
