Hasta La Gadget!

It’s okay. It’s not just you. You didn’t pop a pill you shouldn’t have before your afternoon coffee. You’re not in a dream world. The billboard actually looks like that in real life and apparently it’s on purpose, the broken electronic billboard is being tested for all working colors. I see acid.

Read more…

While old school billboards that are set up with printed paper can be defaced via acts of vandalism in the physical sense, electronic billboards which require far less manpower to change the face of it as all you need to do is to flash a new image or file, are susceptible to the dark art of hacking. Yes sir, those in the advertising world who decided to make the move from printed billboards to those with LCD and LED units might have overlooked such a danger, as an example in Belgrade, Serbia recently demonstrated.

The electronic billboard that was raised at Republic Square in the center of Belgrade is one that will not fail to catch the eye of anyone in the vicinity. The display has been hacked to depict the logo of The Pirate Bay, while sporting a peace symbol with a quote from Gandhi, stating, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

This whole exercise was done by a group of computer science students to show just how loose security is in the IT field, although the Serbian media claimed otherwise that Anonymous were the ones behind the attack, as those students trumpeted denials of being linked to Anonymous.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Metal-air Batteries, Cheaper Alternative For Communication Grid Backup , Google I/O 2013 Tickets Sold Out,

YouTube views are now more valuable than ever before, as they have been incorporated into Billboard charts. This ought to see musicians take a more serious approach in seeing just how technology does wield a rather strong influence in the future of the music industry. To put it in a nutshell, YouTube views of a song will be placed on the same pedestal as that of digital downloads, physical sales, and streaming, amidst other metrics, in order to make sure just which song will rise up to the top in the US. If one were to apply this sort of metrics retro-actively, does this mean that Psy’s Gangnam Style would come up tops, with over 1 billion views?

Billboard, however, has its own strict rules where YouTube data is concerned, limiting it to “all official videos,” Vevo clips, and user-generated videos which use “authorized audio.” In plain English, legitimately used songs are the only ones to be included in the charts. I am quite sure that many a tech-savvy music enthusiast will finally heave a sigh of relief, as YouTube has turned into a place where more and more folks listen to music.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Raspberry Pi works as an Audiobook , Xbox Music announced by Microsoft, Apple iTunes and Amazon Cloud Player to watch out?,

In a world where ads are constantly being shoved into everyone’s face at any given moment, these Billboard Blinds are a welcome change. It’s a concept for an urban intervention that gives people like you and me a choice on whether or not we want to view ads while waiting for the bus or train or while flagging down a taxi.

If you’re not in the mood to know about the latest show that’s hitting on network TV soon or about newest teeth whitening products in the market, then simply reach out and pull the blinds, and go on your merry way. (Or rather, continue waiting your merry way. You get the picture.) This idea might even make ads more effective for those who are interested in them, thanks to the interaction required to open them and view the ad underneath. That’s got to make the ad a bit more memorable, right?

The cool thing is you don’t need to install any fancy gizmos or gadgets to achieve this end. Regular window blinds will do. Who knew something so simple could make a world of difference?

Billboard Blinds were conceptualized by George Zisiadis.

You’ll find over 35 different billboards in the streets of Toronto which are ironically called ‘Info Pillars’, considering the fact that they’re used to display ads and not information. So what’s an urban hacktivist to do, when the redesign of these Info Pillars have replaced bike parking and caused the cutting down of trees by the sidewalks? Occupy the pillars, that’s what!

Members of the cARTographyTO creative team took down the ads that previously occupied these Info Pillars and instead replaced them with art installations, some containing actual bikes and art maps.

The more entertaining ones include interactive chalkboards where passersby can write down their own thoughts, opinions, or messages to the rest of Toronto. Through their efforts, cARTographyTO has managed to raise public awareness regarding the issue, encouraging the city to use them for disseminating information, as their name asserts.

[via Pop Up City]