Robo Promo Chef

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this wonderful dancing robo-chef who works one block down from the office on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis (he'll also be at the Twins game later this week). The chef sits in a trailer and promotes a new Au Bon Pain bakery cafe nearby. The guy who came to pick him up last night told me it takes 2-3 days to program the dude to lipsync and move along with each new song they load up. More detailed pics : the head (notice the wear and tear in the corner of his mouth), the computer (it sings, too), and the entire trailer.

Earlier:
More Advertising Robots
Advertising Robots
Advertising Robots, Part II
Advertising Robots, Part III

Site Combines Video Ads and Coupons

Coupons' CEO Jeffrey Weitzman said that starting next month marketers will be able to show their customers short video advertisement on Coupons’ Digital FSI distribution platform and offer them a cents-off coupon for the product aftewards.
-- DMNews via AdPulp

Google Opens AdSense for RSS

Google has opened its AdSense advertising program to RSS publishers whose feeds go out to more than 100 subscribers.
-- via unmediated

No worries about getting ads in AdLab's feeds just yet. From what I've seen, the context targeting still sucks and the ads are ugly and I don't believe you guys will click any of those anyway.

Earlier:
Advertising on RSS

Evolution of Mobile Advertising

Now that the cell phones outnumber landlines even in the US, we are seeing more and more elaborate advertising strategies targeting our little friends. As AdAge writes, "Along with McDonald’s, marketers including Masterfoods, Timex, Coca-Cola Co., Heineken and Johnson & Johnson are readying promotions that encompass everything from mobile games to ring-tone giveaways and text-in trivia contests and sweepstakes." And then, of course, there is plain old mobile telemarketing. Can't wait till they (well, we) start beaming infomercials on that uber-geeky head-mounted display of mine.

History and Taxonomy of Shopping Carts

DesignBoom posted a great overview of history of shopping carts, complete with typologies and alternative uses.
-- via we make money not art

Earlier:
Fujitsu Launches U-Scan Shopping Cart
Evolution of Shopping Cart

Watchlist: Cell Phones and Head-Mounted Displays

France Telecom’s wireless unit, Orange SA, will soon roll out a new mobile video service that will let cellular phone subscribers view TV, movies, photos and broadband Internet content with a big screen viewing effect using Kopin-enabled [head mounted displays]. Kopin Corp., the largest U.S. manufacturer of microdisplays for mobile consumer electronics and military applications, has received an order for CyberDisplay 230K microdisplays from MicroOptical for this application. Orange will bundle a MicroOptical binocular video eyewear with Samsung’s SGH-D600 cell phone as part of its new Orange World wireless multimedia service."
-- Digital Camera @ 101 Reviews, press release

Kopin is already working on intergrating its displays into console gaming (press release).

Earlier:
Head-Mounted Display, Finally?

Mobile Video: The Advent of vPod?

"I have reason to believe that Apple is currently working on a video iPod to counter the Sony PSP. (My guess is that we might even see it in time for Christmas.) When the video iPod hits the streets, Apple will have an iPod product that plays each of the media formats (music, pictures, video) represented in its iLife suite."
-- John "Hannibal" Stokes @ ArsTechnica (via Urban Intelligence)

Touch Screens May Lose Touch

"Ethertouch is working with the likes of Nokia and Microsoft to create applications for its technology, which can sense an operator’s finger movements in 3D. It aims to replace conventional human machine interfaces such as keypads or mice with non-tactile control via motions or gestures that will enable uses to simply point at a desired area of a display screen and zoom in on the relevant section."
--The Engineer via We Make Money Not Art

Earlier:
Touchscreens Get Force Feedback
Raytheon Creates 'Minority Report' interface

Sony Develops Foldable Roll-up Display

"A research team from Sony Corp and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research has developed a new type of display panel that is extremely thin and flexible enough to be rolled up like a piece of paper, with an industry-high resolution of 79 dots per inch (dpi). Sony aims to commercialize products based on the new display technology, which can be applied to televisions and mobile phones, around 2010."
-- Forbes

Earlier:
Update: Foldable Displays In Two Years
Future: MicroMedia Paper

Digital Signage and Electronic Paper
Wall-sized E-Ink Electronic Newspaper
E Ink: Digital Price Tags
E Ink: Digital POP Displays
E Ink: Digital Signage & Billboards
E Ink: Librie E-Book Reader
Interactive Wallpaper

School Replaces Books with Laptops

"A high school in Vail will become Arizona's first all-wireless, all-laptop public school this fall. The 350 students at the school will not have traditional textbooks. Instead, they will use electronic and online articles as part of more traditional teacher lesson plans."
-- My Way News

Earlier:
Whiteboards Turn Smart