Interactive Large Displays in Urban Spaces: Communicating Energy Usage through Duke Energy's "Smart Energy Now" Project

On October 28th, the Envision Charlotte project was launched during a celebration at Two Wells Fargo Plaza in uptown Charlotte.  As part of the celebration, interactive displays were turned on as part of an effort to establish Charlotte as the "most sustainable urban core in the country".  Although this is a lofty goal, it is important.

Although I am a little disappointed that I missed the  Envision Charlotte launch party,  I was happy to learn that I how interactive technology will play a role in helping people support the goals of Envision Charlotte and Duke Energy's Smart Energy Now campaign:


According to information from the Smart Energy Now^SM blog,  large interactive display kiosks in urban spaces will encourage a large number of people to make simple changes in their daily work lives  by showing the correlation between their actions and energy consumption.  "The kiosks will be in approximately 70 buildings in uptown Charlotte. More than 80,000 employees will be able to visualize real-time energy usage as a single number — a number that could lead to real change in the way Uptown uses energy."  35 buildings were installed with 47-inch displays during the first phase of this endeavor, with more planned for the near future.

 It is possible that this effort might help to decrease energy use within the uptown business section by 20% over the next five years.

Video: Envision Charlotte-Uniting for a Sustainable City


I'll bring my video camera the next time I visit Uptown Charlotte to get a closer view of the interactive displays!


RELATED
 
Uptown Workers to be key players in green initiative


The Smart Energy Now program sponsors are Cisco, Verizon, and Duke Energy.
Smart Energy Blog
Envision Charlotte

ūmi from Cisco - Forget about the video phone, why not try home teleconferencing on your huge HDTV?

You've probably seen the series of commercial for ūmi telepresence featuring Ellen Page. In one, she's trying to learn how to play the spoons.  In another, she's engaging in a tea party.  The one I like the best is when she tries to "telepresently" converse with her friend, Steve.   From what I can tell from the commercials and the Cisco website, I think that the ūmi is a much better option than the video phones that have been brought to market over the past two years!

If you want to be telepresent, and if you have $599.00, you can add a ūmi to your cart while visiting the CISCO ūmi telepresence website. With free shipping and a 30-day return policy, why not try it? If your friends and relatives have a laptop and Google Chat, you can still use your ūmi  with them.  (My hunch is that the experience is much better if both parties have a ūmi.)

It might cost a bit more than $599.00 to get your ūmi up and running. First of all, you'll need to have an HDTV with an HDMI input port, with a resolution of 1080p, or 720p. You also need to have a top-tier broadband connection to the Internet if you have a 1080p HDTV, which requires a minimum of 3.5 Mbps upload/download speed. If you have a 720p HDTV, you'll need a minimum of 1.5 Mbps upload and download speed.

FYI: I connect to the Internet from my computer on the second floor of my home via a wireless router, located on the first floor. My upload speed is just 0.965 Mbps, which is not fast enough for the ūmi. My download speed is 8.991 Mbps, which is more than I need. I checked Time Warner Cable and found out that they now offer Wideband, with download speeds up to 50 Mbps, with upload speed up to 5 Mbps.  If I really, really want a ūmi, I'll have to solve this problem with Time Warner/Roadrunner.

The following video has a short discussion of TV UI and usability testing- they tossed a bag of rice at the TV to simulate a cat jumping at the screen....

In the Lab: The Innovators Behind Cisco ūmi


Below are a couple of videos about the ūmi from Cisco's YouTube site:





RELATED
Wikipedia's definition of telepresence:
"Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance that they were present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location."
Cisco Broadband Speed Test
Cisco Blog
How is your network running?
Brenna Karr, Cisco Blog 12/17/10
Previous post:  Like Neil Steinberg once said, "Dude, Where's My Video Phone?"
Dude, Where's My Video Phone?
Neil Steinberg, Forbes, 10/15/07

Top 10 Interactive Multimedia Technology Blogposts, November, 2010

Here are the "top ten" posts for this blog, according to the number of visitors during the month of November, 2010:

Hacked Kinect Multitouch using libFreenect and libTISCH (via Florian Echtler)
11/13/2010


Power to the Pixel Cross-Media Forum Streaming Live from London Today!
10/12/2010


Revised Post 8/1/06: Interactive multimedia for social skills, understanding feelings, relaxtion, coping strategies, etc.
7/12/06


Interactive Touch Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It": REVISED
11/11/2010


Microsoft Surface Light and Physics App for Kids at the Smithsonian
11/24/2010


Interactive iPad Apps for Kids with Autism: Could some of these be transformed for multi-touch tabletop activities?
11/06/10


New Version of Surface from Microsoft?
11/10/10


Tech Product Placement & Embedded Advertising: Cisco Telepresence, Surface, Kinect, Windows 7 Phone, Apple, Apple iAd - Videos, Links - plus legal & ethical concerns
11/29/10


Digital Newspaper from News Corp, for the iPad (via physog, Guardian)
10/18/10


Online Physics Games for Interactive Whiteboards and Touch Screens (including mobile devices)
10/18/10

Tech Product Placement & Embedded Advertising: Cisco Telepresence, Surface, Kinect, Windows 7 Phone, Apple, Apple iAd - Videos, Links - plus legal & ethical concerns

I was watching a DVR'd episode of NCIS tonight with my husband and noticed Cisco Telepresence video conferencing system was a player in the story line,  as well as a Cisco Cius touch-screen tablet.   It seems that on TV, laptops, desktops, and old-fashioned cell phones are history.    "Emerging" technologies are woven into the story lines of more television episodes,  including CSI, NCIS, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, and others.

The original intention of this post was to discuss the concept of emerging technologies and product placement/embedded advertising on television programs and movies, and share a few interesting examples related to his topic.  I quickly realized that there is much more to this story. Why?  More people access video and interactive multimedia content when they are on-the-go using laptops, smart phones, iPads, and similar tablets.   New televisions, such as Sony Internet TV, are internet-enabled, and many people already access the web content on their televisions through devices such as game consoles or Apple TV.

It is a marketer's dream. 

Unfortunately, we might not be ways to "opt-out" of all of the indirect (and direct) advertising that will come our way as we access video and related content across multiple platforms.   It won't be as easy as blocking pop-up ads or fast-forwarding the DVR!  

Below are some examples of ways some emerging technologies are "placed" in television/film, grouped by company.  In the "Apple" section, I've included video of Steve Jobs introducing iAds. Near the end of this post, I've included links that relate to ethical legal and ethical issues regarding product placement and embedded advertising.   

Food for thought.   I'm still digesting what I've found!

Cisco

The following links about CISCO's product placement are from CISCO on TV and in the Movies:

Cisco TelePresence and Video Phone on NCIS (links to video clips)

http://videolounge.cisco.com/video/ncis-together-with-cisco/

http://videolounge.cisco.com/video/ncis-features-video-phone/

Cisco TelePresence Conferencing on 30 Rock

http://videolounge.cisco.com/video/30-rockjack-meets-ge-via-tp/

Cisco Telepresence on CSI: NY

http://www.cisco.com/web/BE/about/movies/csi-video2.html

MICROSOFT 
Microsoft Surface on Grey's Anatomy


Kinect on Chuck


Kinect on Entourage

Kinect is a New Advertising Platform for Microsoft

Xbox Kinect, An Immersive Experiential Advertising Platform

David Erickson, e-StrategyBlog 11/22/10

WINDOWS 7 PHONE
Windows 7 Phone Product Placement on Bones


APPLE
iPad Gets Half Hour of Product Placement on Modern Family

Apple Product Placement in Movies and TV Shows

Apple Deserves an Oscar Too

Apple iAD Mobile advertising that delivers interaction and emotion, 1 billion ad impressions a day, within your app. Apple's iAD isn't really product placement. It is about embedded ads in your mobile devices.
"Who wants to get yanked out of their ad?"-Steve Jobs

"iAd is a breakthrough mobile advertising platform from Apple. With it, apps can feature rich media ads that combine the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web. For developers, it means a new, easy-to-implement source of revenue. For advertisers, it creates a new media outlet that offers consumers highly targeted information." -Apple

iAd for Brands       iAd for Developers

HP TouchSmart

Sex and the City 2 Product Placement Stars

Annalyn Censky, CNN Money, 5/28/10
New Black Eyed Peas Video...or is it an AD for HP?
Duncan Riley, The Inquisitr, 4/19/10

RELATED

Interview with Dan Light, Part III: The role for brands in transmedia

Ben Shaw, BBH, 7/16/10

Engaget's ScreenGrabs Posts
BrandCameo-Films  
Brand Cameo-Brands
On this website, you can search for product placement by brand, by film, and by year.
3D Technology: The End of Product Placement As We Know It?
Dan Nosowitz, Fast Company 3/5/10
Discusses the technical difficulties of embedding products in 3D movies.

Legal and Ethical Issues

As I searched for more information about product placement and embedded advertising, I came across a few posts/websites that suggests that in some circles, this is a hot/controversial topic:

Product Placement and the FCC

Paul A. Cicelski, Common Law Center 9/2/10
Protection of Children Prompts FCC Regulation of Internet and Wireless Video PRogramming and Enhanced State Privacy Rules
Daide Oxenford, Broadcast Laww Blog, 8/26/09

"Enhanced" FCC Regulation of Product Placement Would Breach Free Speech Rights

Joseph Lewczak and Ann DiGiovanni, WLF Legal Backgrounder, 4/9/10

FIT Media FAQs (FIT= Fairness and Integrity in Telecommunications Media)

"FIT Media is a non-partisan coalition of health, media and child advocacy organizations and professionals supporting transparency and child protection in embedded TV advertising."

This is an interesting website - FIT Media covers topics such as "Advernews", "Embedded Propoganda", "Deceptive Advertising", and ways that embedded advertising might be harmful.  
Week ahead:  FCC meeting, Do Not Track hearing
Cecilia Kang, Washington Post 11/29/10

Apple addresses some congressional concerns over GPS' use for iAd

Giselle Tsirulnik, Mobile Marketer, 7/22/10

What is Apple's New Privacy Policy? "Amidst all the glitz of releasing a new mobile operating system and iPhone, Apple quietly updated their privacy policy. Why?"

Michael Kassner, Tech Republic, 6/28/10

FYI: If you have an iPhone running iOS 4 and wish to opt-out of iAD, you can do so at http://oo.apple.com

Privacy Issues for iAd May Be Pre-cursor for Mobile Ad Stakeholders

The Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising

COMMENT

Xerox's new technology enables the alteration of content within a video or television program, based on specific information about the viewer/user:

Xerox Brings Behavioral Targeting To Television  (Interesting use of technology)

Go Rumors, 1/13/10

Xerox Patent Filing Make Product Placement Addressable
The Media Buyer, 1/12/10
"The patent describes the system (via GoRumors) as having the ability to alter content within a program based on the viewer. For example, if a character on a show mentions Macy’s, that content could be shown to general viewers. But that small portion of the broadcast could be “marked,” and the content could be changed so that the character instead says the name of sporting goods store Modell’s. That portion of the broadcast would be served to viewers who are into sports. Similarly, if the storefront was shown during the program, general audiences would see the Macy’s store, while sports fans would see the Modell’s store."

Cisco's Cius, An Ultra-Portable, Android-based Mobile Collaboration Business Tablet: Supports Real-time, HD Videoconferencing, and the "Cloud"

Here is a link to the post on The World Is My Interactive Interface blog - the post includes video clips and links to additional information from Cisco:

Cisco's Cius and Ultra-portable, Android-based Mobile Collaboration Business Tablet:  Supports Real-time HD Videoconferencing and the "Cloud"

The following pictures were taking from Jason Hiner's blog at Tech Republic:

Apparently the Cius has a docking station.


A nice, Facebook-like interface is OK with me.

I wonder if it comes with a make-up kit.  Everyone should look presentable viewed in "HD TV".