Tag: odd

It's doubtful anyone can have a middling response to "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward." The documentary is one of those creations that either makes you cheer that someone is finally speaking truth to power, or that the filmmaker should be locked in a freezer at the bottom of a deep, deep hole.

Two thousand years ago, a Greek mechanic created a machine that predicted the motions of the celestial bodies. The device, pulled up from a shipwreck in 1901, became known as the Antikythera Mechanism. You have to wonder what that ancient Greek gearhead would think if he saw what's in this video.

It’s hardly a laughing matter; An Australian national accused of espionage and treason by a foreign power, excluded from the services of multi-national financial institutions at the request of an excitable few, hung out to dry at home by a PM who misread ‘the public mood’, all for publishing information illegally acquired by others. Yet, NMA.TV has once again managed to turn the serious into the absurd.

We all now understand that the past decade has let consumers build a 'social layer' on top of their everyday lives, using services such as Facebook and Twitter to capture their social lives on the web. In this clip from TEDxBoston, proud Princeton "dropout" and mobile-entrepreneur Seth Priebatsch considers the next layer in progress: the "game layer" (a pervasive set of motivating 'dynamics' that will reshape education and commerce).

After unveiling the iPogo 300, we at Stately Anthill Manor can only hope Sesame Street will attempt a send-up of the "Really?" campaign for the new Windows Phone 7. Or those Droid spots in which humans get all fuzzy inside over turning into machines. Yeah, those campaigns need an unhealthy dose of Elmo.

We were tickled beyond words this week to discover that three Austrian developers have at last solved the problem those of us with fat fingers have when navigating a phone's touchscreen. They've created an iPhone that's as large as a refrigerator door. Your biggest, most chunky-digited AFL star can now swish through his apps with ease.

Sure, this clip involves innovation, creativity and mild commentary on the evolution of technology. But it also includes the whacked out claim that Charlie Chaplin accidentally caught a time traveller on film. And for that, this video is among the Top 10 viewed on YouTube this week. Happy Beer O'Clock Anthillians!

The whole concept of a unionism depends on having a 'crowd' and harnessing the power of that crowd to gain collective bargaining power. Therefore, it might seem slightly strange to describe ThePoint's online service, designed to help office workers anonymously organise with their coworkers, as 'crowdsourced unionism'.

The music industry's backlash against Auto-Tune is well-documented, though it reportedly endures on countless CDs and on every episode of "Glee." LaDiDa isn't designed to be insidious; it's tech is actually quite cool. The user chooses a musical tempo and style, then serenades the iPhone or iPad. The app uses the voice to compose a melody. Think of it as karaoke in reverse.

We wrote about Coca-Cola's 'Happiness machine' when it first appeared in an unnamed US university campus in January. Indeed, we asked whether it could be the 'worst viral campaign' ever, simply because it seemed so contrived. However, the pimped-out vending machine is back. This time, in Europe.

If you're suffering from one the many interminable troubles that plague your average entrepreneur -- slow paying debtors, recalcitrant staff, feelings of isolation and loneliness (yes, it's common) -- sit back and sink into this digital representation of the earth and all the asteroids (that we know of), which are forever navigating our planet.

As big fans of creativity in any form, we've covered this rock act before, when it released its This Too Shall Pass video featuring this most bodacious Rube Goldberg Machine, likely to inspire the inventor in us all. Today ('cause it's Friday), we're pleased to bring you the band's latest clip (and song), White Knuckles. The video doesn't stray too far from OK Go's winning recipe, featuring the band, one-take and some entertaining extras.

What happens when a clothing swap takes up shop in your company's break room? The Clothing Exchange, a five-year-old Melbourne-based company, is selling the idea by promoting swaps in corporate environments. And while the concept itself may not be revolutionary, it could give employees a creative outlet for expanding their fashion and social consciences.

From Levi Strauss’ canvas pants to the minimalism of Twitter, every invention has its detractors. While Ryan Spanger counts himself among the indignant, he suspects something is amiss in our rush to judgement. When we learn to think beyond our gut reactions, he argues, we learn how to make innovation work for us.

On Sunday, Chatroulette went dark, featuring only the following two line comment: "The experiment #1 is over now. Thanks for participating. Renewed and updated version of the website will be launched today." As a tribute to the mucky, sordid, underground culture that once permeated the web-cam network, we have assembled three of our favourite Chatroulette clips.

The world is living through an unprecedented phenomenon, the decline of War, according to Edward Luttwak, former advisor to the White House Chief of Staff, who will be one of 35 speakers Melbourne this September for the inaugural Creative Innovation 2010 conference.

The world is living through an unprecedented phenomenon, the decline of War, according to Edward Luttwak, former advisor to the White House Chief of Staff, who will be one of 35 speakers Melbourne this September for the inaugural Creative Innovation 2010 conference.

The third-party gadget floodgates have opened and we're already becoming inundated with optional extras to help us play and adapt our new shiny toy. That's why this video caught our attention. Not only is it a novel way to display your iPad, but it's... kind of cool, with a hint of 'chindogu' madness likely to impress both early-adopters and luddites.

What's the difference between tragedy and comedy? According to Mel Brooks: "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die." For the rest of us, the difference is usually just a matter of timing. Is it too soon to start making fun of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (also referred to as the BP Oil Spill)? Well that, according to the folk at UCBComedy, depends entirely on who you are making fun of.

What's the difference between tragedy and comedy? According to Mel Brooks: "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die." For the rest of us, the difference is usually just a matter of timing. Is it too soon to start making fun of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (also referred to as the BP Oil Spill)? Well that, according to the folk at UCBComedy, depends entirely on who you are making fun of.