Pay with your face
19-7-2013
A new payment system based on face recognition is introduced in Finland. The system is called Uniqul and guests can pay by showing their faces for the camera and wait for their profile to conform their purchase. No pin codes, credit cards, wallets or fingerprints anymore…. Uniqul wants to improve the safety and speed of transactions. We are curious how this technical system will develop the coming years. Who knows we will pay in a number of years with our face at a terrace or a hotel and we no longer need our wallet any more.
The Paris guide to tourists
17-7-2013
Frenchmen have the image that they are often unfriendly to tourists and that they only speak their own language. The French who work in the tourism industry can now read the book ‘Do you speak touriste‘. This booklet is an initiative of CCIR and CRT from Paris and includes information for taxi drivers, restaurant staff and shop workers how to deal with tourists from different countries. The Dutch people often go on vacation in groups, spend an average of € 139,= per day and approximately 55% of the visitors would love to return within one or two years to Paris, according to the booklet.
+Pool tile by tile
16-7-2013
A floating pool in the middle of New York City’s East River, wouldn’t that be great? It might become reality thanks to crowd-funding. +Pool, a sustainable design project that would bring a giant filtration system disguised as a pool to the waters separating Manhattan and Brooklyn. Aiming to clean up to half a million gallons of river water each day. Architectural firm Family and the design office PlayLab, would allow New Yorkers the opportunity to swim in the East River safely for the first time in a century. The project scored headlines two years ago when ideas for the pool first surfaced on Kickstarter. Now the ambitious dream has inched closer to reality, as PlayLab/Family has achieved their goal last week at the Kickstarter page to gear toward creating a test pool. We think a cleaning pool like that would do great in the canals of Amsterdam or the port of Rotterdam. And the idea of the personalized tiles is great as well. Read more at The Huffington Post.
Billboard mini appartments
11-7-2013
The Belgian artist Karl Philips has given billboards an extra function with his project ‘The Good, the Bad, the Ugly’. He renovated old trailer billboards into small apartments. Thanks to the ads on the walls of their temporary house the inhabitants earn some money to live in a billboard. The ads also conceal that these billboards are used as apartments. Earlier we’ve spotted billboards used as a bench, a shelter from the rain or a ramp over stairs.
Maastricht hangs the laundry outside
21-6-2013
This morning Maastricht welcomed the summer in a special way. In serveral streets freshly washed laundry was hanged out to promote the quest for the ‘cleanest’ photo of the city. The promotion is an initiative by VVV Maastricht and Townhouse Designhotel Maastricht.
Innovative billboards
17-6-2013
IBM has designed special innovative billboards to promote its ‘Smart Cities Program’ in partnership with Ogilvy & Mather France. These billboards do not only have an informative function but function as useful surfaces as well. The billboards can be used as a bench, a shelter from the rain or a ramp over stairs. The aim of the project is to encourage smarter thinking when it comes to the development of ‘solutions’ for the city.
Public painting machine
17-6-2013
A nice gimmick for vacant shop-premises! German artist Niklas Roy developed the Public Painting Machine in collaboration with Kati Hyyppä. The Public Painting Machine was placed in vacant shop-premises in Poland. People on the street could pull the ropes to create an artwork. This pop-up art store causes a lot of fun and bustle in the shopping street.
Amsterdam water promotions
14-6-2013
‘Waternet’ organizes activities on the water in Amsterdam to ask the attention for the importance of clean water in the canals. During Queens day the ‘Emergency Boot’ with toilets was launched. This boot prevented that people would pee in the canals or on the street. Three islands with toilets floated at the center of the water. Useful during the watersport season or when there are events on the water!
‘Waternet’ will do an activation on the canals to launch the ‘canal website’ on Saturday June 15. A photo boat of ‘Waternet’ floats around in the Amstel River in Amsterdam and takes photos of people with their boat. The pictures can be found on the ‘canal website’ and the most popular photo will be enlarged on canvas. The canal website contains tips, experiences, photos but also information about terraces and water events.
Welcoming gestures to kids by the NY Public Library
11-6-2013
PSFK placed great pictures of the new NY Library in Harlem where teenagers can interact, play video games, eat snacks, and hang out without having to worry about parents’ or elders’ eyes watching. Harlem’s Hamilton Grange branch is home to this full-floor 4,400-square-foot hangout space specially dedicated to teenagers. There only two librarians on watch from one end of the room. The space includes a 20-foot-diameter glass wall where they can play Wii and Guitar Hero available with special speakers preventing much of the noise from filtering out. The NY Public Library also provides summer readings for kids. Watch the movie for this hospitable gesture to kids. Getting the kids back into the library and sharing reading experience online.
More information at New York Libraries.
Scrabble Wi-Fi
5-6-2013
In Paris you can get free Wi-Fi by playing Scrabble on your phone. Paris has got quite a lot of places where Wi-Fi is not available, so Ogilvy Paris introduced the game Scrabble Wi-Fi. Scrabble placed three Wi-Fi hotspots in the city where correct spelling and creative use of language was rewarded. Create any word using up to seven letters for the password and the score will be converted into free Wi-Fi minutes. So the higher your score, the longer the connection.
