The future of adverts is not flashy, slick and expensive, it’s plasticine rabbits invading New York [which is expensive] or, in this case, regular folk from around Europe dancing in the new Samsung music phones advert.
And, in keeping with the theme of regular folk and its camcorder shooting, you’ll see that some can dance and, well, let’s just say that for others the God Of Rhythm deserted them in their hour of need. This is Samsung’s new lo-fi approach to selling its music phones, called Europe United. Think Benetton, without the colours and controversy.
In collusion with ad firm, SX Media, the Europe United ad features people accosted in public in 10 different European cites and asked to bust their moves for a chance to win one of the music phones. All those in the video are winners. Really. In return, the rest of the world gets to watch them on YouTube.
The cities used were London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Prague, Ibiza, Barcelona, Moscow, Edinburgh and, lastly, little old Galway [where I happen to be sitting right now, scribbling this blog].
And no, I did not dance in the video but if I did, I would have lied and said I was one of the good ones.-Martin Lynch
UK-company Valeswood has just launched its first bicycle powered by a hydrogen fuel-cell.
The glaring, lime-green Pearl can get up to 25Km/h and travel 100Km between refills. You don’t need a licence or insurance and if 25km/h is too slow you can fold it in half and throw it in the car boot. Well, at 32Kg, maybe gingerly place it in the boot.
You might wonder what the pedals are for then but that’s just in case you have a mad urge to turn off the fuel cell and actually use it like a normal bike and pedal. As if.
As green products go, it’s as ugly as sin and will only cost you around £2,000. You can buy the fuel cell conversion kit for your own bike though for a mere £1,500. And don’t forget, you will have to rent a hydrogen fuel canister too.
See the specs and a bigger pic of the Pearl after the jump.-Martin Lynch
If you’re worried about the impact your new Christmas gadgets will have on the lovely blue and green spinning ball we call Earth, then pop down to Currys or Dixons and get yourself a wooden TV. Or, to be exact, a Tree-V – I kid you not.
The company will be stocking 19in wooden, HD Ready LCD TVs from Swedish company Swedx this Christmas and they claim that buying one will help save the planet. The Tree-V comes in three finishes – ash, maple and beech – and the wood comes from sustainable forests.
DeVere Forster, eCommerce director for Dixons.co.uk, said:
"We’re delighted to be the exclusive stockist of the Tree-Vs from Swedx. They are high specification televisions, with the added advantage of being constructed within frames from all-natural, renewable, sustainable, recyclable resources. Owning a Tree-V is a great way of making a small contribution to planet Earth while watching it on the telly at the same time."
The Tree-V will cost £350, you can pre-book now and if you click overleaf, you can see the key specs and a close-up.-Martin Lynch
Digital SLR cameras are expensive but they are the cream of the digital camera batch. Hell, they can cost thousands of pounds.
But if you really want to dent your bank account, you need a camera that’s at least 84 years old. This portable black Leica No. 107, from the prototype ‘O Series’, has just fetched around £240,000 in an auction.
It was one of a limited series of 20 cameras built in 1923 to test the market for portable cameras. According to the auctioneers, it’s in excellent nick and it still works.
The price makes it the second most expensive camera in the world. Still, £240,000 is a drop in the ocean compared to the £391,000 dropped earlier this year for an 1839 Daguerreotype by Susse Freres of France – the oldest commercially made camera.
At 13lbs though, it could hardly be classed as portable.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
