When it comes to corporate giants they don’t come much bigger than Tesco, it is the world’s third biggest grocer after Walmart and Carrefour with stores in 14 countries. It is no surprise then that it has a large corporate and social responsibility, however their current plans for new energy saving and generating stores are certainly ambitious yet innovative.
We are forever being told how we should be ‘thinking green’, ‘being green’ and generally living an eco friendly life so for Tesco to take on this challenge and translate it into a whole framework for a new breed of store design is impressive.
The first store at Wick has been open for 5 years and now Tesco have a further 16 energy saving/generating wooden stores, the most recent opening is in Barnstaple. What I find impressive about these stores is the scale. From inside many shoppers may feel that their shopping experience has not altered with fixtures and fittings the same as other stores. However, it is the detail that is involved which is exceptional. The exact location as to where the store is built has to be considered in order to increase light but reduce glare within the store. This highlights the lengths that Martin Young, the stores in house Architect, has gone to in order to maintain Tesco’s customer experience but demonstrate their ability to create bespoke design.
With plans to expand the format globally and with the increasing possibilities within the energy saving market it will be exciting to see whether Tesco can change the common perception of grocery shopping.
Yes, its true, just less than half the UK population has a facebook account. I found this statistic staggering and a true sign of the times.
The 30 million active UK users spend, on average, 2 and half hours per day 'facebooking'. This has now over taken the amount of time spent watching TV, which averages 2 hours per day. With 500 million active users around the world it is clear to see how Mr Mark Zuckerberg has made his fortune.
This has positioned facebook as a strong medium for businesses to communicate directly with their customers. Facebook holds so much personal information on their users that advertising can now be so specialised. I don't think it'll be too long before we see agencies creating specific and sophisticated facebook advertising.
Although Christmas is several months away, the guys at Lush cosmetics have started the festivities off with a bang. They have come up with an ingenious and engaging interactive motion video where you can click on the products highlighted in each frame to put the product in your basket. The animation is based around the traditional "London Victorian Christmas". This imaginative and clever promotional piece has definitely left me wanting more!! I just wish that they had invented smelly-vision!!
Check it out on: www.lush.co.uk/christmas.html
Take a look at the proposals for the new Fourth Plinth commission in Trafalgar Square that have been unveiled at St-Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square.
'The exhibiting artists are Allora & Calzadilla; Elmgreen & Dragset; Katharina Fritsch; Brian Griffiths; Hew Locke; and Mariele Neudecker. Each artist has produced a model of their proposed artwork for the empty plinth all of which are on public display free of charge in the foyer of St-Martin-in-the-Fields until 31 October 2010.'
The chosen artwork is due to go be announced by the Mayor of london next year. Due to be installed in 2012.
To tell the government what you think and to learn more about the programme go to:
http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/
Interesting...
"Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries that the United States is in conflict with. The food is served out of a take-out style storefront, which will rotate identities every 4 months to highlight another country. Each Conflict Kitchen iteration will be augmented by events, performances, and discussion about the the culture, politics, and issues at stake with each country we focus on."
I need to use my whole brain for this latest craze which has hit the i-am studio! We have found Sporcle (http://www.sporcle.com/) and are avidly pitching ourselves against one another in an epic battle of brain tests and general knowledge.
There may be a few fights breaking out over who is winning! Get testing....
And let us know how you get on!
On one of the hottest weekends so far, 30 Poly Netball girls travelled down to Bournemouth to play in the fiercely contested Bournemouth tournament.
After 13 years of trying to win, you could say we were up for it! The 1st team we're progressing well, losing only 1 game out of 8 on the first day and upon entry to the second day were placed 2nd. We thrashed our way to the semi finals where an exhausting match took us into the final and pitched us against the team we had lost to the previous day. By a lot. By half time were leading by 2 goals. I don't think any of us have ever played so hard in our lives and our supporters have never cheered so hard, Crystal Palace gained on us but in the end we hung on and won by 1!
Well done girls. We prove that bright colours can be the winning formula!!
Star Wars Uncut is a website where the first movie (Star Wars: A New Hope) has been split up in to 15 second segments, allowing users to claim up to three clips and reinterpret them. The finished result has now been stitched together to recreate the original movie shot for shot. Hundreds of 15 second scenes were put back together to create the film.
You can see one of the finished clips here...
Min-Kyu Choi, a student from London, has won the British Insurance Design of the Year 2010, for his elegant reinterpretation of the humble plug, beating over 90 international nominees in the process. Antony Gormley presented him with the award at the Design Museum last night.
Antony Gormley lavished high praise on the folding plug design 'Thought-through, responsive and modest, the folding plug shows how intelligent, elegant and inventive design can make a difference to everyone's life.' We like it too.
The genius members of the band OK GO have produced another classic vid to rival the treadmill classic they produced several years ago (the one recently ripped off by berroca the world over) Its all about chain reactions this time baby - take a look - we particularly like the sledge hammer that hits the tv showing the last vid. 'i-am' Director Pete Champion goes so far as to say it's "one of the best videos i have ever seen, if not the best...." - watch the vid
Google has recently released its answer to Twitter and Facebook: Google Buzz. It's built right into Gmail so existing users don't have to set up a new account. It remains to be seen how popular it will become as it faces fairly dominant and well-established opponents. Also with Google Wave failing to create the interest people expected, it's difficult to tell how Google Buzz will perform in the future.
Have a look at what Google have to say on their blog.
Apple recently unveiled its latest product - the iPad. It's a lot more than just an over-sized iPhone, its
arguably the most important mobile computing product of the year. The iPad is being pitched as an e-book reader (among other things) and is backed by the brand spanking new iBookstore for purchasing digital books. This puts the iPad in competition with the likes of the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook.
Check out the Keynote.
Now i know there will be the sinics out there who say this invention is a waste of time and effort and at 30 times the cost of its cheaper rivals a waste of Money but oh how it excites me! Magimix have created a seethrough toaster called Vision. This blessed contraption lets you watch your toast as it toasts no more popping it up and down and inevitably leaving it to burn after you pop it down for the third time only to run backto the kitchen when the smoke alearm starts going off. What a brilliant invention and a clever move by Magimix - what more could a company want than to create an ultimate product that fills a need i now have that i never even knew i had before! This little baby makes it a joy to watch your toast cook - just watch the video...pure toast porn....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPVeGEmvgE
At 'i-am' we gathered nervously in the meeting room this afternoon, our nostrils filled with the smell of popcorn and hearts heavy with anticipation to see the premier of 'DES & AMY'; a short movie created by two uber creative, graphically gifted Irishmen amongst the 'i-am' midst. They are entering it into the FutureShorts and we all hope it does well...have a LOOK
'The Hand From Above' installation, created by artist Chris O'Shea has been unleashed on Liverpool city centre. The giant hand, which squashes or plucks away pedestrians in real time, is seen on a huge screen mounted in the city. The 'Augmented Reality' installation was commissioned by the Foundation For Art and Creative Technology and, the Liverpool City Council.
The installation has been hailed as a piece of 'Monty-Pythonesque' art. The artist, Chris O'Shea seeks to pose the question 'what would happen if humans weren't on top of the food chain?'
Its next appearance will be in Cardiff City centre, from 22nd October to the 24th October.
Watch the video here.
From the 12th October, for six weeks, a robot will sit mindlessly 'hand' writing messages directly to MP's from young members of the public. The messages are uploaded via the 'Voicebot' website here, live web cam feeds will also follow the robots progress which can be watched at the same address.
The 'Voicebot' will obviously make a large number of people curious and it is this that the Director, Adil Abrar hopes will form a stronger relationship between the Government and young voters by breaking down communication barriers like councils, counsellors and parents etc. Similarly, such an unusual spectacle in the House of Commons will intrigue MP's as their path is partially blocked by the robot as they go in for a day's session. This will hopefully raise awareness of the real issues concerning young voters and future voters.
Perhaps we are about to see the birth of a revolutionary new form of unhindered communication between young members of public and the Government that will allow political problems to be identified and solved much more rapidly?
The robot will be on display in the House of Commons for one week and will then move to transcribe messages, which will be posted on a wall as part of the overall installation.
Google Wave is a 'real-time communication platform' which hopes to replace e-mail as the main way people communicate on the internet. It's a web application that combines elements of e-mail, chat, wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of internet communication called a 'hosted conversation', or a 'wave'.
Here's a helpful video to explain more...
Indulge your inner geek with a full set of photoshop magnets!
If you want to buy them - and I know you do - check 'em out here.
Check out the new Coldplay video for Strawberry Swing - maybe I shouldn't be admitting to listening (and liking) it, but the video is another beautiful creation from Shynola visual artists - the guys behind works for Beck, Queens of the Stone Age and Blur (with David Shrigley, very funny...)
Their stuff is well worth a look
Recently spotted by one of our wide eyed reporters on the street, is the amazing 3D billboard advert from Levis, just down the road from us off Shoreditch High Street the massive wave advert could be found complete with real jeans. The ad however has disappeared in last week, maybe because all the jeans had also disappeared, we dont know. Good while it lasted...
