Think comics meet American Idol. A user-generated digital comic firm called ComiAsia launched a contest today, ComiIdol, to find the best new digital comic artists.  Among many fine prizes like Wacoms drawing tablets and the ability to publish your very own content, the real gem winner’s receive is a mentorship by top comic artists.
Have what it takes? Enter one of the two categories, comics or digital art mobile wallpaper), now though the end of February. Voting will be open to the general public during March with submitted artwork showcased on plasma screens in all McDonald’s restaurants.
Snap a photo. Send it to PhotoCrank. Get the picture back personalized with captions etc. Share with your family and friends. At least that is what it says on the PhotoCrank website. Various captions get added based on the email address you send the picture to.
So taking a picture and sending it to golddigger@photocrank.com will cause a picture like the following to be sent back to your phone. The whole shebang will cost you 30 cents billed directly by your carrier… that is if you can remember the plethora of email addresses and their corresponding caption.
I think that PhotoCrank definitely has a future but I still prefer applications like Comeks which has a bunch of captions and editing options directly on my phone and is, most importantly, free.
Now you can make that styling (but not very functional) Motorola RAZR or SLVR even more SLYN (Styling MOTO style). Cingular and Motorola will now allow users to add “Phone Tattoo’s” to their phone allowing customers to change the look of their handsets to reflect their mood, style, and interests without going through all the fuss of getting knew phone shells etc etc.
You can get a 3 pack of of pre-designed stickers created in various colors and patterns. But in these days of “do it yourself” power customers can create their own designs with Phone Tattoos By You! , a pack that comes with four blank tattoos and complete instructions on how to design and print customized tattoos. So now you can pimp your phone with pictures of your cat or kids or your girlfriend / boyfriend (or something original and artistic). The pack includes practice sheets by the way
I think Cafe Press should pick up on this and start allowing people to create and sell their Phone Tattoo design.
The do it yourself rout is a smart one.
Both Phone Tattoos and Phone Tattoos By You! go on easily and stay on, but can be quickly peeled off without leaving residue. Phone Tattoos (3-pack) and Phone Tattoos By You! (4-pack) are available for $9.99 a pack at Cingular retail stores in select markets. The software can be downloaded here.
British born artist and cuneiform/writing expert Tom Kemp could very well be an artist close to MOpocket’s heart. Kemp uses drawing tablets, scanners and a Palm Vx handheld with TealPaint software to produce works of art that explore the relationship between the human hand stroke and the digital medium. The largest of these works of art, Analysis (4 feet by 16 feet), is made up of one-thousand smaller works which were made on a Palm Pilot and then reproduced and enlarged either by printing or laser cutting. Each mini work was then laid out in a zig-zag down the page, starting at the top right. After each successful palm painting was completed it was added, chronologically, to the work. Some works also stand on their own and have been shown in galleries and art shows throughout London and the European continent.
Kemp explains that “The digital quality of the painting is quite apparent. The Palm screen has a low resolution. Because each small painting is printed at actual size the individual pixels are clearly seen. These contrast with the obvious swiftness and complexity of the movements used when wielding the tiny electronic brushes. The graininess of the pixels can’t hide the humanity of the original movements.â€
Kemp also created works of art with a software he developed called “Particle Painterâ€,“ which mimics the movement of charged particles. Each positive and negative particle leaves a colored trail of its movement around the screen as it interacts with other positive and negative electrons (kind of like the apartment I share with my girlfriend). The colors, type of trail and movement of the particles can be adjusted and manipulated at anytime. A Particle Painting by Kemp entitled â€You Live Here“ was commissioned by Oxford Publishing last year to celebrate the 125th anniversary of its famous bookshop in Broad Street. It ran down the entire length of the building at Beaver House tower at Blackwell Ltd.
You can â€try your hand“ at â€Particle Painting“ for yourself here.
A signed, limited edition poster of Analysis is available. Click here to find out more
When I first heard of Klonies I thought to myself…”Oh my God not another asian like avatar program” and wondered why such a substantial company like Comverse would be promoting it so heavily. Then I met fellow mobilists Xen Dolev and her colleague Tal Dagan at the Comverse booth at 3GSM and quickly figured out that if anyone was going to deliver a on the fly user defined multimedia command line interface for really cool customizable avatars on a phone, and do it correctly, its going to be a company like Comverse.
So, what are Klonies? Simply put they are avatars that allow real personalization to identify users when they call or SMS someone else. Target towards 13-18 year olds, the Avatar that I create, which can either be a boy, girl or monster, will appear on any other person’s phone I call or SMS (the reason why they have “monster avatars” is because they found that some boys are a little “uncomfortable” dressing up an actual person).
The Avatars can be created and or updated via an online account or directly from your mobile phone for real time changes in self-expression. So if I am going out to play basketball, I can quickly put my avatar into a jersey and a pair of shorts and place him or her on the courts all from my mobile.
Klonies can also be used as my alter identity on the web, when I chat with friends over instant messaging or on my blog or web page.
Now, the avatar business is nothing new. Its huge in Korea where almost every 15 year old, both boys and girls, have avatars, 40 percent of which change it at least once a day. In the United States and around the world custom avatars are extremely popular on Instant messaging services like AOL AIM. Comverse wants to bring that phenomena to the mobile phone.
And they have a really tight application to do so. The interface allows one to easily dress, change and customize ones avatar via a plethora of personalized items and themes. Theme topics include everything from sports, lifestyles and music/celeberties with enough options to make no two avatars alike. The avatars look really good and have brief entertaining moments of animation.
What I was also really impressed by was Comverses business strategy for the whole thing. “Originally we wanted to charge for a good deal of our original content,” Tal told me. “But then we realized that we did not want to be fooling our customers like that. All of our avatar options are just as high quality as the other so there is no real reason to pay for one over the other.” So Comverse did the next best thing: branding.
Say, like in the example of above, I am going out to play a game of basketball so I change my avatar to the appropriate background and dress. But I am also a huge New York Knicks fan and think that it would be really cool to have my avatar represent who I am even more by sporting a New York Knick’s Jersey. Comverse is making this possible. Tal showed a plethora of branding options to chose from, from the New york Knicks, to the Yankees to the Rangers (yes I picked NY teams for example’s on purpose). And not just sports, but movie, music and other entertainment logo’s and paraphernalia will be made available as well.
What makes avatars so special, as well as a powerful branding solution, in my mind, is that they allow a user to create a moment of of self expression on another person’s phone. Unlike the mobile phone wall paper, the mobile avatar allows one to define a signature of self expression on another person’s phone every time you call or SMS. No one has to be around to hear your self-expressing ring-tone or call you to hear your self-expressing ring-back. A little bit of you appears on the phone of every call ypu make. With the ability for “self-expression” being one of the driving forces behind ringtone and ringback sales, Avatars are only the next logical step provided they they can up the self expression ante, and that Comverse has done so well.
Turning a phone call into a moment of self expression, with something as fun and cute as Klonies, is probably the only legitimate way I can think of of creating push content for a mobile phone. Of course, you will always have the option to turn your avatar rendering off, but with little guys and girls so cute, fun and (excuse the photoshop speak) well rendered who would want to.
On an aside note, I think that Comverse should also use the same model to allow other types of self-expression beyond just avatars (perhaps then capturing a whole new age group with the same technology)
I already blogged about how this years SXSW festival is incorporating some pretty nifty mobile applications to this years festival, well turns out there is even more mobile fun going on in Texas during that time in terms of mobile technology then anyone wouyld have ever thought.
The festival promises to be an experiment in gaming and application development for mobile devices.
The DCI is looking to address the current influence of mobile devices on our culture. Mobile devices have had a tremendous effect on our society and we are interested in how that new audience might best be communicated to in this new medium. It is our belief that this new medium offers special consideration that have yet to be suitably identified; the least of which is viewing size. Other considerations for this new form are cost per download, as well ergonomic concerns, etc.
MobileFest2006 is looking for mobile content submissions that explore the mobile lifestyle. The concept is most interested in content made for mobile devices, not so much made by them, although we certainly encourage you to push the envelope. Our criteria are extremely broad and we only ask that you keep word “mobile†in mind.
The areas of interest are in mobile application and mobile film
So here is the call for entries pitch:
Call for entries: MobileFest2006 is looking for content created specifically for mobile devices, excluding laptops and table PC’s. Works in development will be considered as long as a “reasonable demo†is made available by the deadline. We will also consider previously designed work for this portion of the competition.
More Entry requirements:
- Made for mobile devices
- Submissions must be received by 12am on March the 5th.
- Submissions by email if under 2mb or mailed in the form of a CD. We will also allow for a location from which to download the submission.
- You may submit for any platform so long as it’s a mobile platform.
- A brief synapses of work(s), including what you used to create it, no more than 200 words as well as a 100 words biography of the company and developers.
- Entries must contain documentation, including without limitation, game rules and objectives, and instructions for using the device in question (joystick, game pad, touch screen, etc)
- If the Game Entry requires special equipment or hardware, such as force-feedback hardware, stereo-vision glasses, other headgear, graphics or audio cards, entrant must provide the necessary equipment and in such numbers so as to enable jury members to play the game. These items can not be returned!
- All submitted works must have the company name, name of work, and which portion of the festival you are submitting for game or application.
- No unauthorized use of copyrighted materials
- No nudity, violence, or extreme violence
- Submission are the entrants own original creation
- Submission will not be returned
- Neither the DCI nor any other party associated with the Contest is responsible for late, lost, damaged or misdirected Application/Game Entries.
- Address for delivery:
Requirements for Film: (man, what I would do with some time on my hands)
DCI Mobile Content Film Festival 2006
An experiment in film for mobile phones
Presented by the DCI, San Antonio Film Commission, HBMG Foundation/ArtSpark, and Critical Mass Interactive
Excerpts to premiere at C3 festival March 14th 2006
Deadline March 1st 2006
Submission time limit between 30-90 seconds
Screening online at dcitexas.org
The DCI is looking to address the current influence of mobile devices on our culture. Specifically, accepting the proliferation of mobile phones in our society and how to best communicate using this new delivery tool. It is our belief that this new medium offers special considerations that have yet to be suitably identified, the least of which is viewing size. Other considerations for this new form are cost per download, as well ergonomic concerns, etc. It’s only recently mobile phones have been able to reliably deliver, and in some cases record, video content. We wonder what the potential of handheld devices as cinematic tools of expression and experimentation is, and more importantly how might smaller screens affect the way we view video? Will 90 second soap opera episodes become the latest downloading trend? Lastly, how might the cinema change to conform to this new delivery medium?
Call for submissions: MobileFest2006 is looking for entertainment created specifically for mobile phones. You are welcome to submit all genre types, between 30-90 seconds in length. (No exceptions)
More Submission Guidelines:
- Made for viewing on mobile phone
- Submissions must be received by 12am on March the 1st.
- You may use any acquisition format you chose but submissions must be on miniDV format SP tape only
- A brief synopses of work(s), including what you used to create it, no more than 200 words as well as a 100 words biography of the artist(s).
- All submitted works must have the artist name, name of work, and which portion of the festival you are submitting for.
- No unauthorized use of copyrighted materials
- Submission are the entrants own original creation
MOBILEFEST is the 1st Brazilian Festival of Mobile Art, based on the sociological implications that mobile phones and mobile technologies have been promoting in our culture.
MOBILEFEST will happen in September, 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, with an agenda composed by two days of cultural and technical activities. MOBILEFEST will include an international symposium, workshops and recognition awarding of the best works and mobile applications developed by Brazilians.
And listen to the only way you can send a submission.
Different from other national and international festivals, MOBILEFEST has been designed for the mobile era, that’s why it’s the first festival in the world that only takes submissions of texts, photographs and videos sent via SMS and MMS.
For those interested there is a call for papers:
MOBILEFEST 2006 seeks paper and presentation proposals responding to the
Symposium themes:
How can Mobile Technology contribute to art, culture, democracy, ecology and third sector?
Paper presenters will be grouped
thematically to encourage discourse that presents divergent perspectives and views that serve as a catalyst for discussion.
Imagine the device that unites everything that you carry along: a mobile phone, Computer OS, a player, your credit and discount cards, your apartment and your car keys. Designer Dima Komissarov over at plusminus.ru put the thought of that convenience into real images and specs.
The Device is the size of a credit card 54×85,6 mm.
Think comics meet American Idol. A user-generated digital comic firm called ComiAsia launched a contest today, ComiIdol, to find the best new digital comic artists.  Among many fine prizes like Wacoms drawing tablets and the ability to publish your very own content, the real gem winner’s receive is a mentorship by top comic artists.
