The media context slowly matures: a media world in which every individual can send the highest quality text, audio or video. A media world which evolves into a virtual world, a real, made-up or mixed world experienced from a distance. Part I of the book describes the maturing of the media context in detail. Below you’ll read about the small steps in the evolution we already see today.
Samsung has demonstrated a telephone with which it is possible to walk around in the virtual world Second Life. Users can blog in the real world and telephone the friends in Second Life. The telephone will be released onto the American market in the second half of 2008.
This screen shows a womans face that, in this instance, responds to a man. She reacts to the position of the mans face but also to his fingers: for example she closes her eyes if he strokes her eyelids. Her mouth also responds. She leaves if you stroke her nose, but returns with flowers.
This is an art object, but soon this type of characters will enter into dialogue with consumers. Soon she will speak, ask questions and be an interesting conversational partner. That is where the technology is heading.
In Japan the Loch Ness monster has been brought to life with the help of water and holographic effects. This has been realized for Sony as promotion for the film The Water Horse. The monster regularly comes to life giving passers by the fright of their lives.
We see that holograms are being used more often. Fashion shows and presentations are given in holographic style and even live shows from dead artists are realized. Holograms will be used more and more frequently in shop windows or, for example, as company receptionists. These holograms will be able to enter into interactive dialogue with the consumer.
The VideoMiner of Observision is helping the Dutch police to detect noticeable behavior of criminals automatically. Falling under this behavior are the counting of vehicles, suspicious behavior near ATM-machines or parking lots or anti-social driving behavior.
Everything we do in the physical world will soon be recorded and shared, just like our behavior is shared with the people around us. Soon not only the behavior will be recognized, but also the person in question: who is this? What history does this person have? Then a criminal will immediately receive an (automated) phone call from the police. If no good explanation can be given we’ll immediately get to speak to a police officer or a car will be dispatched. Down the line, robots will be found here too, but then we’re a bit further along. However much this may sound like BigBrother this technology will all be used to aid our lives. Likewise a coaching brand will be able to follow us and come to our aid if we’re stuck: ‘Everything all right?’, ‘Should I tell you about?..’, ‘Did you know that your twice-removed uncle of 92 lives around here?’
But only those brands we’ve given permission to break in like that are allowed to do so. Of course. Because it has to stay fun. 
This new telephone recognises the users fingerprint, useing it to give acess to aplications (via fc). Now it's used for securety, but this development means that brands will be able to directly recognise consumers using a fingerprint, a face, a voice or a combination of identifiers. This will be used to continue the dialogue from the previous contact.
Via Augmented Reality 2D can instantly become 3D. In this demo you see the packaging for a Lego car with a 2D image on the box, when the box is filmed a 3D image appears, namely the same box but with a 3D car on it (via dc, Dutch). Everything 2D, paper, a brochure, packaging, a wall, a quote, a manual, we only need to name the brand and we get a 3D addition. Also, everything that is already 3D, as we ourselves are, can get an extra layer. An elf on the shoulder is mentioned in the video, but it can also be a different pair of glasses or another hair style. It will be a fun (mixed) world.
In a restaurant in Israel it is now possible to place your order directly from a display on your table. A waiter is no longer necessary. It is also possible to play games. Visitors think it's fun and are pleased that their children are included. The owner of the restaurant is certainly happy with the 12% extra turnover (via dc, Dutch). We gather more displays around ourselves. Now they have set content, but soon we will make content with our food coaching brand for personal advice. Or check our e-mail. Or evaluate the furniture we saw earlier in the day. All that whilst enjoying a delicious meal that passes perfectly in our diet. In a couple of years this will be the most normal thing in the world.
Shoppers who park at P1 Parking Mathildelaan in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, now receive a message on their mobile phone via bluetooth when leaving the car park. It contains virtual discount slips and details of special offers for shops in the area (via am). In the future brands will always be at our sides and ready to choose the optimal moment for communication. Now with generalised offers, but soon coaching brands will know what we buy regularly, what we are looking for and what we're open to. Then we will receive tailor made offers at exactly the right moment. This is a step in that direction.
Cold Storage, the Singaporese supermarket chain, will soon equip one of it's shops with shopping carts fitted with 12 inch colour screens. Customers can use the screens to find products in the supermarket or to call up recipes that will guide them to all the ingredients they will need. When a product is brought to the scanner, the screen will show the details and it's price. If the screen is not being used by the customer it will show adverts. Because the shopping cart is also equipped with a RFID-transponder, special offers can be shown on the screen as the customer approaches them. (via mb, Dutch).
In this way, brands are leading us ever more by the hand. On the basis of individual profiles we receive appropriate suggestions so that we have less and less need to think and are even surprised sometimes. This development yet another form of media-evolution we have access to a new screen. If we want to discuss a suggestion with a partner at home, we press the button and we are in touch with them. And if we suddenly decide we want to check a file, that is also possible. Every screen is a window to a virtual world.
Cubo is a lady who's shown full screen and reacts to movements of our mouse. People copy emotions of other people. Not consciously, but completely subconsciously. Not just when they're real people, but also if they're actors or animated characters. Whether people are happy, scared, surprised, thrilled, horny, or completely confused: we copy the emotion. Just by watching. A simple animation such as this makes us feel that to our core. In a next step Cubo will also respond to how we look (to our facial expression), what we're looking at and also what we say. It's getting increasingly more real. Step by step.
Through Jogging Over A Distance joggers now can continuously stay connected. In this video two joggers who say goodbye and continue each on their own route. Through the headset they can keep talking to each other, whereby they hear the other person's voice from ahead or from behind, wherever the jogging partner is.
We thus connect the whole world. People, animals, plants, objects, means of transportation: everything is mapped. And we can contact them, wherever we are, whenever we want. In this environment coaching brands will bloom.
Otello, launched in Germany in beta, provides information to the pictures you make with your mobile phone. Suppose you walk by something (a building, billboard, - well-known - person, etc) and you want to know who or what it is. You pick up your mobile phone, take a picture, and send a MMS message to 4242, Otello's number. Otello matches the picture to its own information base. Within a couple of seconds you receive a reply message, sometimes with pictures, videos, and links to relevant sites. (fe, Dutch). Brands this way start dialogues, often after activation in the physical world. We see a building somewhere, or a brand costume, or brand shoes. Through a picture we directly get in touch with the manufacturer, and the dialogue can start. Soon we will call our coaching brand: 'Hey Ray', and ask: 'do you know this type of car?', and we will immediately get an answer. This is really starting to look like that.
This Dansmat.info dance mat has you stand on 4 arrows: up, down, left and right. The mat is connected to the PC and on the screen you see arrows, appearing to the rhythm of the music. The purpose is to tap the right arrow at the right moment. If you do it right, you can get points and choose harder songs (dm). We here see the experience economy take shape: an economy in which money is made by giving us personal experiences at our own place. With that a dance coach evolves, a form of a personal sports brand, a brand that teaches you how to dance (although still very simple, but it is a beginning). And finally this is just the media evolution in which all we do (walk, cry, jump, talk, turn, type) is used by brands on the other side of the medium, and through which they can shape the dialogue with us. We will see lots of developments here.
Starting this Summer, BMW will build in displays in its cars giving unlimited access to the worldwide web. The company claims to be the first in the world to do this (em, Dutch). Three developments are demonstrated here: first, loose navigation sets will disappear. Second, all existing screens will be connected: every display will soon give access to one big, virtual world. And third, every product, a car in this case, loses its anonymity. Companies, brands, will always stay in touch with the product they have made. This is an early example of this.
O'Neill has designed a ski jacket with an integrated LED display for navigation, and audio speakers in the hat giving navigation instructions (fc). We are more and more surrounded by displays. Now dedicated to one application, soon we will communicate with all brands through all possible displays.
Isvou is a Chinese visual search engine. If you are looking for a purse that looks like one you have seen before, you can upload a picture, after which automatically a selection of similar purses is shown, which can all be ordered directly (cw). Although this seems very advanced, it really only is the beginning. Soon we will walk in the street, point to something we like, and directly ask our fashion coaching brand if we can get something like that. We will then get the possibilities presented to us through our ear plug, as well as projected in our glasses, and are directly advised about the combination with other clothes we own. Uploading and clicking then will seem so old-fashioned. Visual searching is a small step in that direction.
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